I am not sure which one to pick.

Dark Elf: Their ability is handy for people who come too close, since this character won't use any melee weapons.
Wood Elf: They have a bonus in archery. Which is handy.
High Elf: The females look great, and their ability is handy too since this character will make alot of use of magic. Such as cloak spells.

I am leaning to high elf, but I'd like some feedback.

Bonus in archery really isn't important at all, especially at higher levels. So a wood-elf from practical reasons is ruled out.

A dark elf is only a bit better than the wood elf in terms of practicality.

A high elf is best, because they have a passive magicka bonus. The highborn ability is just a nice bonus.



However, I've only ever done a dark elf Arcane Archer, because of the looks.

I would say Dunmer because you can always get the archery and magic skills up, and the Racial Power will be more useful then the Bosmer or Altmer's, atleast in this situation it will.

In Skyrim race bonuses are not as important as it was in earlier games. In Skyrim you can make a powerful Altmer warrior and a powerful Orc mage. You could do the same in earlier games, but it took longer for the skills to develop.

As for your question:

Altmer: Wizard

Bosmer: Marksman/ Thief/ Assassin

Dunmer: Warrior/ Marksman/ Wizard/ Thief/ Assassin

But if your going for pure mage I'd use Altmer because they have a higher magicka pool.

More of a combination. An archer using destruction spells, such as cloaks to damage people who come too close. And conjuration for things such as soul trap.
High elf should be a good choice because of the magicka pool, which is enough for these spells. That way I can put my stats into health and stamina too.

Hmmm...which stone should I use for this build?