does anyone else think mages are OP ?

Hey guys, I know this has probably been touched on before, but I'm seriously wondering why mages are so damn powerful in this game-specifically NPC mages.

So earlier I was traveling down a road somewhere and walked by this fort. There were a few guys hanging out so I went over to kill them. Well, I climbed up a tower and easily killed a skeleton that was there. However, right then, a mage hit me with some lightning spell and took out 70% of my health! It must have been a conjurer/necromancer because there was a skeleton, but I just don't understand. That mage literally killed me with two spells. I'm level 29 on my current build, and had 310 health at the time. I even was wearing a full set of flawless Orcish. It doesn't make any sense, because I can take hits from bears etc like a tank. And this mage dude took me out in two huts! What's up with this?

Sounds like you have low magic resist and health. Two major problems when facing mages. What else is in your build?

I recommend stealth arrows if you can. Like most things in skyrim not getting hit is the best option.

They are powerful, but it really depends on your build. I'd focus more on Smithing and getting better armor. With my last warrior character, I maxed out Smithing around level 35 and used Dragonscale Armor with Dragonbone weapons. Mages and other mid-to-long range enemies didn't give me nearly as much trouble after that. You could also buff your blocking. The Elemental Protection perk works great with a decent shield enchanted to resist magic. With the right shield and enchantments, Destruction magic becomes almost useless.

Mirrored said:

They are powerful, but it really depends on your build. I'd focus more on Smithing and getting better armor. With my last warrior character, I maxed out Smithing around level 35 and used Dragonscale Armor with Dragonbone weapons. Mages and other mid-to-long range enemies didn't give me nearly as much trouble after that. You could also buff your blocking. The Elemental Protection perk works great with a decent shield enchanted to resist magic. With the right shield and enchantments, Destruction magic becomes almost useless.

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Unless the armor or perks is set to protect you, what your armor is doesn't matter.

Skies said:

Mirrored said:

They are powerful, but it really depends on your build. I'd focus more on Smithing and getting better armor. With my last warrior character, I maxed out Smithing around level 35 and used Dragonscale Armor with Dragonbone weapons. Mages and other mid-to-long range enemies didn't give me nearly as much trouble after that. You could also buff your blocking. The Elemental Protection perk works great with a decent shield enchanted to resist magic. With the right shield and enchantments, Destruction magic becomes almost useless.

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Unless the armor or perks is set to protect you, what your armor is doesn't matter.

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Huh, you're right. I never realized magic bypassed armor, since I've always used enchantments. Even after all this time, I still learn little things about this game.

I can't stand mage's that use ice, even with an 85% resistance to magic and a further 46% resist to frost I always get slowed to a crawl even while sprinting. Not to mention the mage likes to sit about 15-20 feet away so I can't see to shoot them because of the blasting my face with ice annoyingness.

As has already been mentioned it is the amount of elemental protection which is the key, and there are a few ways to do this if your a Warrior/melee type character.

First you could get the Atronach stone which has 50% spell absorption/protection, the reduced regen wont bother you, then do 'The book of love quest for a further 15%, and if your a Breton you have a further 25% which takes you over the cap comfortably.

Secondly, you could use a little alteration to buff your armor rating and take the elemental perks as and when you can for a max of 30%, then again the book of love for 15% then get the Lord stone for a 50 point on armor and 25% elemental protection, this is close to the cap and will be sufficient to help you get close to a mage and drop him.

The shield buff of elemental protection of 50% is only active when you are blocking or shield raised, which slows you down, so thats something to think of if you go that route.

Myself i use a mixture of the first 2 depending if im a Breton or not. .. .. .. Hope this helps a little.

I usually start with a an elemental resistant race, like Nords, Dark Elves, and Bretons. Let's say a Nord. Right away, I've got 50% frost resistance. The next thing I'll do is find/by something of fire resistance and something of shock resistance. At early levels, I leave the item alone because it's probably stronger than anything I could enchant, but when I get to where I can improve on it, I'll disenchant and place the enchantments on rings, necklaces, and boots. So, with a Nord, I add fire resist to the boots, shock resist to a necklace, and something to a ring. Depending on what I need the most protection from, it's not uncommon for me to have two or three rings and necklaces. Run across a fire breathing dragon, and suddenly everything I'm wearing is of fire resistance. By the time I can dual-enchant, now I've got say frost resistant blood, so fire and shock on boots, shock and frost on a ring, and frost and fire on a necklace. That puts me (even with other races) at double protection all-around, and I can tweak that as needed.

That's not necessarily in order, though. The next step after Helgen is to get myself out to the Lord Stone, which gives me another 25% magic resistance, and then back to Riften to do the Mara quest for another 15%. Add that to a Breton, and you're already 65% magic resistant early on. Mages become a lot less of a threat then.

Wow, I can't believe all this time my armour rating has been doing nothing against magic. That's completely BS if you ask me. EDIT: I mean that I think Bethesda should have given at least a little bit of magic resistance to armour.

But I really would prefer not to sacrifice precious enchantments for shock/fire resistance (playing a nord). I'd much rather have a fortify health regen or sneak or archery or stamina regen. I suppose potions will work too.

But still, I've put 21 levels into only my health- the rest being in stamina. Even with no armour rating, I wouldnt think that a apprentice necro would be able to do 200+ damage with a single spell.

It may not be a spell. A lot of mages I encounter are using a staff of some sort. Chain lightning, fireballs, they will cause you serious grief.

It's cool to save your enchantments for other things. Still, you can boost yourself with the stone and the Mara quest, and of course potions. Don't discount the idea of multiple enchanted items. I used to roll with several rings and necklaces, which did everything from elemental resistance, to sneak, pickpocket, lockpicking, and barter. I kept the resistance as my "standard" and switched if I needed something, then put my normal stuff back on. Hardest part there is not selling them, but if you name them then it's easier.

Twiffle said:

As has already been mentioned it is the amount of elemental protection which is the key, and there are a few ways to do this if your a Warrior/melee type character.

First you could get the Atronach stone which has 50% spell absorption/protection, the reduced regen wont bother you, then do 'The book of love quest for a further 15%, and if your a Breton you have a further 25% which takes you over the cap comfortably.

Secondly, you could use a little alteration to buff your armor rating and take the elemental perks as and when you can for a max of 30%, then again the book of love for 15% then get the Lord stone for a 50 point on armor and 25% elemental protection, this is close to the cap and will be sufficient to help you get close to a mage and drop him.

The shield buff of elemental protection of 50% is only active when you are blocking or shield raised, which slows you down, so thats something to think of if you go that route.

Myself i use a mixture of the first 2 depending if im a Breton or not. .. .. .. Hope this helps a little.

Click to expand...

Book of Love quest? Please explain this if you could.

Gregor Moon Fang said:

Twiffle said:

As has already been mentioned it is the amount of elemental protection which is the key, and there are a few ways to do this if your a Warrior/melee type character.

First you could get the Atronach stone which has 50% spell absorption/protection, the reduced regen wont bother you, then do 'The book of love quest for a further 15%, and if your a Breton you have a further 25% which takes you over the cap comfortably.

Secondly, you could use a little alteration to buff your armor rating and take the elemental perks as and when you can for a max of 30%, then again the book of love for 15% then get the Lord stone for a 50 point on armor and 25% elemental protection, this is close to the cap and will be sufficient to help you get close to a mage and drop him.

The shield buff of elemental protection of 50% is only active when you are blocking or shield raised, which slows you down, so thats something to think of if you go that route.

Myself i use a mixture of the first 2 depending if im a Breton or not. .. .. .. Hope this helps a little.

Click to expand...

Book of Love quest? Please explain this if you could.

Click to expand...

http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:The_Book_of_Love

Oh yes i forgot to mention, if you are using Alchemy there is a potion of resist fire/frost/shock which you can make, the easiest combination being Snowberries - hawk beak- fly amanita, with an average (60 ish) alchemy skill you can get 75% protection, i call it my Dragon busting potion

Well.. If you think about it, it seems quite logical that magic bypasses armour. I mean, if you're wearing a full outfit made of any kind of metal, you should get even more damage in my opinion, as it would just conduct it even better. That being said, it should at least have a little resistance against spells like Ice spike and Icy spear. But not the other ones which would literally freeze you to death.
And as everyone was saying, the mages aren't OP. It's just because of your build. Before I went to a hybrid of light armour and magic, I got literally destroyed by a simple bear. Because they were faster than me and I didn't have much armour rating.
Pure mages get downed quickly by physical damage, and pure melee get downed quickly by magical damage. Unless you use enchantments of course.

The mage's mortal foe is the humble corner. Find a corner and wait there. The mage will have to come around the bend after you. Putting their scrawny necks in convenient range for snapping with your bare hands.

elias said:

Hey guys, I know this has probably been touched on before, but I'm seriously wondering why mages are so damn powerful in this game-specifically NPC mages.

So earlier I was traveling down a road somewhere and walked by this fort. There were a few guys hanging out so I went over to kill them. Well, I climbed up a tower and easily killed a skeleton that was there. However, right then, a mage hit me with some lightning spell and took out 70% of my health! It must have been a conjurer/necromancer because there was a skeleton, but I just don't understand. That mage literally killed me with two spells. I'm level 29 on my current build, and had 310 health at the time. I even was wearing a full set of flawless Orcish. It doesn't make any sense, because I can take hits from bears etc like a tank. And this mage dude took me out in two huts! What's up with this?

Click to expand...

I know exactly where you are talking about, same guy got me twice, so I brought a follower to run interference. This super shocker mage seems to be the exception of the rule, for me anyway

No, YOU TOO can become that powerful! Mages can be very powerful. However, I've always thought Bethesda favors melee combat. They seem to make using conventional weaponry easier, and you become stronger much faster.

With regard to your situation, at level 29 you are only just beginning to have the strength to take a mage hit like the ones you're describing. I would recommend alchemy--you can easily make a potion that resists most magic, or even better, all of shock, fire, and frost (one at a time). So you come across a fire mage, you drink a "Resist 113% fire" potion, and you are immune to that mage's assaults.

Mages, magic is supposed to be OP. A wise loading screen taught me (Skyre) that you have to get close and hit hard.

Brewman said:

elias said:

Hey guys, I know this has probably been touched on before, but I'm seriously wondering why mages are so damn powerful in this game-specifically NPC mages.

So earlier I was traveling down a road somewhere and walked by this fort. There were a few guys hanging out so I went over to kill them. Well, I climbed up a tower and easily killed a skeleton that was there. However, right then, a mage hit me with some lightning spell and took out 70% of my health! It must have been a conjurer/necromancer because there was a skeleton, but I just don't understand. That mage literally killed me with two spells. I'm level 29 on my current build, and had 310 health at the time. I even was wearing a full set of flawless Orcish. It doesn't make any sense, because I can take hits from bears etc like a tank. And this mage dude took me out in two huts! What's up with this?

Click to expand...

I know exactly where you are talking about, same guy got me twice, so I brought a follower to run interference. This super shocker mage seems to be the exception of the rule, for me anyway

Click to expand...

Yeah, this seems like the only one that's given me trouble. Was yours down the road from Azura's shrine?

elias said:

Wow, I can't believe all this time my armour rating has been doing nothing against magic. That's completely BS if you ask me. EDIT: I mean that I think Bethesda should have given at least a little bit of magic resistance to armour.

But I really would prefer not to sacrifice precious enchantments for shock/fire resistance (playing a nord). I'd much rather have a fortify health regen or sneak or archery or stamina regen. I suppose potions will work too.

But still, I've put 21 levels into only my health- the rest being in stamina. Even with no armour rating, I wouldnt think that a apprentice necro would be able to do 200+ damage with a single spell.

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you do realize if anything armour which is made of metal would be weaker to magic, shock magic the person wearing the armour would be severely electrocuted, frost the armour would get Ice on it and the wearer would freeze quicker, Fire the armour will burn the wearer

Twiffle said:

Gregor Moon Fang said:

Twiffle said:

As has already been mentioned it is the amount of elemental protection which is the key, and there are a few ways to do this if your a Warrior/melee type character.

First you could get the Atronach stone which has 50% spell absorption/protection, the reduced regen wont bother you, then do 'The book of love quest for a further 15%, and if your a Breton you have a further 25% which takes you over the cap comfortably.

Secondly, you could use a little alteration to buff your armor rating and take the elemental perks as and when you can for a max of 30%, then again the book of love for 15% then get the Lord stone for a 50 point on armor and 25% elemental protection, this is close to the cap and will be sufficient to help you get close to a mage and drop him.

The shield buff of elemental protection of 50% is only active when you are blocking or shield raised, which slows you down, so thats something to think of if you go that route.

Myself i use a mixture of the first 2 depending if im a Breton or not. .. .. .. Hope this helps a little.

Click to expand...

Book of Love quest? Please explain this if you could.

Click to expand...

http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:The_Book_of_Love

Oh yes i forgot to mention, if you are using Alchemy there is a potion of resist fire/frost/shock which you can make, the easiest combination being Snowberries - hawk beak- fly amanita, with an average (60 ish) alchemy skill you can get 75% protection, i call it my Dragon busting potion

Click to expand...

Ahh thank you my good man.