I use Lydia as a follower , and the 1H is just for when I'm cornered or out of Magic , I never charge on enemies.
Why not use a staff? (Though you may have yet to find a decent one)
I don't use conjuring yet. Now my question is , as an experienced warrior, and with no experience in alteration and illusion , should I make an enchanted dragon scale build and start increasing health ? If not , explain how to play a zero armor build , and what enchantment to chose for clothing
By "Warrior" do you mean a weapon-wielding melee character? I wouldn't advise a zero-armor melee character. It'd be interesting, but extremely challenging. Someone on the forum theorized a zero-armor pickpocket/thief character, but I don't think it was designed or intended as a Main Quest/Full Playthrough character.
A zero armor mage relies on several things:
- Summons (Atronachs preferrably, Zombies later)
- Followers
- Alteration Spells (Flesh + Paralysis/Mass Paralysis)
- Illusion (Calm, Frenzy, Fear, Invisibility, Muffle)
- Destruction
- Strategy
Summons:
Early-game, I prefer Atronachs to zombies because you aren't limited to re-animating dead things that are around you. Early-game zombies are pathetically weak and are reduced to dust once killed making them unusable a second time. Atronachs can be summoned at any time, one at a time, meaning that if you find your Atronach dying, you can immediately resummon another one. With Atronachs, you can also place them almost exactly where you want them creating a wall between you and your enemies. With large summons like the Frost Atronach, enemies cannot easily navigate smaller tunnels and hallways in an attempt to get at you when the Atronach blocks their path. If all the damage is sustained by the Atronach, you're free to blast away at a distance safely. Zero armor, no problem here. Later in-game you'll start using Dead Thrall which is majorly enjoying.
Followers:
This can be tricky and it will probably change at some point for you. Lydia is a fine follower to have early on, as are most decent melee based followers. They will essentially serve as your "tank" absorbing damage while you safely attack the enemies from a distance. However, your choice of destruction magic can be disastrous for them. Most fire based magic has an AOE (area of effect) meaning you will probably damage, and likely kill your follower. Frost based magic has the possibility of slowing your own follower's movement speed thus limiting their ability to quickly move onto the next target and guard you. Lightning is the most precise and being that it's only secondary effect is magicka reduction, is the most safe to use around melee followers (with the exception of Chain Lightning).
Alteration Spells:
Flesh spells are something you need to just get into a habit of using. If you're a console player like me, it can be cumbersone to navigate the favorites menu during combat, but you learn to live with it. Make it a habit of refreshing your flesh spells before you enter areas you think might be dangerous. Paralysis is a huge magicka drain, but it can be a life-saver, especially if your shouts are on cool down.
Illusion Spells:
Don't discount the Illusion school. Spells like Calm and Fear can easily whittle down your enemies numbers if you are being overwhelmed. Frenzy/Fury will cause the enemy to attack each other. If you're able to sneak into a room of four enemies, you can cast Frenzy at them and have them kill each other. You only need to pick off the survivors at the end. Invisibility + Muffle are great for sneaking as well as escaping if need be.
Destruction:
As touched upon in the Followers section, your choice of focus determines much of your strategy. If you insist on keeping Fire as your primary, learn to work around the dangers of it. Try to choose followers that will fight at a distance (Faendal, Aela, any Mage) instead of melee followers who could get burned. If you choose to rely on summons, heaving fireballs where they're at isn't so bad, you can always resummon them should they die.
Strategy:
Again, attacking at distance is one of your strongpoints both offensively and defensively. If you're the kind of player that just wants to charge in and lay waste to a room, a zero-armor build is probably not suitable. I would go looking at a Heavy/Light Armor Battle Mage, neither of which I use.
You were talking about Dragonscale... that's pretty much end-game stuff, I wouldn't worry about getting that far at this point. Work on strategically and systematically clearing rooms and dungeons, if you can lock that down, what you wear is inconsequential. Master the basics of magic use first, don't rely on armor as a crutch.
As far as enchantments go, I would look for Destruction cost reductions, Magicka regen, or increasing your Magicka pool. The rest is somewhat irrelevant for combat.
