SkinnedLikeScum
Dragon Slayer
Full Mage Guide
First off following my guide will bring you to something like this at end levels.
(Not my mage or my video just a inspiration to me is all)
Race : High Elf
Why high elf? the start with a bounus of 50 magicka, every other race has 100, high elf has 150, and their ability high born makes them regen magicka at a life saving rate. All their racial abilitys are for all the mage skills, there is no better pure mage in my mind, only arguably a Breton for its natural magic resistance, but i prefer to use them for the Battle Mage.
Stone : Mage/later on, lover
Starting Focusing Skills, Destruction/Conjuration/Resturation
Sub Focusing Skills, Enchanting(important: dont bother about fort skills or anything really, your main goal is to make sure your mana never runs out, endless mana = endless killing spells and healing spells)/Heavy Armor/Alteration
Extra Focusing Skills, Illusion/Smithing/Speech
Main Focusing Skills
When you first get into the actual world of Skyrim after Helgen you should be focusing On Destruction spells and Resturation Spells. One in each hand, casting a destruction doom on your enemy as the hit you, your healing. Good leveling. Once you grab a couple perks in those your going to want to boost your conjuration quick to apprentice at the least. This Flame Atronoch summon is going to be your best friend, body guard, and pulling enemys. Hes not the strongest tank but he will do for some time. If things are truley difficult you can always add some npc followers(if you get a conjuring follower, thats two summons and a follower, you can also get a horse and a dog) Which you should do eventually as time progresses.
(Below high lighted in red is whati think, and im sure most experianced players would agree, is the more important things that are, die with out, or must have to survive type of perks. It can make or break you to not grab it, or not get it as soon as you can. )
Destruction Perks In Order, Novice, Dual Casting, Apprentince Destruction, Shock/Forst/Or Fire(max all, one at a time, i prefer shock to drain enemy mage magicka, your summons and followers can deal with archers and warriors.), Impact, Adept Destruction, Expert, Master.
Conjuration Perk Order, Novice, Apprentice, Summoner, Atromancy, Adept, Expert, Elemental Potiency, Twin Souls, Master, Summoner
Resturation Perk Order, Novice, Regen(max), Apptrentice, Recovery(max), avoid death
Sub Focusing Skills and Order
Enchanting Perk Order, Enchanter Max, Insightful Enchanter, Corpus Enchanter, Extra Effect.(Boost that daedric armor your going to have by end game) Enchanting Guide Link - http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Enchanting_Effects
Alteration Perk Order, Novice, Apprentice, Magic resistance(max), adept, (Stronger defense, survivability, thats why your going to have that heavy armor eventually)
Smithing Perk Order, Steel, Dwarven, Orcish, Arcane Blacksmith, Ebony, Daedric (Smithing because thats how you can create your deadric. If your stingy with your perks you can wait till level 50s and pray you find some dremora who will die and give it to you, i prefer not to take the chance, to me its perks well spent cause you can get it way sooner. ) Skyrim Mine Link http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Mines
Extra Focusing Skills
Heavy Armor, Juggernaut max, well fitted, tower of strength, matching set,reflect blows. (its all really helpful, with full heavy armor, enchanted to fit your spell casting, along with alteration shields, your only building a nice defense and survivability for yourself
. You may say why not be a sneak mage cause of quite casting. Well you could, but your not going to get sneak bonuses hitting them with spells, and when you do and get spotted. Your going to get ganged on, and thats not so fun with robes on. Also mastery spells take a few seconds to charge before they can be casted, you dont wana die in midst cast. You will be very upset. To add to this, being a mage with a mage stone, Heavy Armor is going to level really slow... Really slow. Aswell as smithing, but regardless smithing is really easy to level, spam making iron daggers, Locate Mines to collect what you need for free, and collect all the pelts you can. I typicaly put a perk to a more useful skill but i make sure i get as many as i can into juggernaut when its time. Which is going to be when i achieve full daedric.
Illusion Perk Order, Novice, Animage, Apprentice, Hypnotic Gaze, Kindred Mage, Adept, Aspect of Terror, Rage, Master of The Mind.
Speech, max haggling, allure, merchant, investor, Fence.
I picked these towards the end because they dont help you in battle so so much, illusian is very good at mastery level, or expert. You can turn people against each other, but at low level its a single effect, expert can catch a small group thats close enough to each other, and master can get a whole field of bad guys. Speech just to get that nice extra cash for selling, and less for buying. Smithing is most important, if you want to switch any of these dont switch that one, illusion and speech can be with out. Your going to want Daedric armor and fully inhanced smithing wise.
Jump Start Guide.
* grab mage stone
* Head back twards helgen, make your first right down path follow it. Look for near by camp to left on shallow hills. Kill bandits and get treasure map. (The treasure map is located by riverwood, as you enter from the guardian stone side, make your left on the wooden bridge to the mill, and cross the water, from their you will be looking for a tree trunk that is on its side on the grass with its bottom open, inside your treausre )
* Clear Embershard Mine (along path from stones to riverwood)
* Talos shrine collection, just mere steps away from the camp off to the right you can see the worn old steps up a steep hill side, up their is a talos shrine with a bunch of dead warshipers and one thalmar who has some nice things for enchantments or starter gear sometimes.
Head to whiterun and get shock, yea fire does the most damage, and yea frost can stop a warrior in his tracks, there good. But when you have a conjur summon early in the game especially when you get to apprentince and have the flame atronoch he will mostly tank and kill with good fire. You should choose shock because mages are difficuilt, and strong. If your not careful they can tear you apart faster then a warrior or a archer, but your summon will destory them so its not much to worry about. Shock is good to drain enemy mage mana and make them chase you with there cheesey iron dagger, thats helpful against those early on adept mages which you will see alot of in this guide, and things far more powerful.
After all that you should have a few decent levels, and it'll be a bit of a struggle but your shock can save you here. You are going to want to do azuras star quest. Head to winterhold and take the path off to the distance away from town. Keep going until you run into a wolf, snow wolf, or a snow saber cat. Battle it and kill it. As soon as you do that look to the direction to the right of the trail where it attacked you from, head towards that hard to see steep path. Follow it and their will be more. Along the way you will see the daedra statue icon appear on your map and should be able to get a idea to where you have to go, jus keep going straight and look for a opening to the left side down some way, and when you reach sightless pit. Your on the right path. (video to Azuras Shrine,
Details of quest, http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:The_Black_Star )
When you have collected azuras star before finishing your quest you should most assuring head to dawnstar and find the easter egg chest by the mines. Its to the left of the guard in a patch of rock and tree, in there alot of helpful things for later or for finishing azuras star. After you do that, finish up azuras quest, but first grab soul trap, if you havn't filled your black gem from, Llinata's deep. Cast it on malyn before he dies. You now have yourself a grand soul. Best enchanting soul achieveable
After all that mesh your probably going to level 6-8 and now your ready to start the mages guild off in winterhold. So yea, do that
1st mage guild quest, practice conjuration try to reach level 25 conjuration, things are going to get a bit tuff now and you can really make use of a flame atronoch.
After your first quest is finished return to archmage for a decent reward.
Dont worry about the books quest, do forbidden legend (http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Forbidden_Legend )(fellglow keep first, Folgunthur second) the books are on the way along with a worth the trouble of a item. Before reforging the amulet you may want a merc(follower) its a tough battle, better to enchant his gear fully aswell hopefuly get a level or two before finishing your quest. I chose Vorstag http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Vorstag He is good in one-handed, shield, bow, & light armor, id prefer one of the housecarls from being rewared thane at any of the main city holds, but they are heavy armor, which is slow running, once my defense is greater i will choose one of them, but for now i need a guy who will get in my foes faces and bash them in with a mace, as i rain lightning bolts upon their skulls.
So, all of that concludes my little jump start guide, after doing all of that, just continue down the line of the mages college to fully complete the quests.
For some extra fun collecting dragon priest masks, why not? there all good masks, good staves, gets you leveled.
You also might want to do the companions quests after finishing the mage quests, just cause your not a warrior doesnt mean you cant kill like one .
At this point quest whise you cant do much in the thiefs guild or dark brother hood, your going to have heavy armor yea a tank mage woot. You could join the bards guild, also do all the quests in each main hold, and small town all through out skyrim. The main quest line, and simply exploring, But being done with quests or coming down to simply exploring doesn't mean you beat the game and its over with nothing left to do theres 81 levels, over 100 locations. Countless Misc quests, be therough!
First off following my guide will bring you to something like this at end levels.
Race : High Elf
Why high elf? the start with a bounus of 50 magicka, every other race has 100, high elf has 150, and their ability high born makes them regen magicka at a life saving rate. All their racial abilitys are for all the mage skills, there is no better pure mage in my mind, only arguably a Breton for its natural magic resistance, but i prefer to use them for the Battle Mage.
Stone : Mage/later on, lover
Starting Focusing Skills, Destruction/Conjuration/Resturation
Sub Focusing Skills, Enchanting(important: dont bother about fort skills or anything really, your main goal is to make sure your mana never runs out, endless mana = endless killing spells and healing spells)/Heavy Armor/Alteration
Extra Focusing Skills, Illusion/Smithing/Speech
Main Focusing Skills
When you first get into the actual world of Skyrim after Helgen you should be focusing On Destruction spells and Resturation Spells. One in each hand, casting a destruction doom on your enemy as the hit you, your healing. Good leveling. Once you grab a couple perks in those your going to want to boost your conjuration quick to apprentice at the least. This Flame Atronoch summon is going to be your best friend, body guard, and pulling enemys. Hes not the strongest tank but he will do for some time. If things are truley difficult you can always add some npc followers(if you get a conjuring follower, thats two summons and a follower, you can also get a horse and a dog) Which you should do eventually as time progresses.
(Below high lighted in red is whati think, and im sure most experianced players would agree, is the more important things that are, die with out, or must have to survive type of perks. It can make or break you to not grab it, or not get it as soon as you can. )
Destruction Perks In Order, Novice, Dual Casting, Apprentince Destruction, Shock/Forst/Or Fire(max all, one at a time, i prefer shock to drain enemy mage magicka, your summons and followers can deal with archers and warriors.), Impact, Adept Destruction, Expert, Master.
Conjuration Perk Order, Novice, Apprentice, Summoner, Atromancy, Adept, Expert, Elemental Potiency, Twin Souls, Master, Summoner
Resturation Perk Order, Novice, Regen(max), Apptrentice, Recovery(max), avoid death
Sub Focusing Skills and Order
Enchanting Perk Order, Enchanter Max, Insightful Enchanter, Corpus Enchanter, Extra Effect.(Boost that daedric armor your going to have by end game) Enchanting Guide Link - http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Enchanting_Effects
Alteration Perk Order, Novice, Apprentice, Magic resistance(max), adept, (Stronger defense, survivability, thats why your going to have that heavy armor eventually)
Smithing Perk Order, Steel, Dwarven, Orcish, Arcane Blacksmith, Ebony, Daedric (Smithing because thats how you can create your deadric. If your stingy with your perks you can wait till level 50s and pray you find some dremora who will die and give it to you, i prefer not to take the chance, to me its perks well spent cause you can get it way sooner. ) Skyrim Mine Link http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Mines
Extra Focusing Skills
Heavy Armor, Juggernaut max, well fitted, tower of strength, matching set,reflect blows. (its all really helpful, with full heavy armor, enchanted to fit your spell casting, along with alteration shields, your only building a nice defense and survivability for yourself
. You may say why not be a sneak mage cause of quite casting. Well you could, but your not going to get sneak bonuses hitting them with spells, and when you do and get spotted. Your going to get ganged on, and thats not so fun with robes on. Also mastery spells take a few seconds to charge before they can be casted, you dont wana die in midst cast. You will be very upset. To add to this, being a mage with a mage stone, Heavy Armor is going to level really slow... Really slow. Aswell as smithing, but regardless smithing is really easy to level, spam making iron daggers, Locate Mines to collect what you need for free, and collect all the pelts you can. I typicaly put a perk to a more useful skill but i make sure i get as many as i can into juggernaut when its time. Which is going to be when i achieve full daedric.Illusion Perk Order, Novice, Animage, Apprentice, Hypnotic Gaze, Kindred Mage, Adept, Aspect of Terror, Rage, Master of The Mind.
Speech, max haggling, allure, merchant, investor, Fence.
I picked these towards the end because they dont help you in battle so so much, illusian is very good at mastery level, or expert. You can turn people against each other, but at low level its a single effect, expert can catch a small group thats close enough to each other, and master can get a whole field of bad guys. Speech just to get that nice extra cash for selling, and less for buying. Smithing is most important, if you want to switch any of these dont switch that one, illusion and speech can be with out. Your going to want Daedric armor and fully inhanced smithing wise.
Jump Start Guide.
* grab mage stone
* Head back twards helgen, make your first right down path follow it. Look for near by camp to left on shallow hills. Kill bandits and get treasure map. (The treasure map is located by riverwood, as you enter from the guardian stone side, make your left on the wooden bridge to the mill, and cross the water, from their you will be looking for a tree trunk that is on its side on the grass with its bottom open, inside your treausre
)* Clear Embershard Mine (along path from stones to riverwood)
* Talos shrine collection, just mere steps away from the camp off to the right you can see the worn old steps up a steep hill side, up their is a talos shrine with a bunch of dead warshipers and one thalmar who has some nice things for enchantments or starter gear sometimes.
Head to whiterun and get shock, yea fire does the most damage, and yea frost can stop a warrior in his tracks, there good. But when you have a conjur summon early in the game especially when you get to apprentince and have the flame atronoch he will mostly tank and kill with good fire. You should choose shock because mages are difficuilt, and strong. If your not careful they can tear you apart faster then a warrior or a archer, but your summon will destory them so its not much to worry about. Shock is good to drain enemy mage mana and make them chase you with there cheesey iron dagger, thats helpful against those early on adept mages which you will see alot of in this guide, and things far more powerful.
After all that you should have a few decent levels, and it'll be a bit of a struggle but your shock can save you here. You are going to want to do azuras star quest. Head to winterhold and take the path off to the distance away from town. Keep going until you run into a wolf, snow wolf, or a snow saber cat. Battle it and kill it. As soon as you do that look to the direction to the right of the trail where it attacked you from, head towards that hard to see steep path. Follow it and their will be more. Along the way you will see the daedra statue icon appear on your map and should be able to get a idea to where you have to go, jus keep going straight and look for a opening to the left side down some way, and when you reach sightless pit. Your on the right path. (video to Azuras Shrine,
When you have collected azuras star before finishing your quest you should most assuring head to dawnstar and find the easter egg chest by the mines. Its to the left of the guard in a patch of rock and tree, in there alot of helpful things for later or for finishing azuras star. After you do that, finish up azuras quest, but first grab soul trap, if you havn't filled your black gem from, Llinata's deep. Cast it on malyn before he dies. You now have yourself a grand soul. Best enchanting soul achieveable
After all that mesh your probably going to level 6-8 and now your ready to start the mages guild off in winterhold. So yea, do that
1st mage guild quest, practice conjuration try to reach level 25 conjuration, things are going to get a bit tuff now and you can really make use of a flame atronoch.
After your first quest is finished return to archmage for a decent reward.
Dont worry about the books quest, do forbidden legend (http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Forbidden_Legend )(fellglow keep first, Folgunthur second) the books are on the way along with a worth the trouble of a item. Before reforging the amulet you may want a merc(follower) its a tough battle, better to enchant his gear fully aswell hopefuly get a level or two before finishing your quest. I chose Vorstag http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Vorstag He is good in one-handed, shield, bow, & light armor, id prefer one of the housecarls from being rewared thane at any of the main city holds, but they are heavy armor, which is slow running, once my defense is greater i will choose one of them, but for now i need a guy who will get in my foes faces and bash them in with a mace, as i rain lightning bolts upon their skulls.
So, all of that concludes my little jump start guide, after doing all of that, just continue down the line of the mages college to fully complete the quests.
For some extra fun collecting dragon priest masks, why not? there all good masks, good staves, gets you leveled.
You also might want to do the companions quests after finishing the mage quests, just cause your not a warrior doesnt mean you cant kill like one
.At this point quest whise you cant do much in the thiefs guild or dark brother hood, your going to have heavy armor
yea a tank mage woot. You could join the bards guild, also do all the quests in each main hold, and small town all through out skyrim. The main quest line, and simply exploring, But being done with quests or coming down to simply exploring doesn't mean you beat the game and its over with nothing left to do theres 81 levels, over 100 locations. Countless Misc quests, be therough!
