Master Mage Guide

Alright guys, bear with me on this Guide its my first but ill do my best to explain everything in Detail so there's no confusion or questions left at the end of the guide. If anything doesn't make sense just send me a message and ill do my best at explaining it, now lets get started.

****As a quick note i will be doing this guide from a Vampire standpoint but if you do not wish to become a Vampire nothing should be affected except a few skills that the Necromage perk affects and how strong your Illusion spells are. Also as a word of heads up i play the game without the use of fast travel so if you're a person that likes to fast travel alot i advise you follow the guide without becoming a vampire because you would have to constantly feed when jumping from one place to the next *** ***Also each section of this guide is with the assumption that you're doing other quests and such in between to get your character leveled and get some perks into your Illusion/Destruction/Restoration to get you started to your long life of Magery***  ***Also i dont know where in the guide to put this so ill put it here. The main thing you should spec into is fire. Get the Aspect of terror illusion spell mixed with the 2 perks from the fire tree should spike your damage up another 35 points. That would mean your main spells are Fireball and Incinerate. Spec into the Ice tree also because fire and ice are the only 2 elements you will need. Dont neglect any tree except conjuration unless you want to spec into it but i wouldnt put points into it as you will have enough Magicka end game to not need the reduction points from the tree.***

Starting your new life as a Mage

I will be typing this guide not only as instructions but as if im actually playing the game, as that style of writing is easier for me. Now to begin you'll want to start off as a high elf. Now i know there will be questions as in can i choose another race that i like better? Yes you can but for the best results in the way you're going to play the Mage i HIGHLY recommend that you start off as an high elf. I've made over 56 Mage characters to test out different things and i can honestly tell you that that's the best way to go. I want you to enjoy the new character to the utmost and therefore have to make sure that you choose the best way to begin. Now while you're in the tutorial pick up 4 or 5 of the swords that the guards drop. You'll want to initially go with the stormcloak soldier as this will get you the best beginning gold as opposed to following the soldier of the empire. As i was saying pick up 4 or 5 swords and all the heavy armors, leather armors, and helmets dropped from the soldiers. Leave the boots as they take up space and dont sell for enough gold for what we want to accomplish at the start. Make sure you pick up enough items that you have 298-299 weight before you leave the tutorial.   Now to start off the adventure most go to the beginning standing stone to pick up either the Mage, Thief or Warrior stone. Instead of doing that however we're going to take a different route. Pick up the Mage stone anyways just in case you find the need to use any Magic before we get a few things done but you're not going to have it for more than 20 minutes of gameplay. After arriving in Riverwood sell all the items you have except for the Mage robes and hood you picked up in the tutorial of course to the blacksmith and to the Riverwood trader store. You can do the side quest in Riverwood if you choose but i am going to stay on track of what i want you to get done in the beginning. Now i want you to pick up the Golden claw quest from the merchant in the Riverwood trader and from that head straight to Whiterun. You're not there to speak to the Jarl instead head over to the Mage's room and purchase the Muffle and Calm spells from him. If you followed my advice on race to choose you should already have the Fury spell. If not kill some random bandits loot their armor and sell it then return and purchase Fury also as it will be the main spell you use for now. Also i played without the use of summoning spells so if you think you will need summonings also ill leave that to you to work it into the build.

 This is the Mage you're looking for.

***This next part is optional as it will make the beginning phases of your life as a Mage more difficult if you choose to begin the way i did and that was to find a place called Broken Fang Cave west of Whiterun to become a Vampire. I would advise that unless you're an experienced Mage who can handle the difficulty of reduced stats so early in the game that you stay FAR away from this cave as it will cause you to be mauled frequently due to your low health and reduced Magicka. If you decide to go through with it enter the cave and let the Vampire chick in there beat up  on you for a while while using the healing spell of course until you get the message that you have contracted the sanguine disease.***Yes you heard me sit there and take it like a man, or woman and tell yourself that whats happening is perfectly normal*** Now for some people it may take a while to get the disease and i highly advise you save before going into the cave. If you run out of Magicka this is where your Racial comes in handy. Pop your Magicka regeneration power and use that to keep your healing spell going until you finally contract the disease. From here i want you to go back to Whiterun and talk to the carriage driver and tell him to take you to Markarth. Do not enter the city as you will trigger a scene that you may or may not be able to prevent so early. From there kindly borrow one of those horses just sitting there in the stables. Now make sure you're not seen borrowing the horse as the people around you dont take too kindly to it and dont like sharing and as such you will get a bounty and be attacked if you get caught. For this i HIGHLY advise you save before trying to take the horse as you dont want a bounty so early in the game. After you've ninja'd your way into steali..... uh borrowing the horse ride north east and look for the Lovers stone as this is the stone that you will be using to replace the Mage stone. You may ask why? Well the lovers stone increases ALL skills faster whereas the Mage stone doesn't. If you play the Vampire Mage the way i do you wont always shoot a fireball in some guys face as a response to a situation and instead will use the persuade option to deal with some situations. For this you will increase your speech skill faster and any other skills you may use not under the Mage tree such as lockpicking ect ect.

Here's the location of the stone

Now that you've done this go back to the carriage driver and ask him to take you back to Whiterun where you'll finally start your adventure. ***If you didn't read the first heading the gameplay is used without the use of fast travel and instead uses the carriages to get around as it does not pass as much time and as a result requires you to feed less as your stages of Vampirism doesn't progress as fast to Stage 4.***    Once in Whiterun head to Embershard mine which is north of the Mage stone you picked up when you exited the tutorial. 

Location of the mine.

BATTLE TACTICS!

Now one trend i have noticed through watching other people play Mages and listening to how they build the character is that they get the idea of what a Mage is all wrong. When people hear Mage they think about Fireballs raining from the sky obliterating their foes, Blizzards freezing entire battlefields of enemies and shattering while the Mage walks away without blinking an eye, Destroying foes through ancient forbidden Magic while they run in fear. Thats not gonna happen nor is that the true definition of a Mage. Now in Skyrim you want to be able to have a Mage that obliterates anyone foolish enough to face you. To kill an entire battlefield of enemies with just but a word. To be able to flick a dragon in the eye and know he wont do a dam thing about it because you're just that badass right???? Well wrong!! Not only will that dragon laugh at you but he will also eat you because you're that close to him to begin with and that im dead serious about which brings us to how exactly to battle as a Mage? Now picking up where we left off of entering the mine.The first thing you ALWAYS want to do is cast Muffle no matter where you are, make sure the Muffle effect is on you at all times as this will not only level your Illusion, it will also make sure you see your enemies before they hear you coming giving you time to prepare for battle. Once you're inside and you spot your first enemy DO NOT and i repeat DO NOT run in shooting off your spells hoping they die before you do, that is not the proper way to fight as a Mage. The first thing you do when you spot 2 or more enemies is to drop into your sneak position. Thats right you heard me go into sneak, you're a Mage not a tank and as such you're not expected to run in battle like Rambo. Fury 1 of the enemies and wait a few seconds for them to aggro each other. Once they're focused on each other thats when you run in and use your flame spell to drop them, both. Do this for the rest of the mine using this tactic to level your Illusion and Destruction. Once out head back to Riverwood selling all the armor you picked up back to the blacksmith. By the way when you're out on your adventures only pick up the armors worth 50+ gold and bows because thats your main source of income at the beginning of the game. Loot all potions worth 40g+ also and sell it back to the alchemy shops, leave nothing behind. Once you're done selling off the items head over to Bleaksfall barrow to begin the golden claw quest. Remember to keep the Muffle enchant up at all times and any enemy you see if there's more than 1 cast Fury before engaging in battle. When you start gaining levels make sure to put points in Illusion first to make your Fury cost less then jump over to Destruction to reduce the cost of the Flame spell as that will be your main element throughout your entire Skyrim life and the reason will be explained later in the guide. Now a word of heads up is that once inside your Illusion spells wont work on anything not living at first but once you master Illusion and get it up to level 90 you will then be able to affect anything in the game. Also dont forget that you bought the calm spell, if you meet any bears or trolls on your adventures DO NOT try to fight them yet as you wont be able to handle them this early in the game. Now if you're using a follower of course this is another story but i have never used a follower until recently when +Marianne Pangan advised me to marry the Housecarl Jardis-The Sword Maiden i had my eyes on but was wondering if getting married was worth the trouble seeing as how you're stuck with that person once you make the decision to go through with it. She calls it commitment issues i call it being careful lol. If you think you're going to die alot not having someone there as a meat shield since we're not using Conjuration as yet then by all means bring a follower with you. From this point on i wont dictate what quests to do or where to go but will instead move on to the actual Lifestyle of being a Master Illusionist.

Growing As A Master Illusionist~

One thing that you need to do once you've been playing for a while and have got yourself leveled to a certain point is immediately head to the College Of Winterhold and complete its quest line for the Archmage's robes and the Morokei mask. These 2 things will be the most important items for you to get until you've reached a higher level. Before you head off there however i need you to travel Trevas watch and complete the quest to retake the Fort so that you can get the detect life spell tome as this will also be one of your main spells used in your entire life as a Vamp. 

Once you've acquired the tome, immediately add it to your favorites list because you will be using it often. What i did was add my healing spell to 1. and detect life to 2. So when i press the left arrow it brings up my healing into my left hand and when i press right its the detect life. While you're walking around constantly use the spell to see if there are any enemies around. the spell drains your Magicka in seconds if you keep it up so until you've put points into alteration to cut its cost just tap it for a second or 2 to see if any red comes up. ***When you acquire the Archmage robes and the Mask however the cost of Magicka wont matter because you'll regen it in a matter of seconds.*** Next thing i want you to do the main quest for Skyrim until you're told to go and see the graybeards if you havent already done so. The ruins they send you to to acquire the horn you're going to be doing some training here and you need to prepare to be bored out of your mind trying to get this done because i know i couldnt wait to get it over with. Now i dont power level skills period, i like the satisfaction of leveling everything the right way. Restoration on the other hand is definitely not one of those skills because that thing takes an arm and a leg to level legit. This tree is the only one i actually power leveled and i would advise you do the same. While inside you'll find pressure plates that shoot fire**Be careful if you're a vamp, make sure you feed before doing this so that you dont overly get damaged by the flames*** stand on a set of them and let it constantly damage you. put your first healing spell in both hands and hold the triggers. DO NOT PURCHASE DUAL CASTING FOR HEALING CAST IT SEPARATELY. This will take hours and you may want to listen to music or watch TV while doing this but level your restoration up until you can get the Necromage perk. Save every so often however because if you're distracted the fire could kill you and you would lose all the progress you made. SAVE OFTEN IM SERIOUS. Dont lose hours of grinding the skill to lose it because some guy was doing something epic on the show you're watching then the next thing you know you look back at the game and your guy just rag dolled to the floor because you forgot to heal back up. If you dont know how to do this effectively you need to hold both triggers until your health is full then let go, let it fall below half then hold again until you're healed back up to full. Repeat this process until you have leveled your restoration up to 70. This will be boring i know but you need that Necromage perk as it will immensely help you out so jump to it. 

The Fire plates you're looking for.

It may be better for you if you're wearing the Archmage's robes before you level restoration doing this if your regen isnt keeping up with how much mana you're using to heal yourself.

Making Money!

Once you hit level 23 start checking every store you go to for a banishment enchanted weapon as this will be your main source of making money. While out on your adventures assuming you've been playing long enough to have enough money to purchase a home you need to start collecting iron daggers. When you kill bandits pick up only their iron dagger once you've acquired the banishment enchant. Also start amassing soul gems by using the soul trap enchant. An alternative is to give your follower a weapon with the enchant but its better you do it yourself so that you can level your conjuration while doing so. The best place to get the enchant is the archery shop in solitude. I didnt do this but if you want you can use the reload tactic which is to save, kill the shopkeeper and reload until they stock the weapon you're looking for which has the enchant on it.  Its right beside the blacksmith. I think this section is self explanatory and so we're moving on.

Feeding as a Vamp!

Now while walking around on your adventures assuming you have yet to complete or start the Dawnguard questline you're going to eventually hit stage 3 and then 4 vampire. Once you hit stage 3 you're going to want to start heading to a carriage driver so that he can take you to Whiterun. Once there enter the barracks, close the door and feed on whoever is sleeping there at the time. This is the best place to feed as there is ALWAYS someone there sleeping no matter what time of the  day you show up. If stage 4 catches you while out however you'll want to be careful going into town. Assuming you've been playing the way i suggested and have already leveled your Illusion to the point of having the invisibility spell this shouldnt be a problem as you can just quickly go into the barracks go into sneak mode and use your invisibility spell until everyone leaves and the guards go back to sleep. One thing to note is you stay invisible so even if there is someone awake in the room and wont go away for whatever reason they still wont be able to see you feed so you can do so safely. Guys please dont do this standing up and while you're not invisible.... If you can see someone then they can see you too and feeding is a crime. An alternative if you're using a follower and dont want to go all the way back to Whiterun is to tell them to sleep in the nearest bed and feed on them. With Dawnguard installed however you no longer have a reason to feed as you will no longer be attacked when walking outside and you can also block the sun if you choose to do so which your stats should be high enough at this point that you dont need to. Not sure if this is a spoiler but also be careful when blocking the sun because vampires come out to attack when the sun is blotched out so be very careful with that.

Stat Placement!

This part ill leave up to your discretion but my personal choice was focusing mostly on Magicka but still putting points into health which you WILL need no matter how many make the argument that you shouldnt be getting hit as a Mage. The fact of the matter is that if you follow that reason you will die... ALOT. I have been playing as a Mage since i was in elementary school playing Runescape all the way until Skyrim so im very good at it and im telling you that you NEED health. I dont care how carefully you play you will die if you dont have health. I have yet to die on this character but i can tell you that before i crafted my personal armor for my wife and i(In game wife not real) i came close to dying because of a trap i ran into or getting hit by arrows that i didnt realize were aimed at me. Just because i know some of you may be thinking yeah but we all play differently you dont kno..... YES I DO KNOW YOU WILL DIE IF YOU DONT HAVE HEALTH. Dont argue just take it from the guy who thought the exact same thing that i didnt need health when i just started playing Skyrim that once you hit lvl 40+ and you still have around 100 health you're gonna die alot. Now dont take that literally because you arent getting anywhere near 40 without health but thats just to put a level on it. My personal stats at the moment--- (Magicka:937   Health:330   Stamina:100) I have no health enhancing enchantments on my armor meaning that my health is purely what i spec'd.  You also dont need stamina as a Mage, its wasted stats points if you actually put stats in it purely because you have unlimited stamina once you get the perk in restoration that also restores stamina when you use healing spells.

Equipment To Use!

Now at a certain point there are those that decide they no longer want to use robes and want to enchant their personal set of armor and i can tell you that this is the best thing to do. As a Vamp with the Necromage perk the enchantments will always be largely enhanced furthering the value of enchanting your own equipment. Personally i have my guy in a full set of Legendary Dragonplate enchanted. (Dragonplate Gauntlets-Increases Magicka by 98 points. Carrying capacity increased by 58 points) (Dragonplate Armor-Magicka regenerates 12% faster. Destruction spells cost 38% less to cast. Destruction spells cost 23% less to cast) (Silver Emerald Necklace-Increases your Magicka by 98 points. Destruction spells cost 38% less to cast) (Gold Diamond Ring-Increases fire resistance by 58%. Increases your Magicka by 98 points) (Dragonplate Helmet- Magicka regenerates 98% faster. Increases your Magicka by 98 points.) (Dragonplate Boots-Increases fire resistance by 58%. Wearer is muffled and moves silently.) I currently have 25 active effects in my Magic effects section making the character into the perfect Mage these including perks gained from the Dragonborn dlc ect ect.

End Game Tactics and Spells!

Now the final part of the Guide :) By this point you should have the Mayhem Illusion spell, lvl 90 and the Master Illusion perk. Should be done with the Destruction tree which you should have 2 points in fire damage, 2 in frost damage, dual casting and impact. From illusion you should have every single perk in the tree. Get the dual casting perk in your early levels incase something resists it you can quickly dual cast the same spell and it will work. I spec'd into Alteration up to the expert perk so i can cast detect life/dead without blowing Magicka. I didnt get any other perks in the tree but feel free to if you level past 54 and have the points to spare. Restoration i went up to apprentice and got the Necromage, and the perk that heals 250 if you fall below 25% health. Also the perk that restores stamina. Speech i spec'd all the way up the left side only putting 1 point into the base barter skill. The speech was my personal choice because i was roleplaying and also the left side of the tree is nice for someone who wants to invest in shops and wants them to have more gold. I also went into lockpicking up to master but only getting the 1 perk to the left that makes the lockpick start close to where it should be. Smithing i went up to Daedric to smith the Armor gauntlets and boots for Jordis and improving it to legendary then respec'd and made myself the full Dragonplate set and making a Dragonplate helmet for Joridis also crafting her the Dragonplate sword, shield, bow and arrows. I keep the points into the smithing tree so i can keep making arrows for her. 

Now for tactics i begin all battles that are going to be bigger than 4 or 5 people by using the detect life spell to make sure there are no friendly people around then cast Mayhem to make the entire Fort or camp of enemies fight each other. I advise you do this while invisible. while they're fighting you're free to jump in or at this point since i have all my Magic to 100 i can now mess around and summon different things ive gained from the Dragonborn dlc and where ever else and let Jordis and the summon have a go at the enemies. if you're in a crypt you use the detect dead spell instead and remember to Frenzy/Mayhem your enemies. If there are any quests that require you to kill someone as there are many of those in Skyrim unfortunately you can frenzy the person while invisible and let the others around kill that person for you meaning you get no bounties/no murder count under your stat tree. Also when you pick a lock/steal something while invisible you never get caught. People think Mages are just for fireballs but the fact is we're more versatile than playing just a warrior or assassin in the game. I have 571 armor meaning i can take just as much as a warrior plus im muffled and have alot of spells at my disposal meaning i can do the assassins job better than the assassin himself. Dual casting incinerate assassinates anyone you need dead if you're with the Dark Brotherhood or another quest. If its a bandit chief they die in 2-3 dual casted incinerate*If that* I was even able to *****Dragonborn ending spoiler*** Kill Mirak in 4 hits and *****Dawnguard spoiler?***** Kill Harkon in 3 dual casted hits before he could even move. Dragons are no longer a threat because you kill them in seconds once you're using their opposite element as in the element they're weak to dual casted. Master level destruction spells are for fun and useless otherwise and therefore wont be included here. Revered dragons which are a new type of dragon that came with one of the dlc im assuming because I've never seen them until i installed the dlc are the only things in the game that last more around 10 or more seconds in a fight only because they have such high hp. Become Ethereal will be your best friend also when you're lvl 50+ because sometimes you will meet a mage that catches you off guard and starts whacking your hp before you know whats going on. Apart from that if you're playing right you'll notice them before they notice you with your detect life spell or if you're walking around invisible which i use to do before i started traveling with my wife and she kills the enemies before i lift a finger while i lazily watch and smile in amusement. Also with the Dawnguard dlc installed when you travel to a town prepare to use the Harmony master illusion spell to calm the entire town and ensure no one gets killed while you find the enemy vampires and kill them yourself.

THE END!!!!!!

I think i covered enough to get you started on becoming the best Mage in Skyrim and having all the fun to be had while doing so. If i missed covering anything i apologize, this is my first guide and i had so much info going around in my head i didnt know which to mention and which to not so i did my best with figuring what you guys would want to know. If you need more info on anything with ANY class and playstyle since i have played them all send me a message (+Stefan Graham <----- My G+)and i'd be glad to help. Thank you +Marianne Pangan, +Ricardo M.A., +Troy Campbell, and all the others that motivated me to make my first guide. I had fun  :)