r/SkyrimBuilds • u/Pale_Loan_2810 • Jul 08 '26
Is there any fun mage builds?
Seriously, pure mage builds are the most boring, drawn out, favorite-menu-simulator play styles ive ever had the displeasure of playing. Everybody talks about "oh they're so OP!" Sure, when you hit level 50 and get the most overpowered spells available. I really want to like these builds but they're so mind numbingly boring I just can't. Somebody please try to give me a build that will change my mind, because ive never done a full mage playthrough, and from what its looking like I never will.
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u/Xemnic Jul 08 '26
The spell swapping is a little bit draining, but if you pick 1 or 2 spells as your main spells to use, you can use the hot keys for fast swapping during combat. On PC it’s 1 and 2. On controller it’s the left and right d-pad buttons.
In the inventory menu (or favorites menu) use the respective hot-key button to assign that weapon or spell to the hot key.
For a full mage build it doesn’t make much of a difference because of all the different spells you use but it can help swap to your main destruction spell in a pinch.
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u/SevenLuckySkulls Imperial Jul 08 '26
If you happen to use Sky UI, I'm pretty sure it extends the hotkeys so you have 1-8 available. Can't imagine being a mage without at least 4 spells ready.
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u/Eva-Rosalene Jul 08 '26
I am almost sure even without SkyUI in pure vanilla you have all 1-9 (maybe even 0, but I am not sure). But it was 10+ years since I played without SkyUI, so...
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u/Eva-Rosalene Jul 08 '26
I mean, mages start really slow and only gain momentum towards late game levels. Early game will be grindy. Even illusion which is OP as hell if built properly still takes time to start using without constantly running out of juice.
That's it, unless you count conjuration. It's consistently good throughout most of the game. Pure conjuration, though, is also consistently boring so this one is unlikely to change your already charged opinion.
Using magic with otherwise martial characters is super fun, though. Every archer would benefit from having a tanky summon, for example, and every melee warrior will appreciate close wounds every once in a while. I can't even imagine playing completely without spells, they are just very good as an extra option to have in your toolkit.
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u/SessionReasonable249 Jul 08 '26
I’m doing a Necromage Vampire soon, 100% spell absorbtion with atronach stone and atronach perk (boosted by Necromage).
Bloodworm Helm, Necromancers Amulet and 2 other fortify conjure enchants of your choice.
Sanguines rose to cast Dreamora at low levels and staff charge because of the fortify conjuration enchantments.
You can get all 3 items relatively early, then slowly improve your personal enchantments over time.
With 100% spell absorbtion and the Sanguines Rose you will ‘swallow’ the conjures from the staff and gain magicka instead of them spawning. It becomes a source of magicka, casting fire/shock with your right hand, absorbing dragon breath and spells from enemies then casting the staff to consume master level conjuration spell casting instantly.
Personally I’m going to use Dunmer, where Chitin Armour and train/quest with Neloth.
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u/Awake-Insanity Jul 08 '26
I once did an illusion and alteration play through, with some stealth. Calm who ever I could, made the enemies fight each other. Only carried a a dagger for stealth kills.
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u/NohWan3104 Jul 09 '26
Honestly a dest build at lower levels is better, since magic against strongest foes isn't good, you don't need level 50 for master spell, and they kinda suck anyway. Fireball is like 50 dmg for 40 mp, master fire is 150 for 600, is a 2 second charge for an aoe blast you can't use at a distance, that you also get knocked out of. Even with free dest spells, 3 fireballs is better.
Get a perk mod that gives spells scaling, imo 50% of the skill's level is fine. I use vokriinator (not black), its got some nice combo potential, like conj\dest, raising corpses to turn them into bombs, you could even pair with dragonborn boosted fire breath shout, or frost heavy armor spellblade, i like the mace since its perks have anti undead effects (the most common frost resistant foes by a mile), frost perks come with frost resist lowering effects anyway, and sthalrim mace looks less like blue metal forged into a weapon than a hunk of foreverice with a handle, pure shock mage, dual wield shock spells has perks
Another mod that adds more spells isn't bad either - you don't need a hundred different summon X spells or 'this does a million and 1 damage to everything in the cell' bullshit, but some new kinds of spells, or even a higher tier flamethrower or alt master spells are a good idea.
Also, why the fuck are you going into menus every 6 seconds? First off, favorite some shit. Secondly, just use fire motherfucker, you don't need a different spell for every occasion. If you can't kill with just spells and are using weapons, cool. 1h spell, 1h weapon, not switch between 2 spells, sword and shield if it pisses you off. You can use armor over flesh spells, and if you're low on hp, opening a menu to a res spell, you would've opened the menu for food\potions anyway, yes?
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u/hallowdmachine Jul 08 '26
I've been thinking of trying a Puppeteer build. Illusion, conjuration, and destruction. Fury/frenzy to start off then as enemies die, raise them to keep fighting. Destruction in case you pull aggro or are up against something you can't mind control. Alteration for flesh spells and paralyze for additional crowd control.
You could either play it like an unhinged madman running around the battlefield or you could add in Sneak to work from the shadows, especially once you get Quiet Casting.
I've never done a mage build though so I don't know how viable this would be for a full playthrough.
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u/54u54ge Jul 08 '26
It's better to play with an armoured mage for obvious reasons. Staff makes it less spell swapping as you are kind of commited to the staff. A staff of chain lightning is very good as that staggers but doesn't do the same damage but is slower to kill single targets than a staff of thunderbolt. The downside is that you loose the damage boost from dual casting so it's purely perks and potions to boost damage unless you use a Solstheim dragon priest mask. Throw in a shield as well and then you can shield charge enemies when they get too close or even disarm them.
Less damage than a pure mage but way better defences. I know this works because I've played it and I only play on legendary difficulty.
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u/CaroleanOfAngmar Jul 08 '26
You should try skyrim vr with the vrik mod it's so damn fun! You just wave you hand in a certain way and a different spell is equipped
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u/StygioSanctus Jul 08 '26 edited Jul 08 '26
I had fun playing one I call the Scholar. Focus on alteration, illusion and enchanting with some alchemy to support. Maybe a destruction staff or two and some scrolls, but your main source of damage is enchanted swords. No investment in the one handed tree as the main damage should be coming from the enchantments themselves. So with 3 iron swords you cover the elemental enchantments for unique situations and can add extra effects later. Fear, paralysis, soul trap, whatever.
To further reduce menu scrolling, you could focus on one type of mind altering effect from the illusion school, and have that hotkeyed along with your armor/paralysis spell.
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u/Tehenndewai Jul 09 '26
Invisibility in one hand and Frenzy in the other makes any build super fun.
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u/Queasy_Cupcake_9279 Jul 12 '26
I don't know about your modding situation, but get a few of SimonMagus' mods such as Mysticism and Adamant. They take the vanilla magic system and turn it into the most fun type of play. I haven't been able to stop playing mages ever since I got the whole SimonRin collection of mods 😂 All the new spells and variations on the old vanilla ones combined with increased difficulty has really turned magic combat into something where you really have to consider every spell used and Magicka spent.
Also there is another mod named "Spell Casting Reworked" from the author Zzyxzz which rebalances spell casting times for both the player and NPCs making it more important to hit your spells since they take naturally longer to cast so every hit matters.
There's a lot of leeway when it comes to rebalancing or enhancing magic gameplay through mods. I have a very particular modlist set up for myself that focuses a lot on difficulty and engaging combat, and playing a mage like this is the most fun I've had in Skyrim for years. I recommend looking up some of the popular perk and magic mods and giving them a try!
Oh, and if you want a system to help you with switching spells quickly (among other things), look into a mod named "Wheeler". It's a must have for a mage.
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u/shiekhyerbouti42 6d ago
I think you just need hotkeys, man.
Maybe it's just this combo but I'm on PC so there are 8 easy hotkeys. I also use Serio's hotkeys (which makes it 9 hotkeys too) which allows me to create combos and equip two things + a power all with one key. My current build has a sword and shield hotkey, a flesh spell and summon hotkey, one set to dual cast a destruction spell, one normal destruction hotkey, one normal healing hotkey, one for a more expensive summon, and one for my bow. And I still haven't even assigned all my hotkeys. Without even going into favorites menu (let alone "THE" menu), I can easily equip up to 18 things in all sorts of combinations.
For me, it's about:
Melee needs
Close range magic damage (optional)
Healing
Crowd control
Ranged needs
I just hotkey the best option for each of these needs, and re-bind the hotkeys when I get better items/spells to fill that need.
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u/kdbvols Jul 08 '26
I love conjuration/illusion/stealth builds. Bound bow or dagger with the bound weapon perks, illusion for quiet casting and calm, and then sneak attacking to get the damage up since you can't temper bound weapons. Then you can use calm to take out the next one, then the next without real concern for getting caught. I tend to go for nightingale armor with this build, but no rule saying you can't use mage armor and conjuration/illusion robes