Skyrim, the Anti-Hero ways of a Bosmer Mage

It's finally here audience! That's right, my third, and most likely final, post on Skyrim. As promised, this one is themed around those magical folk in robes, the mages. There is a slight change, however.

In my last Skyrim post which featured Thor, my warrior, I promised a blog on Loki my dark elf mage...how to put this...Loki is dead...well, deleted. Senor Horny accidentally erased him many eons ago...Senor Horny the Argonian, who has as the most amount of horns possible, is something my brother created...even though I'm the one who accidentally deleted Loki...so yeah, no more Loki. Instead, I give you my Bosmer, wood elf/feykrosefahliil, mage who does what he wants, Mal-Zeno.

Oh, one more thing before we venture forth. That bold italicized green text above, that's the dragon speak, or tinvaaksedovah or dovah tinvaak or dovah thu'um or thu'umsedovah; the wording all really depends on how formal or casual you want to be. The dragon tongue is here for two reasons; first, I'm somehow more in love with Skyrim than before and this is my way of showing it. Second, zu'u dreh fos zu'u laan. Here is the hyperlink to the translator for any curious minds. Aight, let's go!

So you decided to be a mage eh? Will you be sneaky and hide behind mind tricks? Will you be bold and blast your enemies to pieces? Will you summon creatures whilst shielding yourself in battle? Only you know what type of mage you are. Regardless, your path will be somewhat challenging dear Dragonborn. You will need a lot of patience when it comes to developing your skills and a large supply of potions. At times it seems as though you are the weakest of the lot. But, then you discover runes, atronachs, enchanted armor, staffs, and the Black Star. You realize that no, you are not the weakest. Instead, you are the most badass of all because you can call upon the forces of Oblivion to destroy your enemies and empower your peers with a flick of the finger. Plus Destruction magic is awesome!!! Shall we bullet dear audience?

• Robes are for Alteration lovers, zero armor rating
• Fortify is your keyword
• Enchanting and alchemy skills, no ifs, ands, or buts.
• Illusion is a worthy perk tree
• All magic schools can be farmed
• Duel casting Destruction, enough said
• Conjuration, difficult but rewarding
• Magicka regeneration, magicka regeneration, magicka regeneration
• Restoration skills, get em
• Black star, get it
• Weapons with soul trap, make em

My, that is a rather bossy bullet list, isn't it? Haha, well I suppose I am here to tell you how to become a successful mage audience. Still, sorry for the bossiness. Now where to begin...hmmm...how about the College of Winterhold? Yes, that seems suitable.

Before we continue, if this is your first time being a mage, it is highly recommended that you choose either the High Elf (Altmer) or Breton race for your character. Both are magic strong races. They will give you an edge.

The College of Winterhold is the infamous mage college in Skyrim. It sits on a very steep cliff in what is left of Winterhold. No doubt, as you play through the first bits of the game, you will hear tales of the "Great Collapse"; it was a "natural" disaster that sacked the city of Winterhold by the Ghost Sea.

Rather cozy school, isn't it?

Somehow, the college remained completely intact. Many NPCs believe that the college is responsible for the disaster. I think a Daedric Prince become pissed off is all. The college would've protected itself due to the archive of knowledge in the massive library. As for the rest of the city, kind of screwed. That's my spin anyhow. You never really learn what happens, adds to the mystery of the event.

Anyhow, the CoW is where you can begin to expand your learnings as a mage. They have master level wizards, except Restoration, that trainer is in the temple in Whiterun, who can teach you spells and level your skills in all types of magic. Ah yes, there are five schools of magic audience; Restoration, Illusion, Conjuration, Alteration, and Destruction. Hmm, lemme bullet those too.

• Restoration, the study of healing and magical defense wards 
• Illusion, the science of the mind which bends others' will to your own. Plus invisibility.
• Conjuration, the skill of Oblivion and the ability to bring forth atronachs and weapons from beyond to assist you in combat
• Alteration, the magic of the physical world that gives its user the ability to morph ore and to protect with armor spells
• Destruction, KABOOM! You have just been inferno-ed bitch.

Now at the college, you of course have a main questline which, in my opinion, is very strange. I enjoyed it for what it was worth but I definitely prefer the Thieves Guild, Dark Brotherhood and Companion quests. Oh, that's another thing, the Dark Brotherhood. Yes, since Mal-Zeno is a bit of a bad boy, we will be touching upon that path later. 

J'zargo is warmed by your presence

Right, the college has three potential followers for you to use. They are your fellow mage students, J'zargo, Onmund, and Brelyna, and are quite useful. They can accompany you on your quests and provide extra storage space for when your pockets become too full. They do not teach you any magic unfortunately, but they each favor a discipline of Destruction as well as Conjuration. My favorite is J'zargo the Khajiit because his voice and sayings are fantastic. 

In order to gain the trust of your peers, you must do special quests for them. These quests only become available after the first main quest in the college is complete. The quests are easy, but Brelyna's quest is hilarious and the most simple to complete. Seriously, you have to check that one out.

Before we attack magic training, I think I should explain a few bullets. Duel casting, for starters, is when you have the same spell equipped in both hands. Each skill tree in magic has a duel casting perk that causes extra damage or longer duration. Destruction is, in my opinion, the most beneficial since your enemies go KABOOM faster. 

Warning: Master level spells are all duel casting. They are technically the most powerful spells but take the longest to cast. This can be bothersome in a battle since enemies frequently interrupt you via melee attacks. Time or power, your choice audience.

I also mentioned enchanting and alchemy. These two skills are useful for just about everybody, but mages gain a lot from strong fortifying enchantments and potions. Armor can be enchanted to fortify, or enhance, your magicka regeneration to your Destruction damage to your sneaking prowess. Potions do the same but for a duration of time. Creating magicka and health replenishing potions with fortifying effects is an asset to being a mage. Hey, you run out of magicka easily in battle and often need a health boost in between spells. Way of the mage.

Shrine of Azura. Pain in the ass to reach.

Another point is the Black Star and soul trapping in general. All magical weapons require the recharge of soul gems after a while; unfortunately, soul gems can be difficult to obtain and fill in the beginning. The best option is to acquire the Black Star from the Azura's Star quest; this is a corrupted version of the reusable soul gem, Azura's Star, that absorbs black souls. Black souls charge as grand souls and come from any human enemy, think bandits and necromancers. Find a weapon that can trap souls, often they are daggers looted from crypts, destroy it, and forge a soul trapping bow. Just shoot a bandit, Black Star is filled. Easy and affordable.

Moving onto leveling/using your disciplines of magic. Now, I did warn you that being mage takes patience audience. It does. A lot of it. You will have to farm some, if not all, of these abilities. Fortunately, the farming ways level everything up in a timely manner, except Alteration. Alteration is a bitch.

Quick Tip: Although your mage may be "focused" on certain schools of magic, having strong Illusion, Restoration and Alteration is advantageous for every kind of wizard. All three have useful perks; Quiet Casting for stealthy spells, faster magicka regeneration with Recovery, and better magicka defense via Magic Resistance respectfully. 

Various tomes of the schools

Leveling up your magic skills! I say we start with Alteration since it is the bitch of the group, allows us to move on to the easy stuff. 

Right-o, in general, when farming magic schools, you want to use low level spells repeatedly. This allows the skill to build up continuously without depleting large amounts of magicka. However, Alteration is not that easy; one of the schools has to be the thorn on the rose. The best way I've leveled Alteration is through trainers and the spell Transmute, the Midas themed spell. Transmute is useful for your finances since it makes gold out of iron ore; you can acquire the spell tome after completing the Treva's Tower quest in the Rift. Seriously, how can anyone deny that spell? Trainers, think CoW services, do cost money but they can be used up to five times per level; use them each level to maximize your leveling process overall, if you have the coin that is. 

Other options include Magelight, a low level spell that can be farmed though it takes time. In the beginning, Magelight provides decent leveling but this plateaus rather quickly. You can use the various "flesh" spells, they give you magical armor, however, they only help to level you in battle, in other words when you're being hurt. The best use of the Ironflesh/Oakflesh/Ebonyflesh spells is to purposely damage yourself, with little to no armor, while recasting them every so often; fires, spike traps, or the winds of The Throat of the World will do the trick. In fact, if you're patient enough, you can level Restoration at the same time.

Quick Tip: You will probably use the Mage Stone, mage skills increase 20% faster, throughout the game. Although, it should be noted that the Lord and Apprentice Standing Stones are catered more to those with magic defense skills. Lord Stone, gives extra armor rating and protection against magic. Apprentice Stone, greatly increases magicka regeneration at the cost of making you more susceptible to magicka damage. Both are located near Markarth. If you are a strong Alteration user, consider switching stones. 

Break out the robes!

Restoration, how I love and loath you. Being the school of healing, Restoration has a large advantage in and out of battle. In fact, one of my favorite perks is available in this tree, Respite; all Restoration spells heal both health and stamina, so sweet! Leveling Restoration can be tricky since you need to be injured for the spells to heal you. You can organically do so by healing yourself in and out of battle and using wards to protect yourself from magical attacks. Or you can farm the skill by purposely injuring yourself. As previously stated, this goes well with Alteration farming. Start off with the basic Healing spell and work up to higher level tomes, such as Close Wounds. Learned Restoration guarantees another day of adventuring. Healing your allies doesn't hurt either. So puny!

Warning: The spells I suggest to you do in fact level your character. You are free to experiment but know that not all spells level the magical schools. Some, such as Clairvoyance, Detect Life, and Telekinesis are just for show. 

Ahem, let's focus now upon Destruction magic. Ah, this is my second favorite school. I mean, fire balls, ice spikes, and lightning all at your fingertips. Plus, magical runes! Runes are traps that damage enemies when walked upon. Don't worry, you can't trigger your own runes audiences. The use of runes is more of a sneaky way of magic, great for those who hide in the shadows and watch their enemies be set ablaze. They are also a good way to level organically because man, does Destruction take awhile to become effective! I highly recommend sticking to one type of Destruction in the perk tree while you level your skills; this ensures one strong element that can kill enemies efficiently rather than an array of spells that don't do much but use up magicka. Fire is the beginner element for two reasons; firstly, it sets your enemies on fire dealing extra damage. Secondly, most creatures in Skyrim are frost resistant, think Nords, trolls, Draugr and vampires, but are susceptible to fire. Once you've perked your way up the fire limb, you can move on to strengthening ice and shock damage. The higher level Destruction spells are quite amazing and fun to use audience. It's a very rewarding type of magic. 

Right, leveling Destruction effectively. Became a bit carried away there didn't I? Personally I just conjured up an atronach and killed it with firebolts or ice spikes. Leveled my Destruction right up. Seriously, like within forty minutes level 100. Speaking of atronachs...

Conjuration! It is the summoning school and somewhat forbidden arts since it draws power from the Daedra world of Oblivion. The best way to level this discipline is not by conjuring. Yeah, you heard me right. You could sit back, bring forth the fire atronach from the depths of Oblivion, and watch it fight until you need to summon it again. Merely conjuring the atronach does nothing for your level unless you're in battle. Summon, hide, watch, repeat. Or, you can cast Soul Trap on a dead chicken. Yes, you can Soul Trap a dead body repeatedly until you are at level 100. It doesn't take as long as you might think and yes, I used a chicken. The college didn't seem to mind one bit.

That brings us to Illusion, the last, easiest, and my favorite school of magic. What can I say? I love becoming invisible! Yes, now Illusion has a spell called Muffle which doesn't use up too much magic but levels like crazy. Seriously, the first fifty levels can be gained one after the other in no time at all; Muffle, level thirty, Muffle Muffle, level thirty-one, and so on. In under half an hour, I had Illusion maxed out. I even made the skill legendary and leveled it back to 100, while running around Whiterun, just for perksies. It's the school that you give the most and gives back the most. Invisibility, all thanks to Muffle, seriously awesome! Plus, Calm, Fear, and other mind bending spells. Still, invisible. 

That is how to level your mage skills in a nice orderly summary. Ha, let us discuss what you can do with some of these skills, namely Illusion since it is often overlooked. Mind control gives you an advantage over your enemies both in and out of battle. Being unseen is not only fun for pick-pocketing NPCs, but is great for stabbing them in the back before looting their bodies. Oh yes, it's become dark in here audience. Dark Brotherhood dark.

The Black Door, security system included.

Though I am an all-around mage as Mal-Zeno, I enjoy being sneaky and stealthy so much audience that I couldn't resist making my Bosmer an assassin too. The Dark Brotherhood is the "guild" of assassins, headquartered near Falkreath in a sanctuary, that assigns my second favorite questline in Skyrim; Theives Guild is always number one. It also has the most annoying character in Skyrim, Cicero. 

In order to join the Dark Brotherhood, you must kill the proprietor of the orphanage in Riften. After, of course, receiving the quest from a brooding child in Windhelm. Trust me, talk to the guards a bit, they'll tell you bout the little weirdo hiding in his house. Do this and you'll be visited soon, after you nap even.

Now, I'm not going to give away the quests or spoils of the Dark Brotherhood, what fun would that be? I mean, yes, they center around you killing people for money, bit obvious there. But the fantastic details of the main questline are too great to tell you. Audience, experience them for yourself. You shall not be bored. Rather than go into that, let's bring up Cicero again.

Cicero, dear sweet mad annoying as fuck Cicero. He's an assassin dressed as jester, whom you are able to encounter outside of the sanctuary prior to joining; he's often found near a broken carriage in Whiterun going on about his mother. Cicero loves to dance, giggle, talk about killing, discuss madness, and sing, all in a high pitched grating voice. He giggles when you touch him. Again, he giggles. Can you believe I didn't kill him? You have the choice to do so, eventually, but I spared him since I haven't done so before; I always killed him. The only useful thing about him is he is an non-killable follower if you decide to let him live. I still want to punch him in the face constantly. Often I indulge my instincts. He's also useful for Restoration and Destruction training. Hit him with some firebolts and then heal him. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat.

Enough about Cicero. Let's move onto Solstheim, we have a bit of time left before this post becomes a novel. Solstheim is an island off of Skyrim that is close to Morrowind, the Dunmer/Dark Elf province of Tamriel. It is covered in ash, ice, and only accessible through the DLC Dragonborn. 

Rustically charming with extra ash!

In Windhelm, there is a boat that will take you to Solstheim. Upon arriving in the port of Raven Rock, you realize that Solsthiem is in dire need of your help. There's a douche named Miraak, a dragon priest in fact, wrecking havoc on the island. He's trying to take over by leading a cult and all that. So original of him. You need to stop him, of course. You are the only one who can stop him, yup. Everyone will criticize you while you save their sorry asses, typical. Miraak does ask for an ass whooping, cause, again, he's a douche, so the questline of thwarting him is satisfying. Besides that, there's an issue with the mine, the Daedric Prince Hermaeus Mora is on the prowl, the Skaal people are disappearing, and there's treasure to be found! Seriously, the treasure hunt is so much fun! No digging required either. The other stuff, well they involved an old pickaxe and some black books, I won't spoil the fun of it all. Though careful with the books, the "librarians" are touchy about their collections.

Oh! Solstheim, this mysterious DLC that I will not spoil, has a very useful tool for the discerning mage, the staff enchanter. That's right audience, you can enchant staffs again just like in Oblivion! No spell maker or chameleon powers though, damn. Anyways, if you befriend the local wizard Neloth by finding him a new steward, he allows you to use his staff enchanter. You will need a plain staff, he sells them, a few heart stones, a unique rock that can be mined in Solstheim, and a knowledge of magic. The more spells and experience you have. the stronger the staff can be. I love staffs since they allow you to use magic in battle without spending magicka...oh...allow me to highlight that fact...

Quick Tip: Staffs use soul gem recharge instead of magicka. This allows your magicka to regenerate in battle but still uses your strengths in magic; the higher your skill in Destruction fire spells the stronger the fire staffs. Recharge them like any other enchanted weapon.

Wow. This is a long post. I think I'll finish it with a word about Netches. Harvesting Netch jelly is just plain mean! I mean, c'mon, the Netches just float around and don't harm anyone. In fact, they are so peaceful and cute. Screw you Raven Rock for your cruel ways. Ash Spawn are ten times worse but no one wants to harvest them, oh no, just the peaceful native wildlife instead. Netch lover for life! Solstheim is a strange island with plenty of quests to try and enemies to slaughter, just leave the Netches alone.

Save the whales and the Netches!

And that concludes this post. Yup, it's over. I truly believe that I covered everything to enable a strong start in the magical world. I hope you've enjoyed learning about the path of mage audience, Mal-Zeno style. A special thanks to my father for contributing his ideas to this post; you're the most experienced and best wizard I know Dad. Happy casting and mul lah grah Dovahkiin!