How do I build up a stealth-mage early in Skyrim? [closed]

I have just started out out playing a a High Elf stealth-mage in Skyrim and am wondering how to build up my character. I will definitely need Stealth and Illusion so I should should start sneaking everywhere and casting Fury and Muffle, I guess. My offensive options magic-wise are either Conjuration or Destruction. I also dislike followers since they get in the way and prevent me using my spells. My goal is to get Quiet Casting perk so I can attack enemies without being heard by sneaking around them. The problem is that perk comes only at 50 Illusion. Since I will need Illusion no matter which offensive magic path I take I am wondering which one I should take to stay alive early on.

Destruction has good attacks especially with dual casting but with Conjuration I can have someone else do my fighting for me or build up one-handed or archery by conjuring swords and bows. Also, does Calm or Pacify work on Dragons early on? I'm thinking I could run away instead of fighting them early. I currently have a level 8 character at 29 Destruction but pretty weak on other skills. I can kill bandits with one blast using Lightning dual cast but magic NPCs are a lot tougher. I get killed easy. I'm thinking of branching into other schools of magic. So whats the recommendation for an early on character trying to play this path? Which type/guild quests should I take? I realize Winterhold is a must but may come across many magic NPCs in that, don't know. Maybe I should focus on side/misc quests first? I guess my main questions are how I should play early on and which guild quests to focus on at this stage?

the-elder-scrolls-v-skyrim

Best Answer

If you wear robes Alteration is pretty much a must, since it has spells that give you much needer armor (and perks that empower those spells if you wear NO armor at all).

Since you talk about mods there is one that fits the archetype you're thinking about, it allows spells to deal Sneak damage ; it changes the Sneak perks tree, if I remember correctly. I tried and remember it conflicting a bit with other spell mods, but that doesn't seem to be an issue for you :)

Witches are actually fairly strong, I've always done the hargraven quest much later in the game.

In vanilla Conjured Weapons are really strong, so a perfectly viable path is "being a sneak Guy who uses conjured weapons", HOWEVER sneak often won't work well on bosses; against them Destruction works better.

You should hoard soul gems to level enchanting later: that skill will allow you to drastically reduce the magicka costs of a couple of magic schools, or provide other bonuses as needed, and the max level perk is far too strong to skip it :)

As far as guilds go Winterhold and the Thieves Guild are your obvious choice. The Dark Brotherhood give other VERY STRONG sneak items, so look into them if you're fine being EEEEVIIIILLL :)

To address potions: YES, they are extremely useful, use them whenever and make them, they do have 2 weaknesses though:

Weight
Alchemy is SLOW

Both the potions and the ingredients weigh a LOT. Really, I found myself with a 700-carrying character bringing around something like 400-worth of ingredients ( modded game of course ;) ).

You do have options to address this problem, there are a couple really nifty Reweight mods which can make all potions and ingredients lighter or weightless ( I used to make potions weigh 0.1 and reduce ingredients weight by 50%, up to personal choice of course).

Alchemy is really a pain to level, so viable, yes, but also quite time-consuming IMHO. Again, there might be mods that make it faster, can't tell for sure as I've never looked for one.

This would allow you to beat the game, BUT if instead you use both Potions AND Alteration you'll get the best results :)

Pictures about "How do I build up a stealth-mage early in Skyrim? [closed]"

How do I build up a stealth-mage early in Skyrim? [closed] - House Floor Plan

How do I build up a stealth-mage early in Skyrim? [closed] - Photo of Person Holding Alarm Clock

How do I build up a stealth-mage early in Skyrim? [closed] - Man in Yellow Safety Vest Climbing on Ladder

Where can I get good mage robes early in Skyrim?

You can sneak+cast with Quiet Casting, yes. However, doing so, with most spells gives away your position almost immediately. And there is no damage bonus for sneak attack spells. However, as also noted in the post, this will most likely give away your position and defeat the entire purpose of sneaking to begin with.

Can you do stealth magic in Skyrim?

So, if you are looking for the top 10 best Skyrim Mage builds, then you are in the right place. Here we will go through some of the coolest mage builds in Skyrim that you just can't go wrong with....

The Dream Strider. What is this? ...
Spellsword. ...
Druid. ...
Necromancer. ...
Destruction Mage. ...
The Battle Mage. ...
Healer. ...
Alteration Mage.

What is the best mage build in Skyrim?

The BEST way to be an awesome mage is to get your enchanting skill up to at least 50 or preferably 75 and get Armor, Helmet, Ring and Necklace with the enchantment Fortify Destruction which will reduce the cost of Destruction magic by 15 - 20% per item.

Skyrim: How To Make An OP ILLUSION Build Early

Sources: Stack Exchange - This article follows the attribution requirements of Stack Exchange and is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.

Images: Rodolfo Quirós, Pixabay, Acharaporn Kamornboonyarush, Pixabay