Game of the Mage: Path to Power
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Wizards are pragmatic people. They like to do everything calmly and at a measured pace. Running, jumping, sneaking, dodging, and hitting — all this fuss is not for them. Upon spotting an enemy, they prefer to kill it without unnecessary movements, not getting distracted from scanning the surroundings in search of something valuable. Burning and incinerating, leaving behind only handfuls of ash on scorched earth — this is how they deal with those who stand in their way.

As always in the TES series, a mage can be anything. Nobody forbids you from casting fireballs while wearing heavy armor. But here, I want to talk about playing as a pure mage, who does not wear armor and uses no weapon except magic.

Despite the gameplay in Skyrim becoming much more engaging, including the gameplay of the wizard, the magic itself in the game is somewhat primitive. I hope that in the future, more interesting and useful spells will appear. Nevertheless, even with what is available, much can be achieved. A well-leveled mage is like a walking AA gun, showering everyone with an endless stream of fire and lightning. Such a mage can destroy any enemy without consuming a single healing potion or mana flask.

I want to discuss several ways to achieve great power while playing as a mage.

In principle, you can play as any class as a mage, but High Elves and Bretons have certain advantages. The elf has the ability to activate a rapid mana regeneration for a minute once a day, which helps when you need to bombard particularly tough enemies with spells. However, I would still recommend playing as a Breton. Firstly, with the right leveling, the question of mana amount will soon become irrelevant, and secondly, the Breton has a natural resistance to magic, which will help them endure in battles against mages.

1. Infinite Mana

In the game, two parameters control mana: amount and regeneration speed. At first, it may seem beneficial to develop the speed of mana regeneration (there are even relevant perks in the Restoration school), especially when you get gear that increases mana regeneration by 100% or more. But in practice, it’s not so beautiful. I would advise you to disregard this parameter altogether because when your mana runs out in battle, no regeneration will save you. In reality, it is so weak that the difference between 100% regeneration and 300% is practically imperceptible.

So when you see gear that provides +100% mana recovery, don’t get too excited. Much more useful are properties that reduce spell costs. In fact, this is one of the main keys to the mage's power — enchanting.

In pursuit of more powerful destruction spells, sooner or later you'll hit a ceiling, where you simply won’t have enough mana to kill a strong enemy. Meanwhile, your health will be reduced in 1-2 hits. Eventually, you'll have to run in circles around pillars, constantly gulping potions, and saving frequently. Not exactly epic, is it?

Enchanting, when fully leveled, will allow us to make two schools of magic completely free. For this, you need to level up enchanting to 100, level up all perks for increasing the power of your effects (5 perks), and 1 perk that allows you to apply 2 effects to one item at once (this is the last one, to unlock it you'll need to unlock the previous 2, totaling 8). In combination with a grand soul gem, you can apply 2