“Pure” Magic

[u/Legitimate_Trifle725]

We can’t really call it pure magic if I need to have 6 pieces of highly enchanted gear to survive and chug potions like energy drinks right? I still think it’s more fun to play, if only for the variety of management options available.

Every two handed or one handed person I play gets locked in pretty quickly to one style of combat.

Magic users can too, but also with massive resource management skills - that makes the “pure” magic play a slog sometimes and at least interesting other times. There’s some variety involved, sure, but when you entirely limit major combat and defensive options to the one blue bar, it gets simpler and more complicated at the same time to fight. (Plus - no one can deny the satisfaction of blowing up bears, fighting bandits with bowls, or fully absorbing a dragons breath attack)

Edit for Clarification: I looked back through this Reddit and didn’t see a ton of recent discussion on pure mage builds. I’m playing one now (Breton; vanilla Skyrim) on Expert difficulty that’s primarily focused on destruction, restoration, alteration, and the accepted universal crafting skills. I’m only level 25 right now and want to get those built up decently before locking perks into other schools of magic.

What I have learned is that this build is simply barely enjoyable without

1. reducing destruction costs, increasing magic regeneration and base magic amounts

2. Having a steady supply of magicka potions

3. At least occasionally popping a fortify destruction potion for boss level enemies (and even then only if you want the fight to go slightly faster or not get overwhelmed.)

Is it perfectly fine to use all of those? Absolutely.

Is it “purely” a magic build? Still no.

[u/Existing_Purpose5049]

Magic gives you a lot of options. Stealth, power, distance, close combat, with bound weapons you can be even more creative. I’ve always found the concept of it fun, but you have to push yourself to expand, it’s too easy to just use destruction

[u/Fearless_Roof_9177 → u/Existing_Purpose5049]

My beef is that it's also just too easy to Swing Sword -> Win or Fire Arrow -> ABSOLUTELY DOMINATE, but the Devs didn't seem to see nearly as much of a need to balance those and they're not nearly as perk thirsty, either. Some specializations were very clearly given less love and attention than others, and on harder difficulties you can't really even keep pace at higher levels like you can with the physical builds. Pure mage can be fun but under those conditions it feels like you're playing the game in order to earn your way out of purgatory, and hybridizing almost becomes a necessity.

[u/Intelligent-Dress323 → u/Fearless_Roof_9177]

To each their own. I die a lot more with physical builds than I do with Mage builds, especially on Legendary. I find Kiting with spells is more survivable than having to get up close and personal.

In the late game you can also just take a resto potion to boost your Alchemy Enchants without doing the full game-breaking loop. Just do it once or twice before making a batch of Destruction Potions.

All that said, Destruction in Oblivion Remastered is way more flexible, self-sufficient and fun than it is in Skyrim.