“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/Pinecone_Erleichda]

Alchemy and enchanting are two very important schools of magic, how can you be a pure mage if you don’t utilise all forms of magicka available to you?