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Being a Mage inThe Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion Remasteredis one of the most complex ways to play the game, and that complexity is part of what makes it so much fun. Many other builds can sustain themselves easily enough on simply continually getting a better weapon, and keeping up on their armor.
Mages can’t rely on this. Instead, they need to keep a laundry list of spells at the ready, swapping back and forth between them as the situation demands, ensuring they manage their Magicka well enough that they can do what they need to do to survive. Being a Mage isn’t easy; here’s how to get a leg up.
How To Create A Mage
Playing a Magein Oblivion Remasteredstarts at the character creator. There are quite a few race options to play as in Oblivion Remastered, each coming with its own advantages and drawbacks. Three of these races in particular can be beneficial when playing as a Mage, thoughany of them are viable if you’re willing to put in the work.
Best Race Types For A Mage
The three best races to choose for a Mage are:
As for what’s best for your build,any of these three are particularly viable. Dark Elves are going to be the most difficult to start with when it comes to their Magicka pool, while the other two aren’t going to need to work around that as much.
Best Attributes For A Mage
There are a few differentmain attributes that are going to be especially impactfulfor a Mage, and they shouldbe your primary focus when leveling up. But, some of the other attributes can be helpful, whenleveled upas supplementary to the main ones.
Effect
Intelligence
Intelligence is one of, if not the most important, attribute for a Mage. This controls thesize of your total Magicka pool, and many of the best spells require quite a bit of Magicka to cast.
Willpower
Willpower controls your maximum Fatigue, as well ashow quickly you regenerate Magicka. If you have high Intelligence and low Willpower, you’re going to find you start very strong early on in fights, but run out of the ability to cast spells quickly. With high Willpower, you’ll be able to consistently cast spells.
Agility
Many Mages wield a dagger as a weapon for when, for one reason or another, they aren’t casting a spell. Agilityaffects your damage with daggers, as well as increasing your maximum Fatigue and how quickly that Fatigue regenerates.
Speed
Certain enemies are going to move toward you quickly, or from an angle you don’t expect.The higher your speed, the better your chances of getting out of their ideal rangeand back into yours.
Luck
Luckhas a hand in all of your skills and attributes, meaning the higher your Luck, the better everything you do is.
Endurance
For the most part, Endurance isn’t too big of a factor of playing a Mage. But, particularlyif you’re making heavy use of closer-range spells, an increase in Endurance canprove particularly helpful.
Best Major Skills For A Mage
Mages have a pretty easy focus when it comes to Major Skills, though there are more of them for Mages than there are for many other classes.
For most Mages, a mix of focuses will serve you well when it comes to different schools of Magic. Without focusing on at least a few different aspects of Magic, you’re going to have a build that is not particularly well-rounded, and will struggle in certain situations.
Destruction
This is going to be wherethe majority of your damage comes from. Destruction spells' main focus is its namesake, and the higher level your Destruction skill is, the more destructive spells you can cast.
Restoration
This will impacthow easy it is for you to keep yourself alive. There are many different Restoration skills, with effects ranging from healing you to fortifying you against damage, and so on. The higher this level, the higher-level Restoration spells you’ll have access to.
Conjuration
The ability to conjure willhelp you keep some of the heat off of yourself in fights, which is particularly helpful in fights against more than one enemy. It also allows you to conjure weapons and armor. The higher this skill, the more things you may conjure.
Alteration
Alteration is a comboquality-of-life and survivability perk, influencing whether or not you may magically pick locks and improve how much you can carry, but it also allows you toshieldyourself from damage.
Mysticism
This school of magic has two particularly important effects; yourability tobind soulsand yourability to absorb and reflect magic. Other minor effects come with this, as well.
Illusion
Illusion spells give you sometools for dealing with multiple enemies at the same time, as a companion for your Conjuration abilities.
Best Spells For Mages
There are a ton of spells to use in Oblivion Remastered, and it’s worth trying most of them out to figure out what works best for you and what you find the most fun. But for the purpose of discussing the best options,here are some of the best spells that can become regulars in your rotation:
Certain spells included in this list are not the most upgraded version; there are spells in the game that have a similar effect, and are simply more powerful for a higher Magicka cost.
Summon
Conjuring
There are various spells thatsummon other creatures to fight alongside you; the first of these you’ll find is likely going to beSummon Skeleton, but these grow in Magicka cost and creature strength as you progress through the game. These creatures sometimes get put down rather quickly when they’re focus-fired, butcan provide nice backup.
Healing
Healing spells increase health restored as you adventure, and are anextremely simple and quick way to heal yourself.
Fireball/Blizzard/Lightning
These do exactly what they sound like they’re going to do. Thehigher level the spell, the more damaging it’s going to be. Some of these spells will damage multiple targets, while others are more single target.
Paralyze
This is going to let youstop enemies in their tracks entirely. This will make a tremendous difference in managing fights against multiple people, and will be heavily used in your most stressful situations.
Soul Trap
This is a maintenance-type spell. You’ll need a better version of this spell to capture more powerful souls, and themore powerful the soul you capture, the more options you’re going to have with the soul gemwhen it comes to enchanting.
Spell Absorption
This is going to give you a chance toabsorb an incoming spell and turn it into Magicka. This will help you keep casting spells throughout a longer fight.
Touch
Touch spells candeal very heavy damageand come in avariety of elemental effects. Knowing what elemental effect to use on each enemy is important, and you’ll also need to ensure that your character can handle themselves in close range to use these spells. But, it can be worth it, for the damage potential.
Weaknesses
You caninflict a weakness to a certain elemental effect on an enemy; doing this and then mercilessly using that elemental effect against them can be extremely effective, especially when they’re already weak to that effect to begin with.
Chameleon
Chameleonand its related spells willgive you a certain amount of invisibility. This will help you either get into a dangerous situation on your own terms or get out of one that you aren’t interested in being a part of.
How To Play As A Mage
Playing as a Mage in Oblivion Remastered willtake some creative spell combinations, especially when you get into difficult situations.
Chain different spells together to see what works; this can be particularly effective when these come from different schools. Paralyzing enemies before hitting them with a damage spell is an obvious combo, and each situation is going to call for their creative problem-solving.
Lean Into Alchemy
You don’t need to focus too hard on Alchemy, butconsider slotting it in as at least a minor skill. Potions are afantastic choice for supporting most builds, and that’s especially true of a Mage.
Potions have a huge variety of effects,some of which overlap with spell effects. You can either use a spell to essentially cast a spell without Magicka, or use a potion to keep your Magicka filled in a dangerous situation.
Wear Light Armor
Light Armor won’t hurt your spellcasting ability too much, and thebenefits will outweigh the drawbacks in many situations. The more you use the Light Armor, the higher the level it will be, and eventually, it will provide you with much better protection.
This is especially true of a Mage making heavy use of Touch spells in the Destruction school. These skills can provide some very heavy damage, and with the armor, you can’t be too worse for wear for taking a couple of hits.
