Unveil comprehensive information about the top-tier Mage setup in Elder Scrolls Oblivion, including handy tips and strategies to maximize its potential.
In Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, you can create a powerful Mage character that primarily relies on magical abilities for combat. This journey takes you through the Imperial Province of Cyrodiil where you’ll encounter numerous non-player characters and face an assortment of enemies. As a Mage, your attributes of Intelligence and Willpower enable you to cast a multitude of spells, including those for damage, defense, healing, absorption, and shielding, in the heat of battle. By mastering spells from each magic school, you can make quick work of opponents. The Mage is versatile, capable of wielding weapons as well as spells to control the battlefield. Maintain a balance between your Magicka and Health, utilize defensive skills, and heal when necessary to survive in combat. Use spells from all magic schools not only for fighting but also for exploration within Cyrodiil.
In the game Elder Scrolls Oblivion, the success of your Mage character is highly dependent on the choices you make regarding the character’s attributes, skills, race, faction, specialization, weapons, and armor. Making the right decisions in these areas can significantly improve the effectiveness of your Mage build and ensure a confident gameplay experience. This guide will delve into the optimal Mage build for Elder Scrolls Oblivion, providing recommendations on the most effective skills, weapons, and armor to select for maximum impact.
- Everything About Mage Build in Elder Scrolls Oblivion
- Build Key Aspect
- Class
- Best Race
- Best Birthsign
- Best Specialization
- Best Attributes
- Major Skills
- Minor Skills
- Equipment
- Best Spells
- Best Weapons
- Best Armor
- Leveling Strategy for the Mage Build
- Factions
- Trainers
- How to Play the Mage Build in Elder Scrolls Oblivion
- Best Gameplay Tips and Tricks for Mage Build
Everything About Mage Build in Elder Scrolls Oblivion
The Mage character specializes in swiftly casting effective spells on the battlefield for both crowd control and enemy damage. Since Intelligence is a key attribute for Mages, they have access to spells from all magic schools. Advancing your primary skills allows you to unlock potent spells tailored to defeating opponents. Without a doubt, Conjuration is one of the most beneficial magic schools in Oblivion, offering the ability to summon allies who can fight on your behalf. Destruction spells serve as your main offensive tool, enabling you to cast various elemental spells against enemies. Lastly, Alteration spells provide assistance by reducing incoming damage with Shield or making you lighter to carry more items.
In Elder Scrolls Oblivion, excelling at a Mage build relies significantly on your early choices concerning Race and Birthsign. The Bretons are particularly recommended for the Mage class because they offer magic resistance as a bonus and the Dragon Skin trait. This race also provides advantages across all key skills, enhancing your overall efficiency in the primary playstyle. For the Birthsign, the Mage benefits most since you’ll be able to cast more spells from the get-go. The Mage Birthsign gives you 50 permanent Magicka points.
To wrap things up, carefully selecting my Major Skills, Minor Skills, Specialization, and armor is absolutely vital for this character setup. Making the wrong choice could undermine the overall strength of my creation.
| Mage Build Pros | Mage Build Cons |
|---|---|
| High Damage Output | Resource Management |
| High Survivability | Heavy Armor Penalty on Magic |
| Crowd Control |
Build Key Aspect
Below are all the essential aspects of the Mage Build in Elder Scrolls Oblivion.
- Class: Mage
- Race: Breton
- Birthsign: Mage
- Specialization: Magic
- Attributes: Intelligence, Willpower, Endurance
- Major Skills
- Alteration
- Destruction
- Conjuration
- Illusion
- Mysticism
- Minor Skills
- Blade
- Athletics
- Acrobatics
- Armorer
- Mercantile
- Light Armor
- Weapons: Apotheosis and Daedric Dagger
- Armor: Shrouded Armor or Elven Armor
- Faction: Mage Guild
- Trainer: Falion
Class
As a gamer embarking on this epic adventure in Cyrodiil, I’d advise you to make some crucial decisions at the game’s outset. You’ll need to pick your race, birthsign, and class before venturing into Cyrodiil. The class selection significantly shapes the character you’ll play. If you’re aiming for a Mage Build, then choose the “Mage” class. This class comes with Intelligence and Willpower as default attributes, which are invaluable for a mage. While you can create a Custom Class and select your own attributes, I strongly recommend the Mage class to kickstart a powerful Mage Build from day one.
Beyond choosing the Mage class, you’ll gain entry to seven key abilities: Alchemy, Alteration, Conjuration, Destruction, Illusion, Mysticism, and Restoration. Each of these skills enables you to learn spells from diverse magical disciplines. As a Mage, it’s essential that you use every kind of spell in both combat and exploration to handle threats or situations. If you opt for Armor, though, you should stick with Light Armor or Robes because wearing Heavy Armor will adversely affect the magic in Oblivion.
You’ll need to choose your preferred playstyle for the build optimization. Besides mastering the primary skill, it’s crucial to leverage the minor skills to boost other attributes like Endurance, Agility, Speed, and possibly Personality as well. Detailed information about Minor Skills can be found in their dedicated section below.
Best Race
In the Elder Scrolls Oblivion game, it’s important to choose a suitable character race to enhance your build, particularly for the Mage Build. Our recommendation is the “Breton” race. This is one of the top choices among human races, especially if you’re focusing on spellcasting. The Breton has a hint of elven blood, making them exceptionally skilled mages and spellcasters. Picking this race will grant bonuses to all key skills for the Mage, and it offers excellent attributes in Intelligence, Luck, and Willpower – all crucial for a Mage build.
The Breton character features four unique advantages:
1. Fortify Magicka, an upgrade that boosts your Magicka by 50 points. Additionally, it grants 50 points for Magic Resistance and improves Disposition when interacting with other Bretons.
2. It also bestows a Dragon Skin trait, which offers a powerful benefit – it temporarily raises your armor rating by 50 for 60 seconds each day. This trait operates like a shield, enhancing your survivability during challenging encounters. Even though you’ll be wearing Light Armor with Robes, this trait will significantly improve your resilience in tougher battles.
When considering this race, it’s important to be aware of some potential drawbacks. One significant disadvantage is that you’ll find yourself with a decreased Agility level. This translates into lower proficiency in Marksmanship, Security, and Stealth abilities. Furthermore, the male version of Breton has a reduced Speed attribute. Conversely, the female form of Breton has a lower Strength. To give yourself an initial edge in strength, it might be wise to choose the Male form of Breton.
Best Birthsign
In the early stages of the game before venturing into the world, you’ll encounter a pivotal decision regarding the optimization of your Mage character: selecting an appropriate Birthsign. The optimal Birthsign for the Mage build is the Mystic, offering a 50-point boost to Magicka, a vital resource for spellcasting, with minimal downsides. This Birthsign doesn’t provide any substantial additional bonuses or drawbacks, making it a versatile, all-purpose choice. The Mystic Birthsign emphasizes Agility, which enhances skills such as Sneaking, Blocking, and Lockpicking.
As a magic enthusiast, I find the Atronach an intriguing choice. It offers a 50% probability of absorbing magical energy and a 25% resistance to magic. This makes it incredibly robust against magical assaults, particularly beneficial for a Mage who prefers close-quarters combat.
Best Specialization
In essence, the fundamental expertise of a Mage Class lies in Magic, equipping you with proficiency across various magical school techniques. To put it simply, the optimal specialization for a Mage Character is, indeed, Magic. If you’ve opted for a custom class, it would be wise to select the Magic specialization. The reason being, Magic offers illusions, boosts, and flexibility to your character. For instance, with Illusion magic, you can manipulate enemies, causing them to battle among themselves. Restoration magic is an excellent buff for this specialization as it enhances your character’s attributes such as increased strength, armor, or health regeneration.
Magic offers a diverse array of gameplay approaches, enabling you to overpower opponents with magical abilities. Yet, be aware that magic can be costly in terms of Magicka. The specialty you select significantly influences how your abilities develop, so pick the one that suits your playstyle and character build best. Skills tied to your chosen specialization advance more rapidly than those not part of the specialization.
Best Attributes
In Elder Scrolls Oblivion’s Mage Build, Intelligence, Willpower, and Endurance stand out as essential attributes. By pouring points into these attributes, you significantly improve your build’s performance.
Intelligence primarily influences your Magicka reserves and magic usage. A higher Magicka pool means you can repeatedly cast spells more often. Furthermore, it controls the Conjuration and Mysticism skills, which are pivotal for a Mage.
Willpower determines how swiftly your Magicka regenerates. As a Mage, swift Magicka recovery is crucial to keep casting spells without interruptions. Running low on Magicka can be detrimental, especially in challenging encounters. In addition, it boosts overall Fatigue and governs the Skills of Destruction, Alteration, and Restoration – all critical skills for a Mage. By enhancing Willpower, you also enhance the effectiveness of magic for the corresponding spells.
The importance of Stamina cannot be overstated in terms of overall Tiredness and Wellbeing for your character. Boosting your Stamina will grant you additional Tolerance for both Fatigue and Health. Furthermore, as you advance to higher levels, your Health will increase at a greater rate than normal. Lastly, this trait is also vital for underwater survival; with high Stamina, the risk of drowning decreases significantly.
Beyond these characteristics, you also have the option to boost attributes like Agility, Speed, Strength, Personality, and Luck. Yet, it’s important to note that these attributes aren’t linked with the Mage character. The only method to raise these extra attributes is by elevating the Minor Skills of your Mage character.
Major Skills
As a lover of the Mage class, I’d be thrilled to share some insights on the skills that truly shine for this build. Out of the seven Major Skills, five stand out as indispensable: Alteration, Conjuration, Destruction, Mysticism, and Illusion. Restoration is useful early in the game, but it’s primarily valuable until you reach mid-game.
If you fancy, you can also boost Alchemy or Illusion according to your preference. Alteration serves a dual purpose – it assists in exploration with its Feather spell, which makes you lighter if your Strength is low, and provides protection during combat with Shield spells that reduce damage incoming.
Conjuration is the skillset with the most powerful spells in the game – summoning allies to fight by your side! You’ll find various summoning spells that prove particularly helpful during tougher battles.
In this scenario, the primary method of harming opponents with immediate magic lies in destruction. By utilizing distinct spells based on elements, you can inflict damage upon an enemy’s health, stamina, or magical energy. Furthermore, applying elemental weaknesses to your targets can enhance the damage caused by corresponding elemental spells. Mysticism, on the other hand, is beneficial for exploration as it offers useful spells such as Detect Life, Trap Soul, Telekinesis, and more. Lastly, Restoration will assist you in regenerating health, stamina, and magical energy, absorbing them from targets, boosting them, curing diseases, and granting resistance to various elemental impacts.
In the course of playing the game, it’s crucial to apply and strengthen your key abilities. You’ll find that the Major Skills tend to improve more quickly compared to the Minor Skills. Therefore, ensure you perform appropriate actions for each skill to help boost their development.
All Major Skills for a Mage Build
Here is a brief overview of all the Major Skills for a Mage Build in Elder Scrolls Oblivion.
- Alteration: Allows you to alter the physical world. Gain shield to negate incoming damage.
- Conjuration: Allows you to summon various minions to assist you in combat.
- Illusion: Use it for crowd control and paralyze the enemies.
- Destruction: Use it to deal direct damage to the enemies with various elemental spells.
- Alchemy: Boosts intelligence, allowing you to increase Magicka.
- Mysticism: Allows you to open lockboxes, move objects, detect life nearby, and more.
- Restoration: Use it to restore health, fatigue, and magicka and boost other attributes.
Minor Skills
As a devoted enthusiast of the Mage Build, I’ve come to appreciate the subtler impact of Minor Skills on its overall performance. Unlike Major Skills, which are more straightforward to enhance and directly tied to your main attributes, Minor Skills can be challenging to level up and often associate with other traits. However, don’t underestimate their importance! There are some indispensable Minor Skills that, when optimized, significantly boost the efficiency of your Mage Build. Here are the top Minor Skills you should consider honing:
1. [Skill Name 1]: This skill offers an intricate advantage to your Mage Build by [benefit description]. Investing time in improving this skill can lead to a more refined and powerful playstyle.
2. [Skill Name 2]: [Skill Name 2] provides a unique edge to your Mage Build, enabling you to [benefit description]. Leveling up this skill will not only make your spells more potent but also enhance your adaptability in various situations.
3. [Skill Name 3]: This minor skill is an essential addition to the Mage Build as it allows you to [benefit description]. By honing this skill, you’ll be able to maximize the effectiveness of your spells and maintain a competitive edge against other players.
- Acrobatics: Jump longer distances and avoid damage when falling great distances.
- Athletics: Run and swim faster and regenerate lost fatigue faster.
- Armorer: Maintain weapons and armor at top efficiency.
- Blade: Increases the damage for sharp weapons such as Daggers, Shortswords, Longswords, and Claymores.
- Mercantile: Get better deals when buying or selling goods.
- Light Armor: Gain decent defensive stats by wearing Light Armor.
These lesser abilities are linked with qualities such as quickness, swiftness, stamina, and character. Enhancing these abilities will allow you to boost other traits for additional benefits.
Equipment
In The Elder Scrolls: Oblivion, equipment comprises weapons, armor, clothing, and various other items that players can utilize to enhance their character’s skills and attributes. Weapons are made from diverse resources, each with unique stats and appearances, and they can be enchanted with magical effects such as damage, debuffs, or health regeneration using soul gems for recharging. Armor serves as protection against enemy attacks, featuring an armor rating that determines the amount of damage it can absorb. Players can wear up to 9 pieces at once. For a Mage build in Elder Scrolls Oblivion, Light Armor or Robes are typically the best choice.
Best Spells
Here are the best spells to use as a Mage in Elder Scrolls Oblivion.
- Detect Life: Reveals all visible and invisible creatures with a soft purple glow.
- Soul Trap: Trap the soul of a creature in an empty soul gem.
- Summon Skeleton: Summon a Skeleton for 40 seconds to fight beside you.
- Guard: Shield 30% for 30 seconds on self, reducing the incoming damage.
- Flash Bolt: Deals 20 Fire Damage to a target on impact.
- Lightning Bolt: Deals 35 Shock Damage to a target on impact.
- Weakness to Fire: Makes a target weaker to Fire by 25% for 30 seconds.
- Weakness to Shock: Makes a target weaker to Shock by 25% for 30 seconds.
- Debilitate: Paralyze the enemy for 3 seconds on Touch.
- Night Mother’s Caress: Restore health for 10 points for 2 seconds.
TIP: Go ahead and adapt the spell names based on your preferred approach. Boosting your primary abilities will grant access to enhanced versions of these spells. If you have sufficient Magic Power available, learn the newest spells to boost their efficiency.
Best Weapons
For real combat tools, I suggest opting for a staff. This choice enables you to keep casting damaging spells on opponents even when your Magicka runs low or your spells are temporarily unavailable. Nonetheless, you’re also free to employ close-combat weapons such as Daggers or Shortswords. Here is a list of the top weapons for a Mage character in Elder Scrolls Oblivion.
1 Apotheosis
The Apotheosis staff is your top choice for inflicting damage on foes without needing Magicka. It delivers 33 points of Fire, Shock, and Frost damage to enemies upon impact. If you exhaust your Magicka or spells are unavailable, switching to this staff ensures you can still dish out elemental harm. Due to its high cost, consider using the Lesser Staff of Frost in the initial or mid-game phases instead. This staff will let you inflict 20 points of frost damage on a target at impact.
2 Daedric Dagger
- Damage: 19
- Health: 532
- Base Value: 2700
- Weight: 10
In the game, the Daedric Dagger stands out as a swift, one-handed weapon boasting the highest base damage among all daggers. Daggers are agile melee weapons that enable you to apply their enchantments quicker. This dagger is perfect for both close combat against enemies and stealth takedowns. You can empower the Daedric Dagger with various effects such as poison, damage, or fatigue. Despite being lightweight, it deals less damage compared to swords and maces. To maximize its potential, combine it with skills like Blades to amplify its effectiveness.
Best Armor
For the Mage character, opt for either Robes or Light Armor instead of Heavy Armor. It’s advisable to avoid Heavy Armor due to its detrimental effect on magic in Oblivion. To minimize this negative impact, choose Light Armor instead. Additionally, you’ll still maintain a good level of survivability as you can enhance the armor rating and fortify your spells with shield-like properties.
1 Shrouded Armor
- Armor Health: 520
- Base Armor: 17.5
- Base Value: 0
- Class: Light Armor
One outstanding choice for an armory while playing the Mage character in Elder Scrolls Oblivion is the Shrouded Armor set. Comprised of two elements, the Shrouded Armor and the Shrouded Hood, this armor configuration caters to stealth-focused characters. The Ancient Shrouded Armor can be effortlessly obtained. It’s a full-body protective gear, excluding the head, with static statistics and enchantments that become more potent as your character progresses through the game. This armor features an enchantment that amplifies backstab damage and enhances poison resistance.
2 Elven Armor
- Armor Health: 3520
- Class: Light Armor
- Base Value: 1740
- Weight: 35.1
As a fan, I’d highly recommend adding an Elven Armor to your Mage character’s arsenal. It offers a nice blend of protection and stealth, making it ideal for dodging enemy attacks, especially with the cuirass and boots. You can acquire this armor from Azani Blackheart during the Fighters Guild questline. Elven armor is a versatile choice for characters in the early to mid-game stages. The armor boasts a unique appearance, shimmering metallically and featuring red fabric beneath it. There are different versions of Elven armor available, like the Light Elven Armor and Gilded Elven Armor.
Leveling Strategy for the Mage Build
In Elder Scrolls Oblivion, concentrate on honing your magical abilities to efficiently advance your Mage character. Employ spells from disciplines such as Alteration, Conjuration, Destruction, Mysticism, and Restoration to earn +5 boosts at each level. Utilize Alteration spells to fortify yourself and traverse the environment. Ensure you heal yourself and allies with Restoration spells to maintain your skill functionality. Allocate attributes that will amplify your key skills for optimal performance.
Advancing to the next level is all about improving your Skills and Characteristics, which you can adjust as you go along. When you advance, you’ll have the chance to boost three Characteristics of your choice. Choose these based on how you prefer to play. Your Birthsign provides a substantial advantage in terms of stats. Remember, resting in a bed is necessary for leveling up. Leveling up in Oblivion can be a time-consuming process, so make sure to split your activities evenly between exploration, combat, and skill practice.
Factions
In Elder Scrolls Oblivion, the Mage Guild is an ideal selection if you’re building a character with magical abilities, as it emphasizes magic and enhances a Mage’s talents. A Mage thrives in skills such as Destruction for dealing damage, Alteration for boosting capabilities, and Restoration for healing purposes. This alignment makes the Mages Guild an excellent match for their gameplay style, empowering you to overpower opponents effectively.
Trainers
In Elder Scrolls Oblivion, Falion is an exceptional trainer for the Mage build, particularly focusing on vampire-related matters. You’ll find him in Morthal, a town situated near the map’s north end, to the southwest of Ustengrav. He specializes in studying and curing vampirism. To cure vampirism with Falion, you need a black soul gem filled to capacity. Trainers like Falion enable you to spend gold to boost your skill levels, which can aid in character development. Different trainers have varying skill level caps they can help you reach. Each trainer is capable of training a specific skill for a set number of times based on your character’s level.
How to Play the Mage Build in Elder Scrolls Oblivion
Enhance abilities such as Mysticism, Destruction, and Restoration, and additionally focus on skills like Alteration and Conjuration in this Mage setup. The optimal approach for combat with this build is utilizing the magic for both fighting and exploration, which facilitates quick leveling of key skills. In case your Magicka depletes, switch to a Staff weapon to start casting spells on targets. As an alternative, you can opt for melee attacks in close quarters and employ defensive buffs. Keep in mind that Magicka is essential for spellcasting, so make sure to conserve it effectively. Cast any beneficial buffs prior to engaging enemies.
Given that you’ll be at the heart of the action, make sure to don armor of moderate quality and augment it with protective spells for your character’s safety. Prioritize attributes like Willpower, Intelligence, and Endurance to boost your character’s performance in battle, especially during close-quarters encounters. To maximize your damage output, seek high ground when casting spells. It’s advisable to concoct potions that bolster your character and weaken the enemies. Equip a Daedric Dagger for dealing immense damage at close range, or use it for melee attacks or stealth takedowns in combat. Maintain distance from enemies and employ spells instead if you’re facing them from afar.
Best Gameplay Tips and Tricks for Mage Build
Here are the best gameplay tips and tricks for Mage build in Elder Scrolls Oblivion.
- Use magic to weaken the enemies from a distance, then switch to melee when required.
- You need to use stamina wisely, or else you can become vulnerable in most combat situations.
- Use your weapons wisely, as equipping a lower damage-dealing weapon gives room for the enemies to attack you.
- Use Speechcraft and your charisma to avoid unnecessary conflict.
- Use Alteration spells to increase the armor rating for enhanced defense.
- Choose the faction, race, and specialization that complements your playstyle and synergizes with the build.
- Use potions to heal your character from time to time in combat, so carry them in your inventory.
- Joining the Mages Guild is a great choice as a Mage in ESO, as it provides access to magical resources, training, and spells.
- Focus on leveling your Destruction, Alteration, Restoration, Conjuration, and Mysticism for casting higher level magic spells.
FAQs about Mage build in The Elder Scrolls Oblivion
What is a Mage build in Elder Scrolls Oblivion?
In Elder Scrolls Oblivion, the Mage character build primarily deals significant damage with magic spells. Yet, it’s worth noting that this character has an additional skill: wielding melee weapons to tackle enemies efficiently in close quarters.
Which is the best weapon for a Mage build in Elder Scrolls Oblivion?
In Elder Scrolls Oblivion, Apotheosis stands out as the top choice for a Mage build. This staff is unmatched in the game, offering Fire, Frost, and Shock damage to opponents without draining your Magicka reserves. To handle physical fights effectively, complement your magical abilities with the Daedric Dagger.
Which is the best race for a Mage build in Elder Scrolls Oblivion?
In the game Elder Scrolls Oblivion, it’s widely considered that the Breton race is ideal for a Mage character because of their inherent 50% magic resistance and the Dragon Skin trait.
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2025-04-08 00:01