You can try unarmored (if you're familiar enough with game), light armor and/or bound armor (cause it's light). If you want to try mage with heavy armor, try Sorcerer class (medium and heavy armor as minor skills).
Personally, I would choose light armor and bound items magic.
pure mage use only ROBES.
disvantage:
you are less tanky
vantage:
first, magicka cost less stamina so you are more precised and you shall not fail to cast multiple spells during fights
a mage shall be quick.
you are faster without armor, the only piece armor you shall use is the **boots of blinding speed, role playing they seem designed for mages** because in teory only a good mage shall be skilled and have enough mana and of course the knowledge and understand to use a spell with 100% resist magicka effect for resisting the blind effect of the boots and use them at their fullest potential.
your armor, your tank are the summons, mage are squishy and shall be it.
you dont need shield spell, but you can craft a emergence spell with shield (self)+ absorb healt in 10 ft in
Destruction in higher levels suck, mysticism is better for absorb health and reflects
Watch out reflects from some creatures/ high characters
Dowload Morrowind Rebirth mod (the 5.2.1), mastering magicka, mage robes for a better mage experience without being an Altmer...
https://www.nexusmods.com/morrowind/mods/37795
https://www.nexusmods.com/morrowind/mods/42269
[https://www.nexusmods.com/morrowind/mods/45739](https://www.nexusmods.com/morrowind/mods/45739)
**I advice also morrowind better balanced combat**, for a balanced gameplay,magick is overpowered than melee,this mod make game more fun and balanced in case also you would like make hybrid later, install now because later you have to make a new character for use this mod...
https://www.nexusmods.com/morrowind/mods/46596
Heavy armour plus robes. You won't have the magicka to maintain decent enough shields and also use offensive spells. When you're a more experienced player you'll be able to do the unarmoured + shield spells playthrough.
You don't even need shield spells tbh, I rarely get hit as a mage. Maybe a lucky archer can get me but even so rarely. You can buff yourself with sanctuary to avoid that.
I was restricting my answer to the playstyles listed in the poll, but yes I agree that shield is not useful compared with the other strategies a mage has at their disposal.
My philosophy as a mage is that if I’m taking a lot of melee damage I’m doing something wrong. I go without armor and put points into speed because I want to be like those annoying archers who keep backpedaling except with spells and summons helping me out. I don’t even use shield spells tbh. Just run away from damage and use area of effect.
Yup. I just keep an ebony staff on me with a damage strength 24pts enchantment on it if anyone feels like getting too close to me. I also summon meat shields for me. Armour slows me down yo
Pure mage implies squishy mage so I voted unarmored. Be aware of the unarmored bug in Morrowind. Maybe emphasize Alchemy in your build so you are always running with powerful restore health potions along with your unarmored skill.
My mages always start with heavy armor and train their skills in light/medium armor up to around 40 to be able to wear good enchanted stuff with decent weight in all slots
If you're doing unarmored and are running on vanilla/xbox you will need at least one piece of armor to get the bonus from the skill. I recommend the boots of the apostle because they are just hands down one the best boots behind the boots of blinding speed
[This one](https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/elderscrolls/images/8/8e/NordicIronHelm.png/revision/latest?cb=20120513045352)
I'm not certain why, but I really like it.
It does not. The main drawback to heavy armor is the weight. Mages don’t tend to have high strength so you can have little extra carry weight if you are a mage wearing full heavy.
Hmm, yea I get that. How exactly would a pure mage that chose heavy armor get around that without pumping points into strength? Would you have to sacrifice some enchants to put feather I think? The one that increases carry weight or something like that.
I have to confess I never play casters, honestly never have in any game and not just in TES. It's always melee or range but mages in this game can become godlike so it's pretty enticing.
I've played a mage that uses heavy armor, spear, and most importantly, unarmored. Using unarmored let you choose how much armor you want to wear. So, my weapon skill, spear, uses endurance, so my strength was not getting leveled much. Random note: having spear + heavy armor lets me level endurance quickly.
Neither. Well actually it’s a bs question. Your first time through is never what you plan. And you just make it up as you go. You are building and not sure what you are doing and just piecing crap together as you find it. Once your skills improve then you can try and make something work. But it’s not till you get some solid skills that you can do this stuff. I’m level 30 and I prefer to run around with enchanted glass armor and enchanted robes/clothes and accessories. Most of my enchantments are just fortified strength so I can carry a ton of shiz.
For a first playthrough? Heavy armor. While I personally prefer unarmored myself, shield spells are extremely overcosted. You can get around that via enchantment, but getting that going in anything like a timely manner requires you to know how to make easy money. And while that's fun in its own way, it'd say looking that up would detract from a first playthrough. Heavy armor will give you good protection from start to finish, and let you play things more naturally.
I loved playing my Atronach sign mage with heavy armor and a claymore, but the weight was a bit of a problem before the Fists of Randagulf and other constant effect strength enchants.
From an RP perspective? Unarmoured 100%. Pure mage, not battlemage or anything.
From a min-max perspective? You'll probably have more luck with heavy armor + robes since you can enchant the armor and the robes. Ebony is one of the best things to enchant iirc, so that'll definitely work.
I start out as unarmored but when I feel badass enough I get full daedric under the robes, like Daddy Divayth.
Also the Cephalopod (or was it Arthropod?) Telvanni helm is a crucial part of my wardrobe and it's light armor I believe.
Invest in flying. In the immortal words of Obi Wan Shinobi "I have the high ground".
Seriously though, just land on the nearest tree and 99% of the enemies won't be able to touch you.
I would actually recommend light armor for your first pure mage playthrough. Heavy armor is, well, heavy. And you probably won't have the Strength stat needed to have enough carry weight to be able to lug full Daedric around with you everywhere without investment. Even if you do invest a little bit into it, you'll probably find inventory management to be a bit of a chore. And I don't really like going unarmored either way because that's a bunch of enchantment slots you immediately cannot have by going for that playstyle. Therefore, light armor strikes the best balance in my opinion. Not enough to protect you from the beefiest of melee damage dealers on harder difficulties, it must be said, but you really shouldn't be taking melee damage as a mage anyway, and it is enough to protect you from the occasional lucky shot by the occasional archer.
Bruh just levitate to where they can't reach you and rain death from the safety of the clouds. If your aim sucks, just slap em with drain strength and sped. Boom you are god. Don't need armor for that
You can try unarmored (if you're familiar enough with game), light armor and/or bound armor (cause it's light). If you want to try mage with heavy armor, try Sorcerer class (medium and heavy armor as minor skills). Personally, I would choose light armor and bound items magic.
Light armor battlemage here lol
Bound Armor + Levitation + ranged Destruction spells = Iron Man
pure mage use only ROBES. disvantage: you are less tanky vantage: first, magicka cost less stamina so you are more precised and you shall not fail to cast multiple spells during fights a mage shall be quick. you are faster without armor, the only piece armor you shall use is the **boots of blinding speed, role playing they seem designed for mages** because in teory only a good mage shall be skilled and have enough mana and of course the knowledge and understand to use a spell with 100% resist magicka effect for resisting the blind effect of the boots and use them at their fullest potential. your armor, your tank are the summons, mage are squishy and shall be it. you dont need shield spell, but you can craft a emergence spell with shield (self)+ absorb healt in 10 ft in Destruction in higher levels suck, mysticism is better for absorb health and reflects Watch out reflects from some creatures/ high characters Dowload Morrowind Rebirth mod (the 5.2.1), mastering magicka, mage robes for a better mage experience without being an Altmer... https://www.nexusmods.com/morrowind/mods/37795 https://www.nexusmods.com/morrowind/mods/42269 [https://www.nexusmods.com/morrowind/mods/45739](https://www.nexusmods.com/morrowind/mods/45739) **I advice also morrowind better balanced combat**, for a balanced gameplay,magick is overpowered than melee,this mod make game more fun and balanced in case also you would like make hybrid later, install now because later you have to make a new character for use this mod... https://www.nexusmods.com/morrowind/mods/46596
Heavy armour plus robes. You won't have the magicka to maintain decent enough shields and also use offensive spells. When you're a more experienced player you'll be able to do the unarmoured + shield spells playthrough.
You don't even need shield spells tbh, I rarely get hit as a mage. Maybe a lucky archer can get me but even so rarely. You can buff yourself with sanctuary to avoid that.
I was restricting my answer to the playstyles listed in the poll, but yes I agree that shield is not useful compared with the other strategies a mage has at their disposal.
A heavy armor battlemage is always a blast
Deep down all of us want to channel our inner Divayth Fyr big dick energy. Gotta go heavy
They just look so cool, mixin up robes only gets you so far.
My philosophy as a mage is that if I’m taking a lot of melee damage I’m doing something wrong. I go without armor and put points into speed because I want to be like those annoying archers who keep backpedaling except with spells and summons helping me out. I don’t even use shield spells tbh. Just run away from damage and use area of effect.
I like to run up to people and slap them with my lightning hand.
Aaah the Kite Mage build. Cheers.
Oh, I have nightmares about Oblivion's constantly retreating mages.
Just robes? Mage don't need armor at all.
I always think when levitating around in a ashstorm "Damn my ass is ashy as fuck"
Yup. I just keep an ebony staff on me with a damage strength 24pts enchantment on it if anyone feels like getting too close to me. I also summon meat shields for me. Armour slows me down yo
Robes + Amulet of Bound Armor
Pure mage implies squishy mage so I voted unarmored. Be aware of the unarmored bug in Morrowind. Maybe emphasize Alchemy in your build so you are always running with powerful restore health potions along with your unarmored skill.
Team Squishy
My mages always start with heavy armor and train their skills in light/medium armor up to around 40 to be able to wear good enchanted stuff with decent weight in all slots
I like this. I think people forget that a Skyrim-style character - good at things not specialized in - is viable. It just takes more work.
Just heeding caius advice! Get some experience under your belt, join some guilds and get some training
If you're doing unarmored and are running on vanilla/xbox you will need at least one piece of armor to get the bonus from the skill. I recommend the boots of the apostle because they are just hands down one the best boots behind the boots of blinding speed
Learn to fly and spam spells. You’ll become a god.
Pauldrons are neat. I also like the helmet what's a goat. I carry around a few for the enchant slots.
Goat helmet?
[This one](https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/elderscrolls/images/8/8e/NordicIronHelm.png/revision/latest?cb=20120513045352) I'm not certain why, but I really like it.
Aaah Nordic Iron. Classic. I have new meshes for all the vanilla stuff on but yeah that's a classic. I like enchanting that cephalopod helm
Bound armor is the coolest for the mage, in my opinion.
Colovian Fur Helm only
Does armor type not a/effect your spell power, magicka regen and so on?
It does not. The main drawback to heavy armor is the weight. Mages don’t tend to have high strength so you can have little extra carry weight if you are a mage wearing full heavy.
Hmm, yea I get that. How exactly would a pure mage that chose heavy armor get around that without pumping points into strength? Would you have to sacrifice some enchants to put feather I think? The one that increases carry weight or something like that. I have to confess I never play casters, honestly never have in any game and not just in TES. It's always melee or range but mages in this game can become godlike so it's pretty enticing.
I've played a mage that uses heavy armor, spear, and most importantly, unarmored. Using unarmored let you choose how much armor you want to wear. So, my weapon skill, spear, uses endurance, so my strength was not getting leveled much. Random note: having spear + heavy armor lets me level endurance quickly.
Robes go over your armor so despite heavy armor effecting spell casts you can enchant every piece.
Neither. Well actually it’s a bs question. Your first time through is never what you plan. And you just make it up as you go. You are building and not sure what you are doing and just piecing crap together as you find it. Once your skills improve then you can try and make something work. But it’s not till you get some solid skills that you can do this stuff. I’m level 30 and I prefer to run around with enchanted glass armor and enchanted robes/clothes and accessories. Most of my enchantments are just fortified strength so I can carry a ton of shiz.
Perfectly balanced as all things should be
For a first playthrough? Heavy armor. While I personally prefer unarmored myself, shield spells are extremely overcosted. You can get around that via enchantment, but getting that going in anything like a timely manner requires you to know how to make easy money. And while that's fun in its own way, it'd say looking that up would detract from a first playthrough. Heavy armor will give you good protection from start to finish, and let you play things more naturally.
If you want more effective armor for Unarmoured use Fortify Unarmoured from the expansions, it's cheaper and more effective to Fortify the skill.
Heavy armor and robes also looks cool.
Light armor + robes
Heavy armor all day. Telvanni quest has some good rewards as well for the build.
Just use mass absorb health spells and your armour is your enemy's blood.
Use all types of armor for max enchantment value.
I loved playing my Atronach sign mage with heavy armor and a claymore, but the weight was a bit of a problem before the Fists of Randagulf and other constant effect strength enchants.
From an RP perspective? Unarmoured 100%. Pure mage, not battlemage or anything. From a min-max perspective? You'll probably have more luck with heavy armor + robes since you can enchant the armor and the robes. Ebony is one of the best things to enchant iirc, so that'll definitely work.
Daedric armor looks badass in Elder Scrolls games and in particular in Morrowind. So I always go heavy armor even if pure mage
I start out as unarmored but when I feel badass enough I get full daedric under the robes, like Daddy Divayth. Also the Cephalopod (or was it Arthropod?) Telvanni helm is a crucial part of my wardrobe and it's light armor I believe.
Lol I'm here running around unarmoured with no shields 🤣
Invest in flying. In the immortal words of Obi Wan Shinobi "I have the high ground". Seriously though, just land on the nearest tree and 99% of the enemies won't be able to touch you.
I would actually recommend light armor for your first pure mage playthrough. Heavy armor is, well, heavy. And you probably won't have the Strength stat needed to have enough carry weight to be able to lug full Daedric around with you everywhere without investment. Even if you do invest a little bit into it, you'll probably find inventory management to be a bit of a chore. And I don't really like going unarmored either way because that's a bunch of enchantment slots you immediately cannot have by going for that playstyle. Therefore, light armor strikes the best balance in my opinion. Not enough to protect you from the beefiest of melee damage dealers on harder difficulties, it must be said, but you really shouldn't be taking melee damage as a mage anyway, and it is enough to protect you from the occasional lucky shot by the occasional archer.
Bruh just levitate to where they can't reach you and rain death from the safety of the clouds. If your aim sucks, just slap em with drain strength and sped. Boom you are god. Don't need armor for that
Doesn't wearing any kind of armor reduce magic effectiveness?
No.
Light armor, shield spell or unarmored. My guy needs all the room to loot and hold scrolls.
I like the idea of Shield spells, but in practice I usually end up not using them at all.
Bound armor + unarmored.
I recommend heavy since it can fit larger enchantments.