May 10, 2015 11:14 AM EDT
Well I don't know if I do it correctly but for me it goes like this:
Conjuration: I don't use conjuration at all. In my mind I find it disturbing that you put up a wall of bodies/atronachs and you stay behind them casting your spells from a safe distance it almost negates the need for flesh spells,wards and healing (minus Soul Trap).
Illusion:I don't use illusion because I find it overpowered. You can dual cast Frenzy followed by Invisibility and be done with almost every opponent in skyrim. With 100 in illusion the game loses it's meaning you're a walking god among people. Some like this and I can respect that but not for me.
Alteration: I only use flesh spells and that's because I try to get the +30 magic resist. I also use them when I really need i.e. against bandits with weapons and not just any enemy just to increase it. I've used waterbreathing some times but that was like 5-6 times in a whole playthrough. I find alteration a bit useless but it adds a nice roleplaying effect in my character and the alteration tree itself is kinda nice.
Restoration: Anything that has the word "undead" in it is off of my list. Same goes for wards. Fast healing however is always in my favorites list.
Destruction: My absolutely favorite school of magic (oooh how original!). I use the novice,apprentice,adept and depending if I use shock or fire spells (I never combine two elements in my mages and I've never used frost) master spells except from runes. I only use what I'm given in the college for equipment so I don't go for the 100% magica cost reduction. The expert spells are only a bit more damaging than their apprentice counterparts but cost a lot more so in terms of dps apprentice spells deal more damage. I never had a taste for runes though and unfortunately I don't own the Dragonborn DLC to see for myself all the cool new spells.
I know that anyone who'll read this will disagree with me but trust me I have a lot more fun with depriving myself from going overpowered and following some sort of roleplaying path. I don't exactly roleplay but I try to keep it as lore friendly and realistic as I can that's why I use an altmer for a mage and never finish the main quest with. I actually don't even start it so I can't shout and don't become the dragonborn.