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Character Build: Pure Alteration

Tags: #Character Build Mage  #Character Build No Crafting  #Character Build Mage Armor  #Character Build Mods  #Race:Altmer  #Ordinator  #SE Rank:Novice  #Tysoyaha 
  • February 3, 2018

     

    Come with me…                                        

    and you'll be…

                                              In a world of pure Alteration.

    Cast a spell…                                  

    And you'll see…

                                          The glory of your own creation.

     

    If you want to see Aetherius,

    Look up at the stars and view it.

    If you want to change reality.

    Just wave your hand and do it.

                                          There's nothing to it…


    Concept:

    So after reading so many great builds based off this one-skill concept I decided that I'd like take a crack at it myself. I'm notorious for partially perking WAY to many skills, so this seemed like it could end up being quite the unique challenge for me. In fact, I could see it being nearly impossible if I did something stupid like choosing a particularly useless skill to be stuck with. So I decided that I would have to be very careful and diligent with my selection process. Which I was, at least at first...but then I threw caution to the wind and picked Alteration anyway. #madlad

    Luckily, Apocalypse Magic gives Alteration mages the ability to fabricate low level staves for at least a little bit of damage. It also adds a whole host of weakening, slowing and staggering effects to keep you alive long enough for your sad little staff to slowly wear enemies down. So while creating a viable Alteration-only build would still be an uphill struggle, and gameplay would be punishing at best...it still proved possible. Finally, thanks to DragonDude and Chappy for letting me join then exploring the intriguing concept of one-skill builds, because this one was absolutely tons of fun!


    Background:

    Vinndilin Highus grew up the heir of a great and powerful battlemage who wanted nothing more than to share his legacy with a strong and serious son. Instead, what he got was a silly, curious boy who loved treats and seemed to spend most of his time wrapped up in his own little world. Despite bleak surroundings, Vinny was a joyful child who could often be found bringing sweet rolls and honey nut treats to the homeless children of his hometown of Windhelm.

    It wasn't long before he discovered Alteration magic and delighted in his new found ability to bring his own pretend world into the real one. Limited only by his own vast and creative imagination Vinny progressed quickly in the magical school until his father realized what he was doing. Upon learning that his own son was using such a weak magic for such frivolous purposes he took all of Vinnie's spell tombs and threw them into an inferno of destruction magic.

    Devastated, Vinndilin packed all his remaining belongings and left home to travel across Nirn. His adventures took him to Solstheim where he saved a tribe of Rieklings from a hoard of Ash Spawn. He lived with them for a time, showing them how to make Sweet rolls and teaching them to sing disparaging songs with an upbeat tune to demoralize their enemies. Though upon hearing of the unrest Skyrim he decided to travel home and lend a hand.

     

     

    Mods:

    Apocalypse - This is an essential mod for this build. Apocalypse Magic may only provide Alteration mages with weak damage, but vanilla Alteration has no means of causing damage at all. If you don't have access to mods then the build can be played with vanilla staves and flesh/ash/paralyze spells. However, recharging your staff will level enchanting and frankly, it just won't be as fun to play.

    Imperious - This Build can be played with or without Imperious, as the race would stay the same either way. The main focus of including it would be access the Contingency Power, which would extend the Flingdoodle strategy to include two more spells. This is useful addition to Flingdoodle, but hardly necissary as Flingdoodle is already plenty powerful without it. Also, Flingdoodle. Oh great...now he's been summoned in your bathroom mirror. Good luck with that.


    Build:

    Race - Altmer
    This will give you a nice boost to your magic pool in vanilla. With Imperious installed it provides the Contingency power, allowing you to assign your currently equipped spells to autocast depending on different triggers. Assigning them to "upon entering battle" will essentially extend Ocato's Recital to include two more spells (that don't need to be self targeted).

    Standing Stone - Atronach/Apprentice
    In vanilla, Atronach will enhance the Alteration trees natural spell absorption and provide extra mana. If you use Aurora then Apprentice will reduce most spell costs and entirely remove the cost of novice spells, including your most frequently used spell: Prepare For Adventure.

    Magic/Health/Stamina - 2/0/1
    Spells with Slow and Stagger effects are great, but they won't do you much good unless you can use them to put some distance between you and your foes. Don't under estimate the importance of Stamina in this build!

    Skills - Alteration
    Surprise! Bet you didn't see that coming...

    Shouts - Slow Time
    Slow time fits this build well, its affected by the Stability perk and can be rather helpful when dodging, parrying, and running away like a nancy.

    Powers - Manacaust
    If you choose to use the Aurora mod, the Apprentice Stone will also provide accelerated mana regeneration once a day with the Manacaust power. This will be useful whenever you find yourself with your fabricated robe around your ankles. It also might randomly teleport you and anyone nearby when used...a startling predicament that this character would consider absolutely delightful.

    Abilities - Agent of Mara
    This will add 10% magic resist to your character. Not a necissary addition, but we already have a good amount of Magic Resist so I figure "why not guild the lily?" the flowers are edible, after all...try a buttercup.

    Spells - Prepare for Adventure, Wither, Perilous Path, Ocato's Recital, Ebonyflesh, Raise Wall, Spell Twine, Ash Shell, Paralyze Tharn's Prison, Undermine, Entomb, Tumble Magnet, Knowledge is Power, Battletide, Sotha's Maelstrom, Talons of Nirn, Hethoth's Grimoire, Thrumming Stone, Detonate Lock, Wind Running
    Spellcasting, my dear friends, is 93% perspiration, 6% magicka, 4% evaporation, and 2% butter scotch ripple.

    Weapons - Fabricated Staff
    Using Prepare for Adventure will place a random staff in your inventory that, thanks to Apocalypse, will have a wide range of unique effects. Different staves work best with different strategies but you'll eventually start recognizing them and learn how to plan around how each one functions.

    Clothing/Jewellery - Fabricated Robes, Fine Clothes
    Outside combat you can wear anything you like really, because you'll be using Prepare for Adventures fabricated robes when fighting. Just don't go running around nude because you forgot that the spell has a time limit (or do...I don't know what you're into).

     

     

     


    Apocalypse Magic:

    Prepare for Adventure - Creates a set of enchanted robes and a random destruction staff and places it in your inventory for a duration. This is your only means of damage for most of the game, so cherish it.

    Wither - Gradually slows enemies and lowers their attack damage over a period of time. Works well on melee enemies, but is also an effective way of reducing a ranged enemies ability to dodge.

    Perilous Path - Lays a trail of spikes on the ground as it passes. The spikes will periodically stagger enemies. Quite useful when kiting melee enemies.

    Ocato's Recital - Allows you to assign three self targeted spells to be automatically cast when you enter combat.

    Raise Wall - Raises a wall. That one was easy.

    Spell Twine - Allows you to add an additional effect to up to three of your spells. Most notable among these is the "Heal" effect that will serve as this build's only health recovery.

    Tharn's Prison - Traps an NPC in a prison for a duration (with a small chance to break out early).

    Undermine - Causes enemies to stagger when attacking for a short duration.

    Entomb - Stores the target under ground. Casting it again will summon the target, possibly frenzied if they've been buried long enough.

    Tumble Magnet - Creates a small orb that randomly sucks enemies towards it. Despite its name, being pulled to the orb doesn't cause a knockdown or even stagger effect.

    Knowledge is Power - Allows you to assign a spell to be used as a once a day power. Good for removing long casing durations.

    Battletide - Absorbs the armor rating of nearby enemies, adding the accumulative amount to you (only Dragonhide is a better flesh spell but needing two hands to cast means that it can't be assigned to Ocato's Recital).

    Sotha's Maelstrom - Gradually drains the magic resistance of enemies within 5ft.

    Talons of Nirn - Creates pillars of earth that launch nearby enemies whenever they become staggered, reducing stamina.

    Hethoth's Grimoire - Creates a floating spell tome that repeatedly casts a projectile spell in the direction you are facing.

    Thrumming Stone - Creates a large stone that periodically releases a shock wave that staggers reduces the magic resistance of nearby enemies.

    Detonate Lock - Opens any lock that's rated lower than your curent Alteration skill, but is loud enough to be detected by those nearby.

    Wind Running - Let's you levitate while running. You can't change elevation while running and standing still or even walking will cause you to fall. Luckily, it also removes fall damage for a short time.

    Waypoint - Waypoints is basically a way to fast travel between specific points of your own choosing. That alone is useful, but unlike most fast travel it's legitimately a teleport so no time passes in between locations. This makes it a great way of ensuring an entombed NPC will emerge unfrenzied.




    Perks:

    Alteration - Perk the tree in its entirety. Magic resistance and absorption is always useful, as is extra mage armor and extended spell duration. Dual Casting has its uses, but those situations are limited enough that it can be put off until later.

     

    Special Tactics:

    Flingdoodle - This is the first tactic that you can utilize, and the one that'll evolve the most throughout the game. Using Ocato's Recital you can assign three self targeted spells to activate automatically upon entering battle. At first, only low level Flesh spells will be available. After that you can add Tumble Magnet by way of Contingency, and eventually Master Spells once unlocked. At which point, Contingency can even assign the Everlasting Mobstopper strategy to be autocast.

    Required: Ocato's Recital, Contingency
    Recommended: Ebonyflesh, Battletide, Sotha's Maelstrom, Talons of Nirn, Tumble Magnet, Everlasting Mobstopper

     

    Snozzbanger - Spell Twine is a nice way to add a little extra practicality to already useful spells (like giving yourself a speed boost when you lay down Perilous Path). Though most importantly it will serve as this build's only healing spell. Raise wall will start as a great way to buy time and put distance between and enemies, but once Spelltwined, it will nearly always linger long enough after being cast to heal the player completely. Even when it doesn't you can always extend it's duration by concentrating on the spell.

    Required: Spell Twine
    Recommended: Raise Wall (Heal), Wither (Stone), Perilous Path/Undermine (Haste)


     

    Vermicious Thrall - Entomb is a great way to bring your friends to places they wouldn't normally go, but being buried alive for too long will cause NPCs to go insane and attack everything on sight. You can use this to your advantage (making a frenzied giant suddenly appear in a bandit camp is always fun), just make sure that defeating your own "Thrall" isn't more trouble than it's worth...because they'll attack you too. Of coarse, if they're that resilient (see: essential) then you can always just Entomb them again to be used later. If you go this route, it may be a good idea to use the paralyze exploit to slip them more powerful weapons before storing them away.

    Required: Entomb
    Recommended: Ash Shell/Paralyze

     

    Everlasting Mobstopper - Hethoth's Grimoire seems like quite the spell on paper, but it can be hard to aim because it doesn't line up perfectly with your sight and predicting the timing of its projectiles can be difficult in battle. Luckily, Perilous Path just happens to be a projectile spell that doesn't require much aim. Just kite enemies while circling the book and it's trail of spikes will soon become an entire field of them. Plus, with your right hand now free you can inflict Wither or Undermine to really leave foes helpless.

    Required: Hethoth's Grimoire, Perilous Path
    Recommended: Wither, Undermine


    Gimpa Limpa - Talons of Nirn creates pillars of earth that launch staggered enemies while Mobstopper can cover nearly the entire battlefield with staggering spikes. Combined, these can help turn the tide of even the toughest battles. Of coarse, this can be taxing to set up, luckily Talons of Nirn can be assigned to auto cast when entering battle with Ocato's Recital, while Contingency will the same for Mobstopper. Thrumming Stone is a powerful addition to this strategy, and can be cast instantly if it's assigned to Knowledge is Power.

    Required: Talons of Nirn, Mobstopper
    Recommended: Thrumming Stone,  Knowledge is Power, Flingdoodle

     

    There's no way on Nirn of knowing,
    Which way that time is flowing,
    But it certainly isn't showing,
    Any signs that it is slowing.

    Is it raining, is it snowing
    Are the wind of change a-blowing?
    Are the Deadland's lakes a-glowing?
    Then the danger must be growing!



    Roleplay/Restrictions:

    The Suspense is Terrible...I Hope It'll Last! - Every time you cast Prepare for Adventure you'll end up with a different staff. These will vary in usefulness depending on their effect and the situation they appear in...just go with it! Sure, you can just cast it again for a new staff, but the spell takes so long that you're better off just trying to make it work. Plus, what's the fun in that!?

    A Little Nonsense Now and Then is Relished by the Wisest Men - Don't forget to carve out a part of your day to spread a little cheer or engage in a little mischief. Use Entomb and Waypoints to teleport NPCs to funny locations, or Paralyze people to place Sweetrolls or Honey Nut Treats into their inventory. Hell, you could even slip them the occasional Skooma or Mead. After all, candy is dandy, but liquor is quicker!

     


    Tips/Tricks:

    Thievery - Telekinesis and Detect Life require much different strategies than the more stealthy type of thievery would. However, if you track people's movement, keep your distance and time it well, you can still be a pretty decent thief without leveling Sneak. You can even crouch briefly before attempting to steal something just to make absolutely sure you won't be getting caught.

    Pickpocket - Paralyze and Ash Shell both have a glitch where targets can be looted while standing back up. This doesn't count as pickpocketing so it has a 100% success rate and doesn't level the Pickpocket skill. Paralyze has a conveniently shorter duration but Ash Shell isn't considered assault by more (but still not all) NPCs. This can also be used to place useful items like weapons and potions on your Vermicious Thrall.

    Lockpicking - Like thievery above, Detonate Lock requires a much different approach than actual lockpicking. It is a LOUD spell and should be done far far away from hostiles or anyone who might consider it a crime. It also makes dungeon diving much more profitable if you don't mind a skill like speech leveling when you sell the items (just don't perk it).

    Exploration - Who needs Whirlwind Sprint when you have Wind Running? It's a great way to reach otherwise inaccessible areas and get into extremely tactical positions for spellcasting. It also makes for a great escape route since no one will be able to follow you, completely removes fall damage so you don't have to worry so much about screwing up and frankly it's just downright fucking whimsical.

  • February 3, 2018

    Well, I can't say that I don't like it. I mean the idea behind the build is pretty awesome, and I love the Apocalypse Ordinator spells, how you've handled perking just Alteration really well. The only recommendation that I have would be to get some damn links to those mods and move them higher...Possibly explain the spells a little more up in the Apocalypse Magic section, but other then that, all good from a technical standpoint.

    I will give a bit of critique but this is personal, so it barely matters. Personally, not a big fan of the Willy Wonka comparison here, might work better if it weren't just pics from the movie. Trying to fit in images that still work without being direct references might make that work better, but it's very jarring for me. I know that's your image so I'm not going to suggest taking it out or changing the entire build, just thought I'd share my thoughts.

     

    Regardless, still a pretty awesome build that deals with some awesome spells in an awesome manner. So I'm 102% down for it :D

  • February 3, 2018

    Dragonborn1921 said:

    Well, I can't say that I don't like it. I mean the idea behind the build is pretty awesome, and I love the Apocalypse Ordinator spells, how you've handled perking just Alteration really well. The only recommendation that I have would be to get some damn links to those mods and move them higher...Possibly explain the spells a little more up in the Apocalypse Magic section, but other then that, all good from a technical standpoint.

    I will give a bit of critique but this is personal, so it barely matters. Personally, not a big fan of the Willy Wonka comparison here, might work better if it weren't just pics from the movie. Trying to fit in images that still work without being direct references might make that work better, but it's very jarring for me. I know that's your image so I'm not going to suggest taking it out or changing the entire build, just thought I'd share my thoughts.

     

    Regardless, still a pretty awesome build that deals with some awesome spells in an awesome manner. So I'm 102% down for it :D

     

    Ok, moved the mods section up and provided links. Including the magic descriptions was inspired by your previous advice so it's a shame you don't like it, but I don't know what to change because they seem descriptive enough to me. If there's any that just seem particularly vague then point them out and I'll try to fix it.

     

    Also, I'm unfortunately not much of an artist, can't take my own screenshots and couldn't find much of anything that fit the concept except for movie stills. It was basically this or a series of "so you like ____? Tell all about ____" memes and tie dye shirts from Etsy with his face and "we are the dreamers of dreams" on it. Frankly, movie stills or not, if you weren't sold by the fact that one of the tactics is named "Everlasting Mobstopper" then I don't think I can do anything to help you... Lol.

     

  • Member
    February 3, 2018

    Wow, I had thought of ideas of an Alteration speciaist before (inspired by Tolfdir) but didn't follow it up. But you went to the extreme with this one, I dig it (nice perk spread btw lol). I don't really understand most of this mod-specific mumbo jumbo (thanks for the mod spell descriptions), still I think you've got a cool build here.

    Also, I noticed you have listed Whirlwind Cloak in your spell repetiore, is that because of one of your mods changing it to Alteration? Because in actual Skyrim it's not possible to get that spell without training up Destruction (or using cheats).

     

    With that Willy Wonka theme I was expecting the Wabbajack to make an appearance.

  • February 3, 2018

    Ok, moved the mods section up and provided links. Including the magic descriptions was inspired by your previous advice so it's a shame you don't like it, but I don't know what to change because they seem descriptive enough to me. If there's any that just seem particularly vague then point them out and I'll try to fix it.

    Also, I'm unfortunately not much of an artist, can't take my own screenshots and couldn't find much of anything that fit the concept except for movie stills. It was basically this or a series of "so you like ____? Tell all about ____" memes and tie dye shirts from Etsy with his face and "we are the dreamers of dreams" on it. Frankly, movie stills or not, if you weren't sold by the fact that one of the tactics is named "Everlasting Mobstopper" then I don't think I can do anything to help you... Lol.

    Fair enough man, as I said that was more personal opinion, less solid build recommendation. I did let out a bit of a chuckle at Everlasting Mobstopper, even better now that my spellcheck keeps trying to change it to Gobstopper :P 

    But yeah, I'm looking at the spells in a bit more detail, I think part of the problem is just that the explanation's broken up. I mean later on you go into detail more on how they work together and I think that section's really great, so it might just be that the short explanations are a bit...limited and overall you've made sure that the reader has a good feel for the spells. So I think I'll take that criticism back, because it's fine as it is.

  • February 3, 2018

    Chris H. said:

    Wow, I had thought of ideas of an Alteration speciaist before (inspired by Tolfdir) but didn't follow it up. But you went to the extreme with this one, I dig it (nice perk spread btw lol). I don't really understand most of this mod-specific mumbo jumbo (thanks for the mod spell descriptions), still I think you've got a cool build here.

    Thanks man. Are you saying that you don't understand them thanks to the spell descriptions, or are you saying that including them helped? Because I can edit them if there's anything particularly confusing. DD already raised that concern.

     

    Chris H. said:

    Also, I noticed you have listed Whirlwind Cloak in your spell repetiore, is that because of one of your mods changing it to Alteration? Because in actual Skyrim it's not possible to get that spell without training up Destruction (or using cheats).

    Oh, fuck me. I'll be honest, I wasn't looking forward to cycling through radiant quests until Wind and Sand showed up so I did just add the spell. I forgot that quest had a destruction skill prerequisite. Good catch man, I'll fix that now because I really don't want to have to train any other skills but Alteration. Perked or not.

     

    Chris H. said:

    With that Willy Wonka theme I was expecting the Wabbajack to make an appearance.

     

    Prepare for adventure is similar to Wabbajack actually, in that it creates a staff with a random effect every time you use it. It'll just cast the one spell but it only lasts like 2min before you have to basically roll a new spell. With Apocalypse instead some of the effects are pretty interesting like a spell that creates a raincloud to follow the enemy around and cat lightning on it, or one that causes damage and teleports them backwards a short distance or freezes them solid after six seconds of constant damage.

     

  • Member
    February 3, 2018

    Tysoyaha said:

    Thanks man. Are you saying that you don't understand them thanks to the spell descriptions, or are you saying that including them helped? Because I can edit them if there's anything particularly confusing. DD already raised that concern.

    I'm saying I don't understand because I'm unfamiliar with the mods, and the inclusion of the descriptions is helpful.

  • February 3, 2018

    Chris H. said:

    Tysoyaha said:

    Thanks man. Are you saying that you don't understand them thanks to the spell descriptions, or are you saying that including them helped? Because I can edit them if there's anything particularly confusing. DD already raised that concern.

    I'm saying I don't understand because I'm unfamiliar with the mods, and the inclusion of the descriptions is helpful.

     

    Ok good. Then I'm the one who wasn't understanding. Lol.

     

    You can thank DD for that idea btw, he's been a big help as I'm attempting to step into modded builds!

  • Member
    February 3, 2018

    Tysoyaha said:

    Ok good. Then I'm the one who wasn't understanding. Lol.

     

    You can thank DD for that idea btw, he's been a big help as I'm attempting to step into modded builds!

    DD?

  • February 3, 2018

    Dragonborn1921 said:

    Ok, moved the mods section up and provided links. Including the magic descriptions was inspired by your previous advice so it's a shame you don't like it, but I don't know what to change because they seem descriptive enough to me. If there's any that just seem particularly vague then point them out and I'll try to fix it.

    Also, I'm unfortunately not much of an artist, can't take my own screenshots and couldn't find much of anything that fit the concept except for movie stills. It was basically this or a series of "so you like ____? Tell all about ____" memes and tie dye shirts from Etsy with his face and "we are the dreamers of dreams" on it. Frankly, movie stills or not, if you weren't sold by the fact that one of the tactics is named "Everlasting Mobstopper" then I don't think I can do anything to help you... Lol.

    Fair enough man, as I said that was more personal opinion, less solid build recommendation. I did let out a bit of a chuckle at Everlasting Mobstopper, even better now that my spellcheck keeps trying to change it to Gobstopper :P 

    But yeah, I'm looking at the spells in a bit more detail, I think part of the problem is just that the explanation's broken up. I mean later on you go into detail more on how they work together and I think that section's really great, so it might just be that the short explanations are a bit...limited and overall you've made sure that the reader has a good feel for the spells. So I think I'll take that criticism back, because it's fine as it is.

     

    Lol. I was joking about not being able to "help you". For some reason I've found the Willy Wonka theme hilarious ever since my working title got stuck to tune of Pure Imagination. Lol. But I'm aware that I have a pretty weird sense of humor.

     

    Anyway, don't roll back your criticism out of politeness. I wasn't trying to come off combative, I just legitimately didn't know how to apply your suggestion. I want to improve my approach to modded building and you have the most experience with it, so if something doesn't look right then I might just need an example of how to fix it so I know where you're coming from.