Mages are the hardest build to get the most out of in Skyrim. With these mods, mage gameplay not only is improved but more interesting.
Who needs mythical swords and oversized warhammers when shooting fire from one's palms is just as satisfying? In The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim, players have a lot of options when it comes to slaying someone. Beefing up Skyrim's magic system with mods easily makes a mage playthrough even more fun to experience.
By this point, Skyrim's collection of arcane spells and abilities have become somewhat stale. To help freshen things up, there's no shortage of mods available that are geared specifically toward mages. Before donning those enchanted robes for one more adventure, consider giving these interesting add-ons a try.
Updated January 23, 2022 by Mark Hospodar: It's fair to assume that Skyrim won't be going out of style until the much-anticipated sixth entry gets released. Unsurprisingly, part of Skyrim's enduring longevity is its gargantuan modding community.
For players looking to enhance their experience as a mage, these Skyrim magic mods are the best. They run the gamut from gameplay overhauls to visual upgrades, so there should be something to please everyone. This list has been expanded with a few more entries that make playing as a mage a more entertaining endeavor.
It's only natural for a mage to enjoy their handiwork. Skyrim is full of destructive spells that can burn, freeze, or electrocute the player's enemies with ease. However, the visual effects these spells employ are a bit underwhelming.
When looking to spice up a mage playthrough, players may want to consider Deadly Spell Impacts. The textures for the game's many spells are given an upgrade, along with a few other small additions. For example, nearby snow can melt when using fire and lightning spells. It's not a huge mod, but it helps with immersion during a mage playthrough.
In vanilla Skyrim, Conjuration magic can feel a little underpowered, especially at higher levels. Players will invariably have to fall back on Destruction magic or staves to pick up some of the slack. With mods, however, Conjuration magic doesn't have to sit on the sidelines anymore.
Calling of the Conjurer is an excellent Conjuration magic mod that adds over 200 spells to the game. Now, fans can summon nearly anything under the sun, including an undead army, an assortment of wildlife, and even city guards! With this mod, Conjuration magic can start to truly feel like a potent offensive weapon.
In Oblivion and Morrowind, fans who played as mages had the opportunity to craft their own spells. The system wasn't perfect, but it afforded players an opportunity to get creative. Unfortunately, no such system exists in Skyrim for the aspiring mage with an imagination.
The Spell Crafting for Skyrim mod seeks to recreate that feature in the fifth entry. Fans can combine nearly 40 different magical effects, while also tweaking their custom spell's duration, target types, etc. It's a cool system that gives mages in Skyrim a bit more freedom when it comes to their magical repertoire.
Longtime veterans of Skyrim surely know about the game's Standing Stones and their associated blessings. Although it's a good idea to accept a blessing, the effects aren't terribly significant. As such, there's certainly room for improvement when it comes to overhauling these magical stones.
Andromeda – Unique Standing Stones of Skyrim gives each Standing Stone two blessings per stone. These new blessings open up new possibilities for character builds, including mages. Many of the new Standing Stone blessings directly impact mages, so giving this mod a shot is definitely worth it from a gameplay perspective.
It wouldn't be much of a stretch to assume that most veterans of Skyrim can probably recite many of the major spells in the game. When the spells themselves become boring, so does playing as a mage. Fortunately, there are plenty of mods to choose from to help fix that problem.
One of the best and most extensive spell mods is Arcanum – A New Age of Magic. This mod adds over 200 spells to the game across all the various schools of magic. Players will possess an immense amount of options when it comes to their offensive and defensive repertoires. Any type of mage build will certainly benefit from Arcanum.
Speaking of new spells, why not try something a little different? Instead of casting the same old fire, frost, and shock spells, consider the Strange Runes mod. Rather than casting runes at the ground like in the vanilla game, Strange Runes offers a more diverse set of capabilities to this type of spell.
Over 55 rune spells are included in the mod. From a visual standpoint, casting these magical anomalies are impressive. Best of all, Strange Runes is compatible with many of the other mods featured on this list, making it a worthwhile addition to any sort of mage overhaul.
When playing as a mage in Skyrim, the obvious guild to join is the College of Winterhold. However, for an institution of its caliber, the College itself doesn't seem very impressive. There's plenty of work that can be done to spruce things up from an immersion standpoint.
For that, there's no need to look much further than Immersive College of Winterhold. With this mod, the College actually begins to function like a real place of learning. Regular classes are now held while students and faculty are more active in conducting research and experiments, to name just a few changes. Don't join the College again without this mod!
Many of the offensive spells in Skyrim conform to an element. As far as Destruction magic is concerned, these elements consist primarily of fire, frost, and shock. Zapping enemies with any of these spells are useful, yet their effects could be a bit more satisfying to behold.
Players who enjoy witnessing the fruits of their work may be interested in Frozen Electrocuted Combustion. This simple mod applies more visual effects to a player's spells. For example, enemies set ablaze with a fire spell may burn up until nothing is left but a skeleton. Thus, the mod provides some much-needed variety when employing different magical abilities.
Much like the game's spells, Skyrim's perks have also become a bit stale. The freedom to roleplay is a tad hampered by the all too familiar set of perks. There are quite a few worthwhile skill/perk mods on offer, but one that players can't go wrong with is Ordinator – Perks of Skyrim.
This mod institutes a massive overhaul of the game's perk system in a way that allows for deeper roleplaying. Pure mages have the potential to be even more powerful with the added abilities of this mod. It's difficult for any build to be boring while experimenting with Ordinator.
A mage can never have too many spells at his disposal where Skyrim is concerned. For mages, more spells generally translate into a richer as well as layered playthrough. If Arcanum fails to meet expectations, an admirable alternative is Apocalypse – Magic of Skyrim.
Apocalypse incorporates over 155 new spells into the game, including scrolls and staves. The mod authors emphasize being lore-friendly, so there isn't too much that breaks a player's Elder Scrolls immersion. It's also compatible with Ordinator, so the two mods work quite well together.
It's all well and good for the player to possess newfound magical knowledge. Taken together, these additional spells tend to make the player character a bit too powerful. The solution, of course, is to make Skyrim's myriad enemies just as dangerous.
Skyrim Revamped – Complete Enemy Overhaul is a good choice for ramping up the game's difficulty in a manner that makes sense. Enemy mages, for instance, will utilize the same perks and spells the player possesses from mods like Ordinator and Apocalypse. It's an interesting way to keep players on their toes, to be sure.
Adding new spells and abilities isn't the only way to enrich one's mage-oriented gameplay. Tamriel is a land of diverse races. Each one possesses its own strengths and weaknesses, but the choice of a race has only a slight impact on gameplay. Players aren't barred from achieving something by picking one race over another.
Imperious – Races of Skyrim makes choosing a race a little more interesting. It overhauls the vanilla system from the ground up, giving each race an enhanced collection of stats, bonuses, and powers. Even NPCs can use these additions, which makes incorporating the mod feel seamless throughout a playthrough.
Once again, the College of Winterhold tends to play a central role in any kind of mage playthrough. If players are thirsting for more immersion in this department, Obscure's College of Winterhold mod may be just the ticket.
A lot of the finer details of the College are revamped in this mod. Chief among its features is the addition of two new towers, the Halls of Acumen and Diligence. Like Immersive College of Winterhold, this mod strives to make the institution feel more like an actual university, where learning is at the forefront of its mission.
The final spell mod that players may find intriguing is Mysticism – A Magic Overhaul. Similar to its counterparts on the list, Mysticism adds over 200 spells to the game world. It also fixes many of the bugs still present in the vanilla version regarding the magic system.
Longtime fans of the Elder Scrolls series should be pleased to find various spells from previous titles in the franchise. The mod also incorporates its own custom visuals so that everything fits smoothly within the wider experience. Mysticism is assuredly worth a shot if any of the above mods fail to impress.
The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim is available on PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and Xbox Series X/S.
Mark Hospodar has been an avid gamer ever since he fired up the original Medal of Honor on his PS1. A history teacher by training, Mark has branched out into the fields of fiction and non-fiction writing. He has co-authored several published works, including Future Imperfect and Tales from the Grimacing Goblin. However, his love of gaming has never dissipated over the years. A good, old-fashioned RTS title will always bring him back into the fold. His other interests include horror movies, toy soldier collecting, and anything Batman-related.
