In order to get new tiers of spells (adept, expert and master), you need to find a mage merchant that specifies on that type of magic. The easiest way to do that is to find the master teachers at the college of Winterhold. Before you can actually gain access to these spells though, you need to reach a certain skill-point for the magic type.
At level 45, many adept spells will appear and at level 50, you should have access to all of them that aren't unique spells. As an example, when your conjuration level reaches level 45, you can purchase the bound bow and conjure frost atronach spells from Phinis Gestor.
At level 70, you gain access to many expert spells and at level 75, you should have access to all of them.
At level 90 in Alteration, Conjuration and Restoration, you can talk to the teacher of that school and ask if there is any more to learn, in which they will start the ritual quest. Completing the quest will unlock master level spells that you can purchase from them (for 3000+ gold)
At level 100 in Destruction and Illusion, you can talk to the teacher of that school and ask if there is any more to learn. They will start the ritual spell quest and completing them will let you purchase the master tier spells from them.



She sells restoartion spells and gear, including robes of restoration, hoods, spell books and soul gems.
She can usually be found either in the library called the Arcaneum (inside the big door that leads to the hall of the elements, then to the door to the right) or in the hall of countenance (the door to the right when entering the college from the bridge).
Note that you have to have completed the quest "good intentions" (during the college questline) and have restoration at level 90 if you want to start the restoration ritual quest.
















He sells illusion spells and gear, including robes of illusion, hoods, spell books and soul gems.
He can usually be found either in the library called the Arcaneum (inside the big door that leads to the hall of the elements, then to the door to the right) or in the hall of countenance (the door to the right when entering the college from the bridge).



She sells destruction spells and gear, including robes of destruction, hoods, spell books and soul gems.
She can usually be found either in the library called the Arcaneum (inside the big door that leads to the hall of the elements, then to the door to the right) or in the hall of countenance (the door to the right when entering the college from the bridge).
After completing the college of winterhold questline, Faralda will never leave the hall of countenance, making it easy to find her after that point.



He sells Conjuration spells and gear, including robes of Conjuration, hoods, spell books and soul gems.

He can usually be found either in the library called the Arcaneum (inside the big door that leads to the hall of the elements, then to the door to the right) or in the hall of countenance (the door to the right when entering the college from the bridge).
After finding the eye of magnus, he can sometimes be found in the hall of the elements.



He sells Alteration spells and gear, including robes of Alteration, hoods, spell books and soul gems.

He can usually be found in the hall of the elements (big door, can't miss it) or in the hall of attainment (Door to the left when entering the college from the bridge).

Alteration primarily focuses on providing better visibility for you, increase your armor, provide some crowd control and other miscellaneous effects. It is universally good for more or less any and all characters and has some great defensive and utility uses.
I will not list the magica cost for the spells since it is affected by various factors such as your skill level, perks and enchantments.
Unless I mention specifics about where you get it, just assume that it is purchased from a merchant (Tolfdir is the alteration teacher in winterhold).


Candlelight: Creates a hovering light that follows you for 60 seconds.
Very low cost and can be nice to have in darker areas (even if they're as rare as dragonbone weapons in skyrim).

Oakflesh: Increase your armor by 40 points.
A nice spell, gives you more armor.

Equilibrium: Lose 25 health to gain 25 magica per second.
Found in Labyrinthian chasms[elderscrolls.wikia.com] during the college of winterhold questline, the same dungeon that you find the staff of magnus. Not the most amazing spell, but can be nice if you want to level up restoration a bit.

Magelight: Create a light ball that sticks to a surface for you.
It's like candlelight, but can be put in a more distant location. can be nice if you want to see something in a specific area and don't want the lightball to follow you around.

Stoneflesh: Increase your armor by 60 points for 60 seconds.
Stronger but more expensive version of oakflesh. Good spell, it is free armor after all.

Ash shell: Targets that fail to resist are encased in ash for 30 seconds, being unable to move but also being immune to damage.
This is a more utility version of paralyze. It prevents the enemy from moving and attacking, but also makes them immune to damage. The only real use for this is if you're fighting a lot of enemies and you want to even the ods by stunning the some of them.
This spell is found and obtained from solstheim in the dragonborn DLC, specificly from Talvas Fathryom in Tel Mithryn (the giant mushrooms with dark elves living in it).

Detect life: Nearby living creatures can be seen through walls (not daedra, dead or automatons). This is a great spell for stealth characters since you can see enemies before going to the next room. The range is limited though and you will most likely only be able to cast it for a few seconds before running out.

Ironflesh: Increase you armor rating by 80 points for 60 seconds.
More power and more expensive version of stoneflesh. Great spell.

Telekinesis: Pull an object to you and either add it to your inventory or launch it like a kerbal spaceprogram.
It's an interesting spell. More often than not it is moslty useful to good around or to level up alteration. In a few instances, it can give you an item and save you the trip. Not something I use much personally.

Transmute: Upgrade iron ore to silver ore, or silver ore to gold ore.
This is a very nice spell if you want to level up smithing or just create some fabulous bling. Iron ore is easy to come by and you can just turn it into gold, make gold ingots and make jewelry to level up smithing and then sell it for profit.
It can be found inside of Halted stream camp, north-west of whiterun.

Waterbreathing: Breather underwater for 60 seconds.
Another thing to make the argonian feel sad. There aren't many places where this spell can be useful, but it's there.

Ash rune: Place an ash rune on the ground. If someone triggers it, encases everyone around it that do not resist in ash for 30 seconds.
Same effect as ash shell, but in an AOE. If you want to even the ods or just don't feel like fighting a group of enemies, this can be nice.
It is obtained the same way as ash shell, purchasable from Talvas Fathryon at Tel Mythrin (the giant mushrooms with the dark elves living in them).

Detect dead: Nearby dead can be seen through walls.
Dead bodies, vampires, draugr and other undead NPC's can be seen through walls. Can be nice if you're in a draugr or vampire infested area. Doesn't work on daedra, living or automatons.

Ebonyflesh: Increase your armor rating by 100 points for 60 seconds.
Great spell. 100 armor is a lot and getting it for a roughly 100 magica cost at this point is certainly worth it.

Paralyze: Targets that fail to resist are paralyzed for 10 seconds.
One of the strongest things in the game is paralysis, wether you get it from a spell, enchantment or poison. Turning an enemy into a ragdoll for 10-15 seconds and leaving them defenseless is a glorious thing.

Dragonhide: Ignore 80% of all physical damage for 30 seconds.
Sounds good, right? Well, unless your armor stat is crap (usually the case for a mage character with robes and hoods/circlets), it is pretty worthless. Physical resistance caps at 80% and is achieved by having 650-540 armor (no armor to 4 pieces of armor and shield). Not to mention how costly it is, takes several seconds to cast and only lasts for 30 seconds.
Even for a mage character, it might be a better idea to just use ebony flesh with the mage armor perk, which should give you almost 50% damage resistance. And no, it doesn't stack with your armor stat. All I'm saying is: There are much better options for physical resistances.

Mass paralysis: Paralyzes all targets that fail to resist for 15 seconds (22 with stability perk).
It is expensive as hell, but an AOE paralysis on all enemies around you? It is great. Use it with the first word of become etheral, walk into the middle of some enemies and cast it (if you can) and get free hits on your enemies.

Naturally we have the cost reduction perks of novice (0 alteration), apprentice (25), adept (50), expert(75) and master (100).

Dual cast a spell, overcharging its effects.
Sounds really good, but it really isn't. Dual casting a spell increases its effect (in this case, duration) by 120% but it also increases the magica cost by 180%. For the most part, it is better to just re-cast the ability an extra time rather than wasting the magica.
Unless you can't afford to swap your weapons in a fight, I wouldn't recommend it.

While wearing no armor, increases the armor gained from flesh spells by 2/2,5/3 times.
This is a little tricky. On the one hand, this gives you more armor so you can survive! On the other, it makes it so you can't use certain enchanted items such as dragon priest masks or nice armor with good enchantments.
Particularily Krosis (+100% magica regen), Vokun (20% less cost on alteration, conjuration and illusion spells) and Nahrkiin (+50 magica and 20% less cost on destruction and restoration spells). Ofcourse you can always use the end reward of the dragonborn DLC to respec your perks later. Great perk for those that may use it.

Increases your magic resistance by 10/20/30%.
Great perk. Since magic resist is harder to come by than armor and an enchantment can often take up a valuable slot to increase your damage or reduce magica cost, getting 30% resistance is great. Get the agent of mara passive (talk to the female dark elf in the temple of mara in Riften) and you have 45%. Get the lord stone and you'll get 70%.
Remember that magic resistance (includes resistance to fire, frost and shock specificly) caps at 85%.

Increase alteration spell duration by 50%.
Great perk. 90 seconds on your ebony flesh, 15 seconds on paralyze and 22 on mass paralysis. If you use alteration spells, there is no reason not to take this perk.

Gain 30% spell absorbtion.
This is a great perk. 30% chance to ignore the damage from a spell and refill your magica? Yes please! Combine it with the atronach stone and you have a constant 80% spell absorbtion. And unlike magic resist and armor, there is no limit to how high your spell absorb chance can be, meaning that you can become completely immune to all spells, poisons, disease and other non-physical effects (the game becomes extremely boring though).

Stealth characters get free XP, more armor for when they have to fight, the ability to see enemies through walls and the stability perk increases the duration of slow time. You'll want to get the quiet casting perk in illusion, but it can be very useful.

Mages need it the most. Due to robes and hoods/circlets, your armor rating will be crap. The extra armor from the flesh spells will keep you from dying immediately to a random arrow or attack, the magic resist is nice and the spel absorb is very useful.

Warriors gain plenty. More armor so you can tank more and magic resistance so spells don't hurt. Its an easy stat to forget about and can result in you getting your ass handed to you by a random sorcerer, witch or vampire.

For perk choices, theres only 3 perks that might be worth skipping. Mage armor doesn't help if you're using any sort of armor, dual casting is a waste of perk points and magica and the master casting perk isn't that great. The master spells are very situational (like many of the master spells) and it can be hard to find a good time to use it. Naturally, you take what seems fitting.

As for spells to use, you'll most likely just use the flesh spells 90% of the time and maybe the paralyze spell every now and then. The detect life spell is useful for a stealth or archer character and the light spells are useful if you mod the game to be darker. The other spells are situational at best, but useful for what they do.

Alteration is simple but incredibly useful even if it is just for the extra armor and magic resist. I can highly recommend it to anyone!


Vokun is a dragon priest that you can find in High gate ruins[elderscrolls.wikia.com], east of Solitude and west of Dawnstar. His mask has 23 heavy armor and gives you 20% less cost on alteration, conjuration and restoration magic. It can be nice to have, even if you don't use heavy armor.

Besides that are the normal enchanted items. Robes of alteration, mages circlet (up to 70 magica), Ring of erudite (+100 magica and higher magica regen) from joining the vampires during dawnguard, Morokei (100% faster magica regen) and random enchanted gear.

Bound dagger
Summons a bound dagger in your hand for 120 seconds.
It's kind of crappy. The blade of woe from the dark brotherhood questline has more damage and doesn't rely on the quiet casting perk. In addition, you have to go to solstheim and help the people at Tel Mithryn (the giant muschrooms) in order to buy it. It's a cool weapon, but takes far too long to get. Some mods add it to normal mechants and in that case it can be good.

Bound sword
Summons a bound one-handed sword in your hand for 120 seconds.
This is a pretty good spell. Good damage, gives a good amount of conjuration XP and is viable for a while (especially if you aren't grinding smithing or enchanting early on).

Conjure familiar
Summons a familiar for 60 seconds.
Don't even bother. When I previously used it, it was seemingly bugged and wouldn't attack anything. Even if it does attack something, it does almost no damage and has only slightly more health than a wolf. It's garbage.

Raise zombie
Reanimate a weak dead body to fight for you for 60 seconds.
I personally dislike zombie spells due to how slow and un-reliable they are. Especially the weaker spells since you're just summoning a weak NPC. It can be nice and its certainly better than the familiar, though you're not creating a very powerful minion with this spell. Might be better to just wait until you get to apprentice before using summons and zombies.

Summon unbound dremora
This is only used during the conjuration master quest where you have to fight a dremora lord a few times.

Bound battleaxe
Summons a bound two-handed battleaxe for 120 seconds.
Great spell if you want to use two-handed weapons. Same as the bound sword.

Conjure boneman
Summons a boneman to fight for you for 60 seconds.
Summons a black skeleton archer. They have more health and are more powerful than the normal skeletons. Can be nice if you want something with ok ranged damage.
The spell can be found in the soul cairn during the dawnguard DLC questline. Finding it can be tricky, but it isn't a big loss since they don't do a ton of damage (unless you use the marked for death shout).

Conjure flame atronach
Summons a flame atronach to fight for you for 60 seconds.
Its health is low and its damage is pitiful, but it's something. It has ok range and can do some work early on. For an apprentice spell, it isn't half bad.

Flaming familiar
Summons a flaming familiar that explodes after a few seconds, dealing fire damage in an AOE.
Consider it a homing fireball spell. The cost is cheap and the casting distance is much longer than any other summon. It can be fun to use and can be a nice little source of burst damage for a conjurer. Remember that it counts towards your summons counter.
The spell is rewarded for completing the quest "a scroll for Anska" in high gate ruins located east of Solitude and West for Dawnstar. It requires you to kill Vokun (a dragon priest) and collect a special scroll and give it to Anska. naturally, Anska has to be alive for this to happen.

Reanimate corpse
Reanimate a more powerful dead body to fight for you for 60 seconds.
Can reanimate stronger enemies than raise zombie. If thats your thing, go for it. Chances are that the zombies will be more useful than the flame atronach.

Soul trap
If target dies within 60 seconds, fills a soul gem.
If you're enchanting gear or you need to recharge your weapons, you can use this. If you do not have the unofficial patch mod, you can cast this on a dead body and that will give XP to conjuration, letting you power level it to 100 with ease.

Summon Arniel's shade
Summons a shade of Arniel Gane for 60 seconds.
After you help Arniel Gane (a mage at the college of winterhold), you will be given this spell. He counts as a ghost and is highly resistant to poisons and physical attacks. It requires both hands to summon him rather than 1 and he uses various destruction spells. Very useful, though it takes a while to get your hands on him.

Summon Arvak
Summons Arvak for a limited time.
Arvak is a spectral ghost horse. He is the best horse in the game because he cannot truly die and you can summon him wherever you want.
Just like the boneman, he is found in the soul cairn during the dawnguard questline.

Banish daedra
Weaker summoned daedra (flame atronach) have a 15% chance to be banished to oblivion. If it fails, it will stagger and do 20 damage.
This is a very un-reliable spell. The cost isn't exactly super cheap and a 15% chance isn't worth using. If enemy summons are such a problem, I suggest you instead invest into the oblivion binding perk to make your bound weapons banish ALL summons 100% of the time.

Bound bow
Summons a bound bow for 120 seconds.
One of the best archery weapons in the game. With the mystic binding perk, the base damage of the bow increases to 24 (5 more than a daedric bow) and every time you cast it, you get 100 bound arrows that do 24 damage (same as daedric arrows). The draw speed is also very fast and it has no weight. The damage, the utility, the firerate are all amazing and I will never stop preaching about how amazing this bow is.
Normally you have to reach 45 on conjuration and buy it, but if you follow this guide you can find it and cast it as early as level 1.

Conjure ash spawn
Summons an ash spawn for 60 seconds.
These guys are pretty solid minions. They use one-handed swords with fire damage and use some basice fire destruction spells. Think of them as stronger flame atronachs.
You can buy this spell from Talvas Fathryon in Tel Mithryn (the giant muschrooms on Solstheim in the dragonborn DLC) after completing "Telvanni research" which is started by asking Neloth "Can I help with your research?". He is also found in Tel Mithryn.

Conjure frost atronach
Summons a frost atronach for 60 seconds.
It is limited to melee attacks, but it has a frost cloak effect, is immune to frost damage and has a ground slam that often staggers enemies aswell as a generous health pool. It's a tank and it does a good job of it. Good summon.

Conjure mistman
Summons a mistman for 60 seconds.
They're like ghostly, black skeletons. They use melee attacks and frost spells in combat. If you want a frost version of the flame atronach, here it is.
It is found in the soul cairn during the dawnguard questline.

Conjure seeker
Summons a seeker for 60 seconds.
Seekers are... wierd. They focus on draining health and magica and are fairly tanky. If you're fighting magic enemies, these can be nice to whip out.
The tome can be found in apocrypha, the realm of Hermaeus More in oblivion (inside the dark books of dragonborn DLC).

Revenant
Reanimate a powerful dead body for 60 seconds.
Nice reanimation spell, can make some fairly strong minions with this. If zombies are your thing, go ahead and use it.

Conjure ash guardian
Summons an ash guardian to guard a spot until slain. Consumes a sun stone from your inventory when cast, otherwise it becomes hostile.
This is an interesting spell. It doesn't count towards your summons counter and will not automaticly die if you summon other summons. It is bound to a general area and seemingly has an infinite duration. There aren't a lot of uses for it other than having a guardian in your player home or in a city you often go to and get attacked from random encounters (Lakeview manor is a good location).
The spell can be obtained from Talvas Fathryon in Tel Mithryn in Solstheim.

Command daedra
Summoned daedra and raised undead struck have a 20% chance to be put under your control. If it fails, it staggers them.
It is a bit better than banish daedra, but is stil un-reliable. Not to mention that you're on expert spells now and have access to summons like the dremora lord and storm atronach.

Conjure dremora lord
Summons a dremora lord for 60 seconds.
Speaking of which, we have one of the best summons in the game. He has no range, but his health and armor is pretty strong and his daedric greatsword of the inferno deals a lot of damage. He deals tons of damage and can take a good bit of damage. Great summon.

Conjure wrathman
Summons a wrathman for 60 seconds.
Compared to the dremora lord, the wrathman deals less damage but has almost tripple the health. He is also resistant to fire and benefits from the necromancy and dark souls perks (he counts as an undead rather than an atronach). If you want something that can tank more than kill, he is a nice option.
The spell can be found in the soul cairn during the dawnguard questline.

Conjure storm atronach
Summons a storm atronach for 60 seconds.
If you're fighting mage enemies or flying dragons, this is a nice option. The storm atronach uses chain lightning (which drains magica) and it is instant, letting it hurt dragons (even if it doesn't do a ton of damage).

Dread zombie
Reanimate a very powerful dead body for 60 seconds.
Make stronger summoned undead. Not much else to say, if zombies is your thing, it is a good spell.

Expel daedra
summoned daedra struck have a 20% chance to be banished. If it fails, it staggers and does 40 damage.
Same description as the others. It is un-reliable and its generally better to just summon a creature, make an enchantment or use bound weapons.

Flame, frost and storm thrall
These are all terrible. The thralls have more health and last more or less forever. The problem is that they will usually get stuck somewhere and you have to re-cast the spell anyway or wait and the magica cost is huge (900-1200 base cost), not to mention that the flame thrall gains the novice flame spell (wow, its actually worse!) and they do not get better spells. You're better off using the dead thrall or just use the atronachs (or better yet, use another summon!)

Dead thrall
This can be worth using. You can reanimate some very powerful enemies such as draugr deathlords, strong sorcerers, bandit chiefs, master vampires etc. and have them as minions. They can get stuck just like the other thralls, but they're at least useful.

We have the natural cost reduction perks. Novice (0), Apprentice (25), adept (50), expert (75) and master (100).

It's fairly useless. Like dual casting for other spell types, it increases the duration of the spell by 120%, but increases the cost by 180%. Unless you absolutely can't swap weapons during a fight (and 90-120 seconds is plenty of time for most fights), this is a waste of perk points and magica.

Bound weapons do more damage.
If you're using bound weapons, this is an amazing perk. Makes them do equal or supperior damage to daedric weapons.

Summon atronachs and raise dead 2/3 times as far away.
If you're using summons or zombie spells, its a good perk.

Bound weapons cast soul trap on enemies.
It's something. If you feel you need it, go get it.

Greater duration for reanimated undead.
If you use zombie spells, this is a great choice.

Double duration for conjured atronachs and dremora lords.
If you use atronachs or the dremora lord, this is a great perk.

Bound weapons banish summoned daedra.
If you're concerned with enemy summons, this can be nice. Just remember that you can and will banish your own summons if you hit them.

Reanimated undead have 100 more health.
If you use zombies, this perk is nice.

Conjured atronachs are 50% more powerful.
More health and more damage. If you use atronachs, this perk it great.

You can have 2 summons or reanimated undead.
Great perk, get it if you use summons or zombies.

Stealth characters can use the bound weapons and atronachs to defend yourself if you get spotted.

Mages can use the summons to distract enemies and fight for you. They are very cost effective and very valuable for them.

Warriors get followers to help them fight and the bound weapons do excelent damage. The bound bow will also let you level up archery pretty fast due to its amazing damage output.

The archer (especially a combat archer) benefits the most from conjuration. The bound sword is a great backup if enemies get too close early on, the bound bow is absolutely amazing and the summoned creatures are great to distract the enemy, giving you plenty of free shots to deal with the enemy. If you're an archer, consider using conjuration!

Perks you should avoid are dual casting and master spells. Soul stealer and oblivion binding are neat, but ultimately not needed if you use bound weapons. Naturally, you chose wether you want to focus on undead or daedra for your summons (or go for both).

As for spells, you have lots of options from the DLC. Bound weapons are an obvious choice aswell as using whatever summon seems best for the job. The easy solution is to use whatever atronach is the strongest until you get the dremora lord. If you can find the boneman spell in the soul cairn, he can be nice if you use the marked for death shout since he'll do a lot more damage. Zombie spells can be used as you see fit.
Phinis Ghestor is the conjuration teacher in Winterhold.

There are 2 unique pieces of gear that benefit conjuration. The first is Vokun, a dragon priest mask found in high gate ruins which is found east of Solitude and west of Dawnstar. It gives you 20% cost reduction to alteration, conjuration and illusion.
The 2nd is the necromancers amulet. This is an iffy quest that is started and completed in Windhelm. It tasks you to solve the mystery of the Butcher, a serial killer in windhelm. If you do the quest correctly, you can get the necromancers amulet. It gives +50 magica and reduces conjuration spell costs by 25%, but reduces health and stamina regen by 75%.
Other than that are the normal magic items. Conjuration robes, the mages circlet (up to 70 magica), ring of erudite (+100 magica and slight magica regen) if you side with the vampires during dawnguard and Morokei (+100% magica regen) and random enchanted items.

The conjuration spell list might seem massive and intimidating, but do not let that affect your choice. Conjuration doesn't require much in the form of magica to cast the 2-3 spells you'll use and can be incredibly effective. Especially on higher difficulties since minions and followers are not affected by difficulty changes (they stay tanky and do good damage no matter the difficulty).

The destruction spells are the same between elements and tiers with the exception of the AOE adept spells and the master spells. Because of that, I'm just going to say the spell and the stats they have. Remember that fire applies a small dot and does more damage to burning enemies, frost deals half or all of its damage to stamina aswell as health and shock deals half or all of its damage to magica aswell as health.
Also, fire spells cost the least magica, shock costs the most and frost is in the middle. Shock spells travel almost instantly, frost spells travel the slowest and fire is in the middle. Frost spells also slow down the movement of enemies. Most undead are resistant to frost but are vulnerable to fire.

Flames, frostbite and sparks: do 8 damage per second. Concentration spell.
Pretty good spells, allright damage-to-magica-cost ratio even if it has slow dps.

Arniels convection: does 1 damage per second.
This is only used during one of Arniel Ganes quests. Nothing to be concerned about.

Vampiric drain: drains 2/3/4/5 health per second from your victim depending on your stage of vampirism.
You get this if you're a vampire. It does pathetic damage and doesn't even heal you for much, you're better off just using the flame and healing spells.

Firebolt, ice spike and lightning bolt: Does 25 damage. Single target projectile.
Compared to the novice spells, these are less effective cost wise, but do more DPS. Unless you need something to die right now or it's only 1 enemy, I'd suggest you stick to the novice spells until you get the adept AOE spells.

Fire, frost and shock runes: Places a rune on a surface, exploding for 50 AOE damage when an enemy comes close to it.
Runes have more or less 2 uses: The first is to set up a trap before you're going to fight an enemy. Place it on the ground before entering a room with enemies, wait for your magica to regen again, trigger the enemies and lead them to the rune.
The 2nd is for early game AOE damage. If you're facing several enemies that group up together, the rune spells do a ton of damage early on. However, their magica cost is massive and is thus only worth using against several clumped up enemies and before a fight. They also become obsolete once you get to adept magic.

Freeze: Does 20 frost damage and slows the target for 15 seconds.
This is primarily crowd control. It works great as a kiting tool since your target moves slower and the spell cost is very low.
The spell is obtainable by using Ahzidals ring of arcana, found in Kolbjorn Barrow during the 3rd dig during the quest "unearthed" on Solstheim. Speak to Ralis Sedarys, asking for rumors on the wretched netch should lead you to him.

Ignite: Does 4 fire damage per second for 15 seconds.
This spell starts out weak, but has a lot of potential. If you do not have the unofficial patch mod, the illusion perk "Aspect of terror" (50) will add an extra 10 damage to each tic, increasing the damage to 14 per second. With the augmented flames perk, the damage can be increased to 21 per second for a total of 315 damage over 15 seconds.
Finally, the spell can stack if you cast it multiple times on an enemy and the cost is very low. Combine it with freeze and watch your victim slowly burn down. If you want destruction magic without needing a ton of magica and you don't mind waiting, this spell is great.
The spell is obtainable by using Ahzidals ring of arcana, found in Kolbjorn Barrow during the 3rd dig during the quest "unearthed" on Solstheim. Speak to Ralis Sedarys, asking for rumors on the wretched netch should lead you to him.

Fireball: Shoots a fireball that explodes once it hits something for 40 damage in a 15 foot radius.
This is your bread and butter spell for AOE fire damage. Augmented flames 1 will give you 50 damage and its a straight upgrade to the rune. Good damage, ok blast radius, it's a nice spell.

Ice storm: Shoots a slow moving orb of ice that does 40 frost damage per second. Limited range.
It's a great spell. Since it can hit multiple times, it is devestating against melee enemies such as bandits, or frost vulnerable enemies like flame atronachs and ash spawn.

Chain lightning: Shoots a lightning bolt that does 40 damage and will jump between other targets. Can hurt friendly NPC's.
If you're facing several mages, this spell is great to drain their magica. The effect is cool and damage is allright.

Flame, frost and lightning cloak: Enemies in melee range take 8 damage per second. Lasts for 60 seconds, dual casting will drasticly increase the range.
The damage is pretty weak, so they are most useful to stop the enemy from regenerating stamina or magica, or to apply the low-health effect of fear, paralysis or disintegration with the perks. kind of meh.

Whirlwind cloak: For 60 seconds, enemies in melee range have a chance to be flung away. Dual casting increases the range.
This spell can be pretty fun to use at times, especially near cliffs and pits. I do not know the chance to fling though.
The spell can be purchased from Talvas Fathryon in Tel Mithryn (the giant mushrooms on Solstheim) after completing the quest "wind and sand" for Neloth by asking him "Can I help with your research?".

Incinerate, icy spear and thunderbolt: Shoots a single target projectile that does 60 damage.
These spells have some of the best DPS potential. doing roughly 216 damage when dual casted with the augmented perk that can be cast roughly every 1-2 seconds is no joke. The magica cost is very high but you should have good enough enchanting, magica and/or magica potions to deal with that.

Wall of flames, frost and storms: Sprayed on the ground, it creates a "wall" (more like a small bonfire) that does 50 damage per second. Does not harm followers or the dragonborn.
These spells can be pretty sweet but they feel un-responsive or like they do very little damage. It is a little wierd but you spray lots of stuff on the ground and it feels like the enemy health bars aren't moving at all (though I do not have a ton of experience with them). The damage is good and they're worth using, basicly the novice spells but not bad.

Firestorm: Deals 100 fire damage in a circle around you. The closer the enemy is to you, the more damage they take.
This spell has some great potential. Combine it with either wall of flame or a dual casted flame cloak to set enemies on fire for a little extra damage, use become ethereal shout, get as deep into a group of enemies as you can and cast this to nuke them off the face of the earth. You might not outright kill enemies, but you can do a lot of damage.

Blizzard: Creates a blizzard centered on where you cast it from, doing 20 frost damage to health and stamina per second for 10 seconds.
If you're facing a lot of warrior-like enemies or enemies that are weak to frost (good luck finding them), this spell is great. Does 300 damage with the augmented frost perk which is pretty good and it drains stamina too. However, it does not work together with the become etheral perk (Don't know if the unofficial patch changes that).

Lightning storm: Shoots a continuous stream of lightning, doing 75 damage per second to health and half that to magica. Cannot move while casting or channeling the spell, but can aim freely. Limited range.
This spell is mostly single target with limited range, but hot damn does it do a lot of DPS. With augmented shock 2, the damage per second becomes 112, and the magica cost is very reasonable and is one of the more cost-effective destruction spells in the game. Stagger-like effects can and will stop you while you cast and shoot the spell, so a follower or conjuration summon is recommended.

We obviously have the mandatory cost reduction perks with novice (0), apprentice (25), adpet (50), expert (75) and master (100).

Dual cast a spell, overcharging its effects.
If you have a lot of destruction cost reduction through enchantments and/or a lot of magica or magica potions, this can be good since you get a little more damage. Until then, you're better off just casting the spell twice, only runes, cloaks and walls are worth dual casting (and even then, you might not be able to afford it early on).

Most enemies will be staggered when hit with a dual cast spell.
Useful crowd control. If you can spam dual casted spells, you can stun lock enemies with ease. A 100% cost reduction destruction mage can make a joke out of almost any enemy. If you feel you need the extra crowd control (and just using the first word of unrelenting force isn't good enough for you), get this perk.

Increases the damage of flame, frost or shock spells and effects by 25/50%.
These perks can and will affect things such as weapon enchantments that do fire, frost or shock damage. Get the perks that interest you. They do not affect certain spells such as runes or cloaks though.

Can place runes 5 times further.
Would not recommend. You're only 10 levels from getting the adept spells that cost far less and are more effective and reliable.

Enemies hit with fire damage at low health will be feared.
Can be handy at times, scaring off enemies like that. It works with other fire sources than spells, such as enchantments. Doesn't seem to work with conjuration summons or followers (though I could be wrong). I do not count fear as that great of a thing for anyone but archers since it can make you miss attacks and maybe have to chase after them, but if you think it can help, go for it.

Enemies hit with fros damage at low health will be paralyzed for a few seconds.
Can be very useful since it leaves them helpless (though I would have liked a frost or snow effect on the npc when they got frozen). If you use frost spells and want to have an easy time finishing off your enemies, this perk is great.

Enemies hit with shock damage at low health disintegrate (instantly die).
This is by far the best of the perks. Even if you do not use shock spells much, you can use the shock wall or dual cast the lightning cloak spell to finish off enemies. It even works on dragons! (You stil get the soul and the loot).

Stealth characters do not benefit too much from destruction.
Destruction doesn't benefit from sneak attack bonuses and they are LOUD without the quiet casting perk from illusion. It isn't very viable as a backup either since you won't be able to level it normally. You have far better things to use your magica on than this.

Warrior characters can benefit from it.
Particularily if you use one-handed and destruction spells, you can have a significant amount of damage output. Or you can use a shield and a spell, though quick-swapping spells will bypass the shield and can get annoying.
Anyway, draining the enemy's stamina and magica, preventing them from doing power attacks and casting spells can be very useful for you, not to mention that you can increase the damage of enchanted weapons if you have the augmented fire/frost/shock perks.

Mage characters are the main users of destruction.
With how magica hungry it is, not to mention how much it relies on magica potions and enchanted cost reduction, a mage character is your best option. With enough investment, destruction is a glorious thing, though you should probably also use alteration armor spells and conjuration summons to help you out.


This is important to know before trying to dedicate yourself to using destruction magic. Enchantments to reduce the cost and potions to restore magica and increase destruction damage are important for a destruction build. Without it, you'll have to either become a glass cannon with hundreds of magica but very little health, or find yourself relying on un-reliable things to kill enemies.

If you want to do destruction early on, I suggest that you do Azura's quest and get the black star (if you do not know where to start it, ask an inn-keeper for rumors and they should mention the shrine of azura with a quest marker). It is important that you get the black star and not Azura's star, since the black star takes any soul while Azura's is more picky (side with the mage that helps you).
Get your enchanting to 20+ and get 2 ranks in the enchanter perk for 40% better enchantments. Dis-enchant a destruction cost reduction item (not robes) and get some gloves, ring, necklace and a head-piece (helmet, circlet or hood) and finally, some form of soul trapping (the spell or an enchantment doesn't matter). The order that you get all these things do not matter.
Find a suitable enemy (bandits should do) and soul trap them inside the star. Make your way to an arcane enchanter (there is one in whiterun in Farengar's room) and enchant an item with fortify destruction. Do this with the other pieces, and get some destruction robes (you can buy some from Faralda in Winterhold).
The result should be enough cost reduction to let you cast lots of spells without needing to drink 20 magica potions every 5 mintues.

As for spells, it depends on what you're looking for. The novice spells do a bit more damage-per-magica-spent than the apprentice projectile spells, but the projectile spells do far more DPS. The adept AOE spells are great against multiple enemies. The expert projectile spells shouldn't be used unless you have a large amount of cost reduction AKA you can afford it, but the wall spells can be great!
The master spells are a little situational, but they're great for what they do. Faralda is the destruction teacher in Winterhold.

For items, we have the normal collection of magic items (robes, mage circlet, morokei, savos arens amulet and ring of erudite). The only destruction specific item of note would be the dragon priest mask Nahkriin, which gives +50 magica and 20% cost reduction to destruction and restoration. He is found at the end of the main storyline, before you face Alduin. It gives heavy armor (and will thus deny you the mage armor perk) but the bonuses you get are pretty awesome.
Generally though, you'll probably rely more on your own enchanted gear than anything else.

Clairvoyance: Shows the path to your current objective.
It's pretty meh since it will show the path that an NPC would take rather than one that will save you time. It's also kind of tricky to figure out when you have several quests active. Pretty meh.

Courage: Target won't flee for 60 seconds and gets 25 more health and stamina.
It exists, I suppose. Enemies almost never use illusion spells (if they worked on you, it would be very frustrating and wierd to be forced to not fight, run away or fight everyone) so "fear" isn't something you need to worry about too much. Also, 25 more health and stamina is pretty meh, though this can be nice to level up illusion early on.
However, perks and potions that boost the power or level of illusion spells increases the health and stamina boost.

Fury: Creatures and people up to level 6 will fight anything nearby for 30 seconds.
A low level fury spell. Can be fun, though fury is unreliable wether the A.I. will attack you or someone else. Cheap and low level fury spell.

Vision of the tenth eye: Gives night vision for 30 seconds and makes the master illusion texts visible.
This is only used during the master illusion spell quest. Not worth using after due to the long casting animation (same as master spells).

Calm: Creatures and people up to level 9 won't fight for 30 seconds.
Single target, fairly costly but nice if you're playing a stealth character early on or you want to take someone out of the fight while you murder their friends.

Fear: Creatures and people up to level 9 flee for 30 seconds.
If you're playing an archer or you prefer fear over calm, this is an allright early game spell.

Muffle: Muffles footsteps for 180 seconds.
If you're using illusion, this is a must have spell. It gives a stupid amount of illusion XP and casting it every now and again while in a city or you have nothing else to do will get your illusion to 100 fairly quickly. Oh, and it's great for a stealth character since it makes you more sneaky (it is more powerful than the enchantment, but they do not stack).

Frenzy: Creatures and people up to level 14 will attack anyone for 60 seconds.
This hits in an AOE (similar to the fireball spell) and can thus hit multiple enemies in a single blast. It is great as the cost isn't very high and the level isn't too bad. It is more or less the best fury spell in the game, after all.

Frenzy rune: Place a frenzy rune on a surface. Creatures and people up to level 20 will attack anything for 60 seconds.
It has a lower cost and a higher level cap, but shorter range and smaller AOE compared to frenzy. It's allright, but you have to invest into destruction and get the rune master perk (40). It's an allright spell, but I'd say frenzy is more reliable.
The spell can be purchased from Talvas Fathryon in tel Mithryn (the giant mushrooms) in Solstheim.

Rally: Target's won't flee for 60 seconds and get +25 health and stamina.
Since this hits in an AOE, it is generally better than courage. The bonus health and stamina won't do much, but it is there. If you want your follower to keep fighting, there it is.

Invisibility: Caster is invisible for 30 seconds.
If you're a stealth character, you're going to love this spell. Invisibility makes stealth far easier, especially when combined with muffle. The cost is a bit high, but certainly worth it.

Pacify: Creatures and people up to level 20 won't fight for 60 seconds.
Arguably the best calm spell, it is great. Hits in an AOE and can affect some fairly high level enemies if you invest into the perks for it. Can also be nice to level up illusion.

Rout: Creatures and people up to level 20 will flee for 60 seconds.
Hits in an AOE, if you're using archery, summons and/or destruction spells, this can be very nice to have.

Call to arms: units around you gain 25 points to health, stamina, one-handed, two-handed and archery skills for 10 minutes.
The other courage spells are pretty meh, but this gives your followers and other targets a nice damage boost with their weapons. Perks and potions that boost illusion spells can push the effects even further.

Harmony/Hysteria/Mayhem: Creatures and people up to level 25 won't fight/will flee/ will attack anyone for 60 seconds.
Honestly, these spells are pretty terrible. They cost 3-5 times more than their adept and expert variants, but those spells can be dual cast to double the level cap, surpasing the master spells while stil costing a lot less magica AND not forcing you to walk into the middle of an enemy camp to make it work. You can hit more enemies, but you can stay a good distance away if you use the other spells.

Naturally we have the cost reduction perks of novice (0), apprentice (25) adept (50), expert (75) and master (100).

Can dual cast a spell to overcharge its effects.
Illusion is probably the only magic type where dual casting is worth doing. It will increase the level cap of your spells by 120% which stacks with your perks and other illusion bonuses, letting you affect very high level enemies. Great perk if you're going to use calm, fear or frenzy spells (master spells can't be dual cast).

Illusion spells work against higher leveled animals (+8).
It's an ok perk, but you'll mostly get it so you can take the kindred mage or quiet casting perks.

Calm spells work on higher leveled opponents (+8).
If you use calm spells, this is a nice perk. Otherwise, you need it if you want to make fear or frenzy spells more powerful.

Illusion spells work on higher leveled people (+10).
Great perk if you're going to be using the spells. Otherwise, you need it to get to quiet casting.

All spell casts, shouts and powers are silent to others.
If you're a stealth character that uses magic, this is a must-have perk. It also works on shouts, which means that you can use things such as slow time to make stealth kills even easier.

Fear spells work on higher leveled enemies (+10). BUG: Fire spells gain +10 damage (fixed with unofficial patches).
If you use fear spells or you want to use frenzy spells, you'll want to get this perk. The fire damage bug can lead to some spells becoming surprisingly strong, such as flames or ignite.

Frenzy spells work on higher leveled enemies (+12).
If you use frenzy spells, you'll want this perk.

Illusion spells now work on undead, daedra and automatons.
With how many draugr and vampires you find throughout skyrim, and how dangerous dwarven robots can be, this is a nice perk. Get it if you're using illusion spells other than muffle and invisibility.

Stealth characters benefit a ton from illusion.
Free levelups and perks, the muffle and invis spells are really useful and calm spells gives you a great option incase you get spotted by enemies.

Warrior characters do not use illusion much.
Courage and rally don't do much and you'll need a lot of magica and/or cost reduction to cast call to arms. The rest are pretty meh, since trying to hit feared enemies with melee weapons is a pain, frenzied enemies are unpredictable and calmed enemies become hostile if they take any damage. Can be nice for an archer character, though conjuration is generally better.

Mages characters can have some fun. It's a bit wierd and ultimately less effective than running with conjuration and/or destruction, but it can be fun to manipulate your enemies. Using fear or calm spells to walk right past enemies, or fury spells to make them fight each other.

As for perks, it depends on what you're going for. If you're going for stealth, all you need is the quiet casting perk, apprentice cost reduction and eventually expert for invisibility.
If you're going for fear, you do not need the quiet casting, expert or master perks.
The master casting perk and quiet casting are the most situational perks, all the others are worth considering if you want to use calm and fear spells. Courage is very meh besides leveling up and call to arms.

As for spells, the novice and apprentice spells are pretty worthless. Single target and your magica is pretty low at that point. Your best bet is to get enough magica or cost reduction to cast muffle, then cast it over and over until your illusion reaches 50 and start using the adept and expert spells (AOE and better levels) and/or keep using muffle to level up more.
Drevis Neloren is the illusion teacher in Winterhold.

The only specific item that helps illusion is Vokun, which gives 20% cost reduction to alteration, conjuration and illusion. Otherwise you have the normal items and enchantments.

Healing: Heal 10 health per second.
Everyone starts with this spell. It's a nice spell to heal yourself, good health-to-magica-cost ratio, though it's a little slow compared to higher tier healing spells. Is gud.

Lesser ward: Create a magic shield that gives you +40 armor and blocks up to 40 magic damage.
Wards are kind of crap except for against dragons or enemies using shouts. Early on, they consume so much magica that you can't keep it up for long and you'll have to chug some magica potions after. When you do have enough magica, enemies will usually do more damage to instantly break it or it will just be more effective to attack them.
However, shouts do not seem to do any damage to wards (or at least, they can't break them) so you can use a ward spell to block a dragon shout, which is nice. Just remember to put it up a moment before you get hit with a spell, otherwise it will instantly break and stun you for a moment.

Fast healing: Heal 50 HP.
Heals faster but costs a little more magica-per-health. Nice spell for when you need to heal quickly.

Healing hands: Heal 10 health per second on a target. Doesn't work on undead, daedra or automatons.
It can be nice to have this spell available so when your follower goes down, you can heal them and they can get up sooner. You also get more restoration XP for healing others, so you can put your follower in a dangerous spot (such as a trap) and keep on healing them to level up.

Necromantic healing: Heal 10 health per second to undead.
Heals undead AKA Serana. It exists.
You can buy it from Ronthil in castle Volkihar if you join the vampires during the dawnguard storyline.

Steadfast ward: Create a magic shield that gives you +60 armor and blocks up to 60 magic damage and effects.
It's the same as the lesser ward, but stronger and more expensive. Can be useful, but I think you're better off just getting magic resistance and/or spell absorbtion.

Sun fire: Single target projectile spell that does 25 sun damage to undead.
If you want to play a like a holy knight, paladin or just want to do something more interesting with restoration, this spell is for you. It's basicly firebolt but without the bonus of extra dot and enemies being weaker to fire...
You can buy it from Surine Jurard if you decide to join the dawnguard.

Turn lesser undead: Undead up to level 6 flee for 30 seconds.
Basicly the fear spell but specificly for undead. Generally, the turn undead spells aren't that great since illusion can be leveled up much faster and you can get a perk that gives you much stronger fear spells that work on higher leveled enemies. Nice for roleplaying, but otherwise pretty meh (mostly because of the magica cost).

Close wounds: Heal 100 HP.
Great spell, being able to heal yourself 150 health (with the perk) quickly is a great thing, and should give you all the health and stamina you'll ever need.

Greater ward: Create a magical shield that gives 80 armor and blocks up to 80 magic damage and effects.
Same as the other wards, block some magic damage. If you're in such need for wards, I'd suggest you get spellbreaker, an awesome shield that makes wards for free while blocking.

Heal other: Heals 75 health to a target. Doesn't work on undead, daedra or automatons.
If you feel your follower dies too much, heres the solution.

Heal undead: Heal 75 health to an undead target AKA Serana.
Same as heal other, if you feel Serana or some other undead follower dies too much, get this.
You can buy it from Ronthil in castle Volkihar if you joined the vampires.

Poison rune: Place a rune on a surface. Explodes when an enemy comes nearby, dealing 3 poison damage per second for 30 seconds (90 total damage).
This spell is pretty useless. The damage is so slow that the enemy won't even feel it, you're better off hitting them with a sword a few times and you'll have dealt the same amount or more damage much faster.
You can buy it from Talvas Fathryon in Tel Mithryn in Solstheim.

Reppel lesser undead: Undead up to level 8 flee for 30 seconds.
It's an AOE this time, which is nice. Stil, you're mostly just going to turn weak undead that are easy to deal with.

Stendarr's aura: Create a cloak of sunlight, dealing 10 sun damage to nearby undead per second for 60 seconds.
Compared to flame cloak, it does a little less damage. However, it looks sick, gives restoration XP and is great for roleplaying. The damage difference isn't too high either.
You can buy it from Florentius Baenius if you join the dawnguard. You'll have to proceed through the dawnguard story and do some radiant quests for Gunmar and Surine before you can find him.

Turn undead: Undead up to level 13 flee for 30 seconds.
Single target, costs more magica but works on higher leveled enemies. Same as the other turn spells.

Vampire's bane: Ball of sunlight that does 40 sun damage in an AOE to undead.
Does less potential damage but costs a lot less compared to fireball. It also won't hurt your followers, which is nice.
You can buy it from Florentius Baenius if you join the dawnguard.

Circle of protection: Creates a circle where you cast it. Enemy undead up to level 20 entering the circle will flee away.
Can be nice. Keeps undead away from you, giving some time to recover if things get bad or you get surrounded.

Grand healing: Heals all nearby friendly characters (and you) 200 HP. Does not work on undead, daedra or automatons.
If you're using a follower or you feel more healing that close wounds, this spell is for you. The cost a bit high and close wounds is often all you need for healing.

Repel undead: Undead up to level 16 flee for 30 seconds.
AOE spell. Not worth using, the cost is massive and it is weaker than circle of protection (though it makes the enemies flee further). Better to go into illusion and use rout with the master of the mind perk (costs less, higher level AND affects nearly all thing!).

Turn greater undead: Undead up to level 21 flee for 30 seconds.
Single target spell. Look at my opinion on repel undead above.

Bane of the undead: Undead up to level 44 entering the circle are set on fire and flee for 30 seconds.
This spell is really cool, but ultimately a bit pointless. The cost is huge and you might be better off just blasting them away with vampire's bane or fire spells. Looks great and is fun for roleplaying if you can get the cost low enough, but it's fairly impractical.

Guardian circle: Undead up to level 35 entering the circle will flee. Caster heals 20 health per second.
Basicly the defensive version of bane of the undead. Again, it's a cool effect and nice for roleplaying, but you're far better off just casting guardian circle and either close wounds or grand healing.

Naturally we have the cost reduction perks. Novice (0), apprentice (25), adept (50), expert (75) and master (100).

You can dual cast a spell, overcharging the effect.
Same oppinion as most other dual casts: Not really worth it. You're better off casting the spell twice.

Healing spells heal 50% more.
Great perk since healing spells make up 70% of what's useful in restoration.

Your magica regenerates 25/50% faster.
Allright perk, more magica regen never hurts.

Healing spells also restore stamina.
If you're using stamina in a significant way, this perk is amazing. Especially if you're a vampire or you're using the necromancers amulet to count the reduced stamina regen effects.

25% of damage dealt to your wards will restore your magica.
This perk is garbage. You'll barely restore any magica and wards aren't exactly super amazing anyway. Don't waste your time with this perk.

All spells are 25% stronger and last 50% longer against undead.
Great perk, worth taking unless you aren't using any spells that may benefit from this (melee or archery with restoration only being used for healing). If you're a vampire, this perk will make it so bonus effects, enchantments, some other perks and spells cast on yourself will be empowered too!
Ebony flesh now gives 125 armor and lasts for 135 seconds, bound weapons last for 180 seconds, 20% cost reduction becomes 25%, it is amazing.

Once a day, heal 250 HP if you drop to 10% health.
Not a very good perk. More often than not, you'll be at 20-11% health and just killed then and there. Besides, you have level 90 in restoration, you do not have a good excuse for getting that low on health!

Stealth characters don't do much with restoration. The novice healing spell is nice to get you up if you get hurt but there's not much else since you're about stabbing enemies or shooting them.

Warrior characters benefit the most from restoration. You use stamina in plenty for power attacks thus increasing your damage output. One-handed specificly loves restoration healing spells and you can use the sun spells when needed without a lot of awkward weapon swapping.

Mage characters are better off using potions. Your magica is the source of your combat abilities, the more magica you can save, the better (and health potions are very common).

For perk choices, it depends on what you're going for. However dual casting, ward absorb, avoid death and master restoration aren't generally worth picking up. Expert restoration can also be skipped since close wounds should be enough healing for you. The rest of the perks are nice, making you heal more, get stamina back (traveling is much faster at least), increase magica regen and so on.

As for spells, the turn indead spells are pretty meh. Their main issue is that they are expensive as hell and you're better off getting illution up and using fear with master of the mind. Costs less, affects stronger enemies and affects almost all creatures. Wards will run you dry of magica early on, and later enemies will hurt you too much or you'll be able to out-heal it that it doesn't matter. Heal others is ok but not something you'll use constantly.
Light spells are great since undead enemies are so common. Not as strong as fire spells, but you get XP for restoration and it doesn't hurt your followers, which is nice. Also roleplaying.
Master spells are not worth using for the most part, though they can be really cool if you can get enough cost reduction.


The only noteworthy item for restoration is the dragonpriest mask Nahkriin which gives +50 magica and 20% cost reduction to destruction and restoration. He is found at the end of the main storyline (you more or less HAVE to fight him).

I know plenty of people do not have the time to read through my endless walls of texts so I'll try and summarize it here.

Alteration is great for all characters, specificly giving you more armor and magic resistance. You can also see enemies nearby through walls which can be nice for a stealth character.

Conjuration is great. Summons can take agro from enemies and kill them for you and the bound weapons are very powerful (especially the bound bow).

Destruction requires a lot of investment (especially into enchanting and alchemy) but can be really powerful. Great damage output and range but very magica hungry.

Illusion is great for stealth characters with muffle, invisibility and being able to cast spells without alerting enemies. Mages can use it as an alternative combat option that can be pretty fun when you manipulate enemies to fight eachother, cower in fear or ignore you while you do your thing.

Restoration is great for one-handed warrior characters since you can restore health and stamina without getting out of the fight. Light spells are also good spells to use against the undead.

Bretons, high and dark elves are the best races for magic. Argonians start with better restoration, making them good options if you want to play like a palading (restoration spells and physical combat).