Alteration | Skills TES V: Skyrim Guide
Last update: 05 December 2019
This TES V: Skyrim World Atlas page describes Alteration skills. These skills are related to the magician archetype (these are different areas of magic). Our tutorial in addition to describing the skills will tell you how to develop them, and what related best features are worth unlocking.
How to increase skill: This skill can be increased by casting spells from the alteration school of magic. The skill growth will take place only if a spell has achieved its result (for example, if casting a spell has injured other people or at least changed their attitude towards the main character).
Main purpose of developing this skill: Lowering the mana costs of casting alteration spells.
Available perks: 14.
Best perks: Mage Armor, Magic Resistance, Expert Alteration.
Comments:
- Alteration has at least one thing in common with other schools of magic. You must remember that casting even the basic spells from this school can very quickly drain your mana bar. Furthermore, some of the more advanced spells may even be blocked at the beginning of the game, because they may require more mana points than the main character has at the moment. This all leads to one obvious conclusion - you must constantly work on increasing the mana pool and improving mana regeneration rate.
- The most important concept of the alteration spells is to manipulate the physical world and by that I mostly mean having a lot of protection spells at your disposal which for example can increase your armor rating. Alteration school also has to offer plenty of other interesting spells, including the ones used to "scan" the surroundings for living beings, to activate telekinesis, to be able to breathe underwater for an extended period of time or to have a chance to paralyze enemy units.
- As for the perks available in this skill tree, most of them have defensive meaning, allowing you to extend the duration of some of the spells or to increase the main character's resistance to enemy spells. It's a good idea to develop this school simultaneously to Restoration, because they have a lot of things in common.
- NOVICE ALTERATION
- ALTERATION DUAL CASTING
- APPRENTICE ALTERATION
- MAGE ARMOR
- MAGIC RESISTANCE
- ADEPT ALTERATION
- STABILITY
- EXPERT ALTERATION
- ATRONACH
- MASTER ALTERATION
NOVICE ALTERATION
Requirements: None.
Description: Ability of casting novice alteration spells for half the mana cost.
Comments: You must purchase this perk to gain access to all the remaining ones from this skill tree.
ALTERATION DUAL CASTING
Requirements: Alteration skill increased to at least 20 points. Unlocked Novice Alteration perk.
Description: Ability to dual cast alteration spells which improves their effectiveness.
Comments: Increased effectiveness in this particular case means that most of the spells from the alteration school will last longer. As a result this may prove to be a useful perk, especially if you're planning on paralyzing enemies with alteration spells.
APPRENTICE ALTERATION
Requirements: Alteration skill increased to at least 25 points. Unlocked Novice Alteration perk.
Description: Ability of casting apprentice alteration spells for half the mana cost.
Comments: You should really consider unlocking this perk rather early in the game, because novice alteration spells are very weak and therefore it's best to ignore them. Besides having this perk grants access to at least two other very interesting perks.
MAGE ARMOR
This perk has three ranks and each time you unlock a new rank it gets better.
Requirements (rank 1): Alteration skill increased to at least 30 points. Unlocked Apprentice Alteration perk.
Requirements (rank 2): Alteration skill increased to at least 50 points.
Requirements (rank 3): Alteration skill increased to at least 70 points.
Description (rank 1): Protection spells are twice as strong when the main character is not wearing any armor.
Description (rank 2): Protection spells are two and a half times as strong when the main character is not wearing any armor.
Description (rank 3): Protection spells are three times as strong when the main character is not wearing any armor.
Comments: You've probably figured out on your own that all the perks from this group are reserved for 100% mages, because in order for them to work the main character can't be wearing any armor. Of course this doesn't mean you must run around naked, because it's allowed to use mage's robes. If this is not a problem for you, then you should purchase all three perks, especially since a lot of the spells from the alteration school can improve the main character's armor rating.
MAGIC RESISTANCE
This perk has three ranks and each time you unlock a new rank it gets better.
Requirements (rank 1): Alteration skill increased to at least 30 points. Unlocked Apprentice Alteration perk.
Requirements (rank 2): Alteration skill increased to at least 50 points.
Requirements (rank 3): Alteration skill increased to at least 70 points.
Description (rank 1): Ability to block 10% of the effects of spells casted by enemy mages.
Description (rank 2): Ability to block 20% of the effects of spells casted by enemy mages.
Description (rank 3): Ability to block 30% of the effects of spells casted by enemy mages.
Comments: It would be wise to unlock all three perks from this group as soon as possible, because this will allow to lower the difficulty of the battles with hostile mages.
ADEPT ALTERATION
Requirements: Alteration skill increased to at least 50 points. Unlocked Apprentice Alteration perk.
Description: Ability of casting adept alteration spells for half the mana cost.
Comments: It's highly recommended to purchase this perk as soon as the main character has sufficiently developed his Alteration skill, because the adept class contains a group of very useful spells (plus you gain access to an interesting "side" perk).
STABILITY
Requirements: Alteration skill increased to at least 70 points. Unlocked Adept Alteration perk.
Description: Increased duration of all alteration spells.
Comments: The effects of this perk are very similar to Alteration Dual Casting, because both of them can extend the duration of alteration spells. In this case you can count on the spells being active for 50% more time. It's more than enough to justify unlocking this perk, especially since extra seconds guaranteed by both perks can be cumulated.
EXPERT ALTERATION
Requirements: Alteration skill increased to at least 70 points. Unlocked Adept Alteration perk.
Description: Ability of casting expert alteration spells for half the mana cost.
Comments: The expert class of the alteration school contains some very useful spells (including the one which paralyzes enemy units), so it's important to remember about unlocking it. Doing this will also grant you access to a new interesting "side" perk.
ATRONACH
Requirements: Alteration skill increased to 100 points. Unlocked Expert Alteration perk.
Description: Ability to absorb 30% of the magic from all the spells used to attack the main character.
Comments: This is a very useful perk and unlocking it will help you in maintaining your mana reserves on a reasonable level.
MASTER ALTERATION
Requirements: Alteration skill increased to 100 points. Unlocked Expert Alteration perk.
Description: Ability of casting master alteration spells for half the mana cost.
Comments: Unlocking this perk doesn't necessarily have to be on your list of priorities, however it doesn't mean that it's not useful (all master alteration spells need tons of mana to work properly).