Game: Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion
Learn to spell
Oblivion’s spell-making altars, available in the Arcane University or the Wizard’s Tower add-on, open the way to some combination super-spells every sorcerer should know.
1) Be an expert at everything. Fortifty Skill only provides a temporary boost, but a lot of skills are only needed for a second. Alchemy, Security, Speechcraft and Mercantile all benefit actions that take place while the game is paused, so you only need a cheap one-second boost of 100 to become a master.
2) Create a weak spot for massive damage. You can combine Weakness to Cold 100% with Cold Damage on the same spell to cheaply double your damage. If you use a staff as your main weapon, you can get even better mileage out of a dedicated “Weakness to X 100% for 5 seconds” spell, casting it as a primer to your staff-blast.
3) Hide in plain sight. Chameleon and Invisibility can be combined to overcome each other’s shortcomings. Use Invisibility to sneak around until you come to someone you absolutely must kill, or something you absolutely must steal, then get behind them, go into Sneak mode, cast Chameleon and strike. Chameleon will break your invisibility, but if you’re out of sight and sneaking, its stealth bonus means you’ll stay hidden.
4) Time heals all wounds. Most healing spells are grossly inefficient because they try to heal too quickly, which leads to an exponential rise in mana cost. Create one that heals a smaller amount but lasts five seconds or more. Even mid-fight that’s often fast enough, and you’ll have mana to spare to better defend yourself.
5) Suck their life and steal their soul. Drain Health is a cheap way to do a lot of damage, but the wound heals when the spell wears off, and long durations are expensive. Create one that drains as much as you can afford for one second, and add SoulTrap to it. You can now use it as a cheap, high-damage finishing move that’ll also charge your soulgems - the damage doesn’t wear off if they’re dead.
