Skyrim Magic Resist & Elemental Resistances Explained

The first part of this video explains how Resist Magic, Resist Fire, Resist Frost, and Resist Shock work in Skyrim. The math is explained, as well as how they stack. Resist stacking can reduce high damage spells into almost no damage at all. The remainder of this video covers ways to improve and cap your resists, including Agent of Mara from 'The Book of Love', Breton racial permanent magic resist, Dunmer and Nord elemental resists, The Lord Stone, Magical Resistance Alteration perks, and Enchanting Resist Magic and elementals.

While it is impossible to cover every build, a few ideas are shown for magic users, shield users, as well as a few generic builds. Your main goal should be maxing Resist Magic, since every spell in the game checks that before the elementals. Some races such as Breton have it much easier than others.

Take the time to plan out what you want to do, even if you are not ready to do it yet. Would it be easier for you to give up the enchant slots, or maybe spending the 5 perks is better? Are you willing to use the Lord Stone, or does your build require something else? Weigh the benefits of what works for you and figure out how to cap your resists without hindering your character in other ways. Keep in mind, elemental resists are applied after magic, so the return on investment for putting them on enchant slots is MUCH lower than magical resist. Maybe you can afford to take a few more damage from spells and put those slots to better use?


Absolutely every character should do 'The Book of Love' quest to get the permanent active effect 'Agent of Mara', which grants 15% resist magic. See my guide here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H6KUDXbfRZY


If you have never worked with enchanting or Skyrim tradeskills before, learn how to get started with skills, perks, and enchanting loops with my starter tradeskill guide here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=052TiX-HrDY


If you want your enchantments to match the numbers in this video, watch how to go further with alchemy by stacking helmets here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3uKX6gBsSjc


If this whole resist thing is too much to deal with, you can always be a cheater by abusing this restoration glitch:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pJ9m7owVg_w


Please leave a thumbs up if this video helped you learn more about resists. Thank you for watching!

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[Leto85]

@Leto85 And for the Ice resistance: that indeed shouldn't be the reason for you to go undead. But being completely immune to all poisons and deceases is another reason.

True, the powers given to vampires are not that good, even not Vampiric Drain at level 4 is, but if you give them a so called Daywalker outfit, as I named it, they can stand even in the day. With Daywalker I mean a suit that will increase Health and Stamina or Magicka faster, and that also works at bright daylight.

[Leto85]

@kazuoua That last one is a choice, kind of. After you have won the Civil War most people will go friendly with you, even while being level 4. That is my own experience. And the people who are not friendly can be handled by a good Calm spell. Some of them are Quest givers, so you should calm them.

Be aware of ork camps however, as they have little to do with the empire which gives them 'a reason' to go hostile on you.

[pms00]

@kazuoua - people like to argue about whether or not it is a glitch. it probably wasn't thought about by the developers when they put it into place. the necromage perk description says it increases the effectiveness of spells against the undead, and since you are a vampire you are undead and everything gets boosted. so, technically that is working as designed and not a glitch, but it was certainly a development oversight.

doubt they'll change it at this point.

[kazuoua]

@pms00 Wow, I take back my words, seriously, is this a glitch?? I'm not sure having read this in the wiki... damn, I kind of want to become a vampire now... but since I'm a werewolf, I need to give up on that forever :( Well, I guess I'll have to stick to the restoration potion glitch to become GOD

[pms00]

@kazuoua - you need to see my guide on necromage vampire. it boosts the effectiveness of EVERYTHING YOU DO. a base vampire transformation is weak as you've said, but necromage changes everything. it is not about the abilities you get with vampirism, it is about how it impacts everything else, from tradeskills to spells to shouts to stones to gear you wear. everything.

[mrbuddha2026]

@pms00 Since I'm a using Nord and have 50% Frost Resistance as a bonus; I should put two Resist Fire enchantments, instead of two Resist Frost enchantments, right?

[kazuoua]

@kazuoua IMHO, the only reason you'd want to be a vampire is because you think it's "cool" to be one (like if you're a twilight fan or something, hopefully not O_o). With werewolfs you also become resistant to diseases and with Hircine Ring you can transform any time you want, I know being a werewolf is not THAT useful either, but it's faster than horses if you have to travel by foot (or by paw) =P

[kazuoua]

@Leto85 Ok, I understand, but let's see: you want to be a vampire for WHAT? To be resistant to frost? (ridiculous, as you mentioned, you can get the same results with perks/enchants and you get the weakness to fire), to have the AMAZING (note sarcasm) powers of vampires? (ridiculous, most of them are usable once per day, and you have better alternatives to get them), so your regen stats are affected during day or so you have to drain blood constantly so townsfolk doesn't attack you?

[Leto85]

@kazuoua Really? When a necromage vampire has invested high in magical resistance, that fire weakness will be a laugh. No matter if you are dark elf or not. Perhaps you should reconsider, as with the right perks and planning, the benefits will truely overlap the downsides of it. You should give it a try.

[pms00]

@kazuoua - you are crazy. weakness to fire is no big deal and vampires are the most powerful option in skyrim. far from sucking.