There are many ways to play The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, especially these days with all of the amazing mods that exist for it. However, in the vanilla version of the game, some of the most fun playthroughs a player can have are with a path illuminated under the stars of The Mage playstyle.
This involves using one or more of the six skills that pertain to the Dragonborn's magical side. The schools of Destruction and Restoration are undoubtedly the most popular, however, Alteration holds quite a few neat tricks that gamers have come to greatly enjoy after 10 years of Skyrim.
10 Alterations From Prior Games
In The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, the predecessor to Skyrim, there was a mechanic for spell customizations. Players were able to craft and give spells certain traits, similar to how one can create and customize armor. Sadly, this feature did not carry over into the fifth title in The Elder Scrolls mainline series.
Additionally, there were a few types of spells that did not make it either, such as Open Lock, Levitation, Burden, and Feather. This was likely due to preventing people from abusing Open Lock as a way to get into chests and through seal doors remarkably easily and the physics-related manipulation that players could get up to with the other three.
9 Important Books
As with the other skills in The Mage playstyle, there are plenty of books that can be of great use to an aspiring Alteration mage. Spell tomes, which teach the player new spells, can be found on the shelves, tables, and within chests in many areas of Tamriel's northernmost province. Though, for the easiest acquiring of these tomes, it is recommended to trade with Tolfdir at the College of Winterhold.
Skill books are a different kind of literature that grants the player an instant level up in the skill mentioned. Alteration ones can be easily spotted by their red cover emblazoned with the symbol of a tree. There are five such kinds of books, though many copies of each can be found all over the map. Each unique copy can be read once for a convenient skill-up.
8 Alteration Quests
Besides casting spells and reading skill books, there are some quest-related ways to increase one's Alteration level. A simple one can be picked up when speaking with Dravynea the Stormweaver in the Braidwood Inn at Kynesgrove. She'll request some Frost Salts, and if the player delivers her some she will reward them with a free level-up in Alteration.
The next is a bizarre and dark adventure that can be started in the far north, upon the shore of the Sea of Ghosts, almost directly north of the College of Winterhold. Speak with Septimus Signus in his frigid outpost to eventually be led to the powerful and hideous tome known as the Oghma Infinium, which when read will give the Dragonborn a chance to level up all of The Mage playstyle's skills by a single level each.
7 Spell Variation
There are three main kinds of spells found within the school of Alteration, in addition to a few more unique ones. The first branch includes spells that manipulate vision by creating light or helping to find something's aura, such as the Candlelight or Detect Life spells respectively.
The next are those that transmute the flesh of living organisms. This mostly takes the form of the player giving themselves temporary magic armor, like with Oakflesh. Finally, there are the Paralysis spells, which are the most effective way of halting most enemies in their tracks by immobilizing them with flashes of green light.
6 Some More Unique Spells
Since these next spells pertain to manipulating elements in the existing world, they fit quite well into the Alteration school. The first of these is the Equilibrium spell, which allows the Dragonborn to convert Health into Magicka. A useful trick when running low on spell-casting fuel but risky if one is low on life. The next is Waterbreathing, which is self-explanatory.
Following this, there is the Transmute spell, and it lets one turn iron ore into gold or silver ore. This can be an excellent way to make money as well as level up the Smithing skill faster since rarer ores are worth more experience when smelted. The last, and arguably the best, is Telekinesis, which does exactly as one expects. This levitation of desired objects has infinite potential when it comes to thievery, abusing game mechanics, or pranking NPCs for a few laughs.
5 Perks
Since Alteration spells cost relatively more Magicka per use than that of most other schools, it is crucial to pick up perks in this tree if one wants to have an easier time with their spellcasting. The most important are the ones that grant the player the ability to cast different levels of Alteration spells for half the usual Magicka.
There are many others that bestow better defensive traits, like higher defensive ratings for magical armor, blocking of enemy spell effects, and even chances to negate incoming spell damage as well as the ability to absorb the Magicka used to cast it into one's own blue bar.
4 Alteration Trainers
If one has more money than time, they can hit up an Alteration skill trainer to exchange septims for skill-ups. The Frost Salt-loving Dravynea in Kynesgrove is an expert in this field and can teach the Dragonborn a few things about the ways of transmutation.
For the highest possible training, however, one should see Tolfdir in the College of Winterhold. This elderly Nord is an Alteration mage's best friend since he sells the most relevant spell tomes, is a master-level trainer, and also is the one to speak to for unlocking the master tier spell quest for this school of magic when the player's Alteration skill reaches 90.
3 Mass Paralysis
In addition to being hilarious when used against crowds, the master tier Alteration spell Mass Paralysis is a great way to gain relevant experience. Since it affects so many targets at once, it can really rake in the skill-ups if one has a sufficient number of targets to chain-paralyze.
Furthermore, character models are still affected by gravity when immobilized by this spell, which can allow the Dragonborn to cause whole packs of wolves or bands of brigands to roll downhill to their physics-related demise if assailed by Mass Paralysis when they are on a steep slope.
2 Bugs & Glitches
As is expected from a Bethesda game, there are numerous bugs and glitches surrounding the Alteration spells, though none of the most commonly reported ones are game-breaking or as crazy as a few others that can be found in Skyrim. A glitch with the magical armor Dragonhide may actually result in lowering one's armor as opposed to increasing it as stated. Wearing Dragonscale or Dragonplate also seems to mess with the game's coding in this area, potentially resulting in temporarily lowering the armor stat.
The next is that killing an enemy who is under the effects of Paralysis may lead to them being impossible to resurrect with the Raise Dead Conjuration spell or similar. This one is not a huge deal unless one is delving into Conjuration. Lastly, and most strangely, casting the Waterbreathing spell while already underwater may not work. In theory, this should increase the efficiency of this spell, though, in reality, it seems to result in the opposite outcome.
1 Easy Experience
There are quite a few pieces of clothing that can decrease the Magicka cost of spells. If stacked enough, players can reduce their spell costs to zero, which makes unleashing one's magical might infinitely easier. However, using this trick the Dragonborn can max out Alteration in a few seconds.
By casting Telekinesis on an object and then fast traveling, one can trick the game into thinking that they have walked that whole distance while actively using Telekinesis. This still requires Magicka usage, which is why reducing spell cost to zero for Alteration skills is mandatory for this method to work. Such massive experience can be gained from this, that players can reach the maximum Alteration level after only one fast travel trip that covers a sufficient distance.