Flame, Frost or Shock?

[KalkiKrosah]

Of all the destruction schools which is the best one to specialize in? I know each one has their benefit or drawback, but which one would you choose and why.

[Silent Protagonist]

all of them

[Perplex]

Shock. Their spells dont have flight time and with impact you can stunlock enemies super easy and no dragon is immune/resistant to schock.

[Silent Protagonist]

that includes the blood, shadow and death pack on nexus mods

[Sgt.Random♿]

None if you enjoy playing the game for longer than 40 levels.

[KalkiKrosah]

Originally posted by Sgt.Random:

None if you enjoy playing the game for longer than 40 levels.

Are you implying mages are weaker than the other classes?

Originally posted by Silent Protagonist:

that includes the blood, shadow and death pack on nexus mods

I'm playing full vanilla at the moment. I may dabble in it at a later time but for now I am just going to stick to the Bethesda endorsed stuff.

[Stormsong]

Vanilla destruction magic scales very poorly.

[jreese46]

Originally posted by Stormsong the Fallen:

Vanilla destruction magic scales very poorly.

VERY

[258789553873]

Fire normally has the best damage per magicka. Frost is often considered the worst just because there's so many enemies that resist it (half the bandits and warlocks in the game, all the arctic animals, and nearly half of the dragons). Shock is often considered the best because there's virtually nothing in this game that's resistant to it. Also, dragons need to use magicka to use their 'shouts' (their 'shouts' are actually spells that only they possess), so if you completely drain their magicka then they won't be able to use their own breath weapons anymore. And I HAVE seen this happen in-game. However, the shock spells tend to be the least efficient in terms of damage per magicka. Either way, you'll probably be relying mostly on fire damage in the early game just because its the most magicka-efficient. Just keep in mind that Dunmer and most of the dragons are resistant.

As for builds, avoid the perk that causes your fire spells to 'fear' enemies. Its rather annoying having to chase w/e it is you're trying to kill. The shock perk that disintegrates stuff you kill with shock spells is great against necromancers, but not so good if you're a necromancer yourself (note that the animation spells aren't very good, you're far better off using atronachs, though the ritual stone effect IS worthwhile, just because you can raise an entire army with it). Ironnically, the frost perk is the best because it essentially paralyzes your targets. Paralysis and knock-down effects are very op in this game btw, because the stand-up animation is full 7 seconds! This makes paralysis in particular VERY op because on top of the duration of the spell itself, the target will be helpless for an additional 7 seconds as they stand up. Sadly, the paralysis spell is in the alteration school, which doesn't exactly have the best spells overall.

And one thing about destruction magic: fortify destruction potions do NOT reduce your magicka costs, like the enchantment does. Instead, they boost your damage. And speaking of enchantments, your augmented perks WILL improve the corresponding damage type on your weapons. And for weapons, frost damage is by far the best, because frost enchantments are strengthened if you put them on stalhrim weapons. Oh, and if you have enchantments that fortify your destruction by 100%, not only will you be able to cast destruction magic for free, but your enchanted weapons will never run out of charge (as long as they only have damage enchantments). But if you're using destruction magic, you're probably not using weapons anyway.

As for which to invest in, honestly, by the time your destruction hits 100, you'll probably have all the perks anyway. And if you're going with enchanting (which you probably should, so you can make your spells free), there's no point in investing in the mastery perks, since you'll eventually be reducing your magicka costs to zero anyway. And no, they don't stack with enchantments (they're applied one after another rather than totaled). And honestly, fortifying your magic skills by 100% is kind of necessary for the late-game anyway, even if it is VERY overpowered. For instance, if you fortify both your destruction and restoration by 100%, not only will you hit like a freaking truck, but you'll be practically invincible too. Even more so if you invest all your attribute points into health, since well, if your spells are going to eventually be free, why invest in magicka?