Is destruction magic really that bad?

[Sichimus]

People say it is absolutely terrible, but I personally haven't had issues with it so far. Recently finally maxxed it out when I reached lvl 35, now I am lvl 41 and still no issues. I do about 200 damage a dual cast thunderbolt, which I can do once every like second, without the increase shock damage dragon priest mask. I can do more if I use the spell incinerate but I like the hitscan of lightning. Does the game ramp up so much that 200 damage becomes bad?

[Rick The Punisher]

man, if ur rly into destruction too, you got to try lightning storm,it's so cool and will totally destroy everything in ur way, and don't worry about what others said, they are just afraid, cuz fire fire burns yknow?

[fauxpas]

It doesn't scale nearly as well as the other weapon styles; especially if you aren't using enchantments to have virtually zero mana cost.

[alexander_dougherty]

It doesn't scale, so it does the same damage at level thirty as it does at level seventy.
Weapons damage scales.

Destruction uses less magicka as it levels up, but the damage doesn't scale, as it should do really.

[fauxpas]

Originally posted by alexander_dougherty:

It doesn't scale, so it does the same damage at level thirty as it does at level seventy.
Weapons damage scales.

Destruction uses less magicka as it levels up, but the damage doesn't scale, as it should do really.

Which is why I like Full Magic Scaling https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/494

[casualsailor]

Yes, Destruction spells don't scale but its still a viable playstyle. In addition to lowering your spell cost so you can hurl dozens of fireballs or lightning bolts at your enemy having the Stagger Perk is a good idea as this will help you keep your distance while you wear your enemies down.

And of course you are going to want to use an atronach to tank for you since you are wearing a robe and you put all your pts into magica its a good idea not to let mobs try to stick swords in you.

Here is a pure mage build that might help you.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i9Ho72HJDRA&list=PLWfn8XPMjoaMs8EccT7Kt5eaNnxnfpOWS

[HoBoMiKe]

unfortunately, in addition to the lack of scaling, the master spells (the ones you really look forward to as a mage) cant really be used in combat because of the animation and charge time locking you in place.


by the time you're close, someone or something staggers you and you have to start over :(

[Sichimus]

Originally posted by casualsailor:

Yes, Destruction spells don't scale but its still a viable playstyle. In addition to lowering your spell cost so you can hurl dozens of fireballs or lightning bolts at your enemy having the Stagger Perk is a good idea as this will help you keep your distance while you wear your enemies down.

And of course you are going to want to use an atronach to tank for you since you are wearing a robe and you put all your pts into magica its a good idea not to let mobs try to stick swords in you.

Here is a pure mage build that might help you.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i9Ho72HJDRA&list=PLWfn8XPMjoaMs8EccT7Kt5eaNnxnfpOWS

I tank everything I have like 350 hp and 350 magicks or something because I enchant all of my gear. I only have like 60% destruction reduction but still have no trouble

[Shahadem]

It's garbage. The damage doesn't scale, the mp costs become ridiculous, the lack of mp regeneration is stupid, there are no vanilla destruction damage enchants, etc. etc.

If you are going to make a character that uses destruction magic then you are either going to need to play on the lowest difficulty or use mods to fix the legion of problems. Otherwise you are always going to be better off swinging a 500 damage per hit dagger instead of blowing 1/4 of your magicka to cast a spell that hits for 100 damage and which took so long to cast that you could have swung your dagger multiple times in the time it took to cast that one destruction spell.

Destruction carries a HUGE oppurtunity cost.

[Doombringer]

With the 100 cost Creation Club content magic works a lot better.

In the base game it's kind of sad compared to weapons.
You can make 1 good smithing potion and lock in huge permanent weapon upgrades.
To get a damage boost as a mage you have to drink potions like an addict.

[casualsailor]

Originally posted by Nevada Six:

Originally posted by casualsailor:

Yes, Destruction spells don't scale but its still a viable playstyle. In addition to lowering your spell cost so you can hurl dozens of fireballs or lightning bolts at your enemy having the Stagger Perk is a good idea as this will help you keep your distance while you wear your enemies down.

And of course you are going to want to use an atronach to tank for you since you are wearing a robe and you put all your pts into magica its a good idea not to let mobs try to stick swords in you.

Here is a pure mage build that might help you.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i9Ho72HJDRA&list=PLWfn8XPMjoaMs8EccT7Kt5eaNnxnfpOWS

I tank everything I have like 350 hp and 350 magicks or something because I enchant all of my gear. I only have like 60% destruction reduction but still have no trouble

Are you armor capped? Regardless, you're right. You can take the hits once you get enough armor and hp.

But when you're building that character it's nice to have an atronach to do the tanking for you or to distract the mobs when they try to flank you and get you caught in a stun lock.