Is frost magic useless?

[Mordy]

As made a new character and wanted to play it as a frost mage, cos thematically felt it'd fit Skyrim kinda well, but even at early level (4ish or so, when enemies are supposed to be relatively weak) coming across some undead in a random tomb that totally resisted my spells (and promptly hacked me to bits right after) was a major letdown.

Made me think though, cos if that happens practically right after starting a new game, it will probably happen a lot later on too, which made me rethink the concept and wonder if frost magic is a trap of sorts.

Is undead resisting frost spells a thing though or can it be dealt with later on, with higher tier magic or would i be better off just going with another element entirely?

EDIT2:

Everything ELSE falls to frost magic without issues though Nords can be a pain, it's just the damn undead that make things super frustrating.

[di eshor ribly]

Like the Nords (50% resist), undead also get frost resistance, yes. They tend to be weaker to fire (except dark elf vampires, they kinda even out) though. If you want to specialize in frost magic without dying to various undead nords you could work up your Conjuring a bit for the Frost Atronach.

[Mephitic]

Draugr are 50% resistant to frost. Other types of undead are a bit more susceptible but most of them have some resistance.

Frost magic is useful against many types of enemies because it drains stamina and slows their motion. Fire and shock are better against most undead.

Magic in this game can be difficult because it requires an in-depth knowledge of the adversaries' strengths and weaknesses. I haven't tried playing as a mage that focuses on one school of magic. I know many NPC mages are listed in that fashion but it never made much sense to me except for necromancer but even then my character relied on every school.

[papajack_papajohn]

Undead are 0% resistent to fire and whackers like war axes and swords and fire....lol

[Mordy]

Originally posted by di eshor ribly:

Like the Nords (50% resist), undead also get frost resistance, yes. They tend to be weaker to fire (except dark elf vampires, they kinda even out) though. If you want to specialize in frost magic without dying to various undead nords you could work up your Conjuring a bit for the Frost Atronach.

Yeah, i was thinking about going with conjuration as a backup originally, as it seemed like a good idea + summons are a good distraction.

Originally posted by Mephitic:

Frost magic is useful against many types of enemies because it drains stamina and slows their motion.

One reason why i wanted to try to play as a frost mage was exactly that, as frost spells do slow pretty massively on successive hits which can be downright crippling for melees since it's very hard to get into melee range without dying if the hits keep coming.

Magic in this game can be difficult because it requires an in-depth knowledge of the adversaries' strengths and weaknesses. I haven't tried playing as a mage that focuses on one school of magic. I know many NPC mages are listed in that fashion but it never made much sense to me except for necromancer but even then my character relied on every school.

My old install has Skyrim Redone, which at the later destruction skill stages gives you the option of specializing in one element at the expense of the other ones, hence the early focus on frost to see how viable it really was.

[alexander_dougherty]

Frost magic slows down enemies, and you can use it on Bandits and most wildlife, but not NPCS specifically labelled as Nords, Undead and Frost Trolls.
Also if a dragon is using fire breath, then he is vulnerable to frost spells, but if the dragon uses frost breath you need to use Fire spells.

But generally I find you need destruction spells from all three elements, that way you can always do some damage to the enemy.

[Brandybuck]

Just like melee players need more than one skill (one hand AND armor AND block), meages also need more than one skill. You will need more than one skill. Frost magic is awesome, but you will find stuff that is resistant. So spread out a wee bit.

A pure sword character cannot fight a flying dragon, after all. If you want to be hyper specialized, go for it, but there will be drawbacks. Specialization is good but don't take it to an extreme.

[Mordy]

Well, trying to do Dawnguard questline, ran into a vampire that resisted everything i threw at him so i think it's safe to say pure frost magery is not viable, at least when it comes to Skyrim Redone modded magics.

Oh well, it was a neat concept that i hoped would be somewhat viable, but i suspected it wouldn't work against certain foes and this proves it, since losing access to fire and shock spells when midgame rolls around makes things too bothersome since only option would be to use melee/ranged weapons (which i dont really want to do since aiming to be a pure mage) or rely entirely on summons.