Ward spells, how come so few players use them?

[Shelt]

I have long advocated the use of ward spells, whether to block dragon's fire or an opposing shout from a drauger of higher level or even to negate the poisonous spit of a chaurus, and of course to cancel or even absorb an enemy mage spell. Ward spells also increase your armor rating, helping to negate a portion of damage from incoming melee or archery attacks. There is a very good reason a ward spell is the first lesson you learn when entering the college.

So then why is it, almost every playthrough on Youtube I see, even at higher levels, people do not use them? Do you prefer a shield instead? If so, tell me why.

[Stania]

I didn't use them when I was a normal dragonborn, but now that I'm a vampire, the spell is on my faves menu. Even the weakest ward blocks any shout, so I have to worry less when I'm fighting fire-breathing dragons on legendary. It also blocks the dwarven centurion's vapor blast, I can attack while I'm casting it and I don't need a perk to avoid being slowed down.
I find wards useful.

[Shelt]

"wards are mostly useless."

sigh..

[Zefram Cochrane]

Dunno, I guess in the heat of battle you tend to act instinctively and that means reach for a "real" weapon/shield. Thats second nature. Magic you have to think about it, it doesn't come automatically. Or maybe thats me.

Also I don't play as a mage.

[Shelt]

This is for you Zef

http://youtu.be/NCHq0m67lq8

[White Knight]

There are a few reasons I don't use wards:

Generally, I prefer the bow and try to kill my enemies long before they ever know I'm there.

Secondly, when it comes to combat, my priority is to kill my enemies, not protect myself from damage or run away or anything else. End the threat and end it quickly.

Lastly, and possibly the most important reason is that I've never seen it do any good for the many, many fallen mages that dared oppose me...lol

[Shelt]

Първоначално публикувано от tiredofpain:

There are a few reasons I don't use wards:

Generally, I prefer the bow and try to kill my enemies long before they ever know I'm there.

Secondly, when it comes to combat, my priority is to kill my enemies, not protect myself from damage or run away or anything else. End the threat and end it quickly.

Lastly, and possibly the most important reason is that I've never seen it do any good for the many, many fallen mages that dared oppose me...lol

Yes I agree, but on master or leg difficulty, things work a bit differently. You have to think about defense in a new way.

[Chargeit]

I don't use things like wards because it's less than convenient switching between spells/items when using a xbone controller.

I wasn't a big fan of playing this game on kb&m, since I always felt like I was fumbling around with the keys (even w/controller this is true). Also, a controller is much more laid back, and works well for doing longer sessions.

Most of the time, it just isn't worth the effort to do much more than kill your enemy.

[𝕊𝕋𝕌ℝ𝕄-𝕂𝔸𝕋]

They wouldn't have designed and tested wards if they were crap...I'm gonna get into using them and see what it's like for myself...I read above about being useful for soul gem traps. Hmmmm, interesting, this made me also think about them proving vital for protection from RUNE TRAPS!!! blasted things.....

[Freedom-In-Moonlight]

Simple reason I dont use wards is that I subscribe to the philosophy of "the best defence is a good offence" that philosophy might not work for sports but it works for me. I am usually fast enough to doge things that come at me anyway and if I am not I just use health potions and a large health pool. Also I have become an expert at smashing through anyones defence by dual charging destruction spells. I also dont use shields so ia m just dodging and hoping my large health pool can sustain me long enough to end the fight while keeping an eye out for any enemy weapons and dodging them. Ward spells are definately not useless just not my thing.

[Rúnvaldr]

wards are incredibly good against dragon breath and shouts that's where i almost always use them for

[liosalpha]

When ever i tried them my mana would be gone of my timing be off. so i just ignored them in favor of using the mana to heal up. never looked ad them ad later lavels with more restoration discounts.

[DeadlyDanDaMan]

Because they are situational at best, and dual casting is WAAAAAY better. Why cast a ward when you can stunlock your adversary with dual casted Destruction magic? You can't dual cast when you have a ward up, that's my point. You don't need a ward when you can stunlock any Dragon.

[Lystent]

Too much magika consumption, and too little uptime for me the majority of the time. And my two best alternatives are using a shield and/or using stacked enchantments/buffs.

Edit: and deap into nthe endgame, you can use enchanments to negate all elemental damage to the point where a dragon is blasting you with fire, and your healthbar won't show because the health loss is so insignificant.

[stcaFylnO]

Wow this is an old thread, 2014. But, I can't resist since it is resurrected.

DPS rulz. Tieing up one hand on defense, lowers DPS. Kill faster for the win.

100% Spell Absorption (SA) means never needing any Magic Resistance (MR), Wards, or Spellbreaker.

All non-physical damage, other than drowning, is considered magical, so individual elements can be ignored; therefore, rely on SA &/or MR. There are some other exceptions, but nothing helps vs. them; meanwhile Disease Resist can bypass the 85% MR cap with a 100% amulet, but 100% SA achieves the same goal anyway.

Wards and Spellbreaker are perfect tools, at times. A great example is a character that wants to maintain partial Spell Absorption for Conjuration, but also wants to temporarily boost SA to 100%.

SA covers all directions, Wards and Spellbreaker only one direction. So they are not as useful as SA vs. multiple damage sources.

If using SA, Wards, &/or Spellbreaker, get the perk that recharges magicka pools to offsets cost:
Ward Absorb -- Wards recharge your magicka when hit with spells.

[RandomDude]

For me, I would rather save my mana for other things. I usually don't have much base mana and I've never really tried using wards much. I try and dodge as many fireballs, icebolts and cleaving blades as I can, using scenery and other people to shield me when that fails.

Sounds like something work a 2nd/31st look