Melee vs. Spellcaster imbalance

[Noxeos]

Ok, I am not a Skyrim expert. I am trying to figure out why the game seems so imbalanced in terms of spellcasters vs. melee characters. Let me explain.

I had a Nord spellcaster who I wanted to be like a priest. I used a 1-handed mace, the other hand was resto for healing, and I wore light armour. I died all the time, and it was difficult to take down mobs.

I restarted as a Orc weilding two-handed melee weapons. I use necklaces and a ring that improve my two-handed melee weapon, and my damage is insane. I basically can walk up to any mob, minus a dragon, do a running charge and kill them in 1 swing. Dragons take a few swings, but my health will never drop low. It is not a challenge, and I feel like I am now in god mode.

Can anyone explain why there is such an imbalance in gameplay? Even on higher difficulty settings, the orc owns everything that I've run across. Even ice wraiths, drueger lords, and dragons. I mean, just a level 3 shout to know anything over, then charge, swing, dead. My only challenge is trying to keep my inventory below my maximum carrying weight.

[tinywars]

Hmm i haven't found an imbalance really. For me say if i build a warrior build a tank build Mages are my worst fear,they pretty much own me if i don't close in fast enough. What i'm saying is that is the balance if that makes sense. As in a Monk build you will need more then light armour,i'd say wear a robe with heavy boots and gloves and use alteration and the Atronach stone. I have to ask though you don't want an easy ride do you?

[Ilja]

It is not uncommon that mages are poor characters at the beginning of the game. Magic is, however, extremely powerful in Skyrim, if it is used properly.

Frenzy from Illusion school might be the most powerful spell in the game. Dual cast it and watch your enemies rip each others to pieces. Rain some fire and ice above them to finish the job.

Dragonhide spell from Alteration school allows caster to have the maximum damage resistance (80 %) in the game. No amount of armor will ever give better number than that.

Necromancy perks and spells are poor choices at the beginning of the game. You rarely have time to raise anyone to aid you, or viable body at hand. However, later in the game you have all the bodies you need to overwhelm your opponents. You can even raise Ulfric Stormcloak himself to serve as your undead minion, if you choose that path.

Restoration? It is the mos overpowered school out there. You remember those virtually useless wards that any enemy spellcaster breaks from your hand? They have one major benefit over any other school, spell or ability: they are able to block shouts. Dragon shouts do not produce a single damage stream, but are actually formed from several smaller ones. This means, that a fairly low level wards can block a huge amount of shout damage and even protect you entirely from Disarm and Unrelentin Force shouts.

[Suzaku]

I'd say the problem with your priest setup is that you're trying a non-stealth melee character in light armor. If you're taking attacks to the face in light armor, you'll spend all your magicka healing before you even get a swing off. I'd recommend you switch your priest setup for paladin, going with heavy armor and a shield, and backing off to cast a quick heal when overwhelmed.

Also, destruction magic is completely overpowered once you get the perk that makes all of your dual-cast spells stun targets. I've watched my cousin kill 2 giants at the same time by dual-casting firebolt non-stop at level 3. If I were to take on those giants in melee at anything below level 20, I'd most likely get sent into space.

[Noxeos]

I changed the difficulty to expert, and I do see that mages are a bit more difficult to kill in terms of taking more damage before I one-swing them to death. Deathlords take about 3 swings now. Still, with blacksmithing now higher, I have an epic elven two-handed sword that does 149 damage. With power attacks, I can still clear out dungeons in record time. I don't particularly like playing an orc beserker, but it makes the game much easier than trying to play a support role such as a priest or even a alteration mage. I think the imbalance is that I can still do some heavy damage even when my stamina drops to 0.

[grumpyoldwizard]

I have a character similar to yours. A paladin who uses a sword and a spell in the other hand and he survives fine. But I stay mobile with him and use rocks/doorways, ect to my advantage. That is on master difficulty. He uses restoration magic and alteration magic in his offhand. The other schools are really not very "paladiny."

Oh, my paladin also uses defensive shouts. Ice Form, Whirlwind, Become Ethereal, ect.

[Avalanche]

I am hoping ESO is more balanced overall, then the single player games.

[oriphur]

I kinda wish archery was a little more practical for the lonesome adventurer because besides sneak attacking enemies from afar and getting one or two shots in at a charging enemy, bows are relatively useless in combat at the beginning of the game. Whenever I try making an archery based character I usually find myself using my sword more because the enemy runs up on me just as I finish drawing my bow(and it doesn't help with the deadly combat mod making me stagger all the time). I know it gets better at higher levels but it's pretty impractical starting out to me.

[White Knight]

^^^ Archery + Conjuration is the key. I don't think I've touched a melee weapon other to craftt them and sell them in my last three games.

(Not counting the opening sequence of course)

Iron arrows are essentially useless but by the time you get back from Bleak Falls Barrow, you're Robin Hood.

The spellcaster is the poor kid in the group for sure though. I'm trying to play as a spellcaster right now but I've had to depend almost exlusively upon my bow. I got the Black Mage Armour mod so I can at least go into dungeons and look like a spellcaster...lol

[nephthar]

The key Ive found to spell casting at low levels is to practice first. Follow the example of the College of Whinterhold students and practice a lot before you go out adventureing. In fact there are many quests involving magic students trying unsuccessfully to obtain power in dungeons before they are prepared. So, try a game where you practice all the spells you can that are non combat in each school or the schools you prefer, and dont go out exploring dungeons without getting past appropriate levels. You might be surprised at how much you can level your spell caster without being in combat, and besides its a new and fun way to play if you could use one.

[Brandybuck]

I've played three mages now (illusionist, conjuror, and destructo-mage). If you think magic is underbalanced then you're not using it right. If you treat the game like it's just damage-vs-damage fights, then melee will seem better. But use some smarts and tactics, and mages can handle anything.

[WASD player]

Think of it this way. Who would win in a fight, a beserker orc that wields a 2 handed weapon, or a fragile priest that wears LIGHT ARMOR and has a mace, and uses healing.

The games balance may not be great, but you cannot expect a priest to be able to own everything, but honestly, a class with one hand dedicated to a healing spell is super weak

[Shelt]

The first time your two handed orc runs up against 2 or 3 high lvl NPC mages using frost spells and lightning, you're going to notice the weakness of a melee only character.

Secondly, I have a one handed nord preist spellsword type character, and he's probably the best character I've ever made. You need to be using ward spells for NPCs throwing things at you from range, and timing incoming enemy melee swings against it. Also, restoration school of magic completely obliterates anything undead, like Drauger which fill every crypt in Skyrim.

[Noxeos]

Originally posted by Shelt:

The first time your two handed orc runs up against 2 or 3 high lvl NPC mages using frost spells and lightning, you're going to notice the weakness of a melee only character.

Secondly, I have a one handed nord preist spellsword type character, and he's probably the best character I've ever made. You need to be using ward spells for NPCs throwing things at you from range, and timing incoming enemy melee swings against it. Also, restoration school of magic completely obliterates anything undead, like Drauger which fill every crypt in Skyrim.

Sadly, I've faced spellcasters like you mentioned. Just close range, swing, dead, repeat. I admit that I notice it is slightly more difficult, but it is still not much of a challenge. I will try Master difficulty next.

I'm not saying a Nord spellcaster is bad. It was just very difficult to try to play, such as having to run away from battles constantly, etc. With an orc in heavy armour and using resist magic rings if necessary, I find it much easier to survive - and combine that with a high-damage melee weapon, it gives new meaning to the word 'tank' for me. I never have to run from battle, I even took on an entire town of Riftens guards and won (slew them all), and they ran out of guards to send at me.

[Shelt]

I didn't mean to say Orc or two hand skill isn't good either. Everything is viable if you approach it the right way. If you do really love that two handed style, there is a unique orc warhammer in the game called Longhammer which has a 33% increased swing speed. See if you can find it.

[Arca]

I found that as a light armor player with onehanded swords, with a spell or a shield in my offhand, i will be fine agianst most targets. Though when i meet spellcasters they can sometimes take 1/2 my health in one spellcast. Never tried a spellcaster myself, but i believe they have quite a high burst dmg output, while melee attackers have a higher constant dmg output.