Some perks seem quite redundant to me; Some of the destruction perks,
Shock damage chance to disintegrate targets if their health is under 10%
Frost damage chance to paralyse targets if health low
Fire damage chance to make low health enemies flee

If the enemy's health is already low, why would there be a need to paralyse it , make it flee, or disintegrate it? I mean, its dying already, a few more hits and the monster would be dead (mostly)
As compared to a restoration perk: *Magicka regenerates 25% faster* which seems much more useful yea?
Because there are quite a few perks which are fixed in number, such as "Reanimate undead with 100 more health" as compared to "Absorb 30% magicka that hits you"; would percentage based perks be much better?

Just because they're near death - Doesn't mean you're still nice and perky.

It makes choosing perks a lot easier.

Wouldnt it be a bit stupid if all perks were "100% more lighting spell dmg"? We need both good and bad perks.

Those destruction perks are kinda like magic finishing moves.

In a situation where your enemy is already almost dead, these two perks will ultimately do the same thing: You will not run out of magicka before he's dead...


No way to tell now... absorbing spells was ridiculously powerful in previous games though, maybe not the best one to compare other perks to. If you focused on re-animation I could imagine all related perks being useful though.

It's all a matter of perspective and opinion.

Depending on your play style (not to mention your chosen RP should you have one) different perks will immediately appeal whereas others of course won't.

Some perks are just filler or extra damage bonus while others like the Dagger Sneak Attack Perk, X15 Damage with a Sneak attack with Daggers is insane.

Maby not, but they're cool!
Besides, i can see them beeing a life saver once in a blue moon when you're in a tight spot

The enemy might be almost dead, but you might as well. And when you are both close to death, those perks can really help you out.

Hmm, situational perks then. Although i'll probably choose the regen magicka perk

Magicka regen is no different, you don't need it until you need to cast that one more spell to finish a fight...

But all these situations add up as well, you may be faced by a horde of enemies that is about to overwhelm you, because of your higher regen you manage to fire off one more cold spell though, and because of that other perk they die instantly...

Now if you are surrounded I can see where those perks would help; no longer have to concentrate on the damaged enemies and you can immediately go after the full health ones.

Exactly. Those three destruction perks are also the last on their respective branches of the Destruction skill tree, so no need to worry about being forced to take a "useless" perk to access the one you actually want.

In addition, remember "Bloody Mess" from Fallout? I believe when you chose the perk, the description didn't tell you that it actually came with a damage increase too...

Exacly, I would take them for the looks, and not the use

Plus, they'll probably look cool

Multiple enemies?

Enemies healing themselves?

When you're just about out of magica?

Of course a combination of the above is when you'll most want to finish someone off as quick as possible.

This. Well said. Some perks may seem weaker than others individually, but the whole point is to try and pick perks that work well together for your play style; the above combination is a perfect example. You're almost dead, you're out of magicka, but because you took the regen perk, it comes back just fast enough to fire off one more spell, which normally wouldn't kill the enemy (maybe you'd need 1 or 2 more hits) but because you took the destruction perk, *poof*, and you're good to go.

Knowing this, that actually makes them seem even more useful as by the time you hit these perks most of the enemies you'll be fighting will have a tone of health so their last 10% will probably still take several good shots to drain. It may not be as blantanty powerful as x15 dagger sneak damage, but then again, you do actually have to successfully sneak up on your target (which might be damn near impossible against certain enemies), and then if they're actually beef enough that it doens't kill them, they're right in your face. Magic keeps you at a distance form your target.

Like many said, it's very situational, a little extra that can save your char in a tight spot ! I see them more as little bonuses than real gameplay changers, like it would be for skill trees in hack'n'slash like diablo/titanquest/torchlight and the action-rpg in general.

Indeed. It's probably not possible to get those perks until quite a high level, given that you'll need to raise your Destruction skill pretty high before you can access them. Theoretically it's probably possible to finish off even a dragon this way...

Just because an enemy has low health, doesn't mean it's hitting you more softly.

10 almost "dead" draugh warriors hit just as hard as 10 "fresh" draugh warriors.

lol also an excellent point. And actually, I'm betting that Radiant AI might make some or even most or all enemies more aggressive at lower health. It might just be my imagination, but I feel like certain enemies in Oblivion (I distinctly remember a few types in Shivering Isles) got more in your face and started attacking a bit faster when they were almost dead.

I see these as more of the "for fun" perks, kind of like Bloody Mess from Fallout 3 and New Vegas. I always picked Bloody Mess because it was fun to use (didn't really care about the +5% damage) and usually because I had already chosen all the perks I wanted.

This. Not every perk is going to make you OMGUBEROWNZ, but rather they will just make play more interesting and offer some variety to spell animation and NPC death. Hence why decapitation is a perk. It's not going to add any extra damage either.