I'm sorry, but using the word "PWNED" as an adjective is nonsensical and completely ruins the entire post for me.

See right there is the thing. And its no different to a pure Archer.
You need to think about what you're doing, use the environment.

What is the point of skill level then?

Personally I agree on the fact Destruction doesn't scale up the more you gain skill. Though they are still people who refuse to actually pick another tree in the Mage section in order to enchance their defenses. Such as illusion/alteration/restoration/conjuration. Use your companions wisely and blast those fools!

It amazes me how people like the OP can completely miss the point of Destruction compliants. Way to be obtuse.

My mage is stuck in some Dwemer ruins and can't get out alive because of some damned Altmer murdering him whenever I try to make a move . Turning down difficulty is NOT an option

Okay, so a pure melee fighter chooses a weapon and armor, enchants/smiths/picks something nice off the rack at Sears, and heads out in the woods. The get damage from the weapon, maybe an ench from gear, and perks to beef it up. Seems pretty legit.

Destro mage, choose spells, can have 2 live at any one time, as well as something like a cloak and/or armor buff. You grab some robes that add %dmg and %magicka regen. Maybe an amulet or ring that offers some extra aid. And perhaps a staff that does something nifty.

Primary differences - dmg scaling: Are you enchanting your mage gear? Cus I loads of crap with some pretty great enchants on them because my guy doesn't need them. Are you carrying a staff for OOM situations? Are you willing to bring in other skills? Even my warrior loves to have the Ritual Stone power handy when things get wonky and I can't deal enough dmg with my sword.

Utility - As a destro mage you can fight at range, or up close. You can set traps with runes, you can slow, you can freeze, you can light shiat on fire. A warrior who chooses to do only melee is extremely gimped in flexibility. 'Ahhhh, I run in with my sword. What do you mean there's 3 archers on that cliff? Of course I still run in with my... Yea, let me reload my save.'

Demigod - Let's be real, most of the finger wigglers complaints stem from the 'Glass Parking Lot' desire to wipe clean the face of the earth. This sort of narcissism has let to a lot of hurt feelings of people who want to be able to play that way, to you folks I say 'difficulty setting.'

After all the fuss I'm tempted to roll a straight mage, primary in destro, just to show it can be done on Master difficulty if you're willing to accept that you're going to get curb stomped a few times.

Cant mages use perks to reduce their mana costs and therefore increase their damage potential, heavy weapons and power attacks use stamina up don't they? And a mage based character surely would use other spells to debuff/weaken their opponent and/or buff/strengthen their own defence - as well as being able to buff followers and summon creatures.
Here is an experiment for someone. Try playing as a pure warrior and never craft or use any potions and never use any magic. And then play as a Destruction only mage and do the same. I think the conclusion will be basically the same for both - a really hard and rather boring game.

People are looking to much to precedence. Just because Gandalf wore robes and in D&D wizards cant use armour or swords it doesn't mean this game is bound by these same constraints.

It's also not fair to compare Destruction only spells with magically improved /buffed weapons, because what you are actually saying is if you restrict your spell casting but allow everything with weapons then weapons come out on top...... err yeah obviously!

Exactly. Destruction is ridiculously easy. I'd say maybe 90% of my encounters (@ level 27 now) have been handled 100% with destruction because I'm lazy, for one, and I know how to blow things up.

Dual casting + impact means every dragon/Dragur boss fight is 'right hand/left hand 31pt firebolt. Dual cast for max blast + impact = stun locked boss mob and quick kill for no mana. Add a time stop shout, and that's all she wrote.

Honestly, I don't get conjuration mages. Who wants to cast up something that will do your fighting for you?

Let me guess, you fell down a hole on the way from the mage guild to your very FIRST mage guild quest and cannot get out the same way.

This, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, THIS.

God, this is a million times more painful than pulling teeth. Getting absolutely ridiculous now. Can't wait till I leave work so I can just get off the forum and play Skyrim.

Of course--but not to do damage. I don't think anyone is saying that you should be able to use destruction alone, ignoring buffing, healing, and defensive skills. The question is whether a mage with a destruction spell in each hand (supported by appropriate perks, potions, enchants, etc) can reasonably expect to do as much damage as a warrior with a sword in each hand. And if not why not? Is is because a warrior needs constantly to buy updated abilities? Because enchanting provides better support to mage damage than to warrior damage? Because warriors in armor are more vulnerable than mages protected by alteration spells? Because warriors are more resource starved than mages? Why?

For some reason I keep thinking of the quest reward for hitting the pillar with a shock spell and how, unmodded, if you waited too to get it, it was uncastable due to mana cost. Mods brought the mana cost in-line with comparable spells made at the spellmaking altar, but I keep thinking that the person responsible for that spell must have been given responsibility for destruction in Skyrim.

I'm one handed/archery.. with some destruction. I dont find it as bad as people are saying. I'm personally taking a liking to the frost spell that slows the enemy down while I destroy them with the war axe in my other hand. I completely agree that no one should really train in one skill, if you do you should expect it to be hard. I thought I was going to swing an axe the whole game. Then realized I need archery for long distance because I tend to sneak, which I've ended up using so much it level rivals one handed.

Destruction damage may not scale up as high but it's way more versatile. Conjuration, Illusion, Alteration and Restoration are also way more versatile than armor and block skills. Mages also get to fight at range. They're fine if not overpowered. People need to quit crying.

Not that.

Because that anology excludes the fact that the warrior has armour. All the damage scaling in the world wont matter If he gets pimped slapped across the room with no armour.
Warriors have to get close, Armour is a must.

Mages can flamethrower from 30ft away for a good 30seconds even at basic levels.

I'm in my early 20's with my "destro" mage so I don't know how does endgame magecraft look like but from what I can tell I'm doing pretty fine. I also saw someone mentioned that mobs stop to scale at level 40 or so it doesn't matter if your melee damage scales like crazy if you end up 2 shoting mobs with either melee or magic, is that true? Maybe it's not that terribad and magic gets outclassed by crazy enchanted / upgraded with smithing weapons on master difficulty?

No you don't, since they don't exist. That's part of the problem.


Come back in 20 levels, when your spells do the exact same damage but all enemies have three times as much health and defence.

I've noticed alot of complaints about spells not scaling. Isn't the scaling in the different mastery levels of the spells? Novice -> Apprentice -> Adept -> Expert -> Master?

Pure Destruction mages are bad.
You should be using Illusion to make enemies run away, Conjuration to draw attacks and give melee power, and Alteration and Restoration to stay alive. Mages are squishy. Use your abilities.

I shared this in another post but it is relevant in all of these discussions.

Range.

All magic spells are ranged.
Bows are too slow for medium range and they cannot do AoE effect.

Not to mention other side effects like freeze, burn, disintegration...

This is a big difference between other methods.

These "You're dumb, and wrong, even though basic math proves my assinine statements wrong" threads are getting old. Destruction is simply FAR BEHIND everything else in the game for damage.

Can you beat the game with Conjuration by itself with 0 Alteration, Illusion, Restoration or Destruction? Yes, easily and on the higher difficulties.
Can you beat the game with Destrcution by itself with 0 Alteration, Illusion, Restoration or Conjuration? No way, not even remotely close.

Talking about all of these "extra" perk trees needed is redundant. A Warrior needs two trees: Armor/Weapon. Smithing/Enchanting are convenience perks but not needed at all. It just makes them even more broken in comparison.


Oh please. This whole "I play a cerebral character and know it's deepest intricacies" doesn't make you a special snowflake. You haven't corrected anyone on anything. Math > opinions.

So what other skills can a destruction mage use to boost his damage?

Melee can use backstab multipliers, smithing improvements, enchants, alchemy for both poison and damage boosts. On top of the 100% extra damage from their first perk, and more throughout the tree.

As far as I can tell nothing boosts destruction's damage at all.

I play an archer, bows are not too slow for medium range. Especially when you get the power shot perk, and then it gets even better with quick draw and bull's eye which are just icing.
Freeze, burn, disintegration are also all worthless, they only happen when the enemies are essentially already dead anyway.

I've not seen that happen once.
They don't scale like the do in oblivion.