Frankly, I find this whole argument ridiculous, but here goes. Lately there's been a lot of griping about how a pure destruction mage is going to be less powerful than a warrior, and that this is wrong. That destruction magic should do as much damage, and that magic has been put to the side and that Bethesda should be hung (slight exaggeration).

Frankly, I find this argument ridiculous, but for a reason very different to most people posting.

A two handed warrior doesn't only train in two handed weapons. That'd be ridiculous. He'd get pwned. An archer doesn't only train in archery, because he'd get pwned. And a destruction mage shouldn't only train in destruction magic, because guess what? YOU'RE GOING TO GET PWNED. No feasible character build has ever been built up around a single skill. Anyone who remembers the classes of yester year will remember that there was no destruction mage class with only one skill - and for good reason. It's simply not feasible to support yourself on a single skill. Warriors don't do it, Rogues don't do it, and Mages don't do it. The only people who do are idiots, who really don't realize how ridiculous they're being.

So, while I know this is a ridiculous statement for this forum, but please stop it. Play the game properly, or prepare to get pwned, but don't [censored] about not being able to support yourself with no armor, no method of healing, and only with a damage output.

My Destruction mage has learned his lesson and has begun spreading to Alteration....and probably Illusion soon.... It's all part of becoming the best mage he can be...adapt or get left behind...

Well said.

I can't fathom the train of though used when one assumes that using a single skill is a smart idea.
Its a Character build, not stat grind for 50hrs....

The concern is not about having to take other skills to supplement. The concern is that destruction will end up being a waste of perks because the damage does not scale. If you are going to play on harder difficulties or plan on leveling even after you are 100 destruction then there is a problem. Destruction completely STOPS getting higher dps at 100. Melee/bows can continue to buff their dps with enchanting and smithing.

Would you expect a 2-hander melee class to take 1-handers because 2-handers stop scaling at 100 skill? Of course not!

Then why on earth would you expect a destruction mage to need another form of damage?

Seriously, you guys are freaking dense...

I agree, although in a different way. Say I want a mage that causes all he's damage through destruction but can protect himself with alteration and restoration, is this a viable play style? Or do I need conjuration and warrior skills to be effective when I reach the higher levels?

The problem as I see it is not about being able to single-skill destruction.
The problem is that a level 1 with 15 destruction casting a spell, will do the exact same damage that a level 50 with 100 destruction casting the same spell.
Spell damage is static, and does not change to fit your mastery of the skill.

A warrior training two-handed will increase his damage with the sword as his skill increases.

Well, I'm a Destruction mage, but I've been correcting the misleading claims/complaints posted by others. So have some of my fellow mages. Some of us understand how to play a mage but would be slaughtered if we tried to play a melee warrior.

To each their own, but people should not claim that Beth or modders need to "fix" things that are not broken.

an archer doesnt need to learn 1handed tree and 2h tree and block , he needs his bow . A 2h guy doesnt need to spec for one hand or bow , heck he doesnt even need to spec for axe sword or hammer enough 1 of those .

We need to spec in destruction all 3 for different guys . and i wana do destruction for dmg , alch ench speec and maybe something else , i dont want [censored] conjure mobs fight for me i want to kill stuff .

And this wont stop until they will fix it .

So it would be "wrong" to rely on one-handed for damage dealing? And don't cite alchemy, etc. because mages use support abilities, too.

Also, I don't think most folks want Bethesda to be hung. They want them to fix the scaling issue. The point of complaining is to pinpoint the problem in order to come up with the best solutions.

destruction magic is ridiculously op

there is obvious smthing broken tbh

There u have it, /done

I am the same as well, no problem with my mage what so ever. Not to mention many (and I hate to say it kids) seem to think this is some MMO game they need to compete with everyone else. Got me, I read a ton of those threads and still don't get the issue. I mean, I get what they are saying, I just don't see how someone can actually svck that bad at a mage. If you ask me they are easy at 50 not OP, but easy enough I still get challnges as well, but then , I am like you guys, played alot of mages in other games.

Very true, my orc is the typical warrior type using a mace sheild and heavy armor, but he has about 40 restoration and I put 3 or so perk points in the restoration tree.

I know there have been numerous times I would have died if it wasnt for switching the weapons for a healing spell

Mages are not saying that they should only be able to use Destruction. They are saying that Destruction does not keep up with other methods of dealing damage as the player scales up in level and difficulty. The mage's spells do the same damage at level 10 that they do at 50, while this is not the case for other skills, and there are no mechanics in the game currently in order to change this. The mage would actually be more effective using either two hand, one hand, or archery rather than focusing on Destruction, which doesn't make sense at all.

Imagine if a "warrior" archetype was better off using destruction magic rather than an axe or sword, while his smithing ended up being more useful in buffing magic damage and effectiveness than it did other warrior things. This is essentially the problem.

Whats ridiculous is that you assume a "pure" character, is a "Pure character" in stealth, combat, or magic, but a jack of all trades in that particular field. A pure character is a term for a character that only adheres to a select field, not the choice of progression in that field. A pure mage could be a specialist in destruction, or a jack of all trades in all schools of magic. Just as a pure warrior isn't limited to having to study two handed, sword and shield, and archery skills. Its just as viable to use sword and shield only.

There are two sides to consider. Is Destruction as a stand alone DPS skill borked? Yes, it is. However, it seems that many people feel they should be able to use this skill only as their way of killing things. When playing a warrior class, they cannot go down 1 hander or 2 hander and call it a day. They need to invest in armor which we don't. To me, our armor tree is the conjuror tree or alteration. I personally don't use alteration since Conjuration is pretty beast.

Getting to the point; Is Destruction as good as it should be? No. Is playing a pure mage crippled because of this? Also no.

I shall be a warrior that only uses 2-handed weapons and I'll only train 2-handed, no smithing, no armor, no magic, just two handed.
To make it even better, I'll won't be changing my weapon either, it's an open-ended RPG I should be able to play anything I want right?


I played a pure mage in Oblivion before (briefly) and even there I had to rely on every other school, restoration, alteration and conjuration, just so I can stay alive. This isn't that different.

Unless you want to rely on other skills, like armor or block for defense, you MUST use other schools of magic.

With no armor?

Yes, but i did neglect that particular skill, my warrior finds it useful.

Eh, on my other toon, the duel weild owns compaired to say my sword and shield, it's night and day. So you guys keep arguing this one line of scaling and those of us that have mages at high level and can play them fine have given ample examples and idea how it is done. To be honest it's the same few guys beating this dead issue. Sorry man, I just don't see the "scale" issue as you see it. There are plenty of things in game to ehance the way a mage is played, I still stick with the one guy (forget his name) that posted..

"You just want an instant win button, simple.. put settings on easy"

You dont know what are you talking about.
You didnt even understood what is the problem with destruction.
I dont know what should i do, laught at you or pity you.

Mobs don't scale... all mobs have a maximum level around 40. In other words, you don't need to keep scaling, because the highest level destruction skill will always be good enough. Not to mention the fact that overcharging it will do more damage that you'll ever really need.

well, my mage learned how to enchant her gear so destruction magic doesn't cost any magicka at all... pretty useful if you ask me, specially if you combine it with the impact perk

Can someone confirm this ?

I'd never played a mage before in TES, so I didn't know any better. I'm only level 6 in my mage character, but thanks for that wake-up call! I'd been putting everything into destruction and even at that level I managed to take out an ice troll, but only because I was near water and he wouldn't follow me into it. I hadn't really considered how playing as a melee character relates to playing as a mage, so I really appreciate the help! I'm thinking conjuration will be my second one. Enchanting definitely... Yeah, I think this will be far more fun.

Thank you very much OP!!!