Is it a Destruction Magic Skill line or is it only a Destruction Staff Skill line?

I guess I am wondering if you can only use magic (besides you classes skill line magic) when your holding the staff of that school (Destruction / Restoration)… that would be pretty disappointing. Or by holding the staff does it increase the damage / heals that you can do, but still allowing you to cast a weaker fireball without the staff in hand?

the one thing i wish i could change about TES games is having charges on weapons. i wish they would just have straight up magic weapons. i am sure i am in the minority here but thats just what i would prefer. i hope its like that. i hope destruction is skill based and the staff just gives bonus to stats/skills and is not needed to actually cast spells

im pretty sure the staff will have it's own set of spells. and there will also be a seperate destruction magic skill line that you could select abilities from while say having a sword equipped.

No, from the information we have presently the only pure Destruction Magic source is the Destruction Staff.

There are class skill lines which approximate destruction magic, such as the Storm Calling line of the Sorcerer, but the "destruction" spells are only castable when you have a destruction staff equipped.

Of course, this may change when more information is released about the Mages' Guild skill lines, but currently the only source of "Destruction Magic" is the Destruction Staff.

They go completely by weapon types. The only destruction skill line will be in the destruction staff.

- 2 Hand melee weapons

- Sword and Board

- Dual Wield

- Ranged (Bows)

- Destruction Staff

- Restoration Staff

This is a list of weapon trees that you can go in to. I thought there was 7 but I can't think of the other one at this time.

The Sorcerer will have 3 skill trees specific to that class that will have to deal with magic and dealing damage or some other role. They have confirmed in the "Ask us Anything" that you can't cast with your hands like in Skyrim. Just go check their website, those Q/A's have so much information. In fact they have the bulk of all information released.

Thanks for the great responses...

but this makes me sad lol

All we have seen of the destruction staff is a fireball with 3 x fireball upon charging... i am hoping that this isn't all that the destruction staff is capable of... that would be a real let down...

Even morphing the skill to lets say have a Dot on the end of it... doesn't make playing with the destruction skills much fun... firing off the same fireballs for your whole ESO career because you want to be a magic wielder sounds like it will wear thin.

I am hoping that you will have a range of different spells available to the destruction staff... (we are yet to see any as yet tho)

The fireball attack from the Staff is just it's basic attack. The Destruction Staff has it's own spells that come along with it. So you don't have to worry there.

well, that's kinda lame. i hope they change that. making me equip a staff in order to cast destruction magic kinda lessens the 'play how you want' feeling they've advertised with the progression system.

There is a difference between the destruction staff item and the Destruction Staff skill line.

The fireball / 3x fireball is the basic attack of the staff itself, much like a sword will cut / power cut or a bow will shoot / power shoot. You will get that ability without investing anything into the skill associated with the item.

However, as you use items in ESO you will develop an associated skill. For a greatsword, you will learn 2-Handed Weapon; for a bow you will learn Archery and for a destruction staff you will learn Destruction Staff. By learning this skill you will make certain abilities (5 actives and 5 passives I believe) available for you to purchase with skill points. The active abilities are similar to 'spells' as you know them from other games, and will likely involve more spectacular effects. The passive abilities will improve your destruction staff's attacks and spells.

Also, for what it's worth, you do not morph your basic attack. You morph abilities. That is, the 5 active abilities you can gain from the skill line.

Not really. You can do everything they have suggested. You just can't do it all at once.

Because classes are so loose in how they affect gameplay, there needs to be some mechanic for implementing meaningful choices. Currently it appears that those are present in the Weapon and Armour choices. Each weapon opens up a certain style of 'attacks', so you craft your character's offence by what weapons you choose. Each armour style affects how the character positions themselves in conflict, whether it is front and centre (heavy armour), sneaking around the edges (medium armour) or trying to avoid conflict (light armour), so again you craft your character by what armour you choose.

Strictly speaking though, if you want to be a battlemage who slings spells whilst wielding a sword and wearing heavy armour, it seems possible by play in the Sorcerer class. You will be limited to primarily using lightning spells, but it is certainly possible to do.

Thanks so much for the great information Jaelin, that’s cleared up my concerns!

and thanks to you too leperchans!!

Have we all forgotten about the Storm-calling tree if the Sorcerer class? Not sure what else to call Storm-calling but destruction magic.

Either way, the Destro staff has frost and lightning spells as well as you level it up. That much has been confirmed. And there is no charging for it as far as we know, just your own magicka.

Make a sorcerer and cast spells, its a play how you want that is very open. You can still have offensive spells while wielding whatever weapons you want with the sorcerer.

Make a sorcerer and weild any weapon, your mouse clicks: basic attack, power attack, block and interrupt bash will all be based off the weapon, hot key slot 1 and 2 will also be based off the weapon. hot key slot 3,4, and 5 can all be spells from the class trees (sorc spells)

I'm hoping they do it like this (at least with destruction) :

have the skill line named destruction, yet only leveled when you have a destruction staff equipped.

the skill tree that opens up basically will be like a destruction tree, only it applies to your weapon.

Not sure what individual abilities would fall under that don't require the staff.

Storm calling is surely not pure destruction by far, last time I checked destruction didnt employ protective effects, buffs or teleportation

It has been confirmed soulgems will be used for charging magical items, the charges however affect only base attacks. What kind of enchantment can be put on staves, remains to be seen

Is there only one destruction staff tree or will there be a frost staff, fire staff and lightning staff tree?

there will only be one skill line.


but maybe staffs are dedicated to certain elements... (no facts, just my imagination!)
so for example you'd have the spell 'nova' that could either be a 'frost nova', 'fire nova' or 'lightning nova' depending on the staff you have equipped.

Theres 3 path for each class, then own weapon progression for each weapon. Weapon progression probably means your first mouse click attack, from destruction staff its some fireballs, from restoration staff its somekind of healing.

In my opinion theres only restoration and destruction, but theres frost, shock etc enchancements, what can be used for attack or defend, all depends on monster. Btw, it was that latest interview where they said that.

It may sound lame, theres only two, but think if theres multiple paths for both of restoration and desruction staff. BUT I prefer this alot more, Darkfall 1.0 was one rare game where you were allowed to master it all, but trust me its quite borefest.

Well, you guys want teamwork and co-op right? If one dude can do it all, whats the point, because you need to choose one, one cant be master of all.

Hulk sad.

I would really like it that way, but I doubt it.

its really lame if you ask me. so if you want to use a sword while slinging fireballs you are SOOL i guess

Some people seem to be missing the concept here. Each class has spells available to them through one or more of their skill trees. Some of those spells are what would be classified as "destruction" in the single-player games. These can be used regardless of what weapons you have equipped. Staves (just like in Oblivion and Skyrim) are just another type of weapon: basically a "spell on a stick".

You are not required to have a destruction staff equipped to use your destruction-type spells. Since everybody has two weapon-based abilities available to them, the destruction and restoration staves are just there so that those who want to play a pure caster type can still take advantage of those two weapon-based ability slots.

That is not correct Tremayne. The active abilities of Destruction staff skill line offers 5 distinct spells, which can only be used when the staff is equipped

Every class has some nuke-like class spell, but its only ONE per class. So for those intending to play ranged caster, destruction staff is necessity. But then, what other weapon would actually ranged caster want if not that?