Okay, Im a stealth guy with sneak and Archery maxed and then some. I have been playing around with Destruction to try and raise it. Im currently at Destruction level skill 43 with all the available perks leading up to that skill level for destruction class. But it seems it is still very weak and it takes forever and ever to kill a Bandit? What gives?

Bilal is a master level at destruction, the stronger spells are pretty good, i wish the spells would level with your character though, my favorite spells are Icy Spear and Thunderbolt, they deal pretty good damage

Maybe you're still using the low level spells. Better spells can be aquired at the college of winterhold. And perhaps it's because of the scaling. The enemies are your level, but your destruction is below that level. Not sure though.

I one shot most 'weak' enemies like bandits with Ice Spike or Lightning Bolt. And with Ice Storm or Chain Lightning I can whipe out a pack in one shot, so no, destruction isn't weak.

Okay thanks, So it is worth the effort to get 100 and all the perks then.

My stealth assassin used destruction magic to deal a lot of damage in a matter of seconds if he was seen. But 43 in destruction is extremely low.

It's a scaling problem. You've maxed out sneak and archery, so I'm assuming you are level 30 something. At that level, the "Apprentice" destruction spells are probably all you are using. Level 43 destruction is wimpy compared to your maxed out bow. You'd need to be using expert spells to really feel like there's any comparison.

Also, destruction is a lot stronger if you dual wield. To be worth it, grab the "Impact" perk along the right side of the destruction tree. You can stop an enemy cold with every hit.

Continue to work on your destruction. By now you should be able to buy the adept-level destruction spells, so I'd definitely invest in those. I always carry a dagger, just in case.

Lol sounds to me like you've lvl up a character maxed sneak and archery) to around 30 and now want to use adept spells to take out high lvl enemies with basic spells and limited mana!

Destruction is weak especially if your playing at Master difficulty, however I believe it's a skill which should be used in conjunction with others ( like most perk trees in the game).

I'm quite happy with it, apart from the AEO spells which I find quite annoying as there are no single effect (with similar power) spells at those lvls. End up hitting randoms or followers which leads to all out mayhem.

This has been my major problem with magic in Skyrim. They put in situational spells, which is nice, but they end up being the only spell for that level instead of having them available from Apprentice to Master.

To the OP, pretty much what others have said, just keep working on destruction to get to the higher level spells.

Destruction is the weakest form of attack in game...if you maxed 1hand and destruction skill with the related perks, a dagger would do more damage then any expert spell; also the dagger can be upgraded to do more damage then every master spell which is very lame imo.

You can give a small boost to fire destruction damage by using the aspect of terror perk in illusion..dont even bother with staffs at high levels, they'll only tickle ancient dragons

If you simply maxed one handed and nothing else how string would a dagger be?

No smithing, no sneak.

Melee combat is often stacked with additional perks (smithing, sneak) which helps boost damage and make them viable.

Magic doesn't stack (well alchemy being the exception), but you can conjour up atronachs, fury mobs and then use destruction from a distance. With that in mind it's not broken, think it just needs a little TLC that's all.

Where are you getting this from? Have you even used destruction?

'tickle' ancient dragons? The expert spells will hit them for ~135 damage (if you choose the weakness spell), ~300 damage dual cast. That's 10 hits you will kill that dragon in on master, from a safe distance, consider how fast you can cast those spells.

The fire storm master spell will half/third a deathlords health on master when perked, that's not weak.

Destruction damage is fine, it's the magicka cost that's the problem. But it seems like you just play a maxed out smithing game and destruction is 'too weak' to use as you can't one hit dragons.

I wanted to like destruction, but eventually gave it up. It really does not level like all the other skills. Eventually I abandoned it - even though my skills are make. Don't mean squat! Fireball is still a 40 dmg. I have perks for casting up through expert, but unless you buff with regens and boosts and....I run out too soon to be really effective.

Now I one-shot a lot of enemies with my bows.... the destruction magic is a novelty used only on the dregs of enemy classes.

I am on xbox - so no mods....

I said staffs tickle them...the strongest destruction staff does 60 damage which is like a mosquito bite to an ancient dragon on master.

I love both barbarian battle axe and pure mage characters so dont assume im another anti magic blacksmith

Problem is people's stack sneak, smithing and one handed / two handed / bow and then compare the damage output with destruction.

Id love to hear the damage output from a daderic dagger with no smithing / sneak (not sure of the formula), I reckon destruction would be comparable.

Very different play styles, not sure you can or should compare them.

Get the Ice Storm spell, its very very good.

Impact + fortify destruction enchants + magica regen enchants = viable character, I think... Imo, destruction is always only part of a mage's arsenal though and should be combined with other schools of magic and/or weaponry.

The highest damage spell (not master level) is chain lightning - if you get the 60 dps book from the Whiterun wizard. He also sells a 40 dps book sometimes which I would avoid.

Get the dual-casting skill, you're now doing 120 dps. Also, the perk that turns the enemy into ashes when his health is below 20%, I think.

With some practive, that spell will equal the distance a bow shoots, or at least very close to it. I love to use it to take bandits down that are on the castle walls waiting for you to come closer, sometimes they don't even know you're there till you start taking them down.

Note at the master level, even though you use both hands to cast a master spell, you don't dual-cast anymore. So, no doubling up the damage from those spells.

Good luck.

PS: If you use a follower, be careful with that spell, it will jump to him/her if they're near the battle. If you're on the PC, you can make a follower essential, so he/she won't die.

Yeah it's the same as the expert level spell, 60 damage or 90 damage with the perks. Ancient dragons have a weakness to ice/fire so if you use the right spell you will do 135 damage with that spell/staff.

The damage is more than enough, it's the magicka cost that's too high.

OK. So, what's your point? The fact remains that the physical attacks stack and level while spells don't. This is exactly the complaint, and exactly why some of us abandon deestruction after the low levels, best intentions to the contrary when starting out. Conjuration, though, remains great fun.

I agree it takes a bit more savvy to use it, most people do ditch it. I play on master using destruction from the beginning, dealing plenty of damage, once you solve the magicka problem it's fine for use.

I feel liek once you reach 100 across the board, the abilities should be fairly profound and significant like its bow or melee counter parts, as least in oblivion I could spell creat a monster that raised weakness 100% and then hit for 100 damage .

is there a weakness to magicka spell? i hope the DLC has more more MORE spells

yeah i tried to make a mage once.. beat the CoW guild quest lines and i deleted my save... i mean that is by far the most annoying/dufficult/frustrating thing i have ever played.. the spells does nothing and u have to enchant all your gear with less mana cost and get it to 100% in that school to have a chance... duel cast = stagger enemies is great yeah, but until u get the enchanted gear then u run out of mana in no time and are left defenseless. maybe im doing something wrong i can't say, but i will never play that again thats for sure.

Edit: Playing on expert that is.

My point is stacking sneak, one hand and smithing combines three perk trees.

Destruction is just one perk tree.

Soo with that in mind destruction is not broken, it would do as much damage as a one handed swordsman would without the stacked perks.

Don't think it's a fair comparison, I don't think it's broken. I think playing a Mage is different from a warrior.