Skyrim is an amazing game, GOTY!!!

So.... I was walking down a valley when I spy two dudes 'at it' dueling and firing ice and fire at one another in the leafy glade.

Ultimately the dude firing ice won and then turned his attention to me at which point I despatched him forthwith.

1: This was obviously a cool random event as the two dudes were called Ice Mage and Fire Mage.

2: Is ice THE most powerful magic? Everyone who uses it seems to be mega powerful espeasually when they fire those big icicles.

I love these type of encounters.

My question is about destruction magic. I am playing as a sneak archer but is Ice the way to go if I mage it up at some point?

fire should be stronger as fire melts ice but skyrim has it's own physics...ice mobs are stronger then their regular version so obviously beth favors ice but i prefer fire and say screw them

Depends who you fight. Remeber that all destruction spells have a secondary effect. Against mages the most powerful one would be lightning since it drains magicka super fast (I was once owned by a guy who only used sparks). Ice is especially good against warriors since archers can't aim as good after their stamina is depleted and melee fighters can't use power attacks. Fire is good against all those that are weak against it or have a lot of health because it has the DoT effect.

Skyrim is cold, therefore, guy who uses cold has advantage -beth logic

I thought so, thats kind of why I asked because common sense says Fire but Skyrim physics seems to say Ice.

This is great, thanks, very helpful. I need to try out mage to experience this.

It was just luck. Lightning magic is the best thing to use against other mages, as it drains magicka.

ditto

Well depends on the lvl of the spells. Most mages who use Ice tend to use the Icicle frost spell while the fire mages use the flamethrower spell. Icicle is an apprentice spell while flamethrower is a novice spell so the ice mage was doing more damage per hit.

Also depends on what races the mages were, as some are resistant to Fire, some to Cold.

Fire, Ice & Lightning are all equal for the most part, you just have to use the one that suites the situation best, so having all 3 is a good idea.

Fire melts ice, melted ice puts out fire. Sounds like by your logic they should be completely balanced.

Fire does lasting damage and the spells tend to cost a little bit less than their ice counterparts but ice drains stamina, slowing them down and neutralizing power attacks.

tru but ice mage is casting ice not melted ice

they should be balanced but beth favors ice..thats why frost trolls ignore my fire and tear my face off even though they are supposed to have a fire weakness

Your logic is.... very flawed. However, statements such as "fire melts ice!" and "ice puts out fire!" is a very poor way to judge how powerful elemental attacks are "supposed to be," which was my original point.

Oh, and the reason you're having trouble with Frost Trolls is because they're a rather difficult mob, not because fire magic is bad.

ice is not that strong on a playermage.

it is true, npc ice mages are mostly very strong, but they do [censored] lot more dmg, than a player using ice magic

haha how is my logic flawed? we're talking about a fantasy world with unreal physics so the basic rules of fire melts ice should apply...it's a game so it should follow rock/paper/scissors game rules. Each one beats another just like each skyrim element should beat another.
Imo it should be fire beats ice, ice beats spark and spark beats fire...simple yet effective

I really wish this was a "random" event, but after seeing this exact "fire vs ice" fight about twenty times it starts to get redundant.

The ice spells are great... but the most amazing looking spell in the game is Wall of Flames. I paint the walls with it.

agreed, i just wish it was useful too

Lightning is by far the most powerful IMO. It hits instantly and cant be dodged unlike fire spells and ice spells.

Higher level fire mage foes tend to be total pains though considering that they throw fireballs around that tend to hurt like hell unless you got a decent fire resistance, and adding to that those fire mages tend to light oil as well so be wary of that.
As far as specializing for yourself, ice magic is the least effective given that alot of foes have Frost Resistance(nords, draugr, vampires, many animals(?), frost-breathing dragons, frost trolls probably, wispmothers, ice wraiths etc), many are weak against fire on the other hand(all undead and frost breathing dragons). And only Storm Atronachs have any resistance against lightning magic, and anyone with magic resistance as well..

But there are alot of ice mages around, forsworn for example, which tend to make a warriors life a big pain due to the slowing which makes dodging harder and the stamina damage.

Because you don't need to cast "melted ice" (water) in order for the ice to melt and put out the fire. Have you ever tried putting a block of ice on a campfire? Either the fire will be put out, or the fire will subsist, all the ice will melt, and the water will boil. The outcome depends on the relative quantities of said "elements".


Okay, so which is it? Should the world have "unreal physics" (a term which you fail to define, by the way)? Should it have real physics (where imbalances in heat energy tend to balance themselves out, and a fire cut off from its oxygen supply dissipates)? Or should it follow rock/paper/scissors game rules (which have nothing to do with physics)?


Actually, the elemental system in this game doesn't really work that way. Saying that it operates on a rock-paper-scissors system is only correct when you implement different enemy types into the equation. When it comes to two mages battling one another, whichever one is using lightning should most likely win (assuming all other variables are equal), because lightning is the anti-mage element. On the other hand, frost is anti-melee, and fire is general purpose.

NPC Ice Mages are typically the strongest in my experience.

As a player... they are relatively balanced... however there are more Frost resistant enemies than Fire or Lightning resistant.


And actually... your best bet is to take at least 2 elements.... it's only 2 perks (3 if you want finisher perk... but those aren't particularly required... just minor bonus) per element you want to max.

If you only want 1 element... Shock may actually be best as it's the least often resisted.... and can help mage battles (and EVERY dragon is either Frost or Fire resistant)

If you're a pure mage though... with heavy focus on Destro (and not just using destro as time filler waiting on Conjuration, your real school, to do the work) you should prolly take all 3... I mean... why not?

Shock finisher is also unquestionably the best finisher of the 3. Fire sends em running and can alert more enemies you haven't pulled yet, and Ice just freezes them still requiring another cast to kill. Shock finisher is like bonus damage if they would have almost, but not quite, died from a hit.

I agree that the fact the Ice Mage won is pure luck. I've seen Fire Mages win and on some occasions the winner had a very small health pool left. Ice magic tends to slow those hit with it down and mages generally tend scoot back and forth and avoid any melee contact or close contact. If the Ice Mage gets a few good hits on the FIre Mage then his target becomes more easier to hit.

Yes there are advantages to all types. Fire can be used against general opponents. Usually if they're attacking your summon it's a good idea because you can safely attack and give them extra burn damage that stacks up.

Ice is good against scary melee guys who kill mages in one hit because it slows em down and kills their stamina.

Lightning is my favourite because there is virtually no delay when attacking enemies and cause it tends to make mages start punching me when I kill all their magicka.

Ice is the worst because most enemies you face are resistant (nords and draugers), plus the projectiles move so slowly.

Fire does more damage for less magicka and lightning has the fewest enemies resistant and the projectiles are instant hit.