Throwing this out there for you mages having issues during the later game stages...you CAN increase your destruction damage. Via created potions. I was dabbling with alchemy this morning and created one by accident. I'm trying to figure out what the ingredients were that I used, will post again if I figure that out. Kicking myself for spam creating and not really paying much attention to what I was creating. LOL. Anyway...thought I'd post this, as it should be of some help to mages. The potion I mixed was good for 60 seconds, with a 42% increase in destruction damage. Better than nothing I guess

Yes, this can indeed help with things like those deathlord bosses.

Oh. Well thats one way, im quite past all that destruction magic hooha though.
Bet some people would go "crap multiplied by two is still crap"

I was planning an Alchemy/Archery/Destruction combination who uses poisons for weakness to fire, potions to buff destruction damage and then fire to destroy enemies. I'm really curious how fast enemies will go down with that combination.

^^ That would be the most annoying build imaginable. You would spend more time in the menu system than in the actual game.

What many people fail to realize is that by trying to be JUST a destro-mage you are gimping yourself. That would be like playing an Assassin, but only using One Handed and not leveling skills like Sneak, Archery, or Alchemy. Or playing as a Nord barbarian isn't as easy if you only invest in Two Handed.

Hmm..can you explain why you feel this way?

All I know is a potion that increases my Destruction Spell damage by 400,000% makes for a fun time (I'd rather just have scaled spells but if I can't have that I'll make over powered potions instead).

The poisons do enhance your destruction spells. I just wish we did not have to rely on it for destruction to be viable.

Alchemy, Enchanting and Smithing walk into a bar and meet their old friend Spellmaking who was just recently laid off.

Yep, I've started in on Alchemy as a back up plan in case I experience the difficulties with Destruction described by some players. But I haven't experienced any problems so far.

Trying to only utilize one or two skills (like just Destruction and Alchemy or just One Hand and Speech) is not going to play as well as someone who invests in a healthy balance of skills, mixing both combat and noncombat in a way that makes sense.

once a potion is created it should appear in a menu for discovered potions in the alchemy screen, and also shows the ingredients you used/require to make more i think?

Only if you have said ingredients.

I'm not 100%, but IIIRC it's