I'm a level 19 destruction mage who doesn't use any moves except destruction (and the occasion heal/ward). I can usually take down all my enemies, but other magic users. Sure, you have to place runes and such before some fights, but all in all destruction isn't as bad as people say it is.

WoW syndrome.

It involves a ton of kiting to use successfully (which isn't fun) and the damage doesn't scale.

I'm level 100 destruction playing on adept difficulty and i'm level 34, and it's not weak, it might be until you get to adept. Adept spells is when you get all the spells that hit multiple targets and do a good amount of damage.

Only complaint i have is how long it takes to cast a master level spell, it takes like 5 seconds, and every time when you're in the middle of trying to cast it, someone makes you stagger and you have to redo it about 5 times. I must say, the end results of fire storm and blizzard always destroys enemies in one cast, if not it takes away a huge chunk of damage.

Lightning storm is my favorite because you can kill people from really far away and does massive damage, very effective to dragons.

Scaling is the issue here. Enemies grow stronger but your spells stay the same. Thus you struggle more and more the stronger you get, magic wise.

Ways to solve the issue would be

New spells become available periodically

Create your own spells

Spells scale as melee does.

People are saying past level 35 or so, theres no progression in destruction power or type of spells, and compared to melee combat levels past 35, its much harder to be successful in defeating enemies.... Mostly people who are PURE destruction mages are ones complaining... Though, I understand where theyre coming from, its still just part of the game structure and it is what is. Personally, I have many other ways to defeat enemies along with my destruction. But I guess its about the principle.

And then illusion spells kinda get capped to a certain level.

You haven't even reached half the level-cap, and you will never do more damage than you are dealing now with Destruction. However, the enemies still have almost fifty levels of power growth. That's why destruction is underpowered.

The problem is Bethesda decided to make low-level spells become long-lasting Tickle Lasers instead of magicka-sapping Armageddon-in-a-Fist, especially considering the unique nature of each spell. Ideally, Flames would be a solid, go-to Short-range destruction spell. Unfortunately, the lack of damage scaling renders it functionally obsolete once you get "Stronger" spells, despite the tactical need of a kickass short-ranged Flamethrower spell.

Destruction isn't the only spell school that's capped. Illusion spells don't work against mobs of too high of a level. Conjurations never gain extra damage or HP, and against high level Mages are often turned against you. The bound weapons also never increase in strength. Restoration and Alteration are both defensive trees and will not actually help you kill your enemy.

I know how you can find the answer, read one of the dozen threads going on about this already.

If you are playing a pure mage that only uses the Destruction tree, of course you're going to have trouble until you unlock the god spells. I guess what people are really complaining about is that it takes intelligence and strategy to be a successful mage. Aren't magicians supposed to be smarter than the average person anyway?


Flawless victory.

Can't you combine the enchanting perks with proper enchants plus two companions....seems like mages can't possibly be that underpowered.

I've read many threads on this but am unclear on something .. The destruction/illusion spells don't scale beyond a point, ok, but if u use enchant/other buffs to augment those spells can you not artificially increase damage ?

But the god spells do the same damage forever, from when you first get them to...many levels down the road.

There aren't enchants that increase destruction's damage by a % like there is for melee and archery. This is an oversight i'm fairly certain, and if not should be able to be modded in. This combined with magicka regen not working in combat is really the only valid complaints i see. Post level 35 melee isn't getting much better in any other way than enchanting.

Hit level 50 and tell me destruction isn't weak. The problem is is doesn't scale.

/thread.

Meh, it's good enough for me personally, but maybe they will readjust it in the future with the first DLC release.

The Fortify Archery/Fortify One-Handed/Fortify Two-Handed enchantments directly increase the damage of the weapons involved.
Fortify Destruction/Fortify Illusion/Fortify Conjuration only decrease the Magicka cost of the spells involved. This doesn't result in an increase in DPS, but it does result in an increase in overall throughput at a maximum magicka level.

Theoretically, it's possible to get enough enchantments to make all of our spells of one school free. However, this is only very useful in 1v1 situations. When you're getting pelted by arrows, it's somewhat difficult when you still take 6-8 casts to kill a single enemy in a group of 4 or 5.

ok dude, thanks.

First thing I said in Feb when Spellmaking was brought up as no longer in, Oh the Trolling that flowed afterward.

I told you so simply doesnt cut it.

Forgive my ignorance, but is that not something you can merely fix with the spell creation tool?

I mean, I've never played a TES game where I was using a single stock spell by the end of the game, and I've played them since Daggerfall.

First I've heard that spellmaking is gone.

Well, that's a mistake, isn't it.

So Im' supposed to play a specific way? I didn't have to do this in Oblivion or Morrowind. hmm...



taking out spell making was fine, them forgetting to add spell scaling is the big kicker.