There seems to be alot of mixed opinions on destruction magic on the other forums

can i ask anyone/everyones opinion/experience with destruction magic?

I'm thinking of rolling a sneak archer character who uses fire runes as well on Master difficulty. i will be levelling up the skills all pretty evenly as i go along (as best i can anyway)

what are your thoughts.. is this viable or is destruction magic/fire runes too underpowered?

As long as you're prepared to give up stealth as soon as the fight starts, destruction magic is fine. I wouldn't want to use destruction on a sneaky archer, but I can't stand losing the element of surprise. I personally find runes to be underpowered (until I step on them at which point they become overpowered), and difficult to ensure a hit with, and if you forget you put one down and end up stepping on it, it can ruin your day.

You will need alchemy to increase destruction damage once you hit the higher levels, especially if you're going to focus on runes as they're not improved through the destruction perks.

http://www.gamesas.com/topic/1312501-the-way-of-the-artificer/ has some details you may find interesting, especially the latest reply.

i was under the impression you couldn't step on your own rune?

Edit: ^You can't, but there are some enemies who actually use them (but it seems to be rare and very obvious)^

It might be useful for starting a fight (You throw a rune between your enemy and you then Sneak attack the enemy, causing them to charge you and hit the rune).

If it's the only magic you intend to use, why not? It won't do any harm unless they trigger the rune before you can sneak attack them.

I step on my runes and they don't blow up.

I'm playing as a Mage currently, but I have yet to start a Thief character. With that said...

Runes are a viable source of offense, provided they are used strategically. If you intend to just throw them around when the melee action starts, they won't do you much good.

Placing them in doorways, narrow corridors, and on narrow stairways, etc., are the best way to use them in my experience. Again, though, with a Sneaky character I would imagine you'd want to use them for when the jig is up and direct combat is the last resort. At that point, their worth and effectiveness is really all about what type of enemy you're facing and where.

Just my two cents, anyway.

sneak (stealth, backstab, deadly aim, muffled movement, light foot, silent roll) x3 dmg on bow and unseen
archery (all perks minus bullseye) more dmg to ur bow, movement, slow time when needed
destruction (Rune master, Augemented shock, frost, fire, depending on which type u are using) more dmg to ur runes and more range
illusion (Animage, Kindred mage, quiet casting, master of the mind) cast ur spell without noise helps to avoid detection and maybe fear/calm/fury for crowd control if u are seen

maybe take enchanting/smith/light armor

(in my opinion) thats the base for the kind of build u are talking about, i think is very useful on master

hope this helps

do fire runes do enough damage to take a chunk of health off the target so i can finish them off?

The damage on runes is static, approximately two times that of firebolt, at 5~6x times the cost. That said, It stops being useful once you level up a bit.

so once im level, say 40-50, would it become useless/obselete?

More or less, its very costly for the amount of damage it does;

correction; its more like 5~6x times the magicka cost.

Once you hit 30~ you'll probably be spending the rest of your mage career; if you're using destruction, spamming incinerate from then to time immemorial.

It depends greatly on your playstyle. Check out the topic I linked earlier.

im starting to go off rune magic now with everyones comments tbh

how about flamethrower spell, does that get more powerful? is it viable at higher levels on my above build?

remember that if u take enchanting (recommend if u are doing this on master) u can reduce the cost of all destru spells and also enchant + bow dmg, now also smith + sneak x3 dmg to range + archer perks, u will be 1 shooting almost anything without needing the runes, if arent on a dungeon and u cant sneak in skyrim with archer perks u can kite awesomely

u can also take a follower to tank for u while outside and tell him to wait while in dungeons

You could just tell him outright to max out enchantment and alchemy.

So he has to enchant maxed destruction reduce gear, a set of alchemy gear, and then brew a lot of fortify destruction potions.

You should read the topic too " "

I don't think you realized yet, Magic does not scale in skyrim, your damage stays the same forever. You become less effective as enemies levelup so you must move on to the more expensive spells unless you want to take an hour to kill something

Of course, then there comes the time when you can't get any better spells and the enemies keep leveling up....

Didn't I said how impractical in practice that was?

Except it isn't, if you find pressing 3 buttons to be impractical then . Also, you still haven't read the topic I linked earlier.

Read it, old stuff, I don't see you saying anything new.

As repeated for the nth time, you are required to max alchemy, enchantment and all relevant perks.
Must craft full reduction gear for destruction so you can cast for free,
Must craft full alchemy gear for your potions + poisons,
You must create sets of weakness to magic and weakness to element potions, and then fortify destruction potions which must be reapplied every 30 seconds. each potion weights 0.5
You must be able to apply both sets of poisons to every enemy you face; as the post you're referring to was someone who was playing a archer hybrid anyway.
So I suppose you want people to craft and carry 30 sets ~ 90 of those potions for those daurgr in a tomb then ?

ok i didn't realise that.. i was hoping to make a rune archer build but it doesnt sound feasible at high levels

are the top level destruction spells effective in corroding away enemies health so i can fiinish them off?

The upper fire attacks do a decent bit of damage but if you hit high levels and are going to be a sneaking archer you will rarely be in actual combat anyways.

If you really want to you can max out alchemy and enchantment to and make all those potions so your rune can do more damage like the cross linked post saids.