» Mon Jun 25, 2012 3:54 pm Here is the build tree: http://skyrimcalculator.com/#331
Take every perk in destruction as they become available. Sometimes you will build up perks you can't use right away. Sometimes you will be able to use up several perks at same time. You will be leveling up just destruction on purpose. You will pick up some levels from reading books. You will level up speech from talking to people and selling and buying stuff. You will level up sneaking because you will be sneaking up on your enemies, running away and hiding when you run out of magicka. You will level lockpicking from picking locks. But you will only invest perks in destruction.
You will want to do other things. You will want to do "reasonable things." You will want to make armor. You will want to make potions. You will want to enchant, just a little. You will want to carry a sword or a bow or just a dagger. Just in case. No. You are a mage. You won't do any such. And you are not allowed to transmute metal with alteration magic, either. This is a focused Destruction build. You are, however allowed collect materials to do that later if you really really want to.
What about when I run out of magicka? Shouldn't I carry a sword? No. You are a mage. You are not a
You will not wear armor, a destruction mage does not get hit. I'm serious about this. A destruction mage does not get hit. If you are a melee player, you might have hard time believing this. To you, it is only reasonable to devote half of your energy to defense. No. Don't do it. A destruction mage does not get hit. There is really no need for armor or health. You may get hit occasionally by a lucky arrow. But you know you could have dodged it, and 100 health is good enough to survive most arrow shots. You might be thinking, what about that super strong archer that one-shot me the other day? You died with your heavy armor on, didn't you? Some archers can do 500 damage with single shot in master. Good thing about a destruction mage is that he has some of the best tools to help him avoid getting hit altogether.
Destruction magic is quite strong right out of the gate. Don't listen to people who say that Destruction is weak. It's weak because they don't do it right. If you start picking up destruction as a hobby at level 50, of course it's not going to feel strong.
Flame spell is very economical once you get used to using it efficiently. Use short puffs of flame just to set your enemies on fire. They will continue to burn for one second and take the same damage from this afterburn as if you were continuously spraying him. By the time you reach level 5 or 10, it practically becomes free, because your in-battle magicka regeneration rate will be faster than the rate at you use up magicka using this technique.
Buy firebolt from Farengar ASAP. Without the apprentice perk, firebolt is expensive in terms of magicka, but it's very powerful and has long range. It will become cheap soon enough with the perks and gains in magicka. Buy frost and ice spike spells also. You will need it for fighting your first dragon. In fact, buy every destruction spell as soon as they are available and you can afford them. If you can't afford all at once, prioritize fire, then ice, then shock.
Go do the early part of main quest, kill the first dragon with ice spikes. Then go to College of Winterhold. You will receive Novice Robes of Destruction. You will find enchanted ring for +20 health. You will find a good amulet fragment to wear. Your early gear will be Novice or Apprentice Hood, Destruction robe or Archmage Robe, ring for health or magicka, necklace for magicka.
Elsweyr Fondue gives you +100 magicka for 12 minutes. This is the single most powerful tool available to a low level mage. It gives you 10 levels of worth of magicka for the entire duration of a battle. Sometimes maybe 5 battles. Make lots of them. Make sure to keep some around for emergencies. You need moon sugar, ale, and eidar cheese wheels. Khajiit traders are good source for moon sugar, and burglary is a good source of eidar cheese wheels. Ales are everywhere. Do you need it? No. You won't need it. But it's a nice thing to have just in case.
Fighting techniques:
There are few things that may seem hard at first but easy once you master. The key is staying out of melee range while dealing damage.
1. You can easily win a fight against a Frost Troll using only flames. You can always stay out of their melee range while dealing damage with your spells.
2. You can easily and consistenly win fights against Giants using only flames. Go practice killing them. Run around obstacles and trees. Jump up on a rock. Jump down. Just don't get hit. Kill them slowly with flames.
3. You can easily win fights against mammoths. Use your terrain to your advantage. Do not get hit.
4. Bears and Saber Cats are more of problem for a mage. As soon as you see them charging, identify a safe location and run there. Use dual cast impact if you have them. Once you have Become Ethereal shout, things become a lot easier. Get ready to pop Become Ethereal shout and look for a place to jump up or down. If you do not take advantage of the terrain and not pay attention. They can kill you. But once you find your safe spot, you can take your time killing them.
5. Bandits are not a problem in outdoor situation. You can kill them while you retreat. They are more dangerous inside forts, when they can surprise you and kill you before you can react. Put on sneak gear and try to find them before they detect you. Use low power spell and use impact when you see them charging at you.
5. After you learn dual casting, you will notice that you run out of magicka very quickly if you just use dual casting. Don't use dual casting all the time. Don't become dependent on them. Use it selectively to stop charging enemy. Dual casting is very expensive. Dual casting does 10% more damage than two handed casting, but costs 40% more magicka. That 10% extra damage is nice, and use it when you have plenty of magicka to spare, but make sure you don't run out of magicka in the middle of the battle. Use single handed casts when enemy is making lateral moves and there is a good chance you are going to miss your him, and use two handed casts instead of dual cast when you want to be efficient with magicka by pressing one mouse button slightly after the other.
6. When you upgrade your spell to a more powerful version, you you will notice that it uses up a lot more magicka. Very often you will not be able to use your most powerful spell exclusively, because you do not have enough magicka and cost reduction. Mix in your new spell into your battle, and enjoy its power, but be mindful of its increased cost. Adjust your style so that you do not run out of magicka during battle. As you level up, your magicka pool will get bigger and your cost reduction will get better, and you will get better gear for cost reduction and magicka. You will gradually be able to mix in more of your most powerful spells in your battle.
What to look for when looting/stealing/shopping:
College Hood. Best Available.
Circlet or Helmet of Destruction. Best available.
Ring of Destruction. Best available.
Necklaces: Health, Magicka, Fire/Frost/Shock/Magic resistance. Sneaking and Haggling. You will probably wear Magicka amulet or necklace most of the time. But it's good to have options.
Rings: Magicka, Health or Magicka Regeneration,
Potions: Healing, Fortify Health, Restore Magicka, Fortify Magicka. You will be surprised by how little potion you use, and you will need to sell of majority of potions you find/steal.
Boots: Light Boots for Fire/Frost/Shock resistance. Good for fighting dragons or mages. Sneak and Carrying also.
Shield (optional): Fire/Frost/Shock resistance. Hide or Elven. They weigh 4 pounds each. You don't miss them if you don't have them. But if you have them, fighting dragons become a lot easier. If fighting a fire dragon, put fire boots and shield on, and kill the dragon at your leisure with ice spike and icy spears. Just make sure to stay out of their biting range. It's a good idea to sprint away when they land.
Birthstone Recommendations:
Mage Stone at the beginning. You are a mage after all.
When you start to nervous about fighting enemy mages and dragons, you are allowed to switch to Atronach stone or Lord Stone. This will happen around level 10 or 15.
Praying often:
You should pray to Julianos before going to fight your big battle. It gives you 25 extra magicka. Sometimes the difference between life and death is one extra shot. Visit Solitude often to pray, and check out what's selling at Radiant Raiment, your favorite store.
What to wear, early game:
* Magic Hood, best available.
* Destruction College Robes, best available.
* Necklace: Magicka or health.
* Ring: Magicka or Health or Regeneration. Buy them at general merchant or Radiant Raiment in Solitude.
* Boots: Boots with shock you can steal/get from archmage's quarters. Buy/find/steal light armor boots with best Fire/Frost/Shock resistance you can find.
What to do if you regret having put too much into magicka and you wish you had more health instead of magicka. Did you die to a one shot? If so could you have prevented your death by having 50 more health? You should have plenty of potions of of healing and health in your inventory. So much that you have to sell them off to avoid getting weighed down too much. Use them sometimes. Stop being so cheap with potions. Switch your necklace and ring from magicka to health. You will lose about 60 magicka and gain 60 health depending on what you have. Also stop praying to Julianos and start praying to Arkay. Another 25 points of health. 8 and half levels of health, instantly. I do not recommend this. Don't wimp out. Review your fighting technique. Kill them before they kill you.
What to wear, mid game: As soon as you have both circlet and ring of destruction, and your level is at least level 15, Switch to destruction. This will be what you willbe wearing from now on. Before this point, you do not benefit by switching from fortify magicka to cost reduction gear. Circlet and Ring of Major Destruction start appearing in the game starting level 16. If you ever see anything stronger than what you are wearing, upgrade immediately.
Spells:
There are 7 spells in each of three elements up to expert level. And there are 3 master spells.
1. Flame/Frost/Spark: Flame is my favorite, it's cheap, and it's good against pretty much everything. Except for flame atronachs and dunmer. Remember to use short bursts instead of long streams.
2. Firbolt/Ice Spike/Lightning bolt: Great utility spell. This is probably most useful all around spell in the game. Very powerful when you are early level. Kill everything with one or two shots. Super cheap stopping power when you get to high level.
3. Fire/Frost/Lightning Rune: It seems too expensive and underpowered at first glance. But it's my favorite spell. I use this spell most of the time. It's a very safe spell to use. You do not have to have line of sight to damage your opponent with it, and it does solid 50 damage. You can damage multiple enemies at once. You can kill 3 or 4 loitering bandits with just one shot on Adept. And you rarely miss with this spell. This is my main battle spell. When I get low on magicka, I switch to Firebolt and retreat. You level up much quicker by using this spell.
4. Fireball/Icy Storm/Chain Lightning: I use fireball, mostly among these three. Fireball is a very powerful and cheap spell. Because it's an AoE spell, you can damage enemy mages who have their wards up with this spell by aiming next to them instead of at them. Fireball spell is also an amazing spell for long distance sniping. You approach your enemy fort from high ground by climbing down. You spot bandits milling about. They look like tiny ants. It's too far to hit them with a bow. But it's easy to kill them with a fireball. You don't have to hit them. You just have to land the shot near them. They are all dead and have no idea what happened.
5. Flame Cloak/Frost Cloak/Lightning Cloak: I personally don't use them. It's free since you can cast it before the battle starts, but it only works in Melee range. I am never in melee range. I try my best to stay out of melee range. Probably it's more useful to melee players as support damage. I do not recommend using this spell.
6. Incinerate/Thunderbolt/Icy Spear: Powerful, but expensive. I use it for sniping or for opening the battle. Do not use this spell if you are going to miss the shot. You can kill boss characters with one or two shots at level 20. It's also good for fighting dragons with atronach stone. I hold fire or frost shield with one hand and concentrate on aiming, and not dodging. When their breath hits me, I get very little damage and it has 50% chance of recharging my magicka. It's a efficient and relaxed way of fighting a dragon.
7. Wall of Flames/Frost/Storms: It's cheap, powerful and lasts 30 seconds. It's great for when enemies are chasing you around a loop. You create a wall while you are running away, and they will chase you into the trap again and again, until they die.
Master Level spells:
Fire Storm: Great fun to use. Need one hit to kill off everyone in a small room. Hit Become Ethereal. Walk into the room. Fire Storm. And everything is dead.
Blizzard: Best used in confined space. I haven't learned how to use it effectively quite yet.
Lightning Storm: Great damage output and surprisingly inexpensive to use. Cheaper than expert level spells. Only drawbacks are you can't move and there is a considerable wind up time. Good for cleaning up an area from a safe spot.
This is a very focused build and your leveling will pretty much stop when your Destruction gets to 100 and your level is around 20, and you have 3 perks saved up. At this point, you have a super powerful destruction mage and the game is very easy. You are walking around killing boss characters with one shot of your incinerate. You can continue playing pure destruction mage. For some people, the fun stops when the leveling stops. If you are one of them, feel free to level up by adding other skills you are interested in. You may want to explore Conjuration, which goes really well with Destruction, or Alteration which will give you great boost to your defense. If you were planning to do some kind of crafting, you have probably enough material gathered up to level them up very quickly.
But this is as far as this guide goes. It's a pure Destruction guide.
Here are some other fun guides I have read before:
http://www.gamesas.com/topic/1366255-guide-to-pure-sneakless-archery/
http://www.gamesas.com/topic/1373031-an-in-depth-guide-to-making-an-awesome-destruction-mage/
