If i want to improve my damage done by melee weapons or bows i can
A. improve the skill
B. use smithing
C. use enchanting
D. use potions
E. take perks

if i want to increase my damage done by destruction spells i can
A. use potions
B. take perks

hmmmm.......balance anyone?

Or just use the fortify destruction enchantments enough so all Destruction Spells cost 0 Magicka to cast.

Spamming Thunderbolt is fun, and quite deadly!

That really does not make destruction spells any more powerfull, now does it?
Besides spamming same spell from start to finnish seems bit dull, just like using bow only or melee only.

I have found Destruction to be the most balanced of the Damage choices

I have a level 43 Bow user, and very overpowered
I have a level 37 2 handed Nord Barbarian, and Very overpowered

My level 32 Mage is very Balanced and the most fun of the 3 builds so far. No he does not do as much damage per hit as the other 2 but still hits hard enough to make it irrelevant

Then why does everyone act like you must have bows or melee weapons to be "effective?"

Another destruction is underpowered thread? The only other good thing about destruction apart from making it all cost 0 mana is that you can spam off lighting bolts faster than using a bow. Also have you ever tried launching someone over Dragonsreach with incinerate? = I <3 destruction.

It's not about being effective it's about improper damage scaling with destruction spells. They never level at all. I have a level 56 mage and resorted to using magicka use reductions for Destruction so I could spam incinerate and other high level spells. None of the lower level spells are of any use at all making them rather pointless past a certain point in the game. Unfortunately that includes runes and several other fun spells that totally lose effectiveness against high level enemies. My current character is a thief/assassin that uses bows and daggers and the damage scaling is so much better and the character is really a lot more interesting to play. I can see that he could become overpowered but that is easy to rectify by using lesser powered weapons and such. At least there is an option to balance it. For destruction mages there is just no hope other than modding which is no help to console players like myself. Destruction magic was poorly implemented.

If I want to take out those 6 bandits standing 50 metres away with my sword, I can't.

Common sense, anyone?

What about bows, where a single shot can easily take out a high level enemy, assuming you perk right?

Okay, so now I have to have 3 skills so that the 'destruction is weak' crowd can claim they are hard done by...

No, this is ridiculous now, the moderators need to start closing down these threads.

The point is, considering 'destruction' only, compared to 'archery' or 'one-handed' or 'two-handed' only, then destruction comes out on top...pure and simple. It's far stronger, has area effect, and has ranged ability.

The only claims that it is comparitively weak are when it is compared to a combination of other skills, such as the inclusion of smithing or enchanting being added to the melee/bow ability. Every so often the old argument gets trotted out that the magic users don't want to use enchantments to reduce casting costs, or don't want to use potions to increase their power, but they still compare one skill to several. God knows, but they can't change the playing style they had in Morrowind or Oblivion...no no no...the developers MUST correct the issue...the developers MUST change the magick system to placate the minority. There obviously MUST be something wrong because we keep getting hammered at Master difficulty, and we have trouble taking down opponents...well, here's a hint: take down your difficulty and you might actually have an easier time of it, and you might see that things work as you would like them to.