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Lightning, Ice or Fire for a pure Mage playthrough?


Phontsy

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Stay away from Frost. There are too many Nords that would be incredibly hard to take down.

 

Fire has my vote. It uses the least magicka and is still well damaging. Shock uses the most and damages health and magicka. But not every enemy uses magicka, so you could be wasting it.

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Stay away from Frost. There are too many Nords that would be incredibly hard to take down.

This. Skyrim is chock full of frost creatures and nords. Thus, way too many things that have some frost resistance.

 

Go with fire or lighting.

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depends how much you are roleplaying on skyrim.

i played as frost mage with "minor" in lightning. i chose frost since i was a nord, who has frost resistance, which makes it "easier to control" :o. then i did lightning for mages or things resistant to frost. i used fire too as i started to max my destruction

 

edit: and all in all, with some destruction enhancing mods frost isnt a bad choice. especially since its my personal fav :P

Edited by adogkronik
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I realise that your motivation for wanting to restrict yourself to a single element is a thematic choice and I guess you'll save a few perks in doing so, but there is a pretty sharp downside; you lose the versatility to deal effectively with every situation. Example; lightning is great for trying to hit fast-moving targets and for dealing with spellcasters but a storm atronach or any other creature that has strong electric resistance / immunity will ruin your day. Every element has a rock-scissors-paper relationship with certain enemies in this game, so its a good idea to have the other elements in your arsenal, even if you favor a certain one for general use.
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Pros.

 

FIre - Damages health

Adds DoT ( Damage over time )

Lowest magicka cost

Perk special effect causes targets to flee if their health is low (under 20%).

 

Frost - Damages health and stamina

Slows the enemy movement speed ( great for fast melee fighters )

Perk special effect paralyzes targets if their health is low (under 20%).

 

Lighting - Damages health and Magicka

Great against other mages

Fastest travel time

Perk special effect allows Shock spells to disintegrate targets if their health is low (under 15%).

 

Cons.

 

Fire - mediocre damage

Slowest travel time

Not very well against fire resisted enemies

 

Frost - Weakest damage

Mediocre travel time

Not very well against frost resisted enemies

 

Lighting -

Highest magicka cost

Not very well against Lighting resisted enemies

 

Also you should let us know if you choose to spend a lot of points into enchanting, the way i heard it is if you go to 100 you can cheat and cast anything with no magicka cost...if you don't want to cheat i would avoid this.

Edited by PsYchotic666Joker
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I realise that your motivation for wanting to restrict yourself to a single element is a thematic choice and I guess you'll save a few perks in doing so, but there is a pretty sharp downside; you lose the versatility to deal effectively with every situation. Example; lightning is great for trying to hit fast-moving targets and for dealing with spellcasters but a storm atronach or any other creature that has strong electric resistance / immunity will ruin your day. Every element has a rock-scissors-paper relationship with certain enemies in this game, so its a good idea to have the other elements in your arsenal, even if you favor a certain one for general use.

 

This is true though you can get away with only using two elements. I generally use fire as my primary mode of attack for short ranged combat and lightening for longer ranges. It is rare to find a monster immune to lightening and even more rare to find one immune to lightening and fire.

 

I seldom use any frost spells except for fun and killing slaughterfish with Ice Storms.

Edited by justwannaddl
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