Forums » Elder Scrolls

Lighting, Frost or Fire? What's your magic of choice?

    • 20 posts
    March 15, 2013 12:06 PM EDT

    I must admit, I am not one for magic in Skyrim or in any of the past TES games. I'm looking to create a spellsword but can't seem to decide on one type of magic. What's your favorite and why?

    • 490 posts
    March 15, 2013 12:23 PM EDT
    It is always smart to go with a few magic sources, such as picking two elements so that the eventual "immune to"s are easier to deal with.

    I have always liked lightning magic like on my Phase Shifter but I will say frost is certainly my favorite. Sure, many enemies resist it but it is so very helpful to keep warhammers and greatswords out of your skull. Slow effect is great too
    • 20 posts
    March 15, 2013 12:31 PM EDT

    You must mean frost magic. Yeah I read on one of the Skyrim Wiki's that over half the NPC's in Skyrim are Nords, which bear the 50% resistance to frost. However, the slow effect is great for those with low armor ratings.

    • 490 posts
    March 15, 2013 12:34 PM EDT
    I am also a fan of the spell choices. Ice storm is absolutely devasating, even if something resists it. Since it does DPS, it can rip through crowds hitting enemies 2-3 times each an blow them away. Blizzard is also amazing, but the whole "player resistance" aspect in which the damage goes down depending on your own resistance sucks! Still cool for slow though, and making them paralyzed if everyone is below 20% hp.
    • 127 posts
    March 15, 2013 12:44 PM EDT

    Shock, easily.
    Because it's instant cast and you can hit dragons midair, disingrate perk also works on dragons so no more annoying dragon bones flying around. It also doesn't break sneak. Also only Storm Atronachs have resistance against shock.
    Also, using Storm Call shout and then using Lightning Storm is very um, stylish! And I feel like an Sith Lord when using lightning.

    • 20 posts
    March 15, 2013 12:58 PM EDT

    Yeah I think I'm leaning towards shock as well. I made a good 'ol fashioned pros and cons list of the three types and the only cons for shock was that it costs the most to cast.

    • 127 posts
    March 15, 2013 1:20 PM EDT

    Well, you may see this as a bug or something but you really should get %100 cost reduction after level 40 because magic damage doesn't scale and it's kinda sad that you use all your mana, blast your opponent and see that he has 8/10 HP.
    I did a pure shock mage build and this is the result;

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JuD9phfbKGI
    Cost Reduction + Dual Casting + Impact + Shock : FIRINMAHLAZOR

  • March 15, 2013 2:25 PM EDT

    I use them all equally, but casting Fire Storm (+Intense Flames perk) in a town is just hilarious. Combined with Become Ethernal and Mass Paralysis, it's also useful in combat. Other than that, I just love the Whirlwind Cloak from Dragonborn.

    I kinda wondered why they didn't add a Wind-based Master spell to the Dragonborn DLC, I mean that would be freaking amazing.                   

  • March 15, 2013 3:29 PM EDT

    Lightning. It is power given form. It cannot be conquered. It can only be manipulated. 

  • March 15, 2013 3:35 PM EDT
    I like fire and shock spells, but love frost magic. I was fighting a Blood Dragon that was ice resistant(uses frost breath) I hit it with a few ice spikes to just laugh at it since it moved slower than me walking with a shield raised.

    Dual casting can do wonders against frost resistances. NPCs kill me with dual casted Ice Storm even with full health and as a Nord(on Adept!!!). I think doing it back can be satisfactory and devastating.