Destruction Magic in Skyrim boils down to one of these two scenarios:

1. Spam spell that barely does any damage (And this damage doesn't increase with skill or level)
2. Strafe in circles around enemy waiting for magicka regen
3. Rinse and repeat.

or

1. Spam spells
2. Spam Magicka potions
3. Rince and repeat.

It is nearly impossible to play as a sole mage in vanilla Skyrim. Spells do little damage and cost very little Magicka, while Magicka regenerates really slowly. It should be the other way around.

Spells should deal lots of damage, take up more Magicka, and Magicka should regenerate much faster. This basically means you can't spam spells. You have to hit the target, and if you do, you'll be rewarded. No more running around waiting a minute for the bar to fill up.
There is a mod for PC that does this, and it makes playing as a mage much more rewarding. Not easier by any means, but more tactical and less of a spamfest.


I think Magicka has been aesthetically improved immensely, but extremely crippled in terms of gameplay. This is just one thing that bugged me, Skyrim is a great game and I'm not hating.

Maybe a patch will come out to fix it and make destruction scale with your level.

If you're on PC give this a try http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?/topic/1279272-rel-improved-destruction-magic/

Already got it downloaded bud. That was the mod I was talking about.

I don't know what Beth was thinking when they made Destruction have static damage.

Oh I totally missed that line, my bad.

I think they should avoid #2 all together and cut out the need for a magicka bar...that would balance out the weakness of destruction if u never had to put your flame out

Hmm. Well, since Morrowind, that's sadly the way it's been. In terms of magic you don't get a larger caliber, just a longer clip all the while the warriors and archers dish more damage with their skill increases . Of course, they could have added 3 more ranks to the elemental damage perks.

Perks in this game aren't perks. Fallout 3 had perks, special quirky abilities your characters had that help you out in certain situations.

Skyrim uses "perks" as a way of defining your character, and it blows hard. The roots of an RPG are choosing a class and playing that role. With Skyrim's "be who you want to be" mindset it's far too easy to become a JOAT.