Bound Bow + Fortify Archery + Sneak (+ Silent Casting*) is more rewarding and practical than any Destruction spells in my opinion. Even though the damage will not be as high as normal bow with Smithing + Enchantment but i found it already powerful. At level 45 on Adept, i kill many Dreuger Deathlords and Dragon Priests without major problem*. It is more practical than using Destruction magic.

Bound Bow damage can be upgraded with Archery perks, Conjuration perk, and Fortify Archery enchantment on gears, and Deathly Aim while Destruction magic not only weak, it is likely deal friendly fire on ally, no sneaking bonus and to beat an enemy feel like forever. Destruction Magic is just not practical for me.

The enchantment is also powerful, always active Soul Trap and Banish Daedra, i did banish some Daedras. With 100 Archery Paralyze perk, it is most useful, even though damage not as high as normal bow with Smithing + Enchanting, it doesnt really matter and it is better than any Destruction magic i say

* at the time i experiment with it i didn't focus on Illusion and have no perks at all, because my character is actually a non-magical archer thief, i cast Bound Bow before entering dungeons or far away from enemies, but i think with Silent Casting there will be no detection problem. Mercer say "you are too noisy for someone who claim to be a thief!" lol

That's great. One of my future characters will be an archer, so this gave me an idea.

Never really used the Bound Bow extensively before.

Bound Bow rocks!

Bound Bow is pretty amazing early on. Be warned though, if you miss with a Bound Bow, the arrow will remain in the ground permanently. That could be an issue long term on the console versions, in terms of memory size.

I played an Arcane Archer who only used Bound Bow and a conjured Atronach/Dremora Lord. It was a lot of fun! Bound Bow is awesome!

I used the bound bow on my Breton, but only as i was playing on master difficulty + permadeath/DID, otherwise it's just one shot kills. It's an excellent weapon & did start to fall off in damage closer to level 30. It's looks cool as well, but the feel & look of physical bows/arrows just seems that bit better IMO, despite to lower damage (non fully smithed/enchanted).

Destruction Magic drain your magicka, need some enchantments or alchemy to reduce magicka cost, but the damage is not impressive, need to micromanage in combat to avoid friendly fire and unwanted results (accidentally set oil to fire that uncontrollably might kill you)

Bound Bow only need to cast once, high damage and can be upgraded with Fortify Archery enchantment and Archery perk, plus 3x damage from Deathly Aim (or x2 Damage sneak attack), can soul trap and banish Daedra that is always active, can deal damage many times without cost because unlimited arrows

I can say Bound Bow is a Mage best friend