Fire, Ice, or Shock

[Vandal]

If you had to pick only one branch of the destruction tree from these three which would it be and why?

I'm currently playing a battle mage type class and don't want to invest too heavily here and only want to spare perks for one of these trees.

 

[Angharrad]

Being quite new to the game, I'd choose fire as it seems to rid a lot of obstacles - draugr, skeevers, wolves, and the like. Obviously I'm going to come across more but yeah.. I choose fire. I've noticed humans die almost immediately after blasting them with fire. (duh.)

 

[OriginOfAbsolution]

I generally find Fire spells to be the most useful. I feel like the majority of creatures you encounter tend to be susceptible to flame (though not all, of course!). Perhaps it's because there are lots of undead (who are weak to fire) and ice/snow-based creatures in the game.

My second choice would be shock.

I don't know why, but I never really find myself using many Frost spells. My battlemage character only has perks from Fire and Shock, and she has been doing well.

 

[XbSuper]

I like frost, slows down your enemies, and drains their stamina, which is good against melee NPC's. Only downfall is that it seems to do less damage than fire or shock.

 

[Su8tle]

I prefer shock, only because it looks badass.

 

[Black-Tongue]

Fire is the most obvious choice. If I could I would use frost more. It's my favorite.

 

[Vandal]

Thanks for the input so far. I'm leaning towards fire because it seems practical but like someone else said shock looks cooler lol

 

[rvk5150]

I also like Shock...reminds me of Force Lightning.

 

[Flint firestorm]

One shock perk gives you insta kill if their low health

 

[ShenziSixaxis]

Fire. It's very effective against just about everything, quite powerful, and it generally has a low magicka cost. Shock is my second choice, as it depletes magicka as well (useful against dragons and draugrs), though does cost a bit more than fire. Frost is my last choice; its cost is between fire and shock, but it doesn't do as much damage, and slowing doesn't slow all enemies down. I also feel that you should focus on taking an enemy out, not affect them.

 

[MushroomGenius]

I use Lightning primarily on my Mage since I'm usually teamed with a melee-based follower. Shock spells do not have an AOE, so it doesn't place my follower in danger unless I outright blast them in the back (Lightning Bolt / Thunder Bolt).

If I planned to solo everything, I'd probably use frost vs. melee, fire vs. everything else.

 

[Fortyfires]

I use Lightning primarily on my Mage since I'm usually teamed with a melee-based follower. Shock spells do not have an AOE, so it doesn't place my follower in danger unless I outright blast them in the back (Lightning Bolt / Thunder Bolt).

Haha! I had to stop using Chain Lightning because I kept taking Lydia or the dog out.

 

[Notmy420]

Frost for melee, fire for baddies that take more damage from fire, and shock for other mages. Draining mana for the win.

Sent from my SGH-T839 using Tapatalk

 

[MushroomGenius]

Haha! I had to stop using Chain Lightning because I kept taking Lydia or the dog out.

Yeah, it's why I didn't list Chain Lightning in there... it's nice, but I don't use it because of the same reasons you stated.

 

[D0MIN0]

I like frost spells, simply for the awesomeness of looking down at my dead enemy and seeing all those icy spears riddling his corpse.

 

[Dagmar]

Shock, because while it may have the highest magicka cost there's only one mob in all of Skyrim that has resistance to shock damage. Fire would be my second choice because even though there are some mobs that are resistant to fire damage there are also lots of mobs that are weaker to it. Ice is possibly the worst choice you could make in Skyrim. Skyrim is chock full of creatures and enemies with resistance to ice damage and there are few creatures or enemies weak to it.

 

[Teritus]

Shock, definitely. Not only because I believe that storm atronachs are the only thing in the resistant to it, but because of it's instant line to the enemies; it doesn't take seconds to reach them unlike fire or frost.

 

[PelagiusIV]

I like to focus on fire, nothing sweeter then watching an enemy burn lol but I'd have to say frost is a close second. Something about it just has always attracted me

 

[Minister Of Mayhem]

I'd go with shock; it fires immediately rather than shooting a ball and only one monster is resistant to it. Fire does the most damage and it damages over time, but more monster are resistant to it. Frost is good for slowing down melee enemies, but most monsters are resistant to it.

Fire would be second.

 

[Nuitari]

I'd go with shock; it fires immediately rather than shooting a ball and only one monster is resistant to it. Fire does the most damage and it damages over time, but more monster are resistant to it. Frost is good for slowing down melee enemies, but most monsters are resistant to it.

Fire would be second.

While your points are good and personally I use shock most of the time it is probably best for someone with a battlemage build to use fire or frost because they will have less magicka (unless you are an Altmer or are using some other method to combat this). You will probably want to use a combination of both fire and frost because they are both really useful but you may wish to focus on fire.