Class builds.

[Static]

^ The perk disintegrate perk is more useful than the corresponding top perks for fire or frost. Once you max out destruction.

Disintegrate is useless, unless you happen to be fighting necromancers constantly.

 

[Su8tle]

I guess the skyrim official guide book disagrees with you.

each to their own.

 

[Static]

But doesn't it just mean that bodies of people you kill disintegrate rather than leaving a body. It's effectively just a graphical thing. Awesome, but not that helpful.

 

[Su8tle]

If you hit an enemy with 15% health left they instantly die (and turn to dust, but you can still loot). Sounds pretty good to me. Sounds like you might not understand the perk.

 

[MushroomGenius]

Hopeful Mage - Word to the wise: If you are going the Necromancy route, don't pick Disintegrate.

Necromancy, while great for roleplay, is rather difficult in practice. The reanimation er.. animation, while cool, takes a while in the heat of battle. The zombies also do this creepy moaning sound... which, if you're like me and play in the dark with headphones, can be a bit alarming the first time you hear it. Then it just gets irritating.

Oh one other thing with Disintegrate... it's buggy sometimes in that it leaves enemies floating in the air and difficult to loot. It is a RARE occurrence, but it does happen from time to time. More so with enemies that fly like Wraiths.

 

[Static]

If you hit an enemy with 15% health left they instantly die (and turn to dust, but you can still loot). Sounds pretty good to me. Sounds like you might not understand the perk.

Unless you're fighting a dragon or something similar (which I don't think can be disintegrated anyway) then you would most likely have killed them in one shot if they had 15% or less health left. You have to be level 70 in destruction anyway, so your spells should be hitting pretty hard.

 

[RJBERGER BOI]

is there a good place to get a good robe and hood early on ? and would it be good to go with light or heavy armour and just enchant it?

 

[MushroomGenius]

is there a good place to get a good robe and hood early on ? and would it be good to go with light or heavy armour and just enchant it?

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO don't give in to the Light/Heavy Armor route!

Can you imagine an armored Gandalf?! Ludicrous!

Stay with the robes/hoods... some people use Heavy/Light boots and gauntlets with these, I don't. I just find normal "boots" or some hat/circlet and enchant them for effect.

Extremely early on, there's a mage in one of the cells in Helgen wearing novice robes and hood. Aside from that, there isn't unless you start raiding Mage dens, but their robes aren't much better anyway, typically.

I would suggest heading to Winterhold and starting the College of Winterhold questline ASAP.

 

[Su8tle]

Say for

Unless you're fighting a dragon or something similar (which I don't think can be disintegrated anyway) then you would most likely have killed them in one shot if they had 15% or less health left. You have to be level 70 in destruction anyway, so your spells should be hitting pretty hard.

Example: Your hitting someone with lightening running at you. your run out of magic with them at 15% health. Perk: They simply die instantly at 15% health. No Perk: They continue running at you smashing their axe into your face while you wait for magic to recharge of fumble around for potions.

Example: Your killing 3-4 bandits with lightening. If you have the perk you save using X amount of magic to get the last 15% of health of a bandit. 15% health x4 = 60% health of one bandit your DIDNT have to use magic for. Means you dont use as much magic against big groups. ie. your stack saving 15% each time.

 

[MushroomGenius]

Say for
Example: You're hitting someone with lightning running at you. you run out of magic with them at 15% health. Perk: They simply die instantly at 15% health. No Perk: They continue running at you smashing their axe into your face while you wait for magic to recharge of fumble around for potions.

Actually, that's how I thought it worked too, but that's not really the case in my experience using Lightning almost exclusively as my Destruction magic of choice.

You will only get the Disintegrate if you CAST the skill at the target when the target already has less than 15% of life remaining. If you drop the target from say 25% life down to 10% life, they will survive and continue fighting. It's the NEXT blast of lightning that will vaporize them.

One-shotting an enemy like a Crab, for instance, will not result in a Disintegration. Nor will it occur if your follower puts one arrow into a normal Bandit and you wipe them out with the next blow.

 

[Su8tle]

well that sucks ass.

 

[XJaeX]

Alright i have a dark elf and am looking to go on the destruction and conjuration path .... i have just started the game and am telling the jarl of whiterun the news of the dragon. Are there any tips you guys could give me as to making a very good character .

P.S. I prefer to only use magic this game .

if your going pure magic, pick your destruction mastery (fire,ice,lightning), choose wether you would like atronachs or undead, use bound weapons ( they dont run out of energy, they level up your skills <1H,2H,bow>, you can equip them to soul trap also. upgrade your restoration to heal health and stamina if you want, left side of the tree.

If you are just heading to speak to the jarl, keep in mind that once you return the dragonstone, you will have to fight a dragon, plan accordingly. activate the riverwood traders quest, or just bring him the claw, when you go get the dragonstone. I would suggest getting a follower asap, theres lots of them to choose from, in whiterun alone, theres all the companions ( not available until later ) , a 2 handed nord in the inn ( fist fight her ), jenassa the rogue in the bar, across from breezehome, right in front of you when you spawn at whiterun. What i would suggest for you, is to travel to winterhold asap, ( use the stable ) get yourself involved in that storyline, plus they will offer you spells you can buy, other places that offer spells are , the riverwood trader ( not alot, good start spells ) , all of the jarls court mages ( in any hold ).
Your primary spells you are look for are higher level destruction (that dont cause your magicka to deplete quickly, atronach spells (you can usually find flame early in the game ), bound weapons. I do not suggest going to jail in winterhold, because you spawn in a cage guarded by a frost atronach, if you actually kill him, you will walk outside, in the middle of no where, with 3 more ice atronachs looking at you.. Also, one thing to keep in mind, enchanting is a mage skill, so try to get it up by enchanting better armor for yourself, anything that has magicka regeneration, or school cost ( destruction most likely ). Pay attention to the level of spells you are using, for example, the flames spell is a novice spell, novice allows you to constantly use it, make sure whatever level your spell is, your corresponding skill is up to it, so if you are using novice, make sure you have novice upgraded in your skill tree, so for half magicka. It will not do much in the beginning but in the later levels, when using spells that cost 500 to cast, spending 250 will either allow you to use it, or allow you to not use all your magicka. I think that is more than enough? sorry about the long read, if you read it all..

 

[XJaeX]

Out of the 3 types of destruction mastery, fire is by far the best, if you are not meant to take much damage, upgraded fire will enable a fear effect. Fire set them on fire and sends them running away burning alive. Ice freezes them, does damage over time, and slows them down. Lighting ignores armor, disinegrates them. You choose. I use the flame spells ( fireball), 2 flame atronachs ( permanent ), and a flame enchant on my weapon. No one can get close to me, ( because they are dead ), if they can, i pop flame cloak and they die almost instantly... Mages have alot at their disposal, use it to your advantages.

 

[Teritus]

Weapon? Did you level up one or two-handed as well?

By the way, something that I've found extremely helpful as a mage is this staff that paralyzes enemies for 10 seconds; I can't count how many times it's saved my life. But as a mage, you generally want to level up enchanting then just reduce the cost of destruction at later levels. Mine is at -45% or so.

 

[XJaeX]

Weapon? Did you level up one or two-handed as well?

By the way, something that I've found extremely helpful as a mage is this staff that paralyzes enemies for 10 seconds; I can't count how many times it's saved my life. But as a mage, you generally want to level up enchanting then just reduce the cost of destruction at later levels. Mine is at -45% or so.

It doesnt level up my destruction, at least i dont think so, but my high magicka regen makes it so my charge never goes down, plus it does extra damage because of the flame damage buff in the destruction tree. If you go fight the companions to get into their ranks, you will fight vilkas, if you have an enchant, he will say "we dont use magic here" meaning it counts as magic, i am a higher level in destruction so it wouldnt do much for me, but i will try a new character to see if it levels it. i will post back with the results.

 

[XJaeX]

Weapon? Did you level up one or two-handed as well?

By the way, something that I've found extremely helpful as a mage is this staff that paralyzes enemies for 10 seconds; I can't count how many times it's saved my life. But as a mage, you generally want to level up enchanting then just reduce the cost of destruction at later levels. Mine is at -45% or so.

i think i misunderstood your question, i did level up my weapons as well, even bound weapons level up your weapon skill. I use 2 handed weapons, and trade out dual cast spells when needed, the 2 handed greatsword i have kills them in 1 shot and if it doesnt the fire does soon after. I use a daedric greatsword with fire and absorb health, the only combo i have found more useful is absorb health and soul trap, but that doesnt help my fire warrior. For my experiment looking into the enchants increasing my destruction, it doesnt look like it does, however if you fight vilkas to become a companion while using an enchanted weapon, you can level up your weapon skill, and it doesnt count because he will complain about the use of magic. I leveled up 5 times before he finally said alright fine it will count. Dont spam him, try to avoid his shield if possible.

 

[treasurehunter]

for some reason it seems to me that the firebolt is more accurate than the lightning bolt....although I might get into using the lightning more once I get the disintegrate perk. I prefer the atronach as well b/c they are a bigger shield of sorts.

Edited for content
There is one Words of Power to help you with increasing your accuracy with the Lightening bolt by a great deal. Before my pure destruction mage died (PS3 got restored) I would use one particular shout (I'm not sure if I should say what it is ) and I would drop disintegrate almost any enemy in a matter of seconds without much difficulty, including Giants and the Dovah. I'm terrified of Mammoths, so I'll never attack one.

 

[XJaeX]

is there a good place to get a good robe and hood early on ? and would it be good to go with light or heavy armour and just enchant it?

you could of taken the mage robes from the cage in the starting cave, the guy asked you to pick the lock.
otherwise, riverwood trader sells them alot, any court mage i think will sell mage robes, but go to mages college, they sell them, but also give you destruction robes when you join. Not sure if its always destruction.

 

[XJaeX]

Just been messing around with the perk calculator, this is a warrior/assassin hybrid.
http://skyrimcalculator.com/#89761
This is an assassin/thief.
http://skyrimcalculator.com/#89779
This is a pure assassin.
http://skyrimcalculator.com/#89783
This is the templar, my next project. Race will be breton.
http://skyrimcalculator.com/#89793
thats it for now, the breton will activate, i think its the lord stone, for extra magic resist. maybe even complete the mara questline for extra 15 %. Only physical damage will hurt him, only thing around my heavy armor is lightning, which is being blocked out by magic resist. I cant wait.

 

[Su8tle]

my assassin/thief/rouge build: http://skyrimcalculator.com/#89812

64 perks needed. That means 'technically' id still have 17 perks left to play with if i wanted to max out the character. What should i invest in for plopss and giggles? i was considering destruction - lightening. Or even just the first part of heavy armour 'juggernaut' in case i feel like rocking some daedric armour on weekends and skyrim public holidays.