The Better Destruction Spell?

What spell do you guys prefer? Shock, extra damage to Magicka and 8 damage a second. Frost, extra damage to stamina, 8 damage per second. Or fire, extra damage after you stopped casting and 8 damage per second. I prefer Sparks because it gets rid of magicka which is VERY important at low levels, and I have the perk Novice Destruction so the Magicka Cost is not much.

Shock.

2 main reasons: Shock damage are the least resist of the 3. And its "low health" spell Desintegrate is way better than the other 2.

Those were the reasons I thought of, as well as enemy magic can be a hassel so the magicka drain is good.

It's situational.

Shock is instant, and pin-point. It requires decent aim, but can't be dodged and is great for hitting dragons on the wing without having to lead the target. I think of it sort of like a sniper rifle. Big damage, bit high mana cost invested into a shot you can miss if not aimed carefully

Fire spells travel slower, but most of them (like fireball) do AoE damage. I think of them sort of as a shot-gun and they really shine in tunnels and narrow spaces where they can't be dodge and their splash damage hits multiple enemies at once. The damage over time is cumulative, so if you pump a spell like flames, the damage really piles on. This is great tactic for a young mage.

It's the ice spells that rarely find their way into my roster. The damage to stamina's nice, but they're usually dodged and they travel so slow. Melee enemies are usually too busy fighting my thralls and followers, anyway. It's a shame, too. I love seeing people impaled on a lance of ice sticking out of their head.

I'm a bit of a pyromaniac so I'll go with that.

Shock is good vs mages and frost is good against 2-handed weapon types, other than that it doesn't matter too much I guess?

Theres not MUCH differance, I like how Frost looks, but I think it is the least effective.

I think he's talking about the entry level spells, Flames, Sparks, and Frostbite. Flames kills faster if you pulse it quicly, like firing a semi-auto in shooter games, because it stacks up the On Fire effect. Frostbite slows, and drains stamina, and Sparks drains Magicka, but try pulsed flames, and see how you like it. I just use that, until I get something better, and it's free with every character.

All 3 "travel" at the same speed, and if you're past the Augment Element Perks, hopefully you've upgraded spells by then.

Dual-cast Fireballs with level 2 Augment perk and Impact !

Combine with the Fire Breath Dragon Shout and The Fire Within meditation augment and you can toast about anything that lives.

FLAME ON !

Lightning Storm! Nothing is more fun than electrifying everything with a massive lightning bolt. Its even better when coupled with storm call. Makes you feel like a god.

I meant the first three you get, but I will look into those. The reason I am checking, is because I act as a Spellsword, and am trying to find a good spell.

Flames, don't hold it down, but pulse it like a semi-auto. It actually kills faster this way. Any character starts with it, and it will get you through to higher level spells.

Ok, it seems that the pulse is popular, I will try it out.

Yes, and when you cast flames this way it doesn't cost you near as much magicka.

I think fire is the best when it comes to taking out enemies.
But I choose to use shock simply because I like being a SITH LORD!!!

I prefer fire, don't know why but whenever I create a mage character or play a mage a character I always end up using fire. The accumulated damage is nice and it doesn't cost much mana either.

For my mage I use two out of the three types of destruction spells. And that is frost and fire. This is because I don't want to be facing a flame atronoch or something that is highly fire resistant and then get my butt whopped because I only use flame spells.

However it would be a bad idea to invest in all three of them. Unless you have the extra perks, if not its a waste.

Depends on how specialized you are building. If you're doing Destruction, 1H, Block, heavy Armor, AND crafting, you're better off specializing. If it's Just Destruction, and Alteration, you'll have more perks earlier in the game, and access to the entire range of spells. There's good ones at every tier, we've dealt with Flames at Novice, then Lightning Bolt is the clear winner at Apprentice (Hit-scan, and rare resistance) At Adept, Ice Storm wins for blowing through cover, and hitting everyone you kited into a bottleneck, or entire corridors. So, I usually Augment in that order, Flames, Shock, then Frost at level 50. Then at 60, you can start out with the second tier. Expert, I use all 3 walls, Thunderbolt, and sometimes Incinerate (against Undead, and Frost Atronachs, mostly.) And still Ice Storm, long after I've passed that tier, because it can Slow an Army. Hose them down with Flame Wall, and they won't be able to just run through it faster than you can back up, and pave it ahead of them. As long as you have enough Magicka, this is a truly wicked combo, nothing survives it on the ground.