Throwing fireballs and magic missiles are a common trend among mages in RPGs. The archetype of the elemental mage ꦜis arguably one of the most fun to experience, but previous Elder Scrolls games have struggled with making magic-exclusive gameplay captiꦡvating.
Thankfully, this is less of an issue in Skyrim. While spell crafting is missing from this installment, the spells that do exist are powerful and satisfying in their own way. Destruction magic lets you throw fireballs, shoot arcs of 𝐆chain lightning, and summon blizzards to freeze enemies to death.꧙ Here are the ten best Destruction spells you can use in Skyrim.
10 Great Todd Howard Games That Aren't Skyrim, Ranked
Skyrim has been one of the most popular games in re🐎cent years, but is not the only great game created by Todd Howard and Bethesda.
Updated on October 29, 2023 by Quinton O'Connor: We've been taking a look back at some of our older lists of late, especially when it comes to that perennial favorite, The Elder Scrolls: Skyrim. As fortune would have it, there were a few cool bits to add, so whether you're returning to this article years down the road or discovering it for the first time, here are the best Destruction spells for your Dovahkiin.
15 Freeze
This is a spell that's only available for players who have the Dragonborn DLC installed. It's a classic spell, one that utilizes the innate advantage of the frost element to slow down enemies. At close range, it can be devastating to use this spell, especially if the player's follower is a high damage tank character.
Freeze essentially summons an ice spike which does a bit of damage, roughly 20 ꦓpoints, to both Health and Stamina ✃pools. The enemy also gets slowed down significantly for 15 seconds, allowing for an easy takedown.
14 Icy Spear
Very similar to Freeze, the Icy Spear spell is one that becomes available in the Frost spell category when the player reaches Expert level Destruction magic. It's a spell that costs quite a bit of magicka in comparison to Freeze, but the results are worth it.
Sky💯rim: 14 Powerful Builds Everyone Should Try
From using magic to burn down cities to striking enemies from the shadows with your trusty bow, here 🐓are strongest builds you need toꦆ try for Skyrim.
Icy Spear inflicts roughly 60 points of damage to both the Health and Stamina pools of an enemy. It's particularly good against opponents that rely on their Stamina pool to perform heavy attacks.
13 ꦑ ꦿ Wall Of Flames
When fighting multiple enemies in a room, spells that have an area of effect are a saving grace for mage characters. At the Expert skill level of Destruction, the player will get access to a spell called Wall of Flames, which is an excellent area denial spell🍌.
The Wall of Flames needs to be cast on the ꧟floor, on which it creates an area filled with flames. The wall deals about 50 damage per second, which is pretty huge against enemies that love to rush towards the player and play at close range.
12 💎 ꦿ Incinerate
A very classic fire spell, and sort of the bread and butter of any fire mage specializing in Destruction magic, Incinerate is a must pick against any opponent. It's available for players to learn at Expert level, making it a fairly difficult spell to earn.
That being said, Incinerate is a powerful blast of fire that deals about 60 points of damage. As is always the case with the fire element, enemies that are affected will keep 🐎on burning over time and taking damage.
11 Wall🎐 Of Frost
Similar to the Wall of Fire spell, this spell is focused on frost element instead. Once again, spells like these are a necessity to have in anyone's repertoire due to their ability to deny a specific area. Against grouped enemies they're particularly powerful.
Sk🦩yrim:🌞 The 12 Strongest Conjurable Entities
Conjurable entities have been present in Skyrim since the very beginn꧅ing, and these are the strongest.
Wall of F🐬rost is also cast on the ground, creating a frost area. Enemies caught in the area affected will take 50 points of frost damage per second, whic♛h affects both stamina and health.
10 🍌 ♉ Flame Cloak
Casting spells from your hands is rather fun, but using your body as🍌 a weapon✤ is something else entirely.
Flame Cloak engulfs your body in flame, damaging all nearby enemies with 8 points of fire damage per second. Melee attacks you deal also gain this fire damage bonus, so battlemage or gish builds will see plenty of benefit from this. If you combine this with flesh-based Alteration skills or high ar♓mor, you can be both a tank and damage dealer to anything in the game.
9 Ignite
Ignite is a rather stro෴ng ability, causing a target to take a constant 4 points of fꦛire damage per second for 15 seconds. When Destruction perks are also taken, this spell becomes incredibly powerful.
Standard Destruction perks will make this stronger, but the Illusion perk named Aspect of Terror also increases the lethality of this spell, potentially letting Ignite deal 21 damage per second for 15 seconds. While only an apprentice level spell, Ignite is one of the most 𓂃powerful flame spells you can use in Skyrim.
8 Ice Storm
Ice Storm is a frost variant on Fireball with a few differences. Mainly, Ice Storm does damage in a ♎constantly moving area that gets larger the further it travels.
40 points of frost damage to both health and stamina per second is incredibly strong for an adept level spell. What makes Ice Storm so powerful, however, is the ability to slow targets caught in the whirlwind, causing them to stay in its path longer and take more damage. While it can't reach as far as Fireball can, the range it covers towards the end of the spell is massive and can take out groups of enemies with ease.
7 ꦰ 🌌 Wall of Storms
Sometimes all you need is a way to stop th༺e enemy. Wall based Destruction spells are amazing at doing just that, but Wall of Storms slightly inches above the other two.
Wall of Storms deals 50 shock 🧸damage a second while an enemy is on the shocking ground. Besides looking cool, the sh🌠ock damage it deals is fantastic since few enemies in Skyrim are resistant to shock, unlike frost damage. You can use this to either take out fast enemies by spraying on the ground or covering entryways with this, preventing any enemy from entering or exiting.
6 Fireball
If you need something dead, very few things will do it as efficiently as Fireball. This AoE ball of death deไals 40 points of fire damage in a 15-foot radi𓆏us with a chance of igniting enemies.
When they are ignited, they can be hit with Fireball agaꦬin and take even more damage from it. Unlike Ice Storm, Fireball is a simple projectile that can travel a very long distance before dissipating, making this a fantastic option in evꦕery location in Skyrim. When various Destruction spells are taken, Fireball becomes one of the most cost-effective ways of eliminating someone in the game.