Playing the Mage: Why is Frost magic so useless in Oblivion?

[Onyx Oblivion]

Seriously, only three things in the game are weak to Frost.

Flame Atronachs, which aren't that threatening to begin with.

High Elves/Altmer. And they also share a weakness to Fire and Shock, those making that pointless.

And...Spider Daedra, which are also weak to Shock.

And tons of enemies RESIST FROST.

Wolves and other fury animals, Nords, undead, Frost Atronachs. And probably a few more things.

Where's the balance for Frost?

A Fire/Shock combo spell will do extra damage to pretty much everything, but Frost is just useless. Which is a damn shame, because I really dig Ice mages in RPGs.

 

[AkJay]

Whenever I play a mage, I always go with fire, because you can't go wrong with fire!

 

[Onyx Oblivion]

Whenever I play a mage, I always go with fire, because you can't go wrong with fire!

You can go REALLY wrong in Morrowind. 50% of NPCs are Dark Elves and they all have 75% resistance to fire.

 

[WillSimplyBe]

Well if you ever want to feel like a strong mage, you could just go play Dragon Age, where being a mage nullifies the usefulness of anyone else, xD. And Ice spells are notorious.

 

[Therumancer]

In general Frost specs either tend to be useless or godly. In general you'll find in games where frost is useful they will list a ton of effects under it, and it will become obvious that the guy who developed the game must paper his wall with X-men comics featuring Iceman. Short of that it tends to be an element simply added for completeness.

The ironic thing is actually that in some games it's varied over time, like in World Of Warcraft where it's been both "OMG" powerful, and a gimp spec for mages... rarely has it been in between those extremes though.

 

[Julianking93]

I never used frost magic.

I stuck with the paralysis and shock spells.

Those always worked best especially when you can enchant a weapon or staff with shock magic.

 

[MiracleOfSound]

What is the best elemental spell? Shock?

Fire looks cool but seems to be kinda crap against Daedra.

 

[Pimppeter2]

Of the three elemental damage effects, frost is the cheapest in Magicka cost (7.4 for frost vs. 7.5 for fire and 7.8 for shock).


Unlike the other two elemental damage effects, the Area of a Frost Damage spell dictates the size of the actual projectile, not simply the size of the explosion upon impact, and all targets caught inside the projectile's flight path will be affected by the Frost Damage. The projectile fog also lingers for a short time after impact, damaging anything that passes through it. This makes Frost Damage the most effective way to damage as many foes as possible with one cast.

 

[Knight Templar]

I tend to have some AOE fire spells and direct damadge lightning spells, very effective. Never saw a need to use Ice based spells, and when I did use them I found they were all but useless.

I guess it makes sense, a ghost or undead isn't going to all that hurt by being slightly colder than they allready are, it's not like the spells throw shards of ice around.

But if they did, that would be kickarse.

 

[manythings]

The big benefit of ice is that you can freeze enemies. It's how I took on an enemy (I don't know where you are so I'll leave it at that) solo with my arcane warrior. Freeze, stabstabstab, freeze, stabstabstab. On a side note to make an effective arcane warrior ass loads of will power are needed as well as magic cause the skills give 55% fatigue so plan from the very beginning of the game to maximise spells and skills.

 

[fanklok]

PROTIP: Most Daedra are weak against shock

Also why be a mage when you can get a weightless ultra strong soul sucking sword for free?

 

[SimuLord]

As much as frost's ancillary abilities are nice, there's really no substitute for makin' like Zeus and shooting lightning bolts at anything that moves.

That said, I download a good archery mod and play Oblivion like a first-person shooter.

 

[Knight Templar]

This makes Frost Damage the most effective way to damage as many foes as possible with one cast.[/b]

But what good is that when forest critters resist it?

 

[Pimppeter2]

This makes Frost Damage the most effective way to damage as many foes as possible with one cast.

But what good is that when forest critters resist it?

True, but Frost is kind of the newb spell. Its cheap to cast/buy and can help you level up.

 

[TheNumber1Zero]

IThose always worked best especially when you can enchant a weapon or staff with shock magic.

I may be reading this the wrong way, but is there a way to Enchant a custom staff? I am asking because the manual states that one can enchant one but I could never figure out how.

 

[MiracleOfSound]

The big benefit of ice is that you can freeze enemies. It's how I took on an enemy (I don't know where you are so I'll leave it at that) solo with my arcane warrior. Freeze, stabstabstab, freeze, stabstabstab. On a side note to make an effective arcane warrior ass loads of will power are needed as well as magic cause the skills give 55% fatigue so plan from the very beginning of the game to maximise spells and skills.

I think you may want to re-read the thread title... hehe

 

[Onyx Oblivion]

Of the three elemental damage effects, frost is the cheapest in Magicka cost (7.4 for frost vs. 7.5 for fire and 7.8 for shock).


Unlike the other two elemental damage effects, the Area of a Frost Damage spell dictates the size of the actual projectile, not simply the size of the explosion upon impact, and all targets caught inside the projectile's flight path will be affected by the Frost Damage. The projectile fog also lingers for a short time after impact, damaging anything that passes through it. This makes Frost Damage the most effective way to damage as many foes as possible with one cast.

I knew that Pimpin'. But it doesn't matter when half of those foes resist it. Besides, in Oblivion 95% of combat is one-on-one. Seriously gimped.

Plus adding a decent sized area to a spell costs a lot more magicka.

 

[WaywardHaymaker]

I've never like Frost magic in any game. I always veer for Shock magic.

Ah, well. It's really good in DA:O, so you should have a blast with that.

 

[ArcWinter]

Who cares about frost when you can shoot lightning?

But seriously, everyone knows the best spell in the game is absorb health.

 

[Pimppeter2]

IThose always worked best especially when you can enchant a weapon or staff with shock magic.

I may be reading this the wrong way, but is there a way to Enchant a custom staff? I am asking because the manual states that one can enchant one but I could never figure out how.

Theres the mages guild quest that lets you choose, but other than that you cannot.