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

[LewsTherin]

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.

My mod list would disagree with you. Quite heartily, in fact. I find a balanced approach is best, or just make spells that do all types of damage at once.

 

[Pimppeter2]

Le snip

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.[/quote]

I may be a little bit biased because I play with OOO.

 

[Sark]

Normal people like bandits are weak against fire.
Daedra are weak against frost.
Ghosts are weak against shock.

If you are on PC try running Deadly Reflex 5. It is a mod that overhauls the combat system, adding things such as decapitations and such. Also included are magic criticals, such as freezing people solid. This alone validates ice magic.

Also, ice has the best area of effect.

 

[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.

My mod list would disagree with you. Quite heartily, in fact. I find a balanced approach is best, or just make spells that do all types of damage at once.

I has no mods. It's the 360 version I have.

 

[Lt. Dragunov]

I only use frost magic when i combine spells together. My stupidly overpowered "ovblivion", thats the name of it, spell has 30 fire damage, 35 shock damage, and 15 frost damage. I did'nt want frost to feel left out. And besides ever one hit kill an enemy with frost? Nothing happens they just fall over. But with fire they fly back a good two feet, and with shock they valt a good 2 feet in the air.

 

[MiracleOfSound]

It doesn't matter what spells I use, I always have to slide the difficulty down by about 5 notches. otherwise the fights are just too much of a long, boring grind.

 

[SantoUno]

snipp.

You make a good point, i never even realized that so many enemies were resistant to shock.

The truth is I don't really care, the only spells I ever used were all-elemental so I dealt good damage with all 3 anyway, but yeah it's annoying when the frost damage is resisted.

Then again my Frost Atronarch was still a good supporting summon.

 

[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.

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

I figured as much.

[small][sub]Bloody manual telling me that enchanting swords and staves required soul gems[/sub][/small]

 

[2012 Wont Happen]

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. Nearly every NPC is a Dark Elf and they all have 75% resistance to fire.

That's why my 100 fire damage daedric sword is epic fail against higher level dark elves... I never realized that.

 

[Julianking93]

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.

You have to join the mages guild. Then you can create custom staves.

 

[Ghonzor]

I have my super spell that has every element and weakness to it.

 

[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.

You have to join the mages guild. Then you can create custom staves.

Other than the one you get through the mages guild questline?

 

[LewsTherin]

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.

My mod list would disagree with you. Quite heartily, in fact. I find a balanced approach is best, or just make spells that do all types of damage at once.

I has no mods. It's the 360 version I have.

Mmmm....Well, there's your problem

 

[Irridium]

If your playing on the PC there are mods that balance out the magic system and make frost pretty cool (freezing enemies then shattering them FTW!)

The mods also adds lots more spells for flame, shock, and frost. As well as more spells for summoning and the other schools of magic. (Summoning Balrogs FTW!)

If your on a console then don't know what to tell you.

 

[Irridium]

I may be a little bit biased because I play with OOO.

OOO for the win my friend!

I also use Midas Magik: Spells of Aurum.

The spells in that mod lets me cast force balls that send things flying, call in meteors from the sky, summon a flying carpet, summon a balrog, freeze enemies then shatter them, summon melon and pumpkin Astronachs...

And do a shit load more, but I'll spare you the wall of text.

Man I love mods so much.

 

[Julianking93]

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.

You have to join the mages guild. Then you can create custom staves.

Other than the one you get through the mages guild questline?

Yes. You get your own wood (must...not...laugh) to make a staff and you can then enchant it with anything you want.

 

[Pimppeter2]

I may be a little bit biased because I play with OOO.

OOO for the win my friend!

I also use Midas Magik: Spells of Aurum.

The spells in that mod lets me cast force balls that send things flying, call in meteors from the sky, summon a flying carpet, summon a balrog, freeze enemies then shatter them, summon melon and pumpkin Astronachs...

And do a shit load more, but I'll spare you the wall of text.

Man I love mods so much.

I Used to use that, but I tweaked it a bit to my liking. I remember some of the animation feeling a bit wonky.

But still, MODS FTW!

 

[TheNumber1Zero]

Yes. You get your own wood (must...not...laugh) to make a staff and you can then enchant it with anything you want.

Where must one go to obatin Wood... One moment please -walks into corner of room and bursts into laughter- Okay i'm back, where do you get it?

 

[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.

You have to join the mages guild. Then you can create custom staves.

Other than the one you get through the mages guild questline?

Yes. You get your own wood (must...not...laugh) to make a staff and you can then enchant it with anything you want.

Bwuh?

From where?

 

[Dommyboy]

To hell with casting spells, all I used was conjuration. The summoned Daedra were incredibly powerful, able to take out bosses by themselves.