The Elder Scrolls 6 is going to need to make a major change from Skyrim's approach to destruction magic when it is released. While magic is a staple of The Elder Scrolls series, Skyrim admittedly did not have the series' best approach to it as a mechanic. Thankfully, The Elder Scrolls has reworked its own mechanics before, and The Elder Scrolls 6 can address the issues that affected Skyrim's magic, particularly the Destruction school. That's not to say that Skyrim's Destruction magic was completely broken, but it had one big issue that made it lackluster in the long run.
There are six schools of magic including Destruction magic in Skyrim that players can train in during the game. Each school has its own corresponding skill tree that can grant the player perks when using spells of that type. All schools have the ability to cut magicka costs of their spells, but they also featured some more unique, occasionally powerful upgrades, like the Illusion tree ability to cast any spell silently. With the wide variety of spells in Skyrim, in addition to enchanting and alchemy, there are a lot of magical elements available for players to use in their character builds.
Skyrim's Destruction Magic Needs a Serious Upgrade
Unfortunately, Skyrim's Destruction magic has one major weakness. Although players can perform some amusing tricks in Skyrim with spells, Destruction tends to be the school with the least tricks to pull off. It features the classic Fireball spell, in addition to many other spells that deal damage, either directly or indirectly, These spells are sorted into fire, frost, and shock, with each element being resisted by or extra effective against various types of enemies. Out of all of Skyrim's magical schools, Destruction is easily the most straightforward. Its spells do exactly what the name implies, dealing damage at the cost of magicka.
The drawback of Destruction magic in Skyrim lies in the fact that Destruction magic doesn't get stronger as the player levels up, making Skyrim's Destruction magic feel useless after a while. Rather than perks to increase Destruction damage similar to the other weapon-based skills, there are instead three different perks that empower fire, frost, and shock spells individually, and they aren't even as strong as the weapon-boosting perks at max level. The other main ways to improve Destruction damage are either through consumables or wearing certain Dragon Priest masks. As a result, Destruction magic's damage falls off quickly, making dedicated mages suffer in the long run.
Elder Scrolls 6 will need to give Destruction magic a significant overhaul compared to its treatment in Skyrim, even if it requires Elder Scrolls 6 making a new magic system in order to do so. For one thing, Destruction magic would need to either increase via leveling up, or have the same damage-increasing perks that warriors and archers get. After all, spells already cost magicka to cast, so making them weaker at the same time makes playing a Destruction mage an unappealing choice. Other ideas could include more feats or items that interact with Destruction spells, or even bringing back the ability to make custom spells.
The flaws with Skyrim's Destruction magic made it a less-than-stellar choice, but The Elder Scrolls 6 can learn from those mistakes and replace them with something better. The Elder Scrolls 6 can't fail magic users again by making their combat abilities too weak, so making sure that spell-slinging fighters can remain relevant throughout the game should be a priority. After all, magic is a big part of fantasy worlds like The Elder Scrolls, and it should feel suitably powerful. Skyrim may have missed the mark, but The Elder Scrolls 6's magic could deliver on its promise.
The Elder Scrolls 6 is in development.