Enchanting on Destruction spells—why does it feel so weak compared to Smithing?

[RiftenWanderer]

I'm on my second playthrough (level 34, playing on PC vanilla) and I've been trying to make an enchanted destruction mage work, but my frost spells feel like they're doing half the damage of my buddy's smithed daedric sword at the same level. I've got the perks that boost frost damage and I'm enchanting my gear for Destruction, but it still feels like I'm tickling things. Is enchanting Destruction gear just inherently weaker than crafting weapons, or am I missing something about how the scaling works? Should I just give up and go full Conjurer instead?

 

[TamrielTactician]

Your buddy's sword is probably just hitting harder because smithing scales way better in the early-to-mid game, but that doesn't mean you're doing something wrong—you're just playing a slower build. Frost mage legitimately takes longer to ramp up.

Here's the thing: enchanting gear for Destruction gives you a flat damage boost (like +15% frost damage or whatever), but it doesn't stack the way smithing does. Your friend's daedric sword gets better from both the base weapon being inherently strong AND the smithing perks that improve it further. Destruction spells don't have a "perks that make your base spell stronger" system in the same way. You're relying on spell perks (like the ones that boost frost damage and reduce casting cost) plus gear enchants, and that combo just doesn't match a well-crafted melee weapon until you get deeper into the tree.

The real fix is making sure you've grabbed the right perks. The perk that reduces frost spell cost is huge because it lets you cast more, and there's one that staggers enemies with frost spells—that's a game-changer for survivability. Also, are you using the Mage standing stone? That helps early on. And ngl, if you're level 34 and still struggling, you might just be underleveled in Destruction itself—the skill level matters a lot for spell effectiveness.

Conjuration is easier to make work early, yeah, but frost mage absolutely comes online eventually. It just takes patience and the right perk path. Don't bail yet.

 

[DragonbornVet]

Yeah that reply nails it. I'd add that you're also probably not using enough mana efficiency—frost mage lives and dies on spellcasting sustain. If you're burning through magicka in three casts and have to wait for it to regen, your buddy's just standing there auto-attacking and winning. The perks that reduce casting cost aren't optional, they're the entire build.

Also, and I say this as someone who's done a bunch of mage runs: level 34 Destruction is genuinely still pretty early. The skill itself affects how much damage your spells do, separate from perks. If you're only at like 40-50 Destruction skill, you're getting gimped hard. Spells scale with skill level way more than people realize. Your buddy's sword doesn't care that his Smithing is level 30—a daedric blade is a daedric blade. Your frost bolt literally does less damage if your Destruction skill is low.

If you want to speed things up without rerolling, spam-cast cheap spells on stuff (or use muffle on yourself while sneaking, whatever you can do) to level Destruction faster. It's tedious but it actually works. Or honestly, dual-cast your frost spells once you get the perk for it—that's a massive damage jump and stagger is real good for keeping enemies off you.

Conjuration is definitely the path of least resistance early on, but frost mage does work. You're just in the slog part right now.