Necromage exploit is so good it actually breaks the entire game balance

[DragonbornVet]

I just realized on my current playthrough that once you get Necromage, literally every other damage scaling perk becomes redundant. Like, the perk that boosts your damage against undead is fine on its own, but stack it with Vampire Lord and suddenly you're hitting for triple damage against half the endgame roster. I'm playing on Legendary and I'm still one-shotting Draugr Deathlords.

The weird part is I don't think this was intentional design. The perk is supposed to be a roleplay tax for becoming a vampire, but instead it's just... the best perk in the game? You don't even need to build around it. Slap it on any damage build and watch everything die faster.

Has anyone else just abandoned it on recent playthroughs because it feels cheap, or is that just me being a snob about it?

 

[ScrollsOfTamriel]

I think you're onto something, but I'd push back a little on the "unintentional" part. Necromage is genuinely strong, yeah, but the setup cost is real - you have to become a vampire, which locks you out of certain quests and makes you actively weaker until you feed. That's not nothing, especially on higher difficulties where those early vampire weaknesses can actually kill you.

That said, once you're established as a vampire it does trivialize a lot of content. The perk basically rewards you for committing to a specific playstyle, which is kind of the point? Like, Restoration loop abuse or crafting loop abuse are way more egregious to me because they require zero roleplay commitment and break everything. Necromage at least forces you into a corner first.

I don't think it's snobbish to avoid it though. I've skipped it on playthroughs where I wanted the challenge to actually stick around. The game's balance is loose enough that you can just... not use your best tools and have a better time. That's kind of the Elder Scrolls way - it trusts you to not break your own fun.