What is the most effective way to build a destruction caster / 1 hander character?

Question

My character has destruction spells and 1 handed sword equipped at all times. What is the most effective way to build this type of character?

Asked by Apoc

Answer

This really depends on your objective, why did you choose destruction/one handed as the path to take?

The way I see it, there are 3 possibilities:

I. You want to soften them up before you engage them up close.

You'll mostly be focused on your weapon and use destruction simply to spend that mana or else it'd be wasted. With this strategy, focus more on your one handed perks, smithing (for better weapons, and armor), and health so you can get up close and personal. Find the biggest and best weapon you can get your hands on, alternate between lightning and/or frost depending on if you are fighting a mage or warrior to drain their mana/stamina. Putting down some runes/traps ahead of a battle is not a bad idea either.

II. You want to pull out your sword once the enemy gets too close for comfort.

With the right perks (i.e. destruction dual cast and impact), you can literally keep an enemy away from you as long as you can cast the spell. Your sword really is a last resort that you'd only use when you have no mana left or they're too close for your big aoe spells. In which case you'll want some nice enchantments on your sword for absorb health and stamina and gear to lower destruction spell cost. Stun on your sword helps too so you can run away.

III. You want to be the jack of all trades and deal damage no matter what the circumstance.

This is the most perk intensive build as you'll need both destruction and one handed as well as the supporting trees (enchanting and smithing) to make it feasible. You won't really be great at either as you'll lose the dual cast ability and the ability to bash with your sword and/or use a shield. There really is no reason to go this path since there are much better supporting spells for a one hander than destruction, but there's no reason you shouldn't since its rather hard to completely mess up a build in Skyrim.

The game's not that hard where you have to min/max everything, just go with it and see where it takes you.

Answered by yx.

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