Oblivion Remastered: 10 Best Destruction Spells, Ranked

The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion Remastered reintroduces players to multiple schools of magic, including Destruction, whose best spells are perfectly geared toward helping you emerge victorious in battle. Destruction spells unleash elemental damage, debuff enemies, and sometimes disable any advantages your foes have. By having the strongest spells from this school in your arsenal, you’ll have the means to master combat through magic alone.

You have to level up your Destruction skill to acquire higher-level spells from that school. There are five levels to the Destruction Attribute — Novice, Apprentice, Journeyman, Expert, and Master. While Destructions spells of higher ranks are not necessarily stronger, you have to level up the Attribute in Oblivion Remastered to a high degree to have access to every piece of magic available.

10 Entropic Bolt

Disable An Opponent's Health For A Time

One of the best Destruction spells to invest in early is Entropic Bolt, an Apprentice-level magic that deals decent damage. Once you invest in Destruction for a time,

Entropic Bolt is a great spell for getting past damage resistances held by many enemies. Although it doesn’t do as much damage as Lightning, Fire, or Ice spells typically in the Destruction school, it manages to impact all enemies with consistent damage.

Entropic Bolt can be stacked many times to damage your opponent, preventing them from getting their Health back until they recover. During intense battles, Entropic Bolt is a versatile way to injure your enemies before they can recover constantly. Furthermore, this spell is great for leveling up your Destruction skill further, as it can often be cast with a lower Magicka cost.

9 Weakness To Magicka

Make Enemies Vulnerable To Other Spells

Weakness to Magicka is a Journeyman Destruction spell that inflicts a powerful debuff onto a target you hit. The condition this spell inflicts causes a target to take more damage from any type of spell, including other pieces of Destruction magic. By casting this spell once, you can set up an opponent to be vulnerable to other magic, such as the spells needed to put them into a Soul Gem in Oblivion Remastered.

Decreasing a target’s Magicka Resistance does not impact its Health. Because of this, make sure you have another spell ready after casting Weakness to Magicka to take full advantage of the debuff it inflicts.

The only downside to this Destruction spell is how much Magicka it costs to cast. You have to invest heavily in Magicka pool upgrades to cast this spell multiple times, making it useful against single targets rather than enemy groups.

8 Searing Blast

Deal Damage Over Time With One Spell Cast

Despite having an extremely high Magicka cost, Searing Blast is one of the most useful Fire spells in Destruction for how it deals damage over time. When a Searing Blast hits a target, they take continual damage for 6 seconds, allowing you to run away, block incoming strikes, or use more magic while they burn.

While some enemies resist Fire damage, this spell’s constant damage is much more effective than constantly draining your Magicka. When you equip this spell in Oblivion Remastered, one casting of it can deal 120 Fire damage quickly while you perform other tasks. This magic can be perfect for starting fights against high-level enemies, especially those who are vulnerable to Fire.

7 Disintegrate Armor

Remove The Defenses Of Your Enemy

Disintegrate Armor is a perfect Destruction spell for character builds that utilize physical attacks as much as any magic. When you cast this spell, you can automatically destroy most armors on a target, or severely reduce their defenses at the very least. Using Disintegrate Armor and ing it up with another damaging spell or melee strike can tear through even the Health of the toughest opponents.

Despite its high Magicka cost, Disintegrate Armor is a powerful debuff that isn’t resisted by any enemy type in the game. This allows you to apply this spell to anyone wearing different types of armor, sometimes destroying their only line of protection against your attacks.

6 Lightning Surge

Inflict Incredible Amounts Of Shock Damage

Among lightning Destruction spells,

Lightning Surge is arguably the strongest, as it inflicts the most damage without taking too much Magicka to cast. Compared to Fire and Ice spells, Lightning spells have more versatility since fewer enemies resist that damage type. While Shock spells don’t do as much damage as the other two, as a result, they can be more reliable in certain combat situations.

Unlike other magic, Lightning Surge requires you to be at a Touch range to activate its damage against an opponent. While this does restrict how close you need to be to use the magic, it prevents the lightning damage from spreading to targets you don’t want to hit.

Although Electrocution, a Master-level Destruction spell, deals more damage than Lightning Surge, it costs an absurd amount of Magicka. Other lightning Expert spells, such as Electrocuting Touch or Electrifying Blast, cost more to cast as well. This makes Lightning Surge the most reliable high-level Shock spell that you can cast consistently, but don’t expect it to drain Stamina like Shock spells work in Skyrim​​​​​​.

5 Superior Magicka Drain

Draw Away Magical Power From Your Enemies

Some of the hardest enemies to face in Oblivion Remastered are enemy mages, so a spell like

Superior Magicka Drain can be a strong Destruction option for taking them down. You have to be at Touch range to use this spell, but once it works, it almost completely drains a target’s resource for casting magic. This prevents an enemy from casting any high-level spells, giving you a small window to retaliate against them uncontested.

Compared to other Expert-level Destruction spells, Superior Magicka Drain doesn’t cost much Magicka to cast. This magic is perfect for mage-slaying builds who specialize in getting up close and personal with enemy spellcasters. Even against novice magic-focused enemies, this spell makes them helpless, especially if you cast it again when it wears off to prevent them from using any magic at all.

4 Disintegrate Weapon

Remove The Main Tool Enemies Use Against You

The first Master-level spell on this list,

Disintegrate Weapon , is a variation of Disintegrate Armor that targets an opponent’s weapon rather than their gear. This is a significant upgrade to an already powerful spell, allowing you to possibly destroy the one tool an enemy has to attack you. Even enchanted weapons in Oblivion Remastered are at the mercy of this spell, which requires you to be in Touch range to use.

Most enemies in Oblivion Remastered use one weapon to fight, making Disintegrate Weapon a great spell to disable the one piece of gear they have to attack you. When their weapon is destroyed, enemies will resort to fighting you with their fists or magic.

Even though it costs a lot of Magicka to cast, Disintegrate Weapon is far more direct in how it’s used. Disintegrate Armor does damage to a random piece of enemy armor, but Disintegrate Weapon always targets the primary weapon of a foe you’re fighting​​​​​. This makes it far easier to inflict a stronger debuff through this Destruction spell on whatever enemy is giving you the most trouble.

3 Flame Tempest

Burn Every Enemy That Surrounds Your Character

The Master-level spell

Flame Tempest is likely the best Fire damage spell you could have equipped, mainly due to its raw damage. AoE damage is risky, as you could always hit allies and enemies within the range of a spell like Flame Tempest, but the high damage dealt by this magic cannot be ignored. Most low-level enemies will go down in one to two castings of this spell, making it great for crowd control.

Flame Tempest does require Master knowledge of Destruction magic; builds that focus on that skill can become unstoppable with this spell. Dungeons are made far easier to explore when you cast this AoE to damage all enemies trying to attack you in those enclosed spaces. While it does require specific situations to be useful, the potential of widespread Fire is tempting for any mage character.

2 Blizzard

Freeze Enemies Who Dare To Approach

Blizzard is the only Frost damage spell on this list, representing the peak of an underrated element compared to Shock or Fire. Ice spells tend to be resisted often, but Blizzard does enough damage to tear through a wide variety of enemies, even if they do have some protection against Frost magic. The sheer AoE damage from this spell is similar to Flame Tempest, but with a slightly higher Magicka cost.

Be careful not to cast spells like Blizzard or Flame Tempest near allies or ers. Dismiss a er before using one of these spells to help them avoid taking damage, or simply don’t use AoE magic during quests where you have to work with other characters.

Despite this extra Magicka demand, Blizzard has the largest AoE range of any high-level spell, giving it the most versatility in large-scale battles. If you are going up against a group of enemies solo, Blizzard is the perfect way to establish damage against your foes early as they approach. Casting Blizzard multiple times could even eliminate enemies with low Health before they can even reach your character.

1 Freezing Blast

Petrify Enemies In Perpetual Ice

The best Destruction spell you can have in the game is Freezing Blast, which may be surprising as an Expert-level spell. This magic is the Frost variation of Searing Blast, dealing continual Ice damage to enemies over time, inflicting 120 Frost damage by the time it concludes. However, where this spell differs is how it quickly builds the Frozen condition to enemies much faster than any other Frost spell.

The low Magicka cost of Freezing Blast allows it to be cast over and over, especially by characters who have upgraded their magic resources many times. The stacking damage over time from this spell also places multiple Frozen status build-ups on an enemy, causing them to be petrified in ice after getting hit a few times. This leaves them vulnerable to more magic, physical attacks, and whatever other injury you choose to inflict.

Unlike Blizzard, which you can cast once or twice before expending your Magicka, Freezing Blast is something you can use multiple times to win fights. Even if an enemy is resistant to Frost damage, the freezing effect activating often easily makes this one of the best Destruction spells to add to your arsenal in The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion Remastered.