A character build by Adrik makes heavy use of the 'Staff of Magnus' and on that post there was a brief discussion about the staff where I mentioned that I used it on my mage character and called it my "Dragon $#%@ stick" (Copywrite pending).
The staff drains the dragon's magicka down to zero at which point it will in fact land to engage with melee. This can be very effective especially if you have a melee summon for it to fight with while you continue to use range attacks. The issue with this method, mainly, are two fold:
- The Staff has a charge and if you are fighting a stronger dragon you will likely burn through most/all of the charge keeping it's magic drained. The true downside of this is that the staff has a gigantic Magicka pool of 5000 meaning for every higher level dragon you fight you will usually have to use an entire Grand Soulgem to refill it (3000 magicka) and occasionally an additional gem.
- The Staff acts as a constant DOT to Magicka (and then to health) and while it has an amazing range, it doesn't stop regen so if you are not able to keep your staff focused on it then it will begin to recharge it's magicka. This isn't a huge issue but it is something to note.
Another very useful staff might be the 'Staff of Jyrik Gauldurson' which UESP states does 50 damage per shot to magicka and only has a charge of 1000 magicka so wouldn't take anything more than a Common gem to completely refill. I don't know if the staff actually does 50 magicka damage but if it does it might be a better choice. This staff is a lightning spell BTW so to answer your other question...yes, lightning spells will work as well.
*Note: Keep in mind those staves will have their damage reduced by the difficulty level whereas ravage magicka poisons don't
A character build by Adrik makes heavy use of the 'Staff of Magnus' and on that post there was a brief discussion about the staff where I mentioned that I used it on my mage character and called it my "Dragon $#%@ stick" (Copywrite pending).
The staff drains the dragon's magicka down to zero at which point it will in fact land to engage with melee. This can be very effective especially if you have a melee summon for it to fight with while you continue to use range attacks. The issue with this method, mainly, are two fold:
- The Staff has a charge and if you are fighting a stronger dragon you will likely burn through most/all of the charge keeping it's magic drained. The true downside of this is that the staff has a gigantic Magicka pool of 5000 meaning for every higher level dragon you fight you will usually have to use an entire Grand Soulgem to refill it (3000 magicka) and occasionally an additional gem.
- The Staff acts as a constant DOT to Magicka (and then to health) and while it has an amazing range, it doesn't stop regen so if you are not able to keep your staff focused on it then it will begin to recharge it's magicka. This isn't a huge issue but it is something to note.
Another very useful staff might be the 'Staff of Jyrik Gauldurson' which UESP states does 50 damage per shot to magicka and only has a charge of 1000 magicka so wouldn't take anything more than a Common gem to completely refill. I don't know if the staff actually does 50 magicka damage but if it does it might be a better choice. This staff is a lightning spell BTW so to answer your other question...yes, lightning spells will work as well.
*Note: Keep in mind those staves will have their damage reduced by the difficulty level whereas ravage magicka poisons don't
