I thought something fishy was up when right from the start of the game you can cast two of the same spells at the same time. It also has an obvious effect of taking enemies down quicker than just shooting from one hand. However, I didn't understand how the dual casting perk would make this any different. And it does not seem to. I saved the game before picking it and used the as a test dummy.

I simply went up to it and held down my casting until I was out of magicka and looked at how much health it had. I did this a few times just to make sure there was no room for error. I then did the test again a few times after picking the dual casting perk. NOTHING CHANGED other than the casting graphic. It's health ended up exactly the same when I was out of magicka as it was before ever picking up that perk.

Maybe it's just an issue with a low level Destruction skill or the default spells just not doing enough damage that whatever hidden modifier this perk is supposed to add gets added, but for now it doesn't do anything.

Actually, I'm wrong. It does do something. It makes you run out of mana quicker and actually does LESS damage overall. Maybe it's supposed to make spells cast in short bursts "stronger" but at the cost of more magicka. Totally not worth it at all at the lower levels.

yeh I noticed that I ran out of mana faster, and the damage was the same I think. It will be easier to test when I get the projectile spells, which I will do right about now

me any my brother think its just you run out twice as fast (normally two hands) and hit twice as fast, as for the perk doing nothing, I think that has to do with your skill, i don't think would be pissy like that

The perk makes you run out of mana quicker than without the perk but damage seems the same.

Yes but u can cast stronger more charged spell faster and that will save your life here and there.
Also it is awesome for restoration.

i think you'll notice it more with projectile type spells or resto. it's not as noticeable on something like flame although the boost is small.

The dual casting perk works extremely well when you get the projectile spells (ie: lightning bolt)

How is it any better than shooting two lightning bolts at once?

Edit: Does anyone with the guide have any numbers? You can cast two lightning bolts at once for 2x damage at 2x magicka...what is it for dual-cast? I thought it was 1.25x damage for 1.25x magicka...which then makes me wonder why it would ever be desired...

It seems to, I tested all 3 styles and it seems each way increases the damage.

Just casting 1 spell does 1x damage, casting two spells sepretly (not dual casting) but at the same time does about 2x damage, and casting two spells together with dual casting seems to do just over that, about 2.5x damage so it is worth it if you really want to maximize your dps.

I just tested it with the firebolt spells. With the perk, it takes more mana.

When it came down to it, I was able to kill the guard with five casts without the perk (4 might have been enough with burn damage). With the perk, I ran out of mana after 4 casts but the guard died from burn damage. So it was actually faster without the perk.

Dual-casting is especially useful for the staggering effect (Impact perk). As far as damage, I haven't tested it. The stagger effect alone makes it worth using though.

Sounds like it's either a bad perk or barely noticeably better than casting twice. Either way, fail.

Here are the results of my test. Dual casting firebolt without the perk but with Apprentice Destruction cost 35 mana to cast. With the dual cast perk, it cost 49 mana to cast. That is almost a 50% increase. The damage difference was a lot smaller though, looked like maybe 10%.

So I guess it can be worth it if you want Impact for stagger, but otherwise it seems a waste.

you get more damage then just casting the same spell twice, but the dmg to mana ratio is lower. dual cast works great for charge spells like firebolt or incinerate. also it doubles the effect time for things like oakskin, summons, invisibility. also when you have impact you can infinitely stagger enemies if you get the timing right and you have excellent mana regen. this makes 1v1 even against dragons quite easy if you keep your timing and dont miss.

There's a destruction perk that lets your dual cast spells stagger enemies (on every single dualcast casting).

It's a very useful perk, and even if dual cast damage doesn't go up *that* much, the stagger alone makes it worth dual casting for me.

Yeh thats what I just said. The damage to mana ratio is a lot lower and the only reason it might be usefull is because of the Impact perk. You still can cast the 2 spells separately even if you have the perk, so it allows you to choose what option to take, either to use more mana and stagger, or just do more damage per mana. Only thing is it uses up 2 perk points.

Dragons and pretty much every enemy i've encountered can be staggered. Totally worth it if you're playing as a destruction caster =P

It does seem useless doesn't it.

In other words, the perk deals in casting speed.

Not really cause the damage is minimal but the mana cost is like 50% higher.

Its like this:

With the perk you can cast 4 times at 55 damage each and 49 mana. So 220 damage total and 196 mana.

Without the perk you can cast 5 times at 50 damage each and 35 mana. So 250 damage total and 175 mana.

ONLY after the 4th cast, it does more damage with the perk, with 220 damage vs 200 but the mana cost is 196 vs 140!

So its only useful for one reason really, to get Impact.

Man, I new something was up. I hope Beth or a modder fixes this.

edit: nm misread it somehow

Another potential benefit is dual-casting spells like shock rune or frost cloak, if you cast one then another, the second is cancelled, so dual-casting is the only way to get a stronger effect. That said, I have no idea if it actually makes a difference with those spells. Augmented shock isn't raising my shock rune damage...sigh...the game mechanics are so broken.

I'm supposed to be able to Cast two conjured swords at the same time, and I have seen it work before, but I can't seem to do it lately.