Does the increase in damage for dual casted destruction spells outweigh the increase in magicka cost?

Also, if not dual casting, you essentially cast the spell twice, and can thus stagger your releases as well as double effects, is this correct?

Thoughts?

I found it very useful, but I can't give you any exact numbers. However even if it isn't advantageous it gives you access to the Impact perk which is extremely useful, particularly against powerful enemies.

Dual casting is tricky against other wizards, as you can't keep a ward up at the same time. In that case it may be best to keep a ward up and single-casting your destruction spells.

I didn't really think this was a "Cheat, Hint, Spoiler" topic, but oh well.

Think about it this way- without the perk, you're casting two spells at the same time. With the perk, you're casting two spells that have a damage output greater than if they were combined normally- if 8+8=16 without the perk, it would be like 8+8=24 with it.

I think it's totally worth it for a mage. Even essential. I rarely use destruction magic at all with a warrior.

Dual cast chain lightning - but make sure to get the book that does 60 points damage, not the book that does 40 points damage.

Together with the stagger perk, you'll be awesome (120 points damage). However, if you have a follower, make sure to not use it around him/her, or go by yourself - chain lightning will jump to your follower and you can kill him/her.

This is the highest damage spell I've found, so far (level 45 destruction mage).

Even the master level spells don't do as much damage because those spells require two hands to cast, but it's not dual casting, so you lose a lot (60 points) of damage from chain lightning; even though some master spells do 90 points damage, not dual casting costs you 30 points damage.

One other thing, chain lightning has a very long reach - I have easily matched my archery assassin in long range shots. Also take the perk that reduces the enemy to a heap of ash when their health goes to 20% or lower - it will cut short a lot of fights.

I forgot to mention, using chain lightning against a group is great. You get a group of 3-4 enemies and fire off chain lghtining, and 2 or 3 can easily be killed with the first shot. And dragons flying around are not too fond of it, either lol.

Good luck.

Dual casting does eat up magicka at an alarming rate. You'll need to get some nice magicka use reduction gear. If you're using mostly destruction then focus on getting reduction gear that focuses on destruction magic and not just magic in general. I was able to get my incenerates down to 12 magicka without enchanting just from gear purchased or found in the game. With it that low it was easy to throw off a lot of dual cast incenerates without running out of magicka.

This is what I'm talking about, and the first post that mentions the magicka cost side of the equation. Does anyone have the actual numbers?


Also, if you don't dual cast chain lightning (perked), you can still cast two chain lightnings, and have the possibility of effecting more enemies.

Are these figures acurate?

Dual Casting = 2.8x Magicka Consumption
Dual Casting = 2.2x Damage Increase from a single spell.

So for a 10% boost to damage, it costs 40% more magicka to cast. In and of itself, not very impressive.

If you do not dual cast, you still cast a spell that will jump from one opponent to another, the total damage to all opponents is reduced because the spell was not dual cast. I hope this makes sense.
Chain Lightning is an AOE spell, I have staggered my casts to break a Ward spell and then have the second cast hit the stunned and defensless opponent, but the dual cast spell still works better on groups.

This is accurate but the point of dual casting is to enable the impact perk. By itself, dual casting is probably not worth it but with impact you also get an automatic stagger with every spell above novice level and that is definitely worth it.

It's one of the earliest perks I take and I always get Impact early too. I think it's very powerful and you'll be able to handle the magicka regeneration in a lot of ways...potions, perks and enchantments.

I found Impact made magic combat boring. It is simply a matter of stunlocking an enemy until they were dead, including dragons. It should have had a 50% chance to stagger.

Well, it can make for a repetitive play style which might be boring but it is effective; two different things.

After a lot of hours in Skyrim, I can say that for me, any focused style will become boring eventually no matter how entertaining it may seem at first. 2H and shield bashing were both revelations when I first tried them but they ended up no more interesting than impact fireballs. You need to find an alternative way for balance. I now like to use Illusion to finesse encounters when possible and only use impact destruction as a last resort. Everyone has to do what works for them, there is no single answer.

dual casting eats up too much magicka.Your better of using destruction potions for better damage.

The benefit is the impact perk which makes destruction magic pretty much OP.
If you're trying to make the most powerful character you can then dual-casting is essential but if you think that it makes the game boring then you're better off without it.

The stagger effect of impact is the real benefit for dual casting. You may want to consider using a mod like "Better Magic" to change dual casting.

The stagger effect you can get for dual casting destruction is a HUGE boost. You absolutely need to have that.

It's pretty useful when you get the stagger perk along with it.

Not absolutely.

It's nearly game breaking. Well, not game breaking but it turns every fight into a stun lock contest...even the most powerful dragons.

The perk itself is pure crap (just 20% extra damage for 80% extra MP cost), but it does allow you to get the Impact perk (very good perk).
Still, I do think that Dual Cast perk for Destruction should be buffed to 50% extra damage for 50% extra MP cost.

Thing is, even if you take the Impact perk, you're in no way required to dual-cast your spells all the time. If you feel overpowered and bored, stop doing it. I'm don't mean to call you out personally, but I see this argument so often and it irks me. Dualcasting only increases your damage by 20% (10% per hand, iirc) , so if you use only one hand to cast you're really not losing that much firepower. Don't get me wrong, Impact can be a lifesaver, but by keeping the dualcast stunlock for when you're really in a tight spot, you allow for more strategy & excitement to enter your battles.

On my mages, I've tried a number of offhand spells to go along with my trusty Firebolt: Fear, Fury, Conjure , Wards, Runes, and Healing. I've had fun changing up for each situation and trying to be creative. But when I'm being chased by a bear, you bet I thank the Nine for Impact.

IMO Dual Cast (with impact) is necessary for a mage or anyone taking the primarily spell-casting route. Its one of the only ways to stop a charging opponent in their tracks and works wonders in close CQC. My strategy is to not let the enemy hit me, Dual-Cast, Impact destruction works pretty well in that regard.

With the damage and health scaling at higher levels you pretty much need to dual cast to get legitimate damage on some of the the more powerful enemies (i.e. Dragons, High level Draugr)

Unless you want to be frantically whipping underpowered destruction magic all day.

I use the deadly dragons mod, to make the fight with dragons much harder, but way more rewarding in the end, the mod also makes the stagger perk not work with the dragons, wich is nice since a dragon getting staggered by a simple magick attack is indeed lame.

No its not accurate, it multiples the spell effectivness by 2.2 and the magicka cost by 2.8. So 100dmg becomes 220dmg. A 20% damage boost if you had simply cast the spell in each hand instead of together. Additionally the spell effectiveness can be applied to duration or level. Still what makes it powerful is the impact perk for the stagger.

Where dual casting really shines is in illusion. Lets look at the spell Frenzy with perks can effect up to level 36 people or 34 animal, and 26 everything else. Dual cast those numbers become 79, 74 and 57 respectively. Which means damn near everyone and everything. You can boost the undead level another 25% if you have the necromage perk from restoration.(and the illusion perk that lets you effect undead to begin with).