Alteration and dual casting

[Haldurson]

So I've played the game on and off for years. I'm currently attempting to play my first pure mage. I just took the dual casting perk for Alteration. However, whenever I try to dual-cast stoneflesh, I can't get it to dual cast -- it's like it's casting the spell twice. Dual casting seems to work fine for conjuration and for destruction (except, of course, when my timing is off and I accidentally cast the left and right hand slightly off-time).

Is the perk broken? Is it a mod that broke it? I don't know where to start.

[hawklaser]

No, its working as intended. Dual Casting gives you 2.2x's to the spell's effect, however at a 2.8x's magicka cost. Alteration spells just have a fairly high base magicka cost. And dual casting most of them just increases their duration.

I'd guess you don't have enough Magicka and potentially miss timing things just enough that it's still registering two seperate casts.

[Luminary]

Concur, it's about duration for dual alteration, but a longer duration stone flesh is great. Note Mage armor and flesh spells don't stack, so if you are going to wear armor, skip the mage armor spell, it's just a waste. But you can do mage armor with no armor, while using a shield.

I have no idea what the ratings are, but a heavy armor with shield is a good for a mage because 1, you have a reason to do smithing and 2 you are often taking close combat damage as a mage in caves and such, so you can level those perks fast. (and some shields provide magic boosts)

have fun

[Haldurson]

引用自 hawklaser：

No, its working as intended. Dual Casting gives you 2.2x's to the spell's effect, however at a 2.8x's magicka cost. Alteration spells just have a fairly high base magicka cost. And dual casting most of them just increases their duration.

I'd guess you don't have enough Magicka and potentially miss timing things just enough that it's still registering two seperate casts.

That's not it. It's the same problem even with low-cost spells. I don't get a dual cast, I get two separate casts, and it's no longer than a single cast.

I know that it's sometimes tricky to do a regular dual cast with, for example, healing. But I can do it 90% of the time. Same with Conjuration (I love having Atronachs and soul cloaks that last nearly 10 minutes). But i can't even dual cast a light spell. It just doesn't work.

[Haldurson]

引用自 Luminary：

Concur, it's about duration for dual alteration, but a longer duration stone flesh is great. Note Mage armor and flesh spells don't stack, so if you are going to wear armor, skip the mage armor spell, it's just a waste. But you can do mage armor with no armor, while using a shield.

I have no idea what the ratings are, but a heavy armor with shield is a good for a mage because 1, you have a reason to do smithing and 2 you are often taking close combat damage as a mage in caves and such, so you can level those perks fast. (and some shields provide magic boosts)

have fun

I am trying to do this with mage cloaks and jewelry, and while yes, I'm like a glass cannon, it does feel good to double-blast fire bolts and ice shards and so on. I'm not too far into this play-through so I can foresee some problems going forward with certain fights. So perhaps I'll pivot at some point and switch to heavy or even light armors. But for now, I primarily use summons plus dual casting destruction, with buffs from other schools to enhance survivability. I have tons and tons of magicka so that's currently not my problem.

[hawklaser]

引用自 Haldurson：

That's not it. It's the same problem even with low-cost spells. I don't get a dual cast, I get two separate casts, and it's no longer than a single cast.

I know that it's sometimes tricky to do a regular dual cast with, for example, healing. But I can do it 90% of the time. Same with Conjuration (I love having Atronachs and soul cloaks that last nearly 10 minutes). But i can't even dual cast a light spell. It just doesn't work.

That's odd then, you sure you took the right perk then? As you should be getting the not enough magicka sound if actually timing things right, or two individual casts if not. But if its always two seperate casts, you wouldn't have the right perk. As to if a mod could be causing problems, absolutely possible but would need someone famillar with your particular mod list to troubleshoot.

引用自 Haldurson：

引用自 Luminary：

Concur, it's about duration for dual alteration, but a longer duration stone flesh is great. Note Mage armor and flesh spells don't stack, so if you are going to wear armor, skip the mage armor spell, it's just a waste. But you can do mage armor with no armor, while using a shield.

I have no idea what the ratings are, but a heavy armor with shield is a good for a mage because 1, you have a reason to do smithing and 2 you are often taking close combat damage as a mage in caves and such, so you can level those perks fast. (and some shields provide magic boosts)

have fun

I am trying to do this with mage cloaks and jewelry, and while yes, I'm like a glass cannon, it does feel good to double-blast fire bolts and ice shards and so on. I'm not too far into this play-through so I can foresee some problems going forward with certain fights. So perhaps I'll pivot at some point and switch to heavy or even light armors. But for now, I primarily use summons plus dual casting destruction, with buffs from other schools to enhance survivability. I have tons and tons of magicka so that's currently not my problem.

Who really needs armor if you have leveled up and perked illusion? The lowest tier Dual casted illusion spells with the corresponding perks will work on any enemy below lv 37, all of which are single target. The ranged AoE ones affect any enemy below 57 (everything not in the vanilla DLCs). The one main exception are Dragons. Anything else can be dealt with once get the Master of the Mind perk.

Calm, Frenzy, and Fear can be quite OP once you know what you can and can't affect with single or dual casted version of them.