Are you sure about the detect life? Because i've tested it out a bit and haven't noticed any difference. And that Transmute thing is sweet!

I believe anyone who has used destruction and the impact perk fully understands the power of it. The real question I have is, why does the perk even exist?

Short answer - to keep a squishy mage character alive long enough to actually kill something. I really feel this 'permanent stun lock' mechanic is a POOR excuse for a solution. Who needs armor (through spells or equipment), the various resistances, health increases or enchants, health potions, etc when I can just slap on enchanted gear to make firebolt cost no mana and stun lock something to death.

Wouldn't killing something that way be akin to the mindlessly one dimensional combat option most people hate with a passion? Sounds a lot like the lame strategy in oblivion where one summons something, then casts invisibility and waits for it to die, resummoning as needed, or the 100% chameleon thing.. it just breaks the challenge to pieces.

Yes, nobody HAS to take impact, but why put such a broken perk so early in the tree. It feels like cheating to me, or god mode. Not that people need the impact stun lock god mode when you can spam cast spells for no mana later on!

Back to the OT, yes I agree dual casting for destruction is pretty lousy. 220% damage and 280% mana vs 200% damage and 200% mana. Given the reduction to mana regen during combat, sometimes squeaking out more damage is more important than dishing out bigger damage, especially when you factor in casting spells and missing your targets which is apt to happen with the missile spells.

Imo, nerf the impact perk a bit or change it and buff the dual casting all across the board. I also think dual cast should be a higher requirement, maybe 50 or something in your skill to unlock.

Or maybe this: make the Dual-cast perks two-tiered.

Rank 1: Overcharge your spells by dual-casting them. Spells are 2.5x more effective than the basic spell for 3x the Magicka cost.

Rank 2: Improves the efficiency of dual-casting by 10% (bringing the magicka cost down to 2.7x, less than the vanilla cost in exchange for spending a perk for it).

Any idea what destruction spells are best in terms of damage to mana cost ratio?

As usual.

I don't know what this thread is about since OP answers his own questions with the quote.

Good question. brb

It was more like, do people here in the forums think it is worth it. Im sorry if i ruined your day for making a seemingly stupid thread

This is going to sound like a new player question, but I assume for the impact perk to work, you have to be dual casting the same type of Destro spell?

Okay, finished.

And the winner is...

Arniel's Convection! 1 point of damage for just 1 Magicka, it has efficiency of 100%!

Second, third and fourth place: Firebolt, Flames and Lightning Storm.

Full table http://i40.tinypic.com/nn5vuq.png.

Of course, it doesn't include such things as secondary effects(burn/slow/Magicka damage/fear/paralyze/disintegrate). In case of spells that last for x seconds, I assumed that an enemy will be hit by entirety of the spell. In case of Firestorm, it's highest possible damage to targets 25' or closer. In case of Wall spells, the damage stacks and lasts "several" seconds, so the longer you cast, the more damage you will be dealing, up to"several" times after "several" seconds.

That's right And it doesn't work with the novice-level spells.

Awesome, thanks man