Spellmaking basic question

[Inafog]

I am new to the game. I joined the Mages Guild and now have access to the Arcane U. Am I right in thinking that using the spellmaking altar is mainly a means of making better versions of spells you already have (i.e. spells you bought at a Mages Guild) rather than creating a spell with an effect you don't already know?

[The_Vyper]

After a fashion. While it's true that you can only make spells that use effects you already know, you can create unique spells with multiple effects. For instance, if you have a Frost spell, a Fire spell, and a Paralyze spell, you can create a new spell that uses all three effects (as long as that spell doesn't exceed your skill level).

[Rennn]

You can only use effects you know, but you can use them to make new types of spells.

 

For example, if you know flare (doesn't everyone?), you could then make a flame spell with a blast radius.

 

Also, what The_Vyper said.

You can combine effects in various ways, scaling strength, blast radius, range, and the number of effects.

[TheRomans]

Death blast, all on target radius

soultrap =1 seconds *

damage health x seconds

shock damage x seconds

fire damage x seconds

frost damage x seconds

 

* to be effective in a spell combined with dmage effects, soul trap needs to be first in the list of effect, and last 1 or more seconds longer than the damage effects

 

spreading the damage out both into multiple effects and over time gets you more kill for the magicka because the magicka cost for increasing damage magnitude foes up a little faster than linearly.

 

I call the analogous spell on target without radius Death Vector (and it has a large relative saving on magicka), and on touch no radius (again cheaper) Death Touch.

 

Using an "Uncapper" mod that extends skill benefits for skills above 100 (such as allowing the formula that calculates you magicka cost for spells to continue above skill 100) will let you craft much more powerful destruction spell because the formula is logarithmic in progression.