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I noticed that many spells can be charged, e.g. the Sparks spell I got in the beginning can be cast continuously until I'm either out of magicka or the target is dead.
As you level up your skills just by using them I wondered if it makes any difference whether you cast a spell without charging it repeatedly or if you just hold down the mouse button and lightning bolt the enemy until he's really dead?
Which way do I level up the skill faster, or is there even any difference at all?
I could find no credible sources about this, so I performed a completely unscientific experiment to figure this out:
I loaded up a low-level saved game and used Flame continuously until my magicka was exhausted, then took a screenshot of the skill screen. I then reloaded the game and used Flame in ~1 second bursts until my magicka ran out, and took another screenshot. I then compared the pixels in the screenshots using Paint, and determined that they had both advanced an equal number of pixels. This suggests that it's extremely likely that it doesn't matter if you cast with duration or frequency - you'll gain at the same rate.
In summary, there is most likely no difference.
With respect to Destruction magic specifically (as well as most combat skills), you gain skillups not by casting more or for longer, but rather by doing more damage.
You'll skill up faster using a more powerful spell and simply being effective in combat than you will by trying to grind on rats with starter spells.
The complete answer you need can be found here.
First, let's answer a more basic question: "What causes my magic skills to increase?"
In some magic schools, your skills increase due to the base magicka of the spell:
For other magic schools, your skills increase based upon how much raw damage you cause/heal:
Now we can answer your original question. The answer is...
It depends on: the school of the spell, your gear, and the perks you have in the school.
Here are some examples:
If you have gear that decreases the magicka cost of Illusion spells, you should be able to cast more during combat and level Illusion faster. Note: only the base cost of a spell matters, so any cost-reducing gear will help.
If you have perks that decrease the cost of your Alteration spells, you will level Alteration more slowly because you won't need to cast them any more often.
If you have perks that increase the damage done by Destruction spells, you will level Destruction more quickly because you will kill things more quickly.
In my opinion, Restoration is easier to understand. If you heal better, you stay alive longer. And the key to leveling skills faster is to not die.
I agree with LessPop_MoreFizz. Damage is the standard. Even though you may cast more often the low level spells, or cast them for longer, i.e. hold the button longer, the over-all damage may still be lower than a single-cast, huge mana-draining higher spell, and the latter would still give a greater 'experience' boost. With damage spells though (and I think non damage skills too), they only give "XP' when cast at an appropriate subject, i.e. an enemy. Buffing/healing skills may also be credited when one is actually being attacked/in battle-mode.
Your level progress with spells of the school of destruction depends on the damage dealt... Thus you can't level it up by casting it into thin air...
...however you can level up by repeatedly casting destruction spells at your familiar
As I discovered over here: The amount of xp from casting spells is determined by (unmodified) magicka spent.
So if you cast Sparks for 5 seconds, or if you cast Sparks 5 times for 1 second each, you will spend the same (unmodified) magicka, and will gain the same xp.
For destruction spells, they must land on a valid target to award xp, but the damage done is irrelevant.
For Destruction magic, the amount of XP earned is based both on the magicka cost of the spell and on damage done to the target. Since your damage output is variable based on your difficulty level, you will get less XP at difficulties higher than Adept(however, you will not get bonus XP for Novice or Apprentice).
If you can enchant a set of gear that makes Destruction Spells free to cast ( helps if the set is free cast Restoration as well), you can cast costly spells as much as you want. Some of the best for raising the skill are actually the rune spells. They don't do a ton of damage(50 damage and the Augent ELEMENT perks don't modify them), but they cost almost as much to cast as expert spells.
Since they don't do as much damage, you can hit targets more for more XP( you can even heal them and yourself for Restoration XP). Runes are apprentice spells, so they are available from the start of the game from any court mage without the need to raise the skill at all before they become available for purchase(unlike adept or expert level spells which are unavailable for purchase until your Destruction skill is at 40 or 65 respectively).
Damage is a factor, but the more damage it does the more experience you get. So Flames does 10 with Augmented Flames 1/2 and Fireballs are 50 damage, so you get more experience with Firebal than Flames. However, the more damage the more Magicka you need.
I found that if you use telekinesis with the secret of arcanea power, it's unlimited as long as you hold it down. I got my character to level 150 this way.
