Can't seem to achieve free destruction spells in Skyrim?

Question

This is my apparel:

Robes : 25% Destruction + 25% Conjuration spell reduction cost

Ring: 25% Destruction + 25% Conjuration spell reduction cost

Also, I've got the perk for "Cast Adept spells for Half Magicka" perk in the destruction tree. But Ice Storm spell, which is Adept level, still costs me magicka and I'm out in about 9 dual casts with 600 magicka (nothing like the vids on youtube where it costs nothing to cast them).

I've used Grand Soul gems for enchanting my stuff. Is this the reason they don't work? I've also added/removed my apparel, but though the reduction shows up in 'active effects', it doesn't do anything.

Help, please?

EDIT: I've just been reading up, and sorry, I did not notice that you need to enchant 4 pieces of apparel with 25%. This works, true, but then the perks of cost reduction are completely pointless right? What is the reason for those perks, can someone please clarify?

Answer

I can't verify this b/c I am at work, but I was pretty sure those cost reductions were additive when they were from the same source and multiplicative when they come from different sources (ex. you add up the percentages from armor enchants, but you multiply for combining armor enchants with perks).

Again, I don't have access to the proper formula, but I thought it was something like

cost = (1-SUM_OF_ENCHANT_REDUCTION)*(1-SUM_OF_PERK_REDUCTION)*... for each type of casting cost reduction there could be.

So, if you had 50% from armor and 50% from perk, instead of 100%, you would have 75% reduced cost. You could test it by doing the same Magicka benchmark you just quoted without your armor on.

As an aside, check out the answer to this question for balancing your regen vs reduced cost vs. other stats. (not my answer, but I thought it was really useful)

One more note: the perk is particularly useful if you aren't trying to enchant your armor for free spells. That's especially important for a hybrid style character that uses some magic and some martial skills, or someone who wants to add resistance to their armor instead of cost reduction for some added durability vs. magic users.

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