Fury spell + melee—does it scale at all or am I wasting perks?

[DragonbornVet]

Running an Illusion/one-handed hybrid on my second playthrough and I'm level 22. The Fury spell is genuinely fun (watching enemies tear each other apart never gets old), but I can't tell if I should sink perks into Illusion or just lean harder into melee damage instead. Does Fury's damage scale with anything, or is it purely about the confusion effect? And if I'm gonna make Illusion work as a damage tool, which perks actually matter—Occultist, Hypnotic Gaze, or should I just accept it's a control school and stop trying to make it hurt?

 

[TamrielTactician]

Fury doesn't scale with Illusion perks at all—it's purely the confusion effect that matters. The spell itself does zero damage; enemies just beat each other up while affected. So if you're thinking Illusion perks will make Fury hit harder, yeah, you're kind of wasting points there.

That said, Fury is still genuinely good control. The confusion effect is what makes it work, and that DOES scale with stuff like the perk that boosts spell effectiveness against higher-level enemies (forget the exact name, but it's in the Illusion tree). Hypnotic Gaze is solid if you're going for the sneaky angle—casting it from stealth gets better results. Occultist is less useful for Fury specifically since you're not really trying to hit the same target twice.

If you want Illusion to actually do damage, honestly, you're probably fighting the game's design a bit. It's a control school. But if you're hybrid melee anyway, lean into that instead—pump your one-handed damage and use Fury as a setup tool to make groups tear each other apart while you clean up the stragglers. That's where the real damage comes from.

What perks do you have allocated so far? Might be easier to say where to pivot.

 

[WhiterunModder]

Yeah that previous answer nailed it. The thing that bugged me on my hybrid playthrough was expecting Illusion to be a damage school when it's really just... crowd control. Once I stopped thinking "how do I make this spell hurt" and started thinking "how do I make enemies not a threat," Fury went from feeling like a waste to actually carrying fights.

The sneaky angle is legit though. If you're doing one-handed, you've probably got some stealth investment anyway, and casting Fury from a crouch before combat even starts means you can basically walk in while two bandits are already wailing on each other. By the time they snap out of it, you've got positioning and first strike advantage. That's way more valuable than trying to squeeze extra spell power out of the Illusion tree.

One thing I'd add: Fury gets noticeably better as you level up naturally just because the spell itself scales with your Illusion skill. You don't need perks for that. So if you're already using it and enjoying it, just keep casting it and the effectiveness will creep up on its own. The perks matter way less than people think for a spell that's already doing its job (which is making enemies fight each other, not dealing direct damage).

What's your current one-handed investment looking like? If you're already sinking points there, honestly just keep going. Fury's your setup, your melee is your payoff.