Illusion spell detection is way worse than stealth detection and nobody complains

[DragonbornVet]

Okay so I'm doing a playthrough where I'm actually committing to illusion magic instead of just using it as a utility thing, and I'm losing my mind. I'll cast Fury on a bandit, they'll start fighting each other, but then like three seconds later they all snap out of it and immediately know I cast it. The detection radius feels massive compared to how stealth detection works.

Like, I can sneak past a whole room of enemies if I'm crouched and they're not looking directly at me. But cast one Frenzy spell from the same distance and suddenly everyone's aware you're there? The spell literally says it makes them fight each other but the game treats casting it like you just screamed your location to the entire dungeon.

Is this a perk thing I'm missing or does the spell scaling just suck early on? I'm using Quiet Casting but even with that the detection window feels broken. Anyone else run into this or does illusion just require you to be way further away than you'd think?

 

[RiftenWanderer]

Quiet Casting only suppresses the sound of you casting, not the actual spell effect on enemies - so yeah, the moment that Fury or Frenzy hits someone, they know magic was used on them and can figure out roughly where it came from. It's not the same as stealth detection at all, which is why it feels so much harsher.

The thing is, illusion spells are kind of designed to work best when enemies don't see the source of the spell. Like, if you're far enough away or out of line of sight when you cast Fury, they'll just see their buddy attacking them and won't necessarily pin it on you. But if you're in the same room casting it, yeah, they're gonna know. It's less about detection radius and more about how the spell effect itself breaks your cover - stealth lets you stay hidden, but illusion makes you look hidden while the spell does the work for you.

That said, early illusion does feel rough because the spells are weaker and wear off faster, so enemies snap out of it quicker and have time to actually hunt you down. By the time you get some perks going and higher spell power, the durations get long enough that they're genuinely fighting for a while. Also Mayhem spells hit way harder than Frenzy for this reason - more targets, longer chaos, less time for anyone to figure out what happened.

What level are you and what spells are you actually using? Because if you're still on base Fury that might just be the issue.