Why stack spells?

So I recently learned about decks, and watched lots of youtube videos and learned about deck building and feel like I have a handle on it. What I don't understand, is why I should ever stack spells. A 2 stacked spell does not do as much damage as casting those 2 spells individually. So why would I ever take two spells and weaken them into one?

 

Because the glyphs generally appear faster than you can cast them. You can stack a double during animations and cast it in the same time it takes to cast a single. So it’s not a double instead of two singles, rather a double instead of just one single if you do it fast.

 

If its an aoe spell, it will last longer and deal more dmg over that time. If its an defensive skill, it will last longer and give higher defensive bonus (except for defensive buffs that last longer than 1 minut, they wont get stronger by stacking). If its an attack spell though, yes its better to cast 1 stacks cuz the overall damage will be higher, BUT, it will also drain your focus a lot faster because when you stack the focus cost will decrease. So if its a long fight you will need to stack in order to save focus, if its a short fight, just go ahead and spam and you will kill quckier. Keep in mind though, spamming spells will also cost more reagents

 

Stacking doesn't cause global cooldown and casting the 1 stacked spell costs less focus than even casting just the one of the 2 without stacking. So you can't make a rule of thumb that 1 stack or 6 stack is always optimal but both are optimal in certain circumstances.

 

If I am not mistaken, stacking/combo'ing is referred to as spell weaving. It is what makes this combat system great!

One thing for sure, stacking reduces focus cost & increases damage/healing. However, stacking doesn't seem to have any impact on some skills. As others said, circumstances call for how you choose to stack and execute. Hitting harder and focus management can be crucial.

It has also been said to increase crit chance. However, this has not been confirmed and I would like to know myself.

Combo'ing refers to combining two spells to create another. These combos may also be stacked.

Since I am behind on terminology, I could be saying this wrong, but, spell charging (pressing and holding a key to charge a skill) works similar to stacking a spell in that it also impacts focus cost, damage/healing, and possibly increase crit chance.

 

Every stack level will reduce the focus cost by 15% while augmenting skill effectiveness by 25%. Hence a 5 stacked fire ring will deal 125% of damage and last 125% longer and cost only 25% of the original focus.

Drawback is: for locked decks you'll get a much longer "casting" time, and you still can fizzle the spell after stacking glyphs. For unlocked decks, a fizzle won't unbuild the stack but then you got to draw the glyphs and combine them manualy first.

What people do (like me)? Stack AS MANY glyphs as possible for DoT effects, use direct attacks in free decks. This way a longer fight, you'll deal more DPS overall. For instance, you can apply up to 3x rend to a target. Now you can apply a 5 stack, then a 4 stack, then a 3 stack... it WILL hurt!