Divinity Original Sin 2 Builds: Undeath Incarnate (Tank/Summoner)
Apr. 1, 2020Divinity Original Sin 2 Builds: Undeath Incarnate (Tank/Summoner)
As promised here is the nextDivinity: Original Sin 2Enhanced Edition Build Guide, which is an Undead Summoner/Tank Build that can withstand all kinds of punishment while your other party members are free to spend their Action Points attacking without fear of retribution. There are manyBuildsyou can make in Divinity: Original Sin 2, and in this Build Guide we’re going to be taking a look at the Undeath Incarnate.
The Undeath Incarnate Build is an Undead Tank/Summoner hybrid Build that actually induces enemies to attack you, while using Skill that replenish Armour to keep you alive, allowing your Incarnate to attack while you soak up damage and punish enemies for targeting you. This Build makes use of Poison to heal yourself, as well replenish Armour via theLiving Armour Talent.
The way this Build works is that you’ll Summon your Incarnate before or at the beginning of combat, and then buff it and cast Deflective Barrier and ideally Heart of Steel. Enemies won’t be able to resist attacking you because you will have theGlass Cannon Talent, meaning you can be CCed through Armour. All the while they are ganging up on you, your party and Incarnate will be tearing them to pieces without concern for their own defense.
The key to ensuring you survive their attacks is having high Armour values, using the Living Armour Talent, and continuously using Skills that buff your Physical Armor like Shields Up or Fortify. Dome of Protection is also amazing for this Build because, like Heart of Steel, replenishes Armor each turn as long as you remain inside of it. And since you’ll be CCed quite a bit, and you don’t have much personal damage to speak of, this works nicely.
The best way to start this Build is by picking theConjurerClass, removing the points fromConstitutionand placing them intoWits. Then remove the point fromLeadershipand place it intoGeomancer. Then removeDimensional Boltand selectFortify. This will allow you to buff your Physical Armour from the very beginning of the game, but you’ll want to pick up the Contamination as soon as you can. TheRaceyou want is ideally Undead Dwarf since this will give you extra Dodge and Vitality, but you can pick any Undead Race if you wish.
As far as Attributes go, you’ll want to pump Wits early on because you need to go first in combat, only putting points intoMemoryto gainSkillsyou need. If your Initiative is not high enough you will simply be CCed on the first enemy turn, rendering you effectively useless so this is very important. Once you’ve got enough Initiative that you always go first (about 22 or so at level 10), you’ll begin pumping up Constitution to make yourself harder to kill via a higher Vitality pool.
Weapon-wise it doesn’t really matter a whole lot what you use, but you’ll need a Shield in your off-hand so this is going to regulate you to using a One-Handed Weapon. You can use a Wand, Sword, or Dagger. All are fine, and you won’t be attacking often with these, so they aren’t super important. Try to get Initiative on it if you can though, since this will help to lessen the investment you need in Wits, allowing you to spend more points on Constitution, making you tankier.
Armour-wise you’ll be using Strength-based because it has the highest Physical Armour, which is what you’ll need the most of. However, you can use Intelligence-based as well later on to balance out your Armour if you wish. You want to focus on Armour that gives you the highest possible Armour values, Shield as well, so bonuses are not as important for this Build. However, getting items that give you Immunity to certain crowd controlling effects is always a good idea, since that can prevent you from being Stunned for example, which helps out a lot.
Undeath Incarnates will begin the game with 1 point into Geomancer and 1 point into Summoning and from there they should get these both up to 2 each as quickly as possible. From this point they’ll want to grab 1 point in Scoundrel for Adrenaline, and 2 points into Polymorph to get Heart of Steel, and then they’ll want to further increase Summoning until it’s maxed, only spending a point or two into Warfare to gain Deflective Barrier when they reach Act 2. Once these things are done, they should pump Geomancer for increased Physical Amour from their Skills.
As far asTalentsgo I’d recommend the following:
Mnemonic– This is the Talent you should take during Character Creation so that you don’t need to invest as many points into Memory early on, allowing you to focus on Wits to increase your Initiative. This one will carry you through most of the game, but you can drop it later on if you find you no longer need it.
Glass Cannon– This Talent gives you 6 AP every turn in exchange forStatus Effectsgoing through your Armour. The reason we take this is not for the extra AP, it’s because it will attract enemies to attack you since you can be CCed easily. You want enemies to attack you so they don’t attack your party members. You’ll take this one at level 3.
Living Armour– This ability makes it so that when you heal you regain a portion of that healing as Magic Armour. This is the reason we focus so heavily on Skills that increase Physical Armour, because this Talent alone will allow you to heal Magic Armour easily. Get it. Slot it. Love it.
Walk it Off– This is not a bad Talent for this Build since you will have lots of negative Status Effects, and you can Poison yourself again very easily. Consider getting this one when you reach level 13.
Undeath Incarnates use a mix of Geomancer and Summoning Skills in order to tank tons of damage and still help control the battlefield. Below is a list of Skills you will use and I will put them in the order you should obtain them in.
Elemental Totem– You cannot have more than 3 of these out at a time, but it’s a good idea to cast one every turn (if possible), because they only last 3 turns each. Cast them in on various surfaces to control the type of damage they deal.
Conjure Incarnate– This skill allows you to summon an Incarnate that gets progressively more powerful as the game advances. At Summoning Level 10 it becomes a force to be reckoned with and you can buff it for increased damage. You can summon it in Poison to make it deal Poison Damage, and as a bonus it’s throw ability can heal you if you need it.
Fortify– You’ll want this one at the beginning because you’ll have little in the way of Armour and you won’t have Heart of Steel yet. This Skill removes Poison, which isn’t great because Poison heals you, so consider replacing it once you get Deflective Barrier.
Contamination– A great way to turn water surfaces into Poison and to heal you a bit if you need it. You need to spend all your AP every turn once you gain Glass Cannon, so this is a great way to spend 1 AP.
Poison Infusion– This is a craftable Skill that will allow you to convert your Incarnate into a Poison version for 1 AP, which is excellent. It’s not always feasible to cast Rain, then Contamination and then Conjure Incarnate, so this will allow you to transform it more easily. Additionally, sometimes it may be better to have Physical Incarnate, but perhaps you need a Poison Incarnate later on in the fight. This allows you to change it easily.
Fossil Strike– This is a great AoE that Slows enemies through Armour, and reduces Dodge Chance by 30%. This spell is good for preventing melee units from getting to you, which helps reduce the damage you take, so it’s worth getting.
Farsight Infusion– This skill increases your Incarnate damage by +25%, provides it some Magic Armour, and gives it a ranged attack that has a 1 turn cooldown. You’ll need all of these things.
Adrenaline– Possibly the best non-source skill in the gain, it provides you with 2 AP this turn in exchange for 2 AP next turn. Summoners need lots of AP on their first turn to setup the battlefield, so this one is extremely useful. Particularly since you’ll likely be CCed on your next turn, so there is almost zero downside.
Power Infusion– This buffs your Incarnate with Physical Armour, +25% Damage and adds Whirlwind and Battering Ram to its Skills. Probably the best all around Infusion there is, and you want to use it near the beginning of combat to prevent your Incarnate from dying quickly.
Heart of Steel– This will increase your Physical Armour initially and then buff you with additional Physical Armour for 4 turns. This is a great Skill for this Build, and should be used Turn 1 because it will continue replenishing your Physical Armour, even when CCed.
Impalement– This skill has a reasonable sized AoE and does decent damage for its cost of 2 AP, and can Cripple targets with no Physical Armour. You won’t be optimized for damage, but it does help out, so it’s worth getting.
Soul Mate– This Skill is great for keeping your Incarnate alive since you’ll be healing and buffing your Armour constantly, even when CCed. Use it before you buff your Armour for best results.
Dominate Mind– You can use this skill to convert an enemy with no Magic Armour to a friendly for 2 turns. This is one of the most powerful non-source skills in the game, so use it when enemies have no Magic Armour.
Deflective Barrier– A great way to increase yourPhysical Armourand also reflects projectiles. Requires aShield, which we’ll have so that’s not an issue. This will help boost your damage since enemies will be attacking you constantly.
Earthquake– SinceKnockdownis resisted byPhysical Armour, it works here because you will be reflecting a lot of Physical Damage once you use Deflective Barrier. It also does damage to Magic Armour, which is what your Incarnate and your totems will likely do (assuming you make them Poison).
Playing this Build with a Water Mage in your group is preferable, because they will have access toRainwhich when combined with Contamination creates Poison all over the screen. This will often be set on fire, so I have not added Rain to this Build. However, having someone who can use Rain does help with managing Fire, allowing for more Poison, so it’s nice to have.
Make sure that you always go first with this Build or you will not get a chance to put up your buffs and you will die horribly and miserably. Make sure you have the highest Initiative on your team, because you need to get these set before anyone else goes!
Prioritize Armour values on equipment! I said this before, but I’ll say it again, you must have high Armour in order to survive the amount of attacks you will face. This is true for any tank, but especially true for this Build since EVERYONE will be gunning for you. Keep high Armour and survive their attacks.
Lastly, try to find items to equip that give you Immunity to Status Effects if possible, and make sure your teammates have Skills that can assist you likeArmour of Frost,First Aidand Soul Mate. This will drastically help you out, allowing for you to get more turns in combat.
Stay tuned as we bring you another round of Divinity: Original Sin 2 Enhanced Edition Build Guides, and be sure to check out the DOS II Wiki if you need help with the game!
Castielle
Senior Editor at Fextralife. I enjoy gaming, playing and watching sports, cooking yummy food, watching a good movie and hanging out with Fex.
I believe having Venomous Aura is good since it scales with Geomancer and this build focuses solely on Geomancer. You can get it by inserting Source Orb to your Chamore Doran wand, the only wand that gives Summoning and Vaporise skill that can be used to clear Petrified and Frozen.
I just recently got back into DOS2 after starting it a while back and quitting. I think I quit before due to “analysis paralysis,” and I almost never got started this time lol. I love so many of your builds it was hard to choose my team. I finally went with the following:
Sebille (main) – Tectonic SageRed Prince – Blazing DeepstalkerFane – Undeath IncarnateIfan – Using an archer build from steam guides
I am only playing on normal, but this team is awesome so far. Lots of poison, fire, and crowd control. The ranger, deepstalker, and the option to summon a physical incarnate also provide physical damage when needed.
Is this a legit build? It was posted on april fools day…
Leadership is pretty good on a character that is CC’d most of the time. just do regular dwarf, max summoning, then toss in leadership
I don’t mean this as an attack, but how does such a low intelligence cause your geomancer skills to do any damage?
I did just now take note of the fact that you included Earthquake in your list of skills, so I feel a little silly about my previous post. However, at the same time, I still do think Battle Stomp could be useful. It doesn’t have near the AOE of Earthquake, but it also doesn’t leave oil everywhere.
Since you have to invest into Warfare to get Deflective Barrier, couldn’t it be helpful to your party, and to yourself, if you got Battle Stomp? If you can knock down a few people whose physical armour is down (thanks to your party and incarnate), why not?
What modification to this build would you do if I don’t play undead ? Would it still be viable with a lesser emphasis en poison (tactician mode) ?
He says at the very end of the Frost Paladin page that you can play a ranger variation of that build which may work just as well if not better than the Paladin.
Hey this really doesn’t have so much to do with this build, but would it be a bad idea to have a kind of ranged cleric? Like the frost paladin but with a bow and huntsman abilities. I really don’t see it anywhere.
Dwarven skeleton is short and stocky. Too lazy to actually fight so it summons blasters. Chances are will be sleeping on the job. On the off chance is does attack, it does poison damage. It’s also an absolute pain to actually kill. Also always goes first in combat. I say give it the jester and scholar tags, and always pick jester when available. Congratulations. You just unlocked the Sans build.
I assume you are not using anything in the gift bags. There is actually a thing that gives you 8 AP per turn. It’s just the DE without using any extra content. So, I tried turning off several of the extras I had turned on, and I got GC at level 3. The AI attacked everyone else. Also, I must be messing up because I wasn’t using all my AP every turn. Once my incarnate was out, a totem was out, and I was fortified I didn’t need to keep doing a bunch. That’s good because at level 3 I didn’t have money to buy a bunch of skills. Also, if there are undead you are fighting, you may not want your screen covered in poison (and your allies don’t always like that). How do you account for that? I think this sounds really interesting, and I really want to try. I have never used GC. I was going to use this with an elusive enchanter, a strength warrior, and something else.
I’m considering using a Tidalist and Ranger along with this, and I’m thinking about possibly adding the Venomous Sentry. Any suggestions for improvement?
