Divinity Original Sin 2: Which Build is Right for You?

Jul. 17, 2019

Divinity Original Sin 2: Which Build is Right for You?

In this Divinity Original Sin 2 article we’re going to explore what Build is right for you. While we wait patiently for Divinity: Fallen Heroes, which is due out sometime later this year, I thought it would be a good idea to sort of index the Builds I have made, and point players in the right direction if they are having trouble selecting one. The Builds themselves are rather straight forward, but it isn’t always easy picking the best fit for you or your party, regardless of whether you’re new or a veteran player. In this Guide we’ll cover just that.

The first thing to establish when choosing a Build is quite obvious and that is whether or not you want to be a Melee or Ranged character. This is a decision you will make in just about any RPG, and it’s one you’re going to want to make during Character Creation, as it will be the basis of much of your Build.

Whether you enjoy playing a Warrior, Rogue, Battlemage, Ranger or Mage, there are a few things to know about Melee and Ranged Builds. Not only will they help you decide which is right for you, but also how to play alongside these archetypes in combat. First, let’s take a look at Melee.

Melee Builds utilize Weapons to deal close combat damage, and generally have a much heavier focus on Physical Damage than Magic Damage. In combat they will need to move to their target, which can sometimes be problematic, but they have the advantage of dealing very high damage with basic attacks.

Ranged Builds deal damage primarily with Spells or Bows from far away, usually keeping them out of danger. Ranged Builds have a slightly higher focus on Magic Damage, though Rangers and Necromancers do incredible Physical Damage. These can be more difficult to play earlier in the game when there are less Skills available to choose from.

After selecting Melee, you’ll then have to determine what is the best Melee Archetype for you: Warrior, Rogue or Battlemage. While all three of these are comprised of close range combat, they all have very different ways of doing this. Warriors, for example, focus mainly on Strength, dealing predominantly Physical Damage with Weapons. Rogues focus on Finesse, and will generally use dual Daggers, dealing Physical Damage with their Daggers. Battlemages focus on Intelligence, dealing Magic Damage of some type with their Staff and spells.

Warrior Builds will usually use either Two-Handed Weapons or One-Handed and Shield to deal Physical Damage to enemies. Dual Wield is not typically used, because it does less damage on average vs. Two-Handed, and this is because Two-Handed provides a passive benefit of increased Critical Damage. Warrior Builds will mainly use Warfare Skills to deal damage, but can also use Polymorph Skills to help add further abilities to their rotation. They typically don’t do very much Magic Damage, because most Magic Damage abilities scale with Intelligence, and Warriors generally use Strength.

The following are some Warrior Builds I have created, with notes about each:

The Blazing Deepstalker is a Warrior that usesWarfareandPyrokinetic Skillsto deal both Physical and Fire Damage to its enemies. Unlike many Pyro/Warrior Builds that focus on the use ofMaster of Sparks, Blazing Deepstalkers specialize in the use of traps. Traps deal Fire Damage, and only scale with Pyrokinetic and Character Level, much likeFirebrand. This allows them to deal significant Fire Damage, while pumping Finesse, which increases their Physical Damage with Spears.

TheDeath Knightis a popular well-knownBuildaround the community, and it uses a mix ofWarfare, andNecromancer Skills. The reasonNecromancersynergizes well with Warriors is because most of itsSkillsare resisted byPhysical Armour. Characters who utilize this skill line will also be able to heal themselves for a good amount ofVitalityquite regularly, which is great because you should be taking more damage as a melee character.

The Eternal Warrior makes use of a decent amount of investment intoNecromancerin order to obtain the passive healing when dealing Vitality Damage. When combined withLiving Armour, the Eternal Warrior can replenish Magic Armour offensively, allowing them to maintain their position on the battlefield and keep on swinging without fear of being crowd controlled via magical attacks.

TheFrost Paladinis a durableWarriorthat buffs himself to unimaginable heights and then decimates his enemies with powerful physical attacks.Frost Paladinswill utilize healingHydrosophist Skillsas well as a few otherFrostspells to trap their enemies from moving before punishing them withWarfare Skills.

TheJuggernautis aWarrior Buildthat uses a mix ofWarfare,GeomancerandPolymorph Skillsto flatten his/her enemies to a pulp or turn them to stone.Juggernautsfocus on pureStrength, but deal a mix of Physical and Earth Damage to their enemies.

TheWardenis a hybridWarrior & Ranger Buildthat uses Spears and Bows to vanquish its enemies. The reasonWardenscan do this effectively is because both Spears and Bows useFinessefor their damagingAttribute, allowingWardensto deal maximum damage with both weapon types.

Rogues are essentially Warriors that use Daggers and Finesse to deal damage to enemies. You must have at least one Dagger equipped in order to use many Scoundrel Skills, so this part at least is not optional, and is really what separates Rogues from Warriors. Daggers do less damage than other One-Handed Weapons, almost forcing Rogues to Dual Wield them in order to deal good damage. Rogues can still use Warfare Skills as well, but Warriors cannot usually use Scoundrel Skills, except for the few that don’t require Daggers.

The following are two Rogue Builds I have created, with notes about each:

TheAssassinis a hybridRogue & Ranger Buildthat uses Daggers and Bows to deal massive damage to its enemies.Assassinscan pull this off becauseFinesseis used to determine the damage of both of these weapon types.

TheDuelistis a high risk, high rewardBuildwhereby the character focuses on high damage andDodging. Because players are more inclined toDuel Wieldwhen playing a rogue-like character (withDaggers) there is a natural synergy here with theTalentParry Masterwhich increasesDodgingby 10% whenDuel Wielding.

Battlemage Builds are essentially Warriors that use Staves to deal Magic Damage, and generally use spells from their chosen school of magic as well. They are a bit of a hybrid between Ranged and Melee, but they usually select spells that work well at close range, making them skewed much more towards the Melee side of things. These Builds can be harder to play as a new player, but can be devastating if played well.

The following are two Battlemage Builds I have created, with notes about each. I have not added theElemental ChampionBuild here, because it is the one Build that was gutted by the Definitive Edition changes.

TheBattlemageis a front linesMage Buildthat focuses onPyrokinetic Skillsto deal massive damage to its enemies.Battlemagesfocus on pureIntelligenceand get in close and unleash devastatingFireattacks on all nearby enemies. TheBattlemagealso uses a coupleWarfare SkillsandPolymorph Skillsfor mobility, resistance and some extra AoE, because they want to get in close and blast the hell out of foes.

The Radiant Battlemage is anAerotheurgevariant of the fieryBattlemageBuild. It aims to be an alternative melee Magic Damage dealer, while at the same time avoiding Aerotheurge spells that may harm other melee units. The drawback of this Build is that it does not Shock or Stun targets, which is the primary function of Aero mages (besides killing things). However, it does have a decent amount of controlling effects viaSkillslikeVacuum AuraandMedusa Head, making it a much safer addition to any group which already has 1 or more melee character.

The Summoner of Sparks uses a mix ofSummoning,WarfareandPyrokinetic Skillsin order to deal both Fire and Physical Damage. The skillMaster of Sparkshas long been used by many players to buff their own personal damage with each swing, however, with the Summoner of Sparks we take this a step further. By buffing an Incarnate and our own character we get 2x the fun.

Rangers use their Bow to deal damage with Huntsman Skills and Basic Attacks to pick off enemies from afar. They deal some of the highest single target Physical Damage in the game, and can also deal Magic Damage with Elemental Arrows, to a lesser extent. Mages usually deal a mix of Damage Types, because they don’t focus on the use of Weapons, allowing for very versatile Builds and setups. They will use a Staff for increased Critical Damage, but more often than not use One-Handed & Shield for increased Armour.

All Rangers will use a Bow for a Weapon, allowing them to deal very high Physical Damage from range. They can also use Elemental Arrows, which can be crafted, to deal a decent amount of Magic Damage if they choose. This will be less than the Physical Damage they deal, but allows for versatility. Rangers, like Two-Handed Warriors, generally have the lowest Armour values, and so tend to be a bit squishier than other party members.

The following are some Ranger Builds I have created, with notes about each:

TheMagick Archeris a versatile damage dealer that takes its targets out from range usingBowattacks andElemental Arrows. This Build is one hundred percent optimized to maximize Elemental Arrow damage.

TheRangeris a hybridBuildthat focuses on ranged damage with aBoworCrossbowandSummoningsome form of “Pet”. The reason it is advised that you use a ranged character whenSummoningis becauseSummoningtends to take up the bulk of your character’s AP per turn, which doesn’t leave much forMovement.

The Sanguine Bowman uses a mix ofHuntsmanandNecromancer Skillsin order to deal good damage to many targets, as well as give the character multiple ways to deal Physical Damage. The biggest weakness of Rangers and Necromancers is that they blow through theirSkillsrapidly, leaving them with gaps in their cooldowns. With the Sanguine Bowman, we not only rectify this by adding more Skills to use, but we also add versatility to both of these Builds.

The Venomous Sentry is a uniqueRanger. The general concept of the Venomous Sentry is to buff your Poison Damage throughSkillslikeVenom Coating,Elemental ArrowheadsandSiphon Poison, and then unload upon your enemies. This Build does a mix of Physical and Poison Damage, because of the use of a Bow, but focuses more heavily on the second one.

Mages deal Magic Damage or Physical Damage at range, rarely if ever, using a Weapon to attack. They will more often than not use a combination of two or more schools of magic, because since they don’t use Weapons, have an abundance of Ability Points. Since not all schools of magic work well together, this makes for a variety of combinations that outperform others.

The following are some Mage Builds I have created, with notes about each:

TheBlood Mageis aNecromancer Buildthat relies on highIntelligenceandCritical Chanceto deal massive damage. Unlike otherMages, theBlood Magedeals Physical Damage, much like aWarriororRanger.

TheCrystalline Clericis a hybridWarrior/MageBuildthat leans a lot more to theMageside of things in the offensive department, only with the defensive capabilities of aWarrior. TheCrystalline Clericdoes a mix of Water and Physical Damage to its enemies and is especially deadly againstUndead(as aClericwould be).

TheDruidis aSummonerwho utilizes hisConjure Incarnateto the fullest by buffing him to extreme lengths that make theIncarnateextremely deadly.Druidsalso come equipped with many utilitySkillsfrom many different skill lines and this allows them to have a wide variety of spells for nearly every situation.DruidsstackArmourup high so that they cannot be controlled and they force their enemies to deal with their Incarnate or face the consequences.

TheElementalistuses all forms of Magic to destroy their enemies. Dumping only the minimum points into each Magic skill line, and the rest intoPolymorphwill grant you one extraAttributepoint for each rank. This allows you to drop it intoIntelligence, which increases the damage of allIntelligence-basedSkillsby 5%, regardless of skill line.

The Glacial Guardian uses a mix ofHydrosophistandSummoning Skillsin order to control the battlefield in which they are fighting. One of the problems that water mages can have, is that they have to set: (Chilled + Chilled) OR (Chilled + Wet) in order to Freeze enemies. And, although several Hydrosophist Skills hit with multiple projectiles preventing this issue, often they run out ofSkillsto use. By addingSummoningto aTidalistsort of Build, not only is this obstacle resolved, but Totems summoned on water or ice will hit for Water Damage. Water Damage makes targets Wet if they have no Magic Armour, which will Freeze Chilled enemies, or allow them to be Frozen much more easily.

The Occult Flamewielder is a Mage Build that utilizes both thePyrokineticandNecromancer Skill Linesto deal two types of damage: Physical and Fire. Most Mage Builds will be able to max out at least 2 schools of magic, and because they share a commonAttribute(Intelligence), they lose very little effectiveness.

Because of the Torturer change, this Build becomes extremely effective, especially in the earlier parts of the game. You can useSkillslikeIgnitionandContaminationat the very beginning in order to deal significant Magic Damage to enemies around you. On top of that, the AoE radius is quite large, these 2 Skills both ignore friendly targets, and they both only cost 1 AP each.

TheStormchaseris an exceptionally high damage build that relies on Air Damage toStunits targets, andDodgingto avoid being struck by Weapon attacks.Stormchaserscan alsoSilencetheir enemies, making them have no choice but to attack with their Weapons, which will beDodged.

The Tectonic Sage is a pure mage Build that focuses onGeomancer Skillsto disrupt the movement and positioning of enemies. By Slowing, Entangling, Crippling, Blinding and Petrifying the opposition, these mages ensure their party always has the upper hand. Earth and Poison Damage spells make up the better part of their repertoire, allowing them to deal significant damage because of the heavy focus on one skill line.

TheTerramanceris aMage Buildthat utilizes the devastating AoEs ofGeomancerto deal tons of Earth Damage, while also making use ofNecromancer Skillsthat hit for Physical Damage to individual targets. Sprinkle in a fewHydrosophist Skillsand you have aTerramancer.

TheTidalistisMage Buildthat focuses on purelyHydrosophist Skillsto deal Water Damage, heal and buff.Tidalistswill unleash the fury of the tides by drenching and icing nearby enemies, hampering their Movement, Chilling and Freezing them.

This should be the last Divinity Original Sin 2 Guide I will be making, because hopefully we will hear something about Divinity: Fallen Heroes soon. I’ve been in touch with Larian about it, and I will update you guys on its progress the second I know anything at all that I can share. God I hope there’s news at Gamescom! Until then, Good luck Sourcerers, Rivellon is counting on you!

Castielle

Senior Editor at Fextralife. I enjoy gaming, playing and watching sports, cooking yummy food, watching a good movie and hanging out with Fex.