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Divinity: Original Sin 2 |OT| Dragons & Dungeon Mastering

B

Bubba_Sparks

Member
Does anybody have any suggestions for how to approach combat? I just cannot seem to get my head around it. So far, the combat seems very unbalanced. I'm playing on the default difficulty and it just seems completely broken. I'd say I've lost 80-90% of the combat encounters I've attempted. Most of it just comes down to my characters being far weaker and less well equipped than their opponents. Just a difference of a single level basically makes it impossible to beat a group of enemies.
 
H

HashtagLapsed

Member
I was just fighting some undead in the Marsh and
my journal randomly updated saying we each were spoken to by voices and Lohse recognized the voice that saved her from drowning.

Nothing like that happened at all. This is bumming me out.
 
M

MisterShine

Member
jrcbandit said:
For the remaining party members, do I want mostly physical or magic armor damage? In the first game, I had two casters, a melee, and ranger but splitting damage between physical and magic armor doesn't sound optimal in this game. Necro summons and spells seem to be physical damage - does that mean physical armor as opposed to magic armor vs elemental spells?
Click to expand...

For damage split, I recommend either 2/2 mag/phys damage dealers, or 4/0 either way. Phys seems stronger now but I'm not certain. For a while I had 3 mag 1 phys and it was... unfortunate. Switched to 2/2 and doing well. In act 2 there are plenty of enemies that heavily favor one armor over the other so I'd recommend 2/2, but having 4 of one will help you burn through them faster. Pay attention to which conditions are blocked by which armor though.

Sanctuary said:
I don't believe that you can have the Incarnate out at the same time with the
spider
(might be wrong on that), but they both have separate uses and both scale directly from Summoning, and only that.
Click to expand...

They cannot be used together, you're correct. Only one summon at once, plus three totems. It is handy to have more than one summon spell though (the one you mention is just great) for when the first dies, they often have pretty long cooldowns.
 
Stiler

Stiler

Member
Bubba_Sparks said:
Does anybody have any suggestions for how to approach combat? I just cannot seem to get my head around it. So far, the combat seems very unbalanced. I'm playing on the default difficulty and it just seems completely broken. I'd say I've lost 80-90% of the combat encounters I've attempted. Most of it just comes down to my characters being far weaker and less well equipped than their opponents. Just a difference of a single level basically makes it impossible to beat a group of enemies.
Click to expand...

I was in the same boat, the two things that drastically helped me:

1. Do quests and level up, there are quests you can do in the town area that don't require combat, you should be able to hit around lv 3 just doing these kinds of quests.

2. Get a full party asap and get decent equipment, this was the biggest one. Once you get your entire party outfitted in fairly decent gear for their levels it makes a huge difference.

3. Use the environment to your advantage. Enemies range based ? Don't be afraid to lead them to you and use a choke point with your party members on the other side so the enemies have to come through a small area, etc. This can greatly help in some fights early on.
 
Sanctuary

Sanctuary

Member
Having Ifran (as a Ranger) in your party and following his quest early on can net you a BFG with very little combat. It then greatly reduces the early difficulty. Of course you most likely wouldn't know exactly how to do this before level 4-6, or even stumble upon it on your first blind playthrough.
 
P

Pancakes

hot, steaming, as melted butter slips into the cracks, drizzled with sticky sweet syrup OH GOD
Act 2 blood moon island spoilers
Does anyone know how to figure out the demon's name? I can't talk to the tree and have combed over every inch of this island.
 
J

justjim89

Member
The fights in this game are pure bullshit with the armor system. No form of CC works at all, so all you can do is focus DPS as much as you can. But enemies always have more armor than your characters could hope to have, even while at the same level. Not to mention what seems to be an imbalance in action points. All my characters have 4 or 5 at once, but there's an enemy mage in this 2nd Trompdor fight that's casting 3 or 4 spells in one turn regularly.

Somehow they took really fun combat from the first game and fucked it right up.
 
H

HashtagLapsed

Member
justjim89 said:
The fights in this game are pure bullshit with the armor system. No form of CC works at all, so all you can do is focus DPS as much as you can. But enemies always have more armor than your characters could hope to have, even while at the same level. Not to mention what seems to be an imbalance in action points. All my characters have 4 or 5 at once, but there's an enemy mage in this 2nd Trompdor fight that's casting 3 or 4 spells in one turn regularly.

Somehow they took really fun combat from the first game and fucked it right up.
Click to expand...

Using crossbows or stuff with decent piercing damage or allows piercing damage helps a lot. Agreed about AP though, sometimes it seems cazy.

The vast difference in ability variety is brutal early on too.
 
V

Vamphuntr

Member
The game is still very hard later on. Most of tips in here imply the game becomes a breeze after you get to level 5-6 which is misleading. Most of the big fights in the game are about beating the odds. Enemies have more AP and mobility than you and if you don't manipulate the battle area before initiating the fight the enemies will have the positioning advantage. On normal difficulty there is often little room for mistakes. Enemies can move through the whole battle area and attack you twice in a turn so you have to set up the field to prevent that from happening.

Use teleport to position allies beforehand with casters and archers in vantage points that are hard to reach. Create environmental hazards before the fight starts. Slow will always work even with full armor bars so use it. Try to use moves that cripple to prevent dangerous foe from moving around. Cloak and Dagger, Tactical retreat and Spread your wings can make you gain ground quickly. The AI will make a straight line to your weakest character so keep that one far away. Outside of formidable foes, enemies either have a lot of armor or lot of magic armor so attack with the correct skill to exploit their weakness. Use charm arrows or the Necro spell to charm enemies so that they kill each others. Don't be afraid to spend Knockdown arrows as they are plentiful and can turn the tide.
 
T

texhnolyze

Banned
Bubba_Sparks said:
Does anybody have any suggestions for how to approach combat? I just cannot seem to get my head around it. So far, the combat seems very unbalanced. I'm playing on the default difficulty and it just seems completely broken. I'd say I've lost 80-90% of the combat encounters I've attempted. Most of it just comes down to my characters being far weaker and less well equipped than their opponents. Just a difference of a single level basically makes it impossible to beat a group of enemies.
Click to expand...

Yeah, that's how it was for me too. I think the game encourages its players to explore the first hub to finish non-combat quests and loot/steal stuff to at least get half-decently equipped. Your first combat with the party should be the western part of the island, there are at least 3-4 manageable encounters. By the time I reached level 4, I could finally manage most combats onward without many difficulties.

Level and gears are VERY important, especially at early game.
 
E

epmode

Member
I'm thinking of going with a necro/warfare build for my Fane MC and I REALLY want Pet Pal from the start. Would skipping the Leech talent until level 3 be too painful on Classic difficulty or should I start with Leech and grab Pet Pal at 3?

(I'm not planning on picking up any party members with Pet Pal)
 
A

AnathemicOne

Banned
Vamphuntr said:
You talk to Gareth close to the house near the makeshift tomb. You either agree to his vengeance or persuade him not to.
Click to expand...

I did the former, now I'm inside the house and he wants me to look for something.

Edit: I just used Spirit Vision and I eventually found the required item outside the house haha
 
J

Jay Shadow

Member
HashtagLapsed said:
I was just fighting some undead in the Marsh and
my journal randomly updated saying we each were spoken to by voices and Lohse recognized the voice that saved her from drowning.

Nothing like that happened at all. This is bumming me out.
Click to expand...
You might have missed it in the moment of the battle ending with all the other sound going on. it's just a line of audio that plays occasionally after fights, not a conversation.
 
F

Ferrio

Banned
epmode said:
I'm thinking of going with a necro/warfare build for my Fane MC and I REALLY want Pet Pal from the start. Would skipping the Leech talent until level 3 be too painful on Classic difficulty or should I start with Leech and grab Pet Pal at 3?

(I'm not planning on picking up any party members with Pet Pal)
Click to expand...

I choose pet pal over leech for my main character. I picked leech up later, and honestly I couldn't tell the difference between when I didn't have it and having it. Of course my character isn't a skeleton where leech is way more important.
 
L

Llyranor

Member
epmode said:
I'm thinking of going with a necro/warfare build for my Fane MC and I REALLY want Pet Pal from the start. Would skipping the Leech talent until level 3 be too painful on Classic difficulty or should I start with Leech and grab Pet Pal at 3?

(I'm not planning on picking up any party members with Pet Pal)
Click to expand...

From what I understand, Leech doesn't heal for very much and absorbs a lot of blood (correct me if I'm wrong, I only read about it, don't have the talent). You might be better off just sticking to the lvl 1 necro spell Blood Sucker. That way, you also won't automatically remove any bloody surfaces you come in contact with, allowing you to use the blood for other purposes from some of your necro spells.
 
C

Callibretto

Member
Readig the difficulty complain here even on normal. Should I just replay and drop the difficulty to easy mode? I admit that Im not good at this type of games at all. Theres so many options and it seems easy to make a wrong build that will make the game even harder.

I never beat the first game because I'm stuck in one of the boss battle in chapter 1 even on easy. :(
 
A

AnathemicOne

Banned
Callibretto said:
Readig the difficulty complain here even on normal. Should I just replay and drop the difficulty to easy mode? I admit that Im not good at this type of games at all. Theres so many options and it seems easy to make a wrong build that will make the game even harder.

I never beat the first game because I'm stuck in one of the boss battle in chapter 1 even on easy. :(
Click to expand...

If you wanna tune it down to Explorer difficulty go ahead. Atm I'm on Classic and I'm enjoying it though I admit some fights take me time to think about. Most party wipes I've done for one fight was five so far.
 
J

justjim89

Member
So, a few questions concerning a certain vault...

-How do I remove the curses from Braccus's armor and ring? Are they just useless?

-What do I do with the soul jars? What's the mechanic behind this?
 
J

JC Sera

Member
did noone play with beast? My bf picked him up and hes a lot of fun
and has a 50/50 chance of being hated or loved by any dwarf he talks to, lol
 
A

AnathemicOne

Banned
justjim89 said:
So, a few questions concerning a certain vault...

-How do I remove the curses from Braccus's armor and ring? Are they just useless?

-What do I do with the soul jars? What's the mechanic behind this?
Click to expand...

I'm sure you've noticed abilities you can't use on your hotbar requiring a resource called Source. I personally have my soul jars still but essentially you absorb souls, any souls, to regenerate more Source to use these abilities. So the soul jars you either can release their spirits or absorb them for your own.

It's not the only way however but it's an option to.
 
E

epmode

Member
Llyranor said:
From what I understand, Leech doesn't heal for very much and absorbs a lot of blood (correct me if I'm wrong, I only read about it, don't have the talent). You might be better off just sticking to the lvl 1 necro spell Blood Sucker. That way, you also won't automatically remove any bloody surfaces you come in contact with, allowing you to use the blood for other purposes from some of your necro spells.
Click to expand...

Blood Sucker doesn't look like much on paper. It works well in practice?
 
T

texhnolyze

Banned
It seems that there needs to be some tinkering with the gear progression. In early act 1, even normal gears are pretty useful. Then after a while, you get magic, rare, unique, and epic, even legendary. That's all pretty normal for gear progression, but the 'problem' is you get to meet them all too soon. Act 2 is already full with epic and legendary gears, the highest tiers of gear as far as I know.

From what I've gathered, the game is supposed to be much longer than just two acts. It would make gear progression stagnant in away from act 2 onward. I've been running around in the act 2 hub for a few hours, stealing and buying stuff, and my party's gears are mostly legendary already. What I'd like to see is a natural gear progression like in many other RPGs. In act 1, you'll mostly deal with magic and rare gears, with a few unique ones. In act 2 rare gears will be more common and you'll be starting to see epic ones. In act 3, epic is easier to obtain, and so on.
 
M

Maximo

Member
Pancakes said:
Act 2 blood moon island spoilers
Does anyone know how to figure out the demon's name? I can't talk to the tree and have combed over every inch of this island.
Click to expand...

I had the exact same shitty problem took me ages thankfully someone on reddit knew, walk around the island and talk to the spirits they tell you the entrance to the archives on the island and it has a secret entrance, Waypoint back to the ship and change your Wits to 40 to find the opening (Yep 40 fucking insane right?). Don't forget to have Red Prince or a shovel.
 
Sanctuary

Sanctuary

Member
Does anyone know what this area is, and if you can even access it? It's in
The Tower of Braccus Rex
in Act 1.

20170918212903_1.jpg
 
G

Golden_Pigeon

Banned
Every hard combat that seems impossible by the odds must be solved by thinking out of the box. The game allow great creativity in it's combat system, you just have to think more. You have 100 ways of dealing with the same situation. Use different bombs/arrows type, TP, elemental magics etc... Also, make hybrid build.
 
M

Maximo

Member
60 hours into my main character but trying Fane out and it seems the mask is completely unneeded? Long as you cover yourself up meaning...wear gear like you normally would there doesn't seem to be much point besides the odd encounter that might favor your conversation depending on your race, no one seems to be bothered.
 
P

Pancakes

hot, steaming, as melted butter slips into the cracks, drizzled with sticky sweet syrup OH GOD
Maximo said:
I had the exact same shitty problem took me ages thankfully someone on reddit knew, walk around the island and talk to the spirits they tell you the entrance to the archives on the island and it has a secret entrance, Waypoint back to the ship and change your Wits to 40 to find the opening (Yep 40 fucking insane right?). Don't forget to have Red Prince or a shovel.
Click to expand...

There is actually a map on the entrance of the island that pointed it out to me and I managed to get inside after using clear mind. I found that that I needed the Archivist Journal to progress the quest and that I sold it. I found the vendor who had it after like 30 minutes of looking. Thanks.

Make sure you guys read all the books you find.
 
A

AnathemicOne

Banned
Maximo said:
60 hours into my main character but trying Fane out and it seems the mask is completely unneeded? Long as you cover yourself up meaning...wear gear like you normally would there doesn't seem to be much point besides the odd encounter that might favor your conversation depending on your race, no one seems to be bothered.
Click to expand...

Yeah its only to change your racial dialogues I find or if you get tired of looking like an undead.
 
V

Vamphuntr

Member
Maximo said:
60 hours into my main character but trying Fane out and it seems the mask is completely unneeded? Long as you cover yourself up meaning...wear gear like you normally would there doesn't seem to be much point besides the odd encounter that might favor your conversation depending on your race, no one seems to be bothered.
Click to expand...

Yeah it's pretty useless unless you want to see the dialogue options for the other races. Fane has the advantage of starting with it and getting it back quickly. For the other undeads it doesn't seem to be worth it to waste like 4 source orbs to craft it haha.

Like you said no matter the gear you wear people won't notice that you are undead so it's kind of a lame feature.
 
F

Ferrio

Banned
So is it an oversight that enemies will heal your undead character even though they're covered up, or am I doing something wrong?
 
G

GwyndolinCinder

Member
Ferrio said:
So is it an oversight that enemies will heal your undead character even though they're covered up, or am I doing something wrong?
Click to expand...
Enemies are just meta gaming. It's fair enough given that we can also right click to examine and learn all we need to know.

epmode said:
Blood Sucker doesn't look like much on paper. It works well in practice?
Click to expand...

QG9YtIi.png
Click to expand...
489 heal compared to 183 over 2 turns for Restoration. Not bad ey

But what if we had non magic related 489 HP nuke for mage

H3mfp3u.png
Click to expand...
.

Yea blood sucker is very good, its the type of ability you can build a killer squad around.
 
R

Rhoc

Member
I really early in the game I'm now thinking what kind of party i want. I play on tactican mode you guys think it's necessery to have a dedicated healer or can i roll with 4 dps/cc classes.
 
Z

Zia

Member
How's the writing in this as compared to the first? Really wanting a new co-op game, but we got about an hour into the first before dropping it thanks to the horrible dialogue and overall cheesiness.
 
T

texhnolyze

Banned
Zia said:
How's the writing in this as compared to the first? Really wanting a new co-op game, but we got about an hour into the first before dropping it thanks to the horrible dialogue and overall cheesiness.
Click to expand...

If anything, the writing is actually one of the biggest upgrades from the first game.

Cheesiness is still there but not too apparent, the overall tone is way more mature and darker this time.
 
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