Larian Studios Forums Divinity: Original Sin 2 Divinity - Original Sin 2 - Suggestions and Feedback Unoriginal Polymorphing Skills

I will be honest, I haven't played much with the polymorph skills compared to summoning although I couldn't help to think that the skills just aren't very "innovative" and don't seem all too useful to be honest.

"Bull Horns" is nearly a direct copy of "Battering Ram". So if you have a warrior character with polymorphing, you end up with 2 "charge forward" skills which is kinda silly.

Chameleon Cloak is simply stupid when "Walk in Shadows" needs 1 source point. Plus where's the originality gone...

"Tentacle Lash" is awesome since there's no other skill like it and makes the enemies run away which can waste their AP.

"Heart of Steel" is the same as "Fortify" although "Heart of Steel" has this regeneration to it so it's slightly better I guess.

Finally I don't even know why "Chicken Claw" is in the game but I guess it's useful cause it ignores any sort of armour (at least at the moment). It also makes the enemies run away similarly to how "Tentacle Lash" does.

I'm sure we all thought about some of this but everyone had been concentrating on totems a lot recently so I just wanted to point these things out. No I don't have any better ideas at the moment, mainly cause I can't be bothered to think of any but we can use each other's suggestions to come up with new ideas.

You didn't mention Flight and Shed Skin, the coolest (and strongest) skills by far. But I agree some of the existing skills are basically just copies of existing ones (chameleon cloak being the worst). It sort of is the jack of all trades skilltree methinks though.

I will say the Bull Horn charge is much more of an attack than battering ram, which is more useful as a mix of cc and mobility, not to mention you can use the bull charge way more often than battering ram. I don't think having two different charge skills is a big deal. I do think a charge skill that helps allies somehow would be fun though.

"Chicken Claw" is now blocked by magic armor (it was in the intro video, and has been since the hotfix at least).
- It is essentially a "hex" that is in many games, and makes sense.

I agree some of the skills aren't too original or different from other skills in this game alone, I would like to see the suggestion someone else made about combined abilities working together. For example, Bull Horns + Wings could make a dive bomb skill (fly up and towards target, then dive the target with your horns doing a smaller aoe but more mobility and maybe extra damage). Dive bomb could also benefit from height advantage bonus (since you fly up from where you are then dive, the higher you start to more speed you gain when you dive).

If you could do that, it would make the basic, less interesting skills, a lot more interesting and you wouldn't care too much if on it's own it isn't too original.

This is a great idea. Steel Skin + Bullrush could make you have a shorter range charge that deals more damage, for a simple example. I like the idea that there would be tradeoffs for combing polymorphs in certain ways. Could even affect something like the tentacle slap. Steel Skin could similarly reduce the range of the tentacle attack, but make you steal some armor from the enemy if they have any. Things could get complicated with too many combinations, but a few would be cool.

I also think Chameleon Skin should just boost sneaking by 3 or something for 5-6 turns. That way it doesn't completely step on Walk in Shadows but instead boosts the efficacy of sneak by a lot.

Bull horns + Wings + Steel Skin = Steel Bomb

Wow, I hadn't thought of combing these together to make special attacks, that definitely sounds awesome!
Having drawbacks to some of these like "Steel Skin could similarly reduce the range of the tentacle attack" which then boosted something else "but make you steal some armour from the enemy". This could allow for loads of variation so the skills don't really need to be original anymore. Great idea man.

I do think having the ability to storm around as a bull with no cooldown is a bit op, like, every copied skill is sort of a more buffed version of an already existing one. This new Flight skill did remind me a lot of "Tactical Retreat" and I have no problem with "Skin Graft" atm. I think with these new polymorph abilities, the devs were trying to add a lot more mobility to the game by sneaking invisibly, dashing around with no cooldowns (which also sets bleeding) and flying around cause you can. I mean what's even the point of "Favourable Wind" (not that anyone used it anyway) or "Teleportation" anymore.

I don't think too many combinations can be done cause the skills don't last anymore than 2 - 3 rounds. This is why these combinations can be so important so if you activate them in the right order, they can do more damage in general or maybe more physical/magical damage etc... e.g. Using flight and Steel Skin could make it so you fly shorter distances but when you land, you deal some physical damage OR use tentacle lash after having activate Bull Horns will make you drag the enemy towards you (maybe not the whole way).

I will add some of these once we get some really good fleshed out ideas. Thanks for commenting tho

This was where I first saw the idea (thought it was on here, but it was reddit) https://www.reddit.com/r/DivinityOriginalSin2/comments/634zez/what_are_your_ideas_for_possible/

Here are some ideas on what combos could be (trying to keep in mind some balance, having pros and cons, etc.), this might be too many or too powerful. I also don't think Tentacle Lash combines well since it's not a consistent buff/transformation, I also think 3 way combos are too complicated to bother with. In general I think any combo skills should be usable once per combination transformation or they'd be too powerful (generating lots of free spells).

**Bull Horns & Spread Wings**
~~Dive Bomb~~
[Overview] Additional spell, Adds height bonus damage, decreases AOE, increases Mobility, 1 use per combo duration, can't be used same turn as Bull Rush, 2-3 AP cost

You fly up into the air, gaining height damage bonus (base +10%), plus any damage bonus from your original position (+/- depending on height), then after flying high up dive down, horns first, and skewer enemies in a small aoe line as you land.

**Bull Horns & Heart of Steel**
~~Gore~~
[Overview] Additional spell, damage + pierce + bleed (if no armor), single target (short range), 1 use per combo, (maybe) disables Bull Rush for this Bull Horns duration (or removes steel skin?), 2-3 AP

You Gore a nearby enemy with your Steel Bull Horns, then throw them to the ground, breaking off the tips of your horns, dealing (medium/high) damage + (low/medium) piercing damage and causing the target to bleed.

**Bull Horns & Chameleon Cloak**
~~Surprise Bull Rush~~
[Overview] Replaces Bull Rush while Chameleon is active, breaks chameleon once used, causes crit based on your weapon, otherwise same as Bull Rush

You Rush your opponents with your horns while invisible, catching them off guard and dealing critical damage

**Heart of Steel & Spread Wings**
~~Concrete Donkey (tribute to Worms)~~
[Overview] Additional spell, circle aoe damage, does (medium/high) damage plus extra to physical armor, (maybe) bonus from height advantage (+/-, no base), 1 use per combo, disables Flight for this turn, shorter range than flight, clears surfaces in the aoe, (maybe disables heart of steel?) (2-3 AP)

You fly high into the air, then using your steel skin drop from the sky like a Concrete Donkey on the enemies below, clearing the surfaces, dealing massive aoe damage to enemies in the aoe doing extra damage to physical armor