Larian Studios Forums Divinity II The Dragon Knight Saga / Flames of Vengeance (English) Divinity II - The Dragon Knight Saga Survivable class?

Hey yall i got divinity 2 a while ago and ive tried a few combo's of classes. I must be doin something wrong cuz im getting pwned left and right. Can somebody tell me what class they were and stats and skills they had so they pwned on normal difficulty?

are you playing the original Ego Draconis? because in that game enemies were unbalanced and overpowered- and nigh unbeatable in large groups; in DKS the enemies have been balanced.

early on, the only things you have to fight are some goblins- and some skeletons... it's not until you've done away with some skeletons and a ghost, that the enemies become more diversed.

Anyone help a newb with Warrior build ... ??? (also some mention of rangers)


Often if you are having trouble there are other areas better suited to your level, a different approach may help, or there may be quests you can turn in to level, etc.

Early in the game a bow comes in handy for warrior and mage characters, even without investing in any ranger skills. Warriors can draw opponents to them a few at a time and get a little damage in first, and mages can switch attacks while waiting for mana regeneration or spell cooldown.


There are magical based melee weapons and bows, so if you build an intelligence based character you have the most flexibility in changing your playstyle later. There are no stat requirements on equipment, though, so regardless of your stat point distribution, it wouldn't be too hard to switch styles, anyway (possibly with the help of enchantments or charms).

I'm playing a ranger; unique bows easily outclass any random bows I've seen, and they are more focused on conventional damage (though can have a magical damage component, as well). I didn't put any stat points into intelligence, and have only run into problems due to that a couple times (with opponents that use Stun Arrows; one situation a different approach helped, the other I just used an intelligence and armour potion... and a couple healing potions).

k ty Raze, im tryin the build you posted on this thread also, http://www.larian.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=412000&fpart=1 since you seem to got it down. Did that build work out well for you btw? I just love bein melee lol.

also, do yall prefer dw or 2 hand weps?

Yes, that build was quite effective in the original release of D2:ED. In DKS there are some changes to combat (in particular the level dependence was reduced), skills, equipment, enchantments and other tweaks that will have an impact on character development. Some of the dexterity I added in D2:ED was to equip a better bow part way through the game, which would not be necessary in DKS, since stat requirements were removed from equipment (after about the middle of D2:ED I only used a bow for breaking crates, etc).

If you are playing the original release of D2:ED, check out the topic Character Optimization.


I played a duel wielding warrior in D2:ED, and didn't care for the look of two handed swords (though only tried one out briefly). There was debate about whether duel wielding or two handed was more effective, though you could build a successful character using either.

I have not played a warrior yet in DKS, but due to changes in how enchantments are applied, duel wielding is easily more effective. Mages should also duel wield in DKS, since the magic damage bonuses from both weapons are applied to each spell (the off-hand penalty is not taken into account, so there is no need for mages to boost the duel wield skill).

so what class are ya rollin with now raze in DKS?(Im playin DKS btw) Cuz i am completely clueless when it comes to builds lol

and im sorry to be a bother but can you post your stats and skills too? from what ive seen ur probably the most experienced on on these forums

I am playing a pure ranger in DKS. At the start of the game I was doing a little unarmed melee combat, as well, but after I adjusted my combat approach a little I no longer needed that as a backup (after awhile I put 3 or 4 skill points into Splitting Arrows, and assigned that to the button I had melee attack on).

I described most of my playthrough so far in the topic Who's playing DKS on nightmare difficulty ?, which contains many spoilers. I'll quote my stats and skills at the end of the D2:ED section of the game below in a spoiler.


I never tried Way of the Ranger until level 40, when I bought a bow with that skill bonus. The bow had a +5 bonus, and after using the skill awhile, I put 5 of my own skill points in.

i never really understood the appeal of rangers, i like to be in the face of enemies hearing their little goblin screams, but ill give it a shot since every1 seems to rave about it.

I usually play warriors, but since I did that in D2:ED, I wanted to try something different in DKS. Mages don't usually appeal to me, so that left a ranger. Whenever I get around starting another character, I'm going to try an unarmed warrior.

In any case, you'll have time at the start of the game to try out different things and adjust your strategy (though some of the more effective skills don't start becoming available until level 12 or 15).

well i tried the approch to the battle tower again on my 2handed warrior and felt like getting close was just crippling me, im gonna give your ranger build a shot lol, ty again raze

also, about how far are you in the game when you get the battle tower

Ranger is too OP in this game, if built "properly". It's not even Ranger itself, it's Way of the Ranger that REALLY needs a nerf, that skill is just too insane with Split Arrows. Even more so when combined with Death Blow. It also makes Ranger Strength useless, unless used as a point sink.

If you want to make a "cookie cutter" ranger...

Max Split Arrows
Max Way of the Ranger
Max Explosive Arrow
Max Death Blow
5x Mana Efficiency (can skip towards the end if mana leech in bow)
1x Life tap (can skip this towards the end if mana leech in bow)
1x Regeneration
1x Evade (not necessary though)

Of course you take into account the +skills you get from gear. Rest of the points you put anywhere, mind read, regeneration etc...

50 vit (base) <- get this to 50 before raising dex
50 dex (base)

That's all you really need. You don't need any points in spirit/str as a ranger.

If you make a ranger like that, it's just silly even in "nightmare". All challenge stopped after Battle Tower.

Max Split Arrows fires 16x arrows per shot. Every arrow can have like ~80% chance to crit (towards the end of the game). Every crit does well over 3k damage. That's over 40k damage per shot. When fired point blank, every arrow hits the same target, which means you can 1HK practically any boss in the game.

Now imagine if you have life leech in your bow. 15% chance to turn 25% of damage into HP. 40k damage = lots of HP.

Most fights end by pressing 1 & 2 on your keyboard.

You can also have like 2.8%+ HP/second natural regeneration. When you have 1.5k life, that means 42 HP per second.

Use at your own caution, a build like this will make the game too easy.



If you'd post the skills/stats of your 2H melee warrior, it would be easier to see what's "wrong".

When you approach the interior of the Battle Tower, there's one difficult battle there against the merc boss whatever. It's a good idea to lure them behind those wooden spikes to split their group apart, as not everyone will follow.

hey raze is ranger strength worth it? and did you use wisdom on this build as well?

Once you get access to the full Broken Valley, there are a couple places you can go that would be easier than the area around Lovis' tower. From where you meet Talana, head east along the mountain to clear some goblins, as well as west and then north up a mountain trail. Both goblin areas have an entrance into the derelict tunnels.


You get the battle tower in the high teens to low twenties for level. After you finish most of Broken Valley you can more easily do Maxos temple (the final opponent is using level 15 skills, so would be easier to deal with if you were at least close to that level).
After that you can get to Sentinel Island, where there are some quests to do and areas to explore before you can take over the battle tower (the island is a little smaller than the starting section of Broken Valley).

Your first encounter on Sentinel Island you can mindread to go up a level, so the higher level you are (I made it to level 22 in the fjords) the more of an experience bonus that will be. You don't need to get to a high level, but it would be better if you got to a new level before entering, to get a full level bonus.


Ranger Strength is worth it, IMO, especially early in the game. Playing another ranger, maybe by the time I could put 4 or 5 skill points into Way of the Ranger I wouldn't give as high a priority to increasing Ranger Strength, but until then Ranger Strength helps your base damage and doesn't have any cooldown periods (and there are enough skill points to invest in both). When you get the battle tower you will be able to unlearn all your skills, and can reinvest the skill points (the cost for doing this doubles each time you do so), so you don't need to worry about early game skills becoming useless once you get higher level ones.

I did not invest in Wisdom, but did keep any items I found with that bonus, to equip when turning in quests. By the end of the D2:ED section of the game I had +8, and in FoV on level 42 I can get up to level 14. There are opponents in FoV that respawn, so that kind of eliminates the need for Wisdom (or Mindread, though I did max that skill just before the end of the D2:ED section of the game).


A little bit of strength would help with your melee resistance (early in the game there are opponents that are going to get close) and HP regeneration. If I wasn't planning on doing some melee combat when I started my current ranger I don't know that I would have gotten my strength up to 20, but I don't consider those points wasted, either. I'd have to start another ranger to tell for sure, but I think 5 or 10 points might be enough to help at the start of the game, until you begin getting equipment with better resistance ratings and jewellery with HP and HP regeneration bonuses, etc.

thanks raze, helpful as always

btw im on sent. island and my 2hand back up weapon is doing way more damage than my bow and im full ranger, what am i doing wrong?

Have you been to the shipwreck camp yet? The merchant there has a bow you may want to take a look at (though with a level 22 requirement it could be awhile before you can use it if you didn't explore any of the fjords). I bought that bow, but used the Mining Guild set (included with the North American Xbox version and Steam PC version) until level 28 when I could equip a better unique bow available later.


What are your stats / skills?