Larian Studios Forums Divinity: Original Sin 2 Divinity - Original Sin 2 - General Two handers and Warfare are overpowered like hell

Probably because they assume you need the AP to actually walk up to the target. Having a 3ap Fireball isn't as punishing since you're at range already.

Single handed attacks only cost 1 AP? Pretty sure my sword-and-board warrior always spent 2 AP when swinging that axe of his.

Afaik, single attacks cost 1 AP only when they are carried with small weapons (daggers), otherwise it's still 2 ap per hit.

Afaik, single attacks cost 1 AP only when they are carried with small weapons (daggers), otherwise it's still 2 ap per hit.

One way to balance both 2H damage output and the weakness of sword and board would be to reduce how much damage Warfare abilities get from weapon damage, increase how much they get from Strength, and add a flat, base amount. That would increase the ability damage of sword & boarders while decreasing ability damage of 2Hers, while not affecting normal attack damage (which should be skewed in favor of 2Hers).

Think this is a nice suggestion, although it would kill INT warfare hybrids with staff.

Indeed, and it's already poor to use an Int Warfare build with a staff anyway. Stalves have lower base damage than Str 2 handers and Warfare abilities only scale off of Strength, so it loses damage on 2 fronts.

Think most warfare skills are based off weapon damage atm, although I might be wrong.

You're right. The Warfare skills that are based off of the weapon use the damage the weapon deals, and then scale up additionally from Strength. I meant that Strength was the only attribute that scaled up Warfare abilities in addition to the regular attack's damage. Because of this, if your staff hits hard, your warfare abilities will hit as-hard. Str users will have their Warfare abilities hit harder than standard attacks though.

I'm sure playing a hybrid is viable (playing any way is viable at the moment), but I don't think it's optimal.
Melee characters generally have damage boosted by a weapon Combat Ability (e.g. 2H, dual wield, etc.), and spells will be boosted by Huntsman or Pyrokinetics. The only viable Combat Ability overlap that boosts both is if one stacks Pyrokinetics and always uses a Fire Staff and Fire Spells. Even in this case, the lower weapon damage of the staff and lack of stat scaling on the Warfare abilities will hurt (compared with standard Str 2H). The character won't be any worse off at shooting spells at least, but you'd still have spent some slots on the Warfare skills, and any time you actually have to use them it'll be strictly worse than what a Str user could do.
I think one can do it, but I don't think it's particularly rewarding. I'd rather just bring a Fire Wand in this case, ditch the Melee abilities, and try to assume high-ground for the damage boost and safer distance.
I guess I'm wondering, what are the advantages of Staff melee over a standard mage or standard Str melee?

You're right about warfare abilities based off weapon damage getting additional scaling from STR. But I think it might be the reason of the ridiculous damage they do. Thing is, you get the attribute bonus TWICE. STR increases the base damage of the weapon which is then used to determine the ability damage which is then AGAIN scaled by STR. Seems clearly broken to me, I'm probably going to make a separate suggestion about that.

-Elemental damage has certain advantages, get electric staff + rain for example

Staves do benefit from 2h skill btw...

Right, but if you stack the 2H skill it won't buff any of your spells. I'm just saying options for boosting weapon attacks and spells simultaneously are slim, basically just Pyrokinetics. Also, if one were only stacking 2H then spells would be very weak compared to someone who had stacked Huntsman instead. It would make the whole hybrid hard to justify. One can already go standard Str Warrior and bring a few elemental spells for CC and utility. Trying to have damage boosted in 2 directions at once is what weakens a character, I think.