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ariana Offline OP
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I am entirely convinced that two melee characters do best through the start of Chapter 3 - and I have replayed them often enough that while I may be wrong <smile> I am not lacking in data. Two characters with two handed weapons sharpened to the maximum and almost all skill points allocated to using them well are an awesome combination.

Soon I'll start a new game (hey - starting over is what I do - I know chapters 1 and 2 real well now).

Later in the game does it pay to have a magic/melee mix or a bow or crossbow/melee mix or even skip melee entirely <shudders in horror at the blasphemy>?

Obviously I have no need to know in terms of skill points which can be reallocated as needed - cash now being ample. But attribute points are less mutable and a future mage needs points in intelligence. And an archer may need more in agility and less in strength than a melee.

Side question - what skill in detect traps will I need for the tougher traps later on? My last game I never died and needed to restore a prior save except twice to traps and I found that annoying - I prefer never dying at all.


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I found that hero mage/DK warrior worked really well. Elemental missile with a lot of points in every element kicks an almost obscene amount of damage, and with none of the initiative problems an archer has.

Some creatures are immune to one element - none are immune to all four. You will need a lot of Mana potions to play a mage, but they are easy to get.

I won the game without too many problems using this combo, so for that reason I would recommend it <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />


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Trap skill - up to Act 2 => I was content with lvl 3. But trapped chests/cocoons etc. don't show up with this skill. In earlier versions I used trap disarming up to lvl 3 - until I found out: gamers use their summ. dolls to sacrifice them. Sadly, they can't open "chests" anymore.

I played with my DK as 2-hander and my char as bow/mage (only Shaman spells). Both chars have relatively high survival/speed. My archer + agility - my DK + strength (I do need a mule, right?). I'm in Act 2 now and starting to build my char up with intelligence/mana (charms, items). I'm not the combat tactic gamer, played this combo in all versions, cause I go for quests.

Don't play with summ. dolls - only for traps or splitting chars to check open doors, run through traps. Raze says => survival and resistances are important for traps.

I'm lvl 16 atm, have to clear the fire area.

Kiya

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Doing massive damage is great <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />
Doing massive damage while your opponents can do nothing back is even better <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/biggrin.gif" alt="" />
That is why I prefer a something/mage combo.
The mage is just around to toss Hammer/paralyze.
And when it gets boring lightning storm, meteor or wind.



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ariana Offline OP
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Thanks for the replies. I've seen nothing to persuade me that archery is beneficial (and my archers have been less effective than my mages or melees) so as a change of pace I think I'll try a mage even though the chapter 1 spells su, er, are imperfectly beneficial. You do get access to better spells quite early in chapter 2.

A few mentioned DK as melee and hero as mage. The theory to going the other way is to have hero with enough strength to use the good armor and stick the DK (who has built-in armor) with high int and low strength. Am I missing a good reason to have the hero as the mage?


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The DK has higher starting and maximum resistances, but other than that I think it is mostly just that the warrior style is cosmetically fitting for the DK. The hero can be more customized and adjusted to a particular build, so some people do that, and leave the DK as a tank.

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Hmm, you can unlearn skills, but how will you increase your intelligence if you find out the end fights are too tough for a warrior? Though, if you have enough Yit iceri charms and keep perm potions about intelligence/mana for your char - you can change then <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/think.gif" alt="" />

This is why I'm looking forward to you finishing act4, Ariana.

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I am having alot of luck with my dk as archer. I have a shadow bow with 50-150 damage so he can carve most things up before they get close. And he can take care of all those blody cowards who dont want to stand and fight against my hero with a sharpened axe and a shield. Lightningstorm seems like a very good spell too because you can use it against enemies in other rooms. Very useful in the battlefield anyway. Though I am more for a archer because I dont want to spend a million potions.

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Any of the weather/nature spells can hit something in another room or through roofs.
High intelligence = faster mana regen( oh and more mana too <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/winkwink.gif" alt="" /> ).


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Playing 2 Melee characters, one with a bow to handle the creatures that run away, makes for a relatively easy game until you get to the final battle. In that battle your melee character may get their butt handed to you, especially if you are not playing on the very easy difficulty setting. That was my first game experience.

Now I am playing DK=2-H melee, and Hero=Mage. No need for Bow skill, much more fun, and massive damage by the Mage (attacked by 4 Fire elementals, one Hammer spell = 3 dead and one almost dead Fire Elementals).

In Divine Divinity the bow skill was more critical, since once you got a bow and a point in bow skill you could easily clear the entire population of Orcs surrounding the starting town and rack up massive exp. Not quite as easy when you have to manipulate 2 characters in DB.

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I preferred a frost weapon in DD, so I went for a mage with paralyse.
Then I think 'FREEZE [beep]'


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Yupper, Freeze + Bow for Orc Drummers, Giant Orcs, Orc Chietain, etc...

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First time through, I used a ranger type hero and a 2-h sword dk. Though the DK wins in terms of damage, the ranger can kill monsters without taking a single hit by combining sneak and a good bow skill. I found myself entering melee combat just to get rid of the potions that were clogging up my inventory and weighing me down so much I couldn't run anymore <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/evilgrin1.gif" alt="" />.


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