Larian Studios Forums Divinity - Original Sin Divinity Original Sin - Help/Tips/Tricks Tenebrium.. clarification, please?

I keep seeing contradicting statements regarding Tenebrium DAMAGE and full-Tenebrium weapons, so I was wondering if someone could give me clarification on this so I can plan accordingly.

Now! It was my understanding that, generally, a really good randomized weapon you could find would be better than a same level Tenebrium weapon, because it could be further improved with Blacksmithing/Crafting. Is this true?

It was also my understanding that, once you add a Tenebrium bar to a normal weapon, it only gives it BONUS Tenebrium damage, and would not use the Tenebrium skill for its total damage calculation. That, and it could still be further improved via Smithing/Crafting. Is this true? (Edit: I see after someone posting screenshots for me that this is not true; adding bonus Tenebrium damage does indeed cause it to use the Tenebrium skill, rather than continue to use the corresponding normal weapon skill.)

Next, I've heard that adding bonus Tenebrium damage to a normal weapon, and then overwriting that bonus with a normal Elemental bonus, would cause the Elemental bonus to assume the value of the Tenebrium bonus, as if the Tenebrium bonus (via dragging a bar on to a weapon) would have been higher than if you'd first put an Elemental bonus on it. Is this true?

And lastly, if you add Tenebrium damage to a normal weapon, does the bonus damage gained use the Tenebrium skill to become stronger at all, or is its strength solely governed by your level of Smithing/Crafting? (or is it a static value?)


So.. yeah. That's it. Thanks in advance~

Tenebrium weapons and the weapons you find if they are the same level can have the exact same base top damage. Theorethically this makes them equal, sadly enemies in the game seem to have a very low resistance to tenebrium compared to all other resistance types. Thus you will do more damage having a tenebrium weapon due the less of your damage being absorbed.

Therefore my conclusion is that a Tenebrium weapon is better, however it is not so much better that non-tenebrium weapons are useless. However there is a part in the game where you are required to have a tenebrium weapon to accomplish a certain task. This ofcourse does not mean that you need to go for tenebrium weapons or that it makes them better then non-tenebrium weapons, however just saying that somewhere along the line in the game you are required to have a weapon that deals tenebrium damage.

Once you add any form of tenebrium damage to a weapon it will use it's tenebrium skill regardless of the normal weapon skill it used. (You already noticed this and you are indeed correct.)

Adding elemental bonus to weapons depend on your crafting skills and as far as I know you need crafting 2 for a small bonus and crafting 5 for a medium bonus, the exception being joshua's spice which gives a large fire bonus. However you can easily test this yourself by just playing around with crafting, save before experimenting and then reload. Ofcourse the higher level weapon you have the higher bonus damage will become.

I don't really understand your last question, but I think you are asking if tenebrium skill infulences tenebrium added elemental damage. If that is the case, then no and yes. That's a really great answer isn't it? :P

I shall try to explain it.

You already noticed the moment you enchanted a weapon with tenebrium it will use your tenibrium ability, so once you add tenebrium to a normal weapon it is no longer a normal weapon. Your tenebrium ability affects the bonus % damage you gain when using a tenebrium weapon. So no it does not directly affects the amount of damage you deal with added elemental bonusus. And yes it will directly influence your damage if you use a weapon that counts as a tenebrium weapon.

I hope that was clear enough.

With kind regards,

Rashar.

As for your question whether Tenebrium weapons render other weapons obsolete, they do not. Here is the rundown of the pros and cons:

The Pros:

1. Aside from some mobs in the final bossfight, no mortal enemies are immune to Tenebrium damage. Most enemies' Tenebrium resistance caps out at 30%, whereas immunity to at least one element and 50%+ resistance to others is quite common in the last act of the game.

2. The Tenebrium skill covers all weapon categories as long as Tenebrium weapons are used. This can be useful for characters that switch between weapon categories - 1h/2h warriors, 1h/Bow rogues, Bow/Xbow rangers.



The Cons:

1. Tenebrium weapons cannot be boosted with a whetstone/moonstone or augmented with elemental damage. Whetstone + elemental augmentation can boost a weapon's damage by over 30%.

2. Tenebrium weapons cannot be augmented by Tormented Souls, which grant +1/+1 Stength/Dexterity to the weapon and stack with other augments (+2/+2 from level 17 onwards).


As you can see, unless you have no characters with Crafting in your party, Tenebrium weapons are not the be-all end-all gear. I have completed the game without using Tenebrium weapons(aside from one quest), since I kept finding or crafting better non-Tenebrium weapons at every level after they became available.

Well, this is not entirely true - i upgraded a crossbow with Bowstring, Tormented Soul and Sextant. And then i added Tenebrium.
Now i got a very powerful weapon for all mobs.

What you have is not a tenebrium weapon, it is a normal weapon with tenebrium damage added to it. The game makes a difference between the two. A tenebrium weapon has (a) the word 'tenebrium' in its name, (b) a special glow, and (c) a warning about causing the Rot. A normal weapon that you enchant with a tenebrium bar is still a normal weapon. It does deal tenebrium damage as a bonus damage to the normal damage, but it does not give the wearer the Rot. You can safely sell it to any merchant.

Some clarification:
Any kind of weapon skill, single-handed, bow or tenebrium, just modifies base damage of the weapon. Which is just slashing, crushing and piercing. WIth exception of staffs, where base elemental damage of staff is modified.

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There are two types of weapons that use tenebrium skills. One are the weapons that by default have tebebrium. They have "nasty" weapon models and icons. Most of them are not enhanced by magic, but there are some with additional abilities.

These weapons can not be additionally enchanted or improved by crafting. They also have prerequisites, like requiting 1-2 skill levels of tenebrium in order to be used.

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Other type of weapon that uses tenebrium skill is regular weapon enchanted with tenebrium by crafting using tebebrium bar.

This kind of weapon, after adding tenebrium will not anymore use regular weapon skill, and use tenebrium skill instead.

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Adding tebebrium bar to the weapon gives more extra damage then adding elemental essence to the weapon.

But there is a trick. Enchant regular weapon with tenebrium and then add elemental essence. This will swap tebenebrium damage bonus with elemental bonus. Thus, you'll get more elemental damage then just by adding elemental essence to normal weapon.

Rashar & player1 says T skill is utilised once a weapon's crafted with T-bar & is no longer a 'normal' weapon but ivra says it's still a normal weapon (not sure if he meant it uses T skill as well) and can be further enchanted &/or enchantments swapped. So to be sure, is T skill utilised ivra?

player1 - that trick of yours, adding elemental essences after T - does this mean it goes back to utilising one/two-handed skill?

Cheers

I'll try again. There are actually two aspects of the game that handles tenebrium weapons and they do it differently. The first one is the definition of what a tenebrium weapon is. The second is the skills and how they work. I told you about the definition of a tenebrium weapon. player1 told you how the skills work with regards to weapons that does contra does not deal tenebrium damage. Both are true.

Whoa, thanks for all the replies! After having two saves that can now use Tenebrium (but can't find true Tenebrium weapons yet, haha), I can fiddle around with it (and have) by adding it to other weapons, etc.

Another question, though. If I add a Tenebrium bar to a weapon, it gains extra Tenebrium damage ("Shadow" damage, according to the combat log) on top of the physical damage (which the Tenebrium skill boosts).

Do true Tenebrium weapons (that have the dark models, can't be upgraded, etc.) deal 100% "Shadow" damage, or is it still considered physical (be it crushing/slashing/piercing)? (ie: would the combat log still say "X hit monster for 150 physical" or whatever.)

yes

So assuming you max the appropriate skill (normal weapon skill or tenebrium skill), is it better in the end-game to:

1) Use a "true" tenebrium weapon
2) Use a crafted weapon with whetstone upgrade and +tenebrium damage (via applying a tenebrium bar)
3) Use a "found" weapon with elemental damage and +tenebrium damage (via applying a tenebrium bar)

?

depends on which kind of t weapons you come across is the most powerful by the end game.

I've heard people going 2) and create some very sick weapons. I myself, not into crafting weapons from scratch, just upgrade legendary weapons and then add Tenebrium enchantment.

So assuming you do find a "pretty good" legendary of the type you need, would 3) be better than 2), even though you can't whetstone-upgrade it?

Also, I guess 1) is worse than the others? I'm basically trying to figure out if it's worth it to invest that extra point in Blacksmithing for the extra whetstone boost.

Actually, come to think of it, if you plan on 2), you're guaranteed to have a weapon at your level every level, so maybe that's ideal?

you can sharpen legendary weapons. doing all the upgrades possible before tenebrium enchantment, that's all.