Larian Studios Forums Divinity: Original Sin 2 Divinity - Original Sin 2 - Suggestions and Feedback Polymorph makes dual wield useless

1 point of finesse = 5% damage and 1% dodge chance
1 point of dual wield = 5% damage and 1% dodge chance
putting points only in polymorph and using the extra ability points on finesse gives you the same benefit as though you had put points in dual wield, but instead of getting damage only when dual wielding, you get damage when dual wielding using a a two handed spear and using a ranged weapon all by just putting points into polymorph.

That is an interesting find and probably even more true, if you would go for STR.

Except you know... stacking.

Also doesn't Dual Wield get other bonuses at high level?

Its actually less true if you go for strength because strength increases your damage with strength weapons 5% and increases your physical armor by 2% so it provides a different bonus. But the bonus you get from dual wield and finesse are the exact same, which means there is no reason to put points into dual wield.

On top of that there are a lot more different types of finesse weapons than there are str weapons which means leveling polymorph in order to get finesse gives you a more diverse range of usefull weapons than if you leveled it for strength.

Strength weapons are one handed weapons and two handed weapons.
Finesse has ranged weapons, one handed weapons, daggers, and Two handed weapons (spears)

Leveling any of the weapons types (two-handed, dual wield, ranged, etc) gives you 5% more damage with that weapon type as well as some other bonus (1% crit per point in ranged, increased crit damage for two handed, and 1% dodge for dual wield) So because finesse and dual wield give the exact same bonuses it really only works as a true replacement for leveling dual wield.

However for example if I where to put 2 points into ranged, that would be 10% more damage with ranged weapons. If I where instead to put 2 points into polymorph and level my Finesse that would still be 10% more damage with ranged weapons, and also every single other type of weapon that uses finesse.

Polymorph has ruined the need to place points into leveling your weapon types for finesse weapons especially.

What do you mean stacking?

And no it doesnt, it forever only gives 5% damage when dual wielding and 1% dodge per point.

Polymorph will hit a maximum of 5 points. It doesn't keep going up forever.

Max is 10 points in any skill, if there is a soft cap of level 20 like in the original thats half of your levels only needing to go into polymorph, but youre right, eventually you would have to choose something else to specialize in.

Even if the game goes higher level than the last game, I dont see it going any higher than 30, and thats still 1/3 of your levels where leveling a weapon stat is pointless

I kind of get the point of the attribute bonus is supposed to allow for hybrid builds, since polymorph kind of seems inclined towards those, but it does seem like it will create balance issues and generally is just kind of a boring bonus for such a cool set of skills.

Moreover, dual wielding and finesse shouldn't have the exact bonus, that's just lame.

5 of your own points. Up to 10 if you have things that raise your skill points.

I just tested it, you can place up to 10 point in any combat ability yourself, and up to 5 points in any civil ability.

Is five the real cap or are you mixing it up with DOS1?

5 Points per skill tree would be pretty odd, regarding the fact, that the max level is 30?

Also Polymorph skills like Tentacle depend on STR, so going Dex would be less effective even while Bull rush depends on weapon type.

the invis makes it worth it for rogues since the scoundrel one got nerfed to the ground

Tentacle lash and bull horns are the only damaging spells from poly right now, the others are all utility. My main point is how useless dual wield is because of your ability to get the same benefit from extra points in finesse.

And thats the problem, polymorph gives you a huge amount of utility, not just in its spells, but in the weapon choices you have.

"what would be best for this fight? oh Ill use a bow, because I dont want to get close to X enemy. This fight ill use a rapier and shield so I have more armor stats without losing out on a lot of damage because all my points are in finesse anyway. This fight ill use the invisibility skill and dual wield to try and quickly take out this priority target."

You can do all this without losing out on damage, whereas if I had put my points into say ranged, I would be stuck, it would be "Well dual wield would be better for this fight, but if I dont have my bow equipped I lose 40% damage" Which is not the case when you only level Poly and put points in Finesse.