Larian Studios Forums Divinity: Original Sin 2 Divinity - Original Sin 2 - Help/Tips/Tricks Help with build - Ranger

Hi,

I'm looking to start the game (co-op with a mate) as a ranger (probably as a customised Ifan), and I was wondering if someone could help me with a decent build. I need to be as non-squishy as possible while dealing some good dmg.

We both plan on taking the Lone Wolf skill, so there will only ever be two of us in the party, so for synergy we thought we could each take one of either Aero/Hydro, so one of us could cast rain, then the other could electrify the water (with me taking hydro probably because of high wits so I'd be casting rain first). Is this a good combo? Or are there better combos?

And stats wise I was thinking of putting a point (which gives me 2 points with lone wolf) in Warfare, and Scoundrel (so I can get Vampiric Aura and Enrage). Then I don't know whether to completely max out Huntsman (with at least 5 in Hydro), or only get Huntsman to level 5 and then put all the rest in Warfare for the added physical dmg?

Any help/advice would be appreciated!!

Also, I've read a few reports that Enrage doesn't seem to work for rangers? Does anyone know if that's true?

Well electrified water is not all that good as far as they have magical armor still... so you might wanna think about that aswell.

As for almost pure ranger, I would indeed go for warfare and scoundrel (scoundrel for teleport aswell, because its better to have two together with tactical retreat, and for adrenaline rush, which really helps).
What I would REALLY recommend is pyro1 (on both of you), so you can use haste and piece of mind (it is really good buff, especially wits part of it). And when already having 1 lvl of pyro, you can also use atleast searing daggers+pyro to ignite flammable surfaces

When your huntsman is 5 points atleast, I would then probably just go for "ranged" - same increase in damage, but critical chance on top of it.
And after that, few more points in scoundrel, for higher critical multiplier and movespeed.

Stats would be finesse and LOT of wits for initiative (key for ranger!) and crit chance. Talents probably lone wolf, hothead, pawn, arrow recovery, also one of you should have petpal.

The goal should be as high single target damage as possible, with great damage types versatility thanks to some piercing skills, elemental ranger skill and different arrowheads, while always having mobility skill at your disposal, few buffs and debuffs from arrowheads. Remember - ALWAYS BUY ARROWS, whenever you see them.

Of course 1 point in hydrosophist can help (rain+heal+magic armor mby), but is not your focus, and with just electrified water you wont do that much (unless your friend is fullmage to break magic armor

Just to clarify, what skills should I prioritise early on? Should I put a point (counts as two with Lone Wolf) in Marksman, Pyro, Scoundrel, Warfare, and Hydro as quick as possible? Then get Marksman to 5, then Warfare to 10? Or skip warfare (only the initial point) and put all my points into Ranged after getting Marksman to 5?

Cheers for the info TsunAmik. Massive help!

Hmmm, in my opinion pyro and huntsman should be first (for the buffs). Than add scoundrel or hydro depending on your feels(heal might be more useful early on tho), because that is useful for whole game. I would add warfare only after you find enrage skillbook, you have small use for that otherwise.

After huntsman 4 (that means 2 points from you, and rest should be from gear probably), I would just max ranged and then scoundrel or warfare (depending if you want higher damage overall or higher crits+movespeed).

Dont bother too much with memory, as most skills barely do more damage than your attack (especially when enraged), so only use skills with some extra value (cc, buffs). Of course add as much as you need, just dont over do it (you gain 1 slot every 2 levels). Instead of skills use your arrows and scrolls.

Ok, will do!

One more thing.... does my starting race/origin character matter that much? I wanted to start as Ifan so I could easily do his Origin quest for the crossbow (plus he has the wolf, +2 Initiative and +5% Critical Chance, and +1 Bartering). But would Sebille be better for any reason?

And I guess that leads to one final question.... should I use a crossbow or bow? Or just switch depending on what good bows/crossbows I loot?

Cheers again for all your help!

Well, I would not go for lizard, thats for sure. Dwars is also suboptimal.

Humans are very good for crit+init as you say and elf are very very good for their flesh eating ability (which gives you some xtra xp, allows you to solve some quests more easily and gains you free skillbook -which is not that good as it sounds), but their main advantage is flesh sacrifice - 1 extra ap and 10% damage boost, for cost of 1 point of most useless attribute And that extra AP can help a lot, because its for instance free cast of haste at turn 1, which in addition gives you 2 extra AP over your next two turns + movespeed.

Buuuuuut I guess thats really upto you, both of these are really good, one for init+crit, other for that flesh sacrifice, so go for the one you like more I guess

For bows and crossbows - I think crossbows are clear winners here, simply more damage. That movement penalty is not that important, as you will have two teleports and scoundrel + pawn+good boots compensate for that easily.

It's a pity that they -correctly- unnerfed crossbows (3 ap in the EA was bad) and in the same procedure indirectly nerfed bows which don't have advantages compared to crossbows but mostly only less damage.

I would opt for Far Out Man instead of Arrow Recovery. It depends on play style of course, I usually go against physical armor and use special arrows really sparsely. I don't like low percentage goodies. But the additional range had helped me in a lot of fights.

does far out man help with your basic attacks? Description states only your spells and scrolls if I remember that right... It if does, its no brainer of course, but I dont really think it does.

Also as ranger you should always have high ground if possible, and when you have high ground your range is rarely an issue anymore

Good question. I did not notice a difference in range between skills and normal attacks but I have to test.

Thanks for your help TsunAmik/geala, much appreciated!

You're better off maxing Scoundrel/Warfare/Huntsman before ever touching Ranged as they provide their bonuses multiplicatively, whereas Ranged does not.