Larian Studios Forums Divinity: Original Sin 2 Divinity - Original Sin 2 - Help/Tips/Tricks Respeccing before Act 2, help appreciated

I'm just at the end of Act 1 and am planning to respec all my characters, and I'd appreciate any advice. I'd like to step up to play on Tactical for the rest of the game, but having had a read through the forums it's clear that the way I've built my characters could be improved.

One thing I'm a bit unsure of is just how radically I can change my characters, given that I've already invested a fair bit of cash in skill books and don't have loads of money to buy a whole set of new skills. Maybe that isn't so important, and I can just suspend my suspended disbelief, step out of character and steal some skill books. I've been virtuous til now, see, and haven't stolen anything from the merchants. I think that's quite easy to do though?

Beast is my avatar, and I've been playing him as a 2H warfare type decked out in the tyrant gear. I think I'd like to keep him as a warrior / rogue type, either using a 2H weapon or maybe dual wielding swords. I'd quite like to make him a bit more rogue-ish, assuming that won't be a problem in terms of buying all the skill books I need

For the rest of my party, I've generally been using Ifan with huntman / ranged and a point in geomancer, The Red Prince as a not terribly effective tanky sort, and Lohse providing support and heals.

I'd quite like to keep Lohse around to see how her story progresses, but beyond that I don't really have any preferences for my other party members

So, I'd greatly appreciate any advice on what I can do to build better characters and a more balanced party to see me through to the end of the game. Thanks in advance!

Heya!

Ifan makes for an awesome ranged character. I'd keep him, and add some warfare to boost his physical damage and just a couple polymorph for wings and chameleon cloak. He doesn't really need much investment in skillbooks beyond huntsman skills and a couple of polymorph.

Executioner talent is nice on him, as rangers generally need to move less than melee and when they have to, there is tactical retreat/wings/ getting teleported/nether- swapped by your support mage.

Lohse you can keep as a support mage with healing, buffs from all elemental schools + aero skills for positioning. Up to you, but investing in elemental damage books with a mostly physical damage party is counterproductive. Give her a shield and a wand (good protection vs higher elemental damage on a staff that will be of little use to you with physical party)

You can try necromancy (does physical damage) or summoning, if you want her to contribute beyond healing, armor buffs and regen, support and control. That will however, require a lot of memory slots and your hydro and geo buffs will be less effective as you spread your skills thin.

As for your avatar warrior/rogue... you gonna have to choose which way to lean. For more rogue-ish character you NEED 2 daggers as most of scoundrel skills require it, and scoundrel and daggers scales off finesse instead of str (that 2h and 1h swords do)

That said, scoundrel is GOOD for 2h character as it increases your crit damage and you get decent crit chance investing in 2h. You just wont have too many uses for the skillbooks from scoundrel if you go 2h route. Mostly adrenaline and teleport, I'd wager. So, focusing mostly on warfare, some poly (bull rush etc is nice) and scoundrel for crit damage multi and some mobility will work out good for a 2handed focus. Warfare has some great melee crowd control and some moblity as well.

If you really want to keep beast more of a rogue than a warrior, those skills will work equally well for 2 daggers as warfare adds phys damage, but your skill layout will be very different, and you will be focusing on finesse instead of str.

You can keep red prince as a second str damage dealer with a shield (or 2h) and warfare, and put some points into hydro and geo for secondary buffs and off-healing without investing into int. It would work just fine.

Or! You can switch him for sebelle (elves make really mean rogues) and make her your primary finesse rogue/thief. That would let you keep your Beast avatar more fighter-like. Or get Fane and make him your rogue (he won't need any lockpicks for opening locks)

Anyway, I am not really seeing much wrong with your characters (other than severe lack of warfare on your phys damage dealers, really ) You will notice a rather harsh difficulty bump on tactician though. So, be prepared to use scrolls/potions, off-heals and off buffs and crowd control and pay more attention to positioning than on classic...