Larian Studios Forums Divinity: Original Sin 2 Divinity - Original Sin 2 - General About Sparking Swings...

Hey all!

I just wanted to share something regarding Sparking Swings that I noticed.

As far as I have heard/read/searched this skill has been bugged for a long time, in a way that it does not last for the indicated amount of rounds but rather only 4 hits. I have not found any information whether this behavior has changed and I can confirm the skill was bugged this way when I tested it on my first playthrough around level 10 (something like two weeks ago). Master of Sparks is of course its own, functioning, cool and deadly story...

However, yesturday and today I have been doing a second playthrough, testing my own cooked "Necrospark" build and I wanted to use Sparking Swings as soon as I can. So around level 4, I bought tomes from Amadias Sanctuary and got my sparks rolling (forgot that Stingtail sold fire books before Sebille made lizard-pie out of him...).

Lo and behold, the skill functions as it should for me at the moment! I noticed that the skill did not end prematurely like it did on my first playthrough and started really testing it out. I am dualwielding, making purposedly only melee attacks and the skill stays on for the whole 3 rounds, sending sparks with every swing.

Has anyone else experienced this? Has the skill been fixed, is this old news and it just bugged for me for some reason on my first playthrough? Or could there be some underlying issue with the bug regarding in which phase/level of the game you actually use it? I am intrigued!

Sparkling Swing was never bugged. It was always intended to only hit 4 times and then expire. The skill description does not mention the 4 charges, but it is indeed part of the design.

If you open the Divinity Engine, you can see that the number of charges for Sparkling Swing is set at 4. You can adjust the number of charges to any number you desire in a mod.

This actually makes sense when you think about it. Each spark from Sparkling Swing hits for 100% damage which scales with Level and Pyrokinetic. If you use all 4 charges, you would be dealing 400% damage for 1 AP, which is insane.

On a side note, Venom Coating and Elemental Arrows do not have the 4 charges limitation, but each hit only deals 40% damage.

This is also why I disagree with people saying this game does not encourage hybrid builds. These elemental weapon skills actually have top tier AP efficiency.

When you main damage type is physical, dealing magical damage hardly does you anything good.

Well the thing is... Whatever the intent has been/is at the moment, I have experienced exactly what you describe in regards to the 4 hits and done with Sparking Swings during my first playthrough, testing the skill around level 10 and onwards.

NOW, on my level 6 character in Fort Joy area I just tested it. Setup:
I cast Sparking Swings, I am dualwielding. I did nothing but basic attacks in the fight with the buff on, for testing purposes. I was hasted. I did a total of six basic dualwield attacks, hitting twice with each 2AP spent, both individual hits procced individual sparks that hit a nearby monster. All six attacks procced sparks for a total of 12 sparks, and I still had the buff running for the last round to come (the fight ended at that point).

So I am in fact experiencing at this very moment the skill behaving exactly like the tooltip is saying, which mind you I have not experienced earlier.

Oh and I agree 100% with your assessment of the hybrid builds, I like them and use for great effect (I play only on Tactician, and I feel they are not at all lacking)!