Larian Studios Forums Divinity 2 - Ego Draconis (English) Help/Tips/Tricks Help with attribute point distribution (and skills

Hi everyone. Just started playing yesterday and so far I'm at level 4. My plan is to do mainly melee and maybe supplement it with some ranger abilities. But I was hoping there was some quick way to switch between a sword and bow...is there not a hotkey for this, for example?

Aside from that, though, I'm wondering about my attribute points. So far I've been putting 1 point in Vitality, 1 point in Spirit, and 2 points in Strength. I don't plan to put a point in Spirit each level, this was just to build up a base of mana.

I've always enjoyed playing ranged characters as well, but my experience with the goblins in Farglow was less than enjoyable with the bow...perhaps I didn't give it enough time. However, I encountered a couple of level 5 skeleton mages in the tunnels beneath the burnt chapel that continually killed my warrior until I decided to switch to a bow and try that. Well, this made it nearly trivial since all I had to do was fire and sidestep their magic attacks until they were dead.

So it'd be nice to switch to this option every now and then, but what about Dexterity? Do I need to start putting points into that too? Or should I be trying to balance out points across all stats anyway, since they all help all types of characters?

What's the general consensus for building a warrior/ranger hybrid class?

As for skills, these are what I have planned:

Magic Blast, Mana Leech, Fire Wall, Rush Attack (1 point), Battle Rage, Life Leech (1 point), Bleed, Death Blow, Potion Efficiency (?), Evade (1 point), Explosive Arrows, Lockpick (later in the game?), Dual Wield or Two-Hand (still undecided), and perhaps Summon Demon

Right now I have 2 unused skill points because I can't access any of these yet (already have Rush Attack). Should I be saving them or using them on other things?

Thanks.

Edit: Mainly, I just don't want to hurt myself later in the game. I don't know if this is that type of game where you really need to understand some things before leveling up (like the Gothic series). Or does it not matter if I distribute my points as I want?

On xbox 360, if you hold down one of the colored buttons for a few seconds, a selection box will pop up where you can link that button to an item. I, for example, would use B for my sword and link A with my bow.


I tried to reveal as little as possible about the story line, but to be on the safe side I added a spoiler tag:


As for skills, I like to keep around 5 points in reserve. That way, if I encounter a particularly hard opponent, I can reload a recent save and apply the points to a skill which would be a help in that fight.

Keep an eye out for skill and stat books for both human and dragon forms, there are quite a few and can be really helpful.

On the PC you can use the hotkeys F1-F3 to switch between different weapon sets. On the Xbox you can assign melee and ranged attacks/skills to different buttons, and the character will automatically switch as required.

A bow is quite handy at the start of the game, and helpful even without any ranger skills through the middle of the game. Late in the game, playing a strength based duel wielding warrior, I mostly just used a bow for breaking crates, etc. My next character will probably be more of a ranger.


Character Optimization

I put 5 points into Spirit total. Vitality I got up to 31, though probably wouldn't do so again; I was going to stop around 20, but trying to take out the level 27 guards in the quarry tower before getting the battle tower, I figured extra hit points would help, and put the spare 10 stat points I had into Vitality (next game I'd just leave them until later, as it was intended).

Strength I got up to 47, with another 20 points from my end game equipment. Earlier in the game I would take Dexterity or Vitality bonuses just as readily, everything else being equal; it was chance that Strength ended up predominant on my final equipment.

Dexterity and Intelligence were both 25 at the end of my game, though I wasn't deliberately keeping them the same. I boosted Intelligence some to help with the magic armour rating and mana refill rate, then later used the Potion of Wisdom (+5 Int). Dexterity was always less that Strength, but before the end game I had several extra points due to equipment bonuses.
Near the end of the game there were a few bows around I couldn't use, IIRC with minimum requirements of 28 or 29 Dexterity.

I had 39 unused stat points at the end of the game, at level 36, so could still have adjusted my character build if I had needed to, or maxed Strength if I wanted to make things easier (with the higher damage bonus).


I don't know if you need both a lot of magic and ranged skills, especially if you intend to be predominantly a warrior. In any case, about half way through the game you will be able to unlearn all your skills, and reinvest the skill points as you wish. The cost in gold for this doubles each time you do so, but assuming a reasonable amount of looting you should be easily able to unlearn skills 3 or 4 times (I did so twice).
You can not redistribute your stat points, but you should be able to adjust your build as you level, if you wish, especially near the start of the game. There are many viable builds, though, so you don't need to worry about having to maximize every aspect of the character in order to do well.

The skill Mana Efficiency helps reduce your mana requirements (50% at level 5), for spells or summoning your creature (which you should get around level 12, or so). If you are mostly playing a melee warrior, Mana Leech would help also (I put 1 skill point into this, though I'm not sure I really needed it).

Level 1 of the healing skill comes in handy. I invested in Potion Efficiency, though I'm not sure I needed it after investing a couple points in Life Leech and Regenerate, and one in Healing; the second time I unlearned my skills, late in the game, I didn't bother re-learning it.

Lockpick I maxed early, though some people prefer leaving locked chests until later, since in some cases they can scale somewhat to your level, so opening them later will give better loot. I didn't see much point in getting a bunch of good loot after it would have been helpful, though, and didn't want to keep track of where all the locked chests were, to be able to go back and get them later.

I had unused skill points most of the game, though usually not a lot. If there are no other skills that you want or think would be useful, then hang on to them until you reach the level requirements to learn the skills you want.

Skill Books/Stat Books/Dragon Skill Books Complete (spoilers)


Welcome to the forum.

Ugh, I knew this and then forgot it! I totally deserve a "RTFM" on this one!




At what level did you start putting points into Dex/Int?



Why would you have any unused stat points? Didn't you use them right away when you leveled?



I read about how some people wait til level 10 or so, but I don't want to keep track of chests either. Plus I read that once you approach a chest, the contents are determined, so coming back to chests 10 levels later probably won't result in loot any better than the level I was at when I approached it. I guess I'll put a point or two in there now, since I have two unused points.




Thanks!

I started off spreading stat points out relatively evenly, for the first 3 or 4 levels. The next 3 or 4 I tried to concentrate more on Strength and to a lesser extent on Dexterity, but it varied based on bonuses on equipment that I upgraded to, or requirements on new stuff. Around level 8 to 10 I had more melee and ranged resistance than magic, and started to run into more mages, so boosted Intelligence some more. Playing again I'd probably only put a few points into Intelligence, and see if I could get by with being more vulnerable to magical damage (temporary boost potions are an option for tough fights, or equipment enchantments could help with resistances).

After going up a few levels, I started leaving a few spare stat points (unless I figured I needed them somewhere specific), so if I ran into problems, or found some equipment with stat requirements I didn't meet, etc, I would be able to adapt more easily. Sometimes it was just a case of not knowing where they could be best applied, so leaving them until later to decide.
Once I got into the high 20s for level, I didn't really need to apply any stat points. There were still challenging opponents and areas, but nothing terribly difficult, where I needed to burn through healing potions or kept dying. Leaving the stat points unused made sure the game didn't get too easy.


With locked chests, the contents are determined when the chest is opened. For merchants, unlocked chests, mineral veins, etc, the contents are determined when you get close enough and run the crosshairs over them (merchant inventories get reset each time you level). If you disable the option to show crosshairs, inventories can be determined when you are still a fair distance away.

If you save before the contents are set, you can check the inventory and reload if there is nothing of value. I wouldn't waste a lot of time reloading, though, especially since the game seems to keep track of how long it has been since you last loaded the game, and tends to give you better loot if you don't reload. Due to the random item generation, though, you can get better loot sometimes if you try a few times, which can come in handy for chests that always give a good quality item or boss type opponents that always drop something when defeated (save just before finishing them off), etc.
Reloading can be useful at the start of the game to get equipped, and I reloaded to make sure I got at least a couple malachite gems out of each malachite vein (3 are not too difficult to get, 4 are possible, but pretty rare). Malachite gems are required for all level 10 enchantments (I mostly stuck to level 9, since they have almost the same effect but use common ingredients), and for any healing aura on jewelry (so I only used level 10 healing auras, being lucky enough to find that enchantment formula in the Broken Valley enchanter's cellar, with a bit of reloading).


If you skipped Dae's comments in the spoiler tag, you don't really need to; there is just a mention that there are a couple confined spaces in the game where pure ranger tactics may not be the best approach.

Thanks for the guidance. I think I'll put a few points in Dex/Int over my next level or two (just hit level 5 and put points into both of them so I could equip a bow -- using a bow makes certain encounters much easier right now).

I also stuck a point in Lockpicking and have opened a few chests with it. I found a skill book so I have 3 unused skill points right now, which will probably remain unused until I hit level 6 for some skills and then again at level 10. I'm not sure how many skills I can expect to max. I guess I'll end up with roughly 35 skill points by the end of the game? So I could max about 6 skills (with single points here and there in other skills, like Healing, Rush Attack, etc.)

I appreciate all the tips. I like having some general knowledge regarding point distribution in games like this, because I don't want to back myself into a corner later.

When I unlearned my skills before heading to the Hall of Echoes (near the end of the game, level 36) it gave me 76 free skill points, with another 6 skill points available in the Hall of Echoes.

Skill Books/Stat Books/Dragon Skill Books Complete (spoilers)


The Character Optimization topic also has some suggestions on stat point distribution.

I suppose it's nice that you can respec your skills, but it almost seems ill-advised to change your playstyle too much, given that you can't respec your attribute points. So if you invested much more in Strength than Dex/Int, it wouldn't help to respec from a warrior build to a ranger or mage build. But maybe it's better for simply fine-tuning your skills, perhaps not maxing something a second time around, or skipping things that are no longer useful (probably Healing late in the game?).

As you say, there are some skills helpful at the start of the game which you may not use later, but I personally found level 1 of Healing to be useful even late in the game, though not needed very frequently. I tried Battle Rage, for example, which did help, but I only used it a couple times, so when I reskilled after getting the battle tower, I didn't bother relearning it. At that time I maxed Potion Efficiency, thinking that would help, but I didn't really need it, so the second time I unlearned my skills I didn't bother relearning it.
It is also possible to switch from using a two handed weapon to duel wielding, or vise versa, etc, and depending on your stat distribution it may be possible to make more drastic changes to your character build (an Intelligence based warrior could pretty easily switch to a mage, where a Strength based warrior could have difficulty, requiring charms or a few levels worth of stat points to bring Intelligence and Spirit up).


After you get the battle tower, about half way through the game, you will be able to raise the level cap of most skills (Lockpick and Mana Efficiency only have 5 levels, for example, so there are no upgrades for them). There are a couple stages for the upgrades, for increasing amounts of gold (the first can bump the level cap up to 10, the second up to 13, or so, depending on the skill).

Wow, I didn't know that. I was planning for 5 points in most of the skills I wanted to take. Now I may need to rethink some things if some of those skills can go higher.

I maxed Mana Efficiency (5), Lockpick (5) and Dual Wielding (13), and boosted Bleed up to level 10 (max is 14, but the effect per skill point barely improves after level 10). With all other skills I got by with just a couple levels (in many cases level 1 was good enough).


I forgot to mention the main reason I unlearned my skills the first time. There is a skill to increase your inventory capacity, which is not needed once you have the battle tower, and can use the chest there to store spare equipment, books, plants, minerals and pretty much anything else you wish. Getting back the 4 skill points I put into that skill was the largest single adjustment I made when unlearning my skills. Playing again I'd know better what I needed to keep and what I could get rid of, and wouldn't need that skill.

I was also hoping to be able to re-distribute the starting slayer skills (I didn't need level 1 of weapon expertise I wasn't going to use), but they stay at level 1; only points you add get removed. You do recover the point from the bonus skill from you choice in Farglow (Poison Arrow for a ranger, Whirlwind for a warrior...), though.

Oh good, I was wondering about Whirlwind, although I imagine I may keep it, but I suppose time will tell. Is it worth going more than 1 point?

Whirlwind is useful for breaking crates and such. And honestly I've encountered instances where some extra damage from it would've been nice, but the damage is additive: 1.5, 6, etc, so whether you do 1 damage or 1000 damage, it's still adding the same. Unlike Poison Arrows and especially Fireball, which are completely useless, Whirlwind does still have uses in battle, even at Lv1.

As for stuff like mindread and the weapon skills, I always interpreted having a skill point in them as enabling them, period. Other skills have zero effect if you have no points in them, so technically, no points in say, single handed weapon expertise would mean you are unable to fight single-handedly (or even equip just 1 weapon) altogether. Considering single handed is necessary to use sword+shield and dual wield, and unarmed is necessary just to remove weapons, you need those weapon expertises anyways.

I left Whirlwind at level 1. At higher levels the cooldown time is reduced (to 2 seconds at level 11), but I didn't really use it enough to boost that much. It does come in handy occasionally, though.