Larian Studios Forums Divinity - Original Sin Divinity Original Sin - Help/Tips/Tricks Formation and Positioning! (???)

So, anyone got any expertise on this? I've tried the formations , which I finally understand now, but even though they do work, I find that every time a battle begins the entire formation is much too far away from the opponent!

Am I missing something? or... would I be correct in assuming that this was designed as such on purpose so that the player doesn't get an advantage for usually going first?

1. Mages - have to waste too much AP to get into range. Yes, I can delay, but that just gives them an entire round of summoning or pot shots at my squishies before I can take any measures (which is why I have mages in the first place and not 4 tanks!) The required movement means there's not enough CC I can do to minimize the counter attack. I do use Far Out Man btw, and GC on one of them.

2. For my 2nd character ranger: it's also pretty bad. Shooting and getting back to safety would be doable, but there's really no AP or amount of skills that can afford me to first move into acceptable range, and then move back out to safety. There's no AP left for Invisibility, unless I just don't attack lol.

3. I'm not sure still if the horizontal line formation is preferable or if it just moves everyone even farther back. Trying to sneak in has been a disaster each time - big chaos


So what do you guys do? =)

I hate sneaking it fails at all the wrong times, Some players swear by it though.

Why does your Archer need to move to safety? Archer should be able to engage from a safe distance, is his sight range terrible? Doesnt your Tank run up front and get the enemy to engage him and doesnt he prevent enemies from running past him with opportunity attacks?

I use single file -line astern formation, Knight, mage, Rogue front to back in that order.

Tank on point, always needs to be closest anyway and is the faceman, barterer, looter-identifier, digger and packmule anyway, more likely to survive traps and causes the most damage when he hits, not having him in the fight is a loss of 50% of total offensive power of the party-swing first, swing fast, swing hard, swing often.
Mage in the middle since spells have shorter range than Bows, which puts our rogue in the back because he has longer range, and more AP.

AS soon as I see enemas I Hold down control and try to rush the closest of them for a first attack sometimes it works sometimes it does not, but it does tend to get you as close as possible.

Mage usually spends first turn buffing the fighter and rogue anyway instead of trying to attack so it lets the enemies use up AP to get into engagement range.

Hope that helps a bit.

Have fun storming the castle!

To be honest, I'm kind of glad that trying to sneak in results in a fail most of the time. I feel like it'd be kinda cheap, and it's not like this game is incredibly hard anyway.

Thanks for your input!

Hmm, ok so I've been playing my Ranger at medium range, but I guess you think I should be playing them farther out? Yeah the range isn't fantastic... I don't like accuracy below 60-70, it makes me unhappy! The thing is that Attribute points are in very short supply. I've had to increase Speed and Con already (for Glass Cannon). So should I put more points into perception (for distance accuracy) instead of Dex? Right now they're both at 10. I've been going with Dex after I got PER to 10, because Dex helps the chances of inflicting status effects like Charm... but the ranged accuracy suffers I guess? What do you think: more Perception or continue Dex? What Perception do you play at to be able to use your Ranger at long range?

Madora (my tank) is great thanks to Batterin Ram. I do run her on point anyway but to be honest range is never an issue. Also, I cast Wildfire (amazing spell btw) on her anyway, which even further improves her mobility. I have 0 complaints about my tank. My tank and my Character mage are the absolute stars of my team so far. Jahan is OK as a supporting mage, but underwhelming overall. Maybe I should Glass Cannon him too?

Dexterity improves ranged weapon chance to hit, perception improves crit chance and overrall sight distance, he wont need con if he doesnt put himself in harms way to begin with ( and all toons get additional hit points every time they level up anyway), for Rogues I build Dex, Spd, Per, Con in that order he ( Wolgraff ) usually is fast dextrous and perceptive but weak and stupid. My Rogue is my Ranger since Rogue abilities and Ranger abilities are actually mutually complimentary.

Sneak 5 or 6 doesnt usually fail, and is good for guerrilla, I just prefer a stand up fight, and so rarely boost sneak up to the level where it is really great, I dont backstab and I dont let my squishies get close, why get close when you can shoot em in the face?

What else?

Well, how much Perception do you think is required for keeping Ranger at a good distance? The con isn't for Vitality it's for taking full advantage of Glass Cannon (because CON adds to the Maximum AP. THere's no point in getting 14 AP per turn if your max AP is only 12 with low CON).

I mainly rely on just normal Ranged attack for my Ranger, other than of course special arrows and the occasional Charm or Ricochet.

I never used Jahan, I Lonewolf and Glasscannon my Tank and he gets heavily buffed by the mage ( Wildfire, oath of desecration and Fortify are my faves). I try to keep the enemy so supressed, busy and worried about my tank that the mage and Archer can just work the crowd. I also recomend 2h weapons for the tank I think they have a longer reach ( especially when dust deviling or Whirlwinded) but I may be incorrect.

Also this may seem basic and obvious but, concentration of attacks is really important, taking enemies out of the fight ( killing them or supressing them) is the only way to decrease the enemies offensive strength, because enemies fight at 100% capability until killed. So everybody concentrate on each target in turn until dead or supressed, it is okay to attack targets other than the one that is the primary threat if the toon cannot attack the primary target anyway or target is suppressed for a couple of turns.

If it isnt hard enough for you, try playing on hard and playing a smaller party. And there is in the works from Larian a new content patch that will have a hardcore mode, but ther is no ETA on that per Raze.

Haha, yes that is the strategy in 99.9% of video games I"ve played my whole life. Unfortunately, I just got out of about 1 month of playing Banner Saga including the online, which is probably the only game in the history of the world that is the opposite concept: It is better NOT to kill and keep weak enemies alive. I have to readjust to normal gaming logic now hahaha, thanks for reminding me man!

Anyway, Jahan is pretty average but now that Henchmen dont auto-level anymore I decided to just keep them. We have different reasons. I don't use Wolfgraff because i made one of my Mains an Archer already.

Main #1: 100% Mage.
Main #2: 80% Ranger
Jahan: Support Mage/Utilties: blacksmith/crafting
Madora: 100% Tank

I really wanted 2 mages because I love this game's possibilities of CC. However, I'm starting to get a bit frustrated at the lack of options due to Water and Fire contrasting each other. I will have to either play against 2 separate targets, or get Pyro skills for Jahan, or use him for purely buff and slow.

1.His Aero/Ice attacks have been pretty terrible,
2. but having 1 more person to use Teleport is AMAZING (by far my favorite skill).
3. Rain is very useful,
4. heal is OK ,weak until higher level I guess,
5. Slow is useful because it is high percentage and allows my Ranger to take advantage of Bully.

6. Should I give bully to Madora (my tank)?
7. Is it possible to Glass Cannon my tank or is that just a completely terrible idea? Usually, since I use Wildfire on her, she gets enough AP from that so I don't know.

Con for glasscannon at least an 8 or higher, when I build a fighter I build STR, SPD, CON, PER, DEX,
but i havent ever used GC on anything but the tank because all the others have such low con anyways.

PErception for the Archer 8 and higher.

You have 4 toons in the party right? Okay that to me isnt good, here is why....the same amount of loot spread over 4 toons makes 4 weaker toons rather than 3 stronger ones.

Quality over quantity.

I'm currently trying Bairdotr as a Glass Cannon crossbow user (I found a legendary crossbow), and she's pretty much slaughtering everyone.




That's basically nonsense. The game is not so sparse on loot that you'll be crippling yourself by taking 4 people instead of 3 - especially if they fulfill different roles. When it comes to mages, that's even less of an issue because their gear tends to matter less.

I never use Bully, and I always glasscannon the Fighter, they have the most health anyways so can afford to have less, and the best defense is to be aggressively offensive and your fighter is the big damage dealing killer, killing them faster makes your toons take less damage and ends the battle quicker.

Another thing to make your Tank really lethal is to give them scrolls, this makes the tank have a ranged attack that they expend o stat and skill points to use. The mage already has spells so should be usoing those not scrolls.

Teleport is a great spell it is the mages ways of saying "Excuse Me" your too close! and be sure and drop the teleportee on top of lava, in a fire or pool of water, in the tanks attack arc, or on top of another enemy, rain is really important as well. Aero and Ice attacks become much better when target is wet- so rain on their parade then chill em out or shock em up.

Heal is great, low colldown time and cheap AP cost with good range, and make sure you get every heal as it comes available having 3 levels of heal lets you heal multiple toons or the same one multiple times, keeps your tank in the center of the melee so they dont have to use Cure Wounds but can just keep swinging. Behind every great fighter should be a great mage.

I have to agree with Stabbey on this. I'm never short on Weaponry and/or equipment. Not only is there tons of loot just to be found, but with a bit of Pickpocket and Barter gear, I'm able to afford just about everything I come across. I have no money problems and I haven't even stolen everything in Cyseal yet! I've made like 5k on beer alone haha.

Also to me the game is more fun with a team, the synergy allows more possibilities and enjoyment.

Not saying my way is the only way, only that I like it. And it isnt that there isnt a lot of loot its that a lot of it is pretty useless junk, +1 loremaster amulets and +1 telekinesis rings, meh how that improves your throw-weight is negligible, those are not force multipliers.

I am on playthrough #7, 8 if you include my first aborted attempt where I had 4 characters and they all sucked simultaneously and came out far weaker at 8th level than the 3 toon party I have been using since. I like a team as well thats why I dont do 2 Lonewolves.

I should add that I find that potions aren't given enough credit. I hear people talking about speccing Cure Wounds, which is ridiculous. It costs twice as much as a potion and heals less, not to mention non-str characters would have to waste actual attributes to use it. Ridiculous.



Anyway, I do intend to play again and give a 2x lone wolf a chance of course!


Has anybody Glass Cannoned their tank? I'm so tempted to do it but I'm afraid it will absolutely backfire haha.

I always Glass Cannon the Tank, thats the best party member to do it to, they have so many HEalth anyway.

Actually cure wounds is better than a healing potion at higher levels but is not as good as the other high level heals. It regenerates so can be used over and over potions cant, has a (really) short range so it can be used on others but isnt great for that and costs nothing in gold. On the downside it does cost more AP, has a long cooldown, has a short range, and isnt as good as the other heals at higher levels.

I will probably do 2 lonewolves at some point as well.

I like some potions, the resist all +70% is good, the invisibility potions are just a necessity at one point particularly, healing potions are better than spells simply for the 3 AP heal, mostly I just sell the rest. Duration on the buffs is too short. Mostly thats the consensus regarding the duration on the buff type potions.

Hm, how much will it heal later? Right now it's healing 155, which is same as a potion, however, a potion only costs 3 AP instead of 6. You could take two potions for that AP... heal 312HP instead.

Potions aren't very expensive. You only need level 1(or 2 at most) pickpocket to steal minor heal potion, and you can get like 100 of those throughout Cyseal alone! At level 3 crafting, you combine 2 minor heal to make 1 big heal for 155HP. So, basically, they're pretty cheap! You can even buy them from soldiers every time you level up if you want, if your barter is high and once you've got some Rep for more discounts.

...

Well, maybe I"ll do this then. I'm really scared to haha, but, I guess for the extra AP I can just cast Shield or something to make up for the lower HP. I got a belt that allows me to cast Fortify with my tank, which is pretty cool! ( but mostly unnecessary since my mage can cast it cheaper)


Thanks for all the advice man I really appreciate it. This game is amazing I really love it and I'm REALLY glad that I didn't decide to cheese with Leech/Zombie or whatever people say you should do. It's really fun, and my next playthrough will be on Hard for sure.

Still, it's not like I'm completely unchallenged. I mean yeah I've never actually lost a battle, but it's fun to figure out combinations and I do stil have a party member die every now and then.


Also I like your idea of Lone Wolf on one of the characters. I thikn I'll do that in my next playthrough.

The thing is that as you gain levels, your health goes up more and more. Potions only heal a fixed amount, no matter what level or stats you have. For that reason alone, they get less and less effective the more you level up. Cure Wounds is not the best healing spell certainly, but it does scale with your level (and STR). Scaling is what makes magical healing good.

So no, it won't be super if you're just slapping it on a rogue with 5 STR, but put it on a warrior with 14 STR and it'll be a lot better.


***

On my current run I have put Glass Cannon on crossbow-using Bairdotr. She's a murder machine, especially with Oath of Desecration slapped onto her.

Yup. One of my two mains is a Ranger and they're definitely awesome! Also, crossbows are highly underrated! AP cost of magical arrows is the same! The ONLY real shortcoming is the huge accuracy drop at distance. AP is fine for the double damage!


btw guys what am I supposed to do with this Blood Stone I found in the cave. I'm pretty sure it's more than a healing item because I heard it unlocks Homestead rooms but I don't know how to unlock them! All I have is Hall of Heroes. I talked to the imp after getting the blood stone and he didn't mention opening more rooms??

You need to use a Blood Stone to trigger an update to the homestead (double click in inventory, or right click and use). A couple are used for quests, as well (using a Blood Stone near an injured NPC, for example).