Larian Studios Forums Divinity - Original Sin Divinity Original Sin - Help/Tips/Tricks Advices for my Builds

Hi There, I'm kind of new in the game. So i got some basic questions about my 4 characters !

I started the game with 2 kind of "Mages"

I wanted to split the Elements between them both, and then recruit a fighter and Ranger along the way, wich i did with Madora and Bairdotr.

So for Now i got :

Bairdotr : Ranger. Wich as already stolen some painting in town for money...
Madora : Well, Two handed swords, bashing, only love..
Main 1 : Mage, focused on "Hydro" and "Aero"
Main 2 : Mage, Focused on "Fire" and "Earth" + "Hydro" (for having a 2nd healer)


My questions are... (bloody hell... i got a lot of them)


Basically i wanted to Dual my mages, one with swords, then the other with... well... i don't know yet ! (wands probably, or maces ? is it a good idea to dual them both ?) And if i make one of them using swords/maces How much should i put in STR ?

Anyone got some idea about how much i should have (without Bonus) in my primary stats ? (INT, CON, SPD, STR) on my characters ? (so i can have an idea how to put my points)

Other questions : I'm wondering about on wich character i should put Pinpoint and Grenades stuff ? one of my mage (if yes, wich one ?) or BairDotr ?

I'm also wondering about "Witchcraft" should i put that on Madora ? (for the +40% dmg and the Vampiric leech ?) and if yes, does it requires a lot of INT to invest ? And/or, should i put that on one of my mage again ? (even just 2 lvl for some buff/debuff wich could be interresting no ?)

Last one, about Bairdotr : I guess i have to chose between bow or Crossbow, i thought about Bow, but for now, the game gave me tons of Crossbow... any ideas/advices on that ? ;)

Well, i think that's it !

Thanks in advance !

Sorry for all the questions, hopefully someone will read me !

Cheers and have fun !

Hey glad to see people still playing this I just started about a month ago and just got sucked in it, let me try to give you some tips I learned.

For your mages I wouldn't split them too thin like that meaning you shouldn't give them stats in strength and int at the same time because they won't excel later on in the game. Never really put any melee weapons on the mages because they seem too squishy and usually don't get touched much and stay back with spells.your Mage will rape if you just bump his int because you will need less AP for your spells the more int you have, meaning if you don't put much int because you put some in strength your spells will need lots of points to be cast instead of a measly cost later on when your stats are high. I don't put any in perception and just keep speed and constitution the same level like and bump my int to like 15 by kid game so just get around 10 just do be able to use lots of ap for spells and bump the rest in constitution and speed equally.rule of thumb I heard on these boards is to never have more ap in the beginning of the fight than the max you can have meaning don't make your speed get so high that you start with more ap than you actually have because you will get penalized for it .

As for madora and witchcraft ye go for it I have it on my melee characters and they constantly use buffs and stuff like charm when an enemy gets too close to you so you can easily save yourself. You don't need to bump any in into a melee strength character at all , I find just being able to use the basic spells on witchcraft on my rogue is enough to keep him alive as I want him to rape in melee not magic so I don't spread too much points like that everywhere . So don't be getting that intelligence to high levels on non magic.

For your last question defently go with the bow because of all the elemental arrows you get in the beginning they will save the day for a lot of upcoming fights, they certainly did for me , but then again I'm not sure if you can use them with a crossbow gotta try it out so can't really say. Hopefully I gave you something you can use , great game once you get the gist of it , I thought I was gonna sell it the first week I got it but na this one staying with me.

Crossbows are definitely better. If you know how.... .
- BOW AP 4 per hit lower damage /// CROSSBOW AP5 per hit but higher damage
- magic arrows and skills are your bread and butter - >>> costs still the same AP(4) but crossbows has more damage then bow. So you get more damage on skills&magic arows. As long as you can avoid default attack, crossbow is better. You definitely need to learn some tricks how to craft cheap magic arrows. Not an issue.
- There is also another bonus - Crossbow higher skills adds criticals but mosts skills and magic arows do not apply criticals, so you can pass puting skill points to crossbow, just using it without a skill is great.
- And another bonus - you can pass perception becouse for skills and magic arrows is not required. You always hit.

A tip for mages
- go for Witchcraft skill 2 ASAP for both mages. There is Rapture, Mute and Strip Wilpower spell, Those three are very strong and most handy spell at all.
- pump up Int primary. Speed secondary. Later in game you you could put a point or two to Const. Do not put any point to STR or whatever.
- one mage for Stafs - dont need any skill points in this weapon, this mage will have a lot of spells
- second mage for dual wands give some point to Wand AND to Dual Wepons. Dual weapons skill 5 is awesome. Bonuses are compatible from both skills - they work together, so you can achieve a lot of damage by wands. This mage will invest a lot points to those two skills so he will have less spells.
- both mages should have at least one point in every magic school. Higher skill levels are not so cool as it looks like.

Alright thanks a lot for you advices.

I'm gonna look at this as i just reach lvl 9 yesterday, i got some "saving" points to use.

How about grenades ? Should i put that on one of my mages aswell ? they can make nice for what i've seen, but need to got someone with the talents that make you never miss your throwing. Just wondering wich one of my character would be the grenades launcher ! Any idea ?

About mages, i read someone who consider the dual swords mage as O.P as hell, as the skills base their damage on weapons you got and that dual swords can make a lot and gave you some nice bonus aswell.

At the end he got lots of +STR items, and apparently way enough INT to launch his spell cheap.

Any opinion on that ? That's what i wanted to try, one dual sword, one dual wands... but don't know wich one of my mage should do that.

Alright then i might have to put witchcraft lvl 2 on each of my mages aswell. Any idea about how "High" i should lvl the others elements (be aware that one of my mage got geo-fire [and Hydro for regeneration], and the other hydro-aero). So i don't know how much i should put in their own elements.

Apparently lvl 5 is not that good on some of these elements. So i guess having like one or two elements lvl 4 would be nice. I read about some Hail and a some Meteor skills, wich lvl are those ?

Thanks again, i will think if i got some other quesitons.

Edit : Yeah, i got one, How about "Glass Canon" should i put that on my Ranger and one of my mages ?

@ Gennocide : well to be honnest, i took me long to take this game, i loved so much those baldur's gates and icewind dales when i was younger. But as i get older, i like more and more games that are not "so loong" but i have to say, that i like playing this game. I played it with my xbox controller, it took longer in inventory, but it feels really nice playing that way ! They made a really good job, and the game is for now, a really good experience ! I'm wondering how fun it could be playing this game in co-op ! or co-op lone wolves ! ^^

All the skill has main advantage in effect. Froze, stun, knock, ... .. Apply chance to those effect is driven by particular attribute. e.g. Fighter-mage could launch spells and fighter battering ram, but it would be resisted most time. Focus to pump up one attribute is better for applying additional effects. You could wear swords or a staff with Int bonus. For high levels, One point of Int adds 5% to apply effect. That is why you might want use all Int related equipment on mage, instead of swords.

Generally - spell classes - first point gives best reward. Higher you go reward is less. interesting might be hydro 4 for Hail attack and Air 4 for Chain-lightning. Geo 5 gives a summon tank in form of gooze blob if you are missing a punching bag, it might help. Fire school gives a lot of damage but no cc so I would not spend more than one point. There is a lot of scrolls or wands with top level spells, or you might buy them. later you get a LOT of money. So for these couple tough fights you can spam scrolls with Hail attack. Not an issue. Final battle could be solved that way in 1 round.

Glasscanon is overnfed. Althou it might be fun use it for one party member with high initiative. Best would be a henchman with talent morning person. Bair is a greate candidate.

Greandes for a mele char. Pin point talent is enough. Grenades do not scale up, so later in game they are going weaker. As you are in the middle, it not a hot topic for you.

Agree, replay potential in higher level difficulty is greate.