Larian Studios Forums Divinity - Original Sin Divinity - Original Sin - Enhanced Edition Help build Tactician Mode!

Hi!

I played DOS:EE like half a year ago and played on the normal difficulty. I remember the early game being a pain, but after level 9 or so the game became very easy! I understand Tactician Mode is a step up.. so does anyone have some advice/tips for my party formation, skills, traits etc? Or just in general? Especially for the early game...

Many thanks!!!

If you already know which spells are good, simply pick them early in your new game.

Tactician is relatively more difficult in the beginning than in the end, likewise normal mode, but the learning curve is ok if you already completed the game in normal.
In general, fights are made easy by having initiative (a few leadership points and speed?) and controlling ennemies asap (mage spells, man-at-arms knockdowns and marksman special arrows).

You might want to pick different companions so you discover their stories (what did you do the first time?).

The very first fight can be difficult if you don't select proper skills. The spider summon, the heal, the frozen cc, ricochet and knockdowns are very good to take at creation for that fight. Scoundrel invisibility is handy to ransom the city right after.

It might be helpful if you gave your current thoughts on what you'd like to build and why, as it would be easier to simply react to it rather than write a full guide.

I took 2x mage, a 2h melee and a ranger. I'd have one mage focus on Fire/Aero (but also some points in other schools for novice spells) and the other focus more on Geo/Hydro/Witch as a buffer/CC'er. I'd usually buff my ranger/melee to deal high amounts of damage.. and I'd only use one mage to heal, since melee also has a heal. Melee also would use Encourage a lot, since I like it.. don't know if it's all that effective, but I like the idea. So I usually take Madora and Bairtor (or whatever her name is xD). I read some guides and this guy claiming he played over 500h is talking about dual wielding mages pumping points in strength AND int.. dex AND int (ranger variant) focussing ALL magic schools. Sounded a bit too much jack-of-all-trades to me.. So I came here. Hope this help(?) If not, ask me what you want to know exactly : )

It pays to have good synergies (skills/spells: e.g. poison+fire, water+air) and some healing right from the start.
Other than that, choose the hero you want and feel comfortable with, the learning curve is a bit steeper than on lower difficulty, but you get accustomed to it quickly.

Whether or not you are interested in picking new companion or just seeking for OP builds.

You are probably good enough in the game already to handle tactician mode without advice.

About the guy that pumped 500h in the game and whatnot, that build sounds like a lonewolf build (or he doesn't take any good mage master spell, which means it's just a tradeoff big burst AoE spell vs high sustain damage with dualwield), but it doesn't matter much as it doesn't define the early game, which is where builds do matter (having an insanely good character isn't required for mid-late game).

Indeed, early game mages are not really damage dealer and they mainly CC and heal/buff (but they can dump fire everywhere which does do some damage though). With 2 points in every school you can pick most good spells from each school, and specialize then (I tend to go with Hydro and Pyro, sometimes Geo; Witch and Aero master spells are meh).

2x mage, ranger and 2h melee is a safe build. If you think you can make a very support-dedicaced mage, you replace the second mage with anything else (in order of efficiency: ranger, other man-at-arms, scoundrel) and get a less safe party but more deadly.

Basically build your mage with 2 points in each school and pick the best spells from each, add him some leadership aswell (and you can dualwield leadership wands to get to 6 leadership very very fast with an helmet and the honest trait on top of it - you will not use the wands offensively). You can also pick one in man-at-arms to get the anti-knockdown/burn ability. Mid/Lategame (starting level 12), get 4/5 in hydro and 4 pyro to get very OP master spells (the big AoE ones) so even your mage support will deal insane damage.

If you feel unsafe, you can give one point to any other(s) character(s) in geo (summon spider, oil) or hydro (heal) or areo (thunder jump, remove stun, teleport) to spread the support in case of emergency. It's cheap and effective. Don't put geo on everyone as you'll get a free summon with Nick.

And if you want to optimize the damage on the other members, check some good guide on crafting (most weapons are easy to craft, easy to enhance and very powerful).
Crafting is quite good for arrows aswell.

Grenades are very good early game aswell, it's worth to have one of your melee get the pinpoint talent.

Thank you for your reply! : )

So, you'd say a build consisting of 2x ranger, 1x melee and 1x SUPPORT mage would be stronger than the 'safe' 2x mage, 1x ranger and 1x melee? Because if that's the case.. swapping would be very inefficient. Cause I'd make both my main characters mage and then I'd have to wait till I can respec one of them in order to change.. Also, that would cost me a lot of money.. respec and buy all skillbooks. Not to mention the amount I would have wasted on the skillbooks when the character was a mage. But that's not the main point here xD. Cause I always struggle to get money early on in the game.. I always steal all the paintings and start pickpocketing the people once I get that companion some points in pickpocket (+ gear). I never seem to have enough :')

Oh you mean that's what you already built this time, and you weren't saying that was your built during your previous (normal) game. I misunderstood.

If you want to build two mages that's fine.

If you want to build them to prepare yourself for fights, you can build both very similarly at the beginning (2 points in each magic skill tree, pick the best spells). And lategame you can decide to specialize them in different school (up to 4 points, no need to go up to 5 except maybe hydrosophist).

2x mage is "safe" because they have plenty of CC (not consumable like arrows) and good heals. Plus they control ground quite easily. So enemies are typically always controlled and don't even harm you much (even if they do you heal quickly).

If you interest yourself to crafting (to give Madora and Baidotr weapons), be aware that crafted weapons require high STR or DEX, so those are to be pumped up quite alot early (then it's fine).

No, I meant that that's the way I usually go. I now split my points in nearly all the magic school, 3-4 now. And I will specialize in two like you said. I just finished the northern part of the city and about to take on the east part.. some tough fights there and ofcourse the SparkMaster.. So yeah.. We'll see. It hasn't been too hard up until now.. but Spark etc is annoying.