Larian Studios Forums Divinity - Original Sin Divinity Original Sin - Help/Tips/Tricks Tactician Mode - Dual Lone Wolf Casters

Hello so I am playing thru for the first time on Tactician difficulty and selected two mages both with the "Lone Wolf" talent. First is a Hydro5/Aero/Geo, and second is Witch5/Pyro. Level 8 and just beat Pontius Pitate and was proving to be very hard. After about 10 tries finally just smoke screened everyone except a frozen Pontius and spammed the death blaster on the boat... So my question is will I be able to finish this with just the two mages? It seems like the further I progress the harder it gets and having a hard time keeping up in fights.

This game is definitely doable with two lone wolf mages. However you seem to be struggling with your builds. There is absolutely no reason to have level 5 anything when your character is level 8 (except dual wield). The earliest you can get any master spell is level 12 I believe. So you wasted quite a large number of points that could have been used to diversify your mages. You are much better off branching one point into each magic school than you are taking one straight to level 5. It sounds like you made it hard on yourself but if you can make it to level 12 you will be fine. In that time, please diversify your spell schools. It allows you to have more options and thus deal with more situations, keeping you alive. Some things will still be quite difficult since you have no physical damage dealer but stick it out man.

Thanks for the feedback. I guess I thought having lvl 5 would increase spell damage and buffs but idk if that's the case.. I have the witch mainly for damage right now with 3 pyro also, would adding a couple points in man at arms be a good idea to make her a battlemage? It certainly is starting to show how valuable a melee damage dealer would be.

My thing with Lone Wolf is that I made sure to spend a few points in both Bodybuilding and Willpower since being incapacitated equates to certain death a lot of the time. Morning Person is also an invaluable talent. One thing I have stopped doing is to take 5th levels in abilities. By maxing two abilities to 5, the 5th level costs enough points to where I could have had a whole other ability set to level 4 which is enough to get one Master level skill.

Ya those defense stats are starting to feel really important. I have the hydro mage set up with willpower 2 and the witch with bodybuilding 2 and trying to compensate with some equipment also. Im able to crowd control pretty well just don't have enough damage output I have a bunch of gold tho I will probably invest in crafting on one of them and just try to craft/buy some good gear every couple levels.

So an update on this play through, (minor spoilers) I'm now level 12 in the snowy area, it's sooo much easier. Starting to actually feel powerful. Went back to defeat the cyceal area main boss and man they got messed up lol. Surprisingly with only 2 Geo my most powerful spell is poison dart, when an enemy can actually take the poison damage. I've got both with 15+ (14 base) Intelligence and have made my witch/pyro into a 9 (7 base) Strength battle mage with 3 Man at Arms. Spell cool downs have lowered quite a bit I'm not sure if it's because of the high INT? Taking some points into crafting and black smithing turned out to be a great decision, high quality gear is making a huge difference. Anyway I'm glad I stuck it out this far it seems actually possible now haha..

Question tho if anyone knows, I read later on I can meet a demon that can respec my characters. I thought it read he can also remove a learned talent and grants you 10 ability points in exchange? Can he remove lone wolf on one my characters? Would I then lose my bonus ability points I got from having lone wolf? And would I be able to recruit a companion then?

You can respec a Lone Wolf character, and you keep the extra ability points. If you do not take Lone Wolf again, you can recruit a companion or henchman.

In the EE you can trade an unused talent point for 1 ability point, so it is a bad deal unless there are no other talents you want (All Skilled Up gives you 2 ability points) or you can't get another ability point elsewhere and only need one to level something up or open up a new skill group (for access to the novice skills).

The full respec causes the character to unlearn all of their skills (other than a couple special ones like Staff of Magus), so you would need to replace any you still wanted to use. Keep an eye out as you level if you are planning to respec, so you can find the rarer skillbooks (or in some cases the scrolls to craft skillbooks).

Great thank you Raze! Ya I definitely don't see the point in trading a talent point especially when there are so many to choose from. I've had about 2-3 ability points saved after each level up to put towards the next or for when needed, so no shortage there Is it possible to replace every spell if I do happen to choose a full respec? Or are some a 1 time only buy? I've got about 30k in gold now and 5 crafting to make blank books.

There are some skillbooks that that are fairly rare, but I don't think any are unique (there is a unique [story related] summon skillbook, but it isn't unlearned when respecing).

That's good to know. I think i already got the story related summon, almost lost my head getting it... lol.
But anyway without making a new topic, if you see this or anybody knows, what is a good cap for the stats intelligence, speed, and also strength (for both a pure caster and a 2h battlemage)? And is constitution really necessary if I'm leveling bodybuilding and willpower?

Constitution increases the maximum AP amount. You may be able to get enough from equipment bonuses (especially for ranged characters), but you'll probably want to at least boost it a little.

For intelligence, strength and dexterity, the maximum cooldown reduction is at 15; higher values can help with damage and the chance to cause status effects. An intelligence of I think 22 is enough to max the status chance at 150%, though there are debuff skills that can help with that, as well. I've seen a few comments saying various skills started to hit diminishing returns after 17 or 19, etc.

Ah ok thank you again! I guess I was under the impression that constitution boosted defense. I need all the APs so definitely gonna raise that.

Constitution boosts vitality and the maximum AP; you can mouse over the AP stat in the inventory to see your max, start and turn AP.

You are very helpful friend. I'm on ps4 but see the stats and pressed toggle info, much more clear now. Is there a maximum action points limit?

You can get 22 max AP from the base and boosting constitution to 15, then whatever constitution you can get on equipment (I'm not sure what the maximum is if you prioritize that over other bonuses, at least 6; 2 or 3 isn't too hard to get).

Boost speed on all items that can actually boost it, including boots, magic lucky rabit paw amulet (best one in the game no-brainer as soon as it gets +2 speed) and armor (cloth armor and sometimes robes can have speed), one ring should preferably be with stun immunity on each character (rain + blitz bolt is a very powerful combo-wombo you know), and you should generally stick with rings +int and +speed, same goes for sarongs (till endgame i managen o get all these with +2 int and +2 speed). Good belt is ancient human skull - it gives +int, no sold belts do that AFAIK. Int at about 17-19 at endgame is more than enough. Base attribute points always go so you have an uneven amount of speed - should be about 15-17 by endgame, then base points go to int and some con. By endgame staff damage doesn't really matter, so get one with better bonuses, yet better get two wands - which means two times the bonus, even if you would never ever shoot them and don't have dual wielding.
After hitting around level 10-11 dual lone wolf play gets generally easier.
BTW if you have dual casters always try to summon something (skeletons ) to soak up the damage.
And don't forget about oath on both chars and melee power stance (yes, it boosts magic damage), however stance is usable only with a staff - you should decide what is better, two bonuses from wands, of the stance.

Hey JJ_Judge thanks for the feedback! I've actually been following most of your advice there although I'm still a bit confused on crafting/blacksmith. How do I "boost equipment? I'm able to add resistances to robes but can't seem to upgrade them. I also created a magical lucky rabbit paw super amulet last night but it only gives +1 Speed.

I just hit level 15 am I really nearing the end game? Spent probably 25 hours so far and just got out of the Luculla Mines. It is definitely getting easier with the lone wolf but still can't control any huge mobs.

Ill give a little break down of my characters so far at lvl 15

Player 1) Hydro5/Geo4/Aero3/Scoundrel1/Willpower5/Crafting5 - 17INT/11SPD (with gear) Mainly focuses on Crowd Control, wields a water staff, and is starting to do some serious single target damage with geomancy. Also designated crafter.

Player 2) Witch5/Pyro4/ManAtArms3/BodyBuilding5/Blacksmithing4 - 13 INT/11STR/9SPD (with gear) Focuses on witchcraft by reducing enemy defense and willpower, summoning, creating choke points with smoke and pyro spells, and does decent damage up close with a mix of melee and pyro. Supports the main hydro caster.

I also traded a talent point with the demon for 10 extra ability points with both characters.

Also I've just gotten the tenebrium ability... I've read it's not necessary but does do more damage. I'd probably like to have a 2h tenebrium weapon for player 2. I haven't put any point towards it yet but does the Two-Handed ability stack with the Tenebrium ability? How many points do I need in Tenebrium to make it worth using?

At higher character levels (17 IIRC) you start getting +2 stat boosts, rather than +1.

Metal scraps can upgrade cloth and leather armour (plate or scale scraps upgrade scale armour).

Crafting: EE guide and searchable/filterable list

If you are playing D:OS Classic (where 1 talent point could get you 10 ability points; that was cut to 1 in the EE), there is a Crafting Recipes & Guide topic, and pdf download.

+2 would be awesome. Thank you!!! I have all this scrap and don't know what to do with it lol. That guide will come in handy.
Wait so the demon only gave me 1 ability point?! What a rip off! I'll have to reload as i chose that and called it a night

For the Tenebrium skill, level 1 allows you to use and handle tenebrium weapons. Level 3 allows you to add tenebrium bars to (most) weapons to add that damage type, but only 1 person would need to get to that level, possibly using equipment bonuses. Higher level tenebrium weapons may require up to level 3 (IIRC) Tenebrium to be able to use, but you aren't really missing out if you can't use them.

The Tenebrium ability doesn't boost weapon damage, or weapons directly, so doesn't stack with any weapon abilities.