Larian Studios Forums Divinity: Original Sin 2 Divinity - Original Sin 2 - Suggestions and Feedback Zaleskar Trivializes Act 1

Zaleskar makes a mockery of the entire first act with his locked selection of legendary gear. Both his 2-Handed Axe and Staff, in an overused phrase, break the game. And they are ALWAYS there at any level.

Just to test how early I could access him, I rushed a Thief and Warrior combo through the game, only pickpocketing gold and acquiring the teleportation gloves. Sneaking past bosses and patrols with no points in sneaking, I got to Zaleskar at level 2 and purchased Sundering Cleaver for a pitiful 381 gold. Walking back to the boss, I one-shot the entire boss room with Warlord, The Pawn and a level 2 Warrior.

Either limit his inventory until (Insert Level Here) or players will be able to effortlessly walk through Act 1. Critting for 300 damage at level 2 isn't okay.

I dunno; I'd still say that was a legitimate way of playing it, if that's the way you want to play it. I'd be reluctant to remove it as a possibility, even though that's not how I'd choose to play the game myself.

Hey man! Z's just trying to show the system that he can hold a job so that he can regain custody of his kids!

I just want to delay his selling of literally the best weapons in Act 1 until a level where they won't make too big of a splash. His inventory is still good without them.

On another note, it might be a good idea to relocate him a little. He's extremely close to another vendor, Wendigo, who basically sells the same set of random blues, greens and scrolls.

His kids are never getting out of foster care.

Wendigo is more for random spell books then equipment I think.

Spells are limited by Memory. A mage without spells is useless.
Slapping a huge weapon with 100 base damage onto a level 2 lets them run rampant in a way a mage simply can't. Spells have cooldowns. Basic attacks don't.

Have to agree that this seems legit enough to be okay for me. You did quite a bit of legwork and played in a specific way to get that overpowered. I'd argue that circuitous methods like that are part of what make these games fun.

Yeah, sneaking past a good bit of content then returning with a strong weapon seems fine to me as well.

However, I would say that axe is probably too strong to be sold by that vendor at the time one would naturally arrive at him. Moving him more towards the end of Act 1 would probably make more sense.

Also, the fact that there are not equivalently offered weapons of the other types anywhere in Act 1 is pretty disappointing.

It's a level 6 weapon, so reintroducing minimum requirement to use a weapon would most likely solve this problem. Increase costs for autoattacks to 1 AP per 2 level difference, rounded up. If you are two using it would need 4 AP for an autoattack, for level 2 the same. Or a more classic way: You need XX strength to be able to lift it and use is for any kind of attack/skill.

Of note, you'd want to increase the cost of the abilities that use the weapon as well. Otherwise, this sounds like an elegant solution.

In DoS 1 if you found a powerful staff early you could shoot the Magus Bolt for a ton of damage without a scaling cost. They did scale the melee/ranged weapon abilities based on weapon levels being too high though.

Or just remove the weapon from his rotation until level 6+. It feels too strong, even when put against level 10 weapons (A few dropped off the boss, one even purple. This level 6 Axe just crushed their stats.) Braccus's Spear was slightly better than other level 3-4 spears. So why is this SO STRONG?

Do you have example stats on the level 10 weapons that Sundering Cleaver crushed?

Sundering Cleaver has 108 average damage, +2 Str, +1 warfare, and Overpower (this is the best part.)

In my game I have an epic level 9 axe that does 162.5 average damage, +4 attribute, 10% extra critical damage, +1 to 2-handed, and grants Whirlwind.

Heck, a level 7 white, crafted mace does 126 average damage, and can be crafted by anyone with Tongs+Cloth Scraps. Aside from the Overpower bonus, this is better.

Sundering Cleaver is good, but It's mostly just so good at and before level 6. If you're just getting this axe at level 6, it's very cool, but good level 7 blue items outperform it.

I didn't even try crafting one, to be honest. But the 2H axe I did get did outperform it damage wise, but not in stats. I believe the damage was roughly 170+-190+, but it gave int and memory.

The randomness of stats is one of the problems I have with the Axe he sells. As a legendary gold item, the stats are locked and always going to be useful to a warrior.

The stats are not a significant portion of the item.

The Warfare bonus only adds a +1 and 3% damage to ONLY the portion of your attack that hits enemy armor. And even the enemies that actually have armor (instead of only magic armor) have much more health than armor.

The +2 Str is a 4% damage bonus at level 7, and presumably decreases further.

108 * 1.04 = ~112.3 damage. Still not up to what a crafted level 7 offers. Even if we generously add in the full 3% bonus of Warfare to all of its damage, it doesn't cut it.

If you also need the accuracy bonus of the Str, it gets a bit closer, but still doesn't offer a damage advantage. If you have 96% accuracy, and gain the 4% to be at 100; It's another ~4% increase in damage; so ~116.8 effective.

Update: I looked into the numbers more; When equipping a lvl 6 2H with no stats vs a level 7 I had a 4% difference in accuracy (favoring the level 6). This may reduce your effectiveness with the white more. Let's say you go from 100% to 96%; it'll reduce the effectiveness of the white to ~121 average damage. So, it starts to get close again, and you still have overpower from the Legendary.

Basically, use the axe until you reach level 7, but then replace it with a good green or better item. And there is no good reason to be using it at level 8.

I think the thing that bothers me most about the idea that this is a problem is essentially the issue of levelled loot, which was pretty much taken to its conclusion with Oblivion: as much as I loved Oblivion, it didn't take long before I needed to install an overhaul to make it worth playing, which did pretty much this: it gave you a chance of getting awesome items at a low level (as well as a lot of absolute tat at a high level).

The vendor in question isn't really all that easy to get to and there's already a built-in penalty in doing so in that all the magisters become hostile when you get to that point (or at least they did in my game when I tested it just now). It's always possible to exploit a game's advantages once you know they're there, but to attempt to then compensate for them being there is I think a huge mistake: there's too much of a risk of making the game either too bland or too awkward.

But that was the entire point of my post. Act 1 ends at roughly level 7-8, not counting the end boss XP. The Axe is the only thing (Unless you get super lucky with RNG and get a level 8 epic before the final boss) you'll have on your warrior for more than half of Act 1.

As some perspective, I spent most of my time in Act 1 running around looking for gear upgrades for my other 3 characters. The warrior needs no help. Just toss every Braccus gear on him and he's set.

Then have him sell a Legendary for all weapon types that are randomly chosen when you first meet him. The lack of weapon diversity coupled with how strong Warfare and Rage are right now make having The Sunderer something not even worth considering. You just BUY IT.

Instead of having, say, a party without a Ranger, and he has a Legendary Bow in his stock might make one of the players pick up a few ranged points to use it. It could cause another player to change their build to take advantage of this really strong bow.

For example: First time I played the game, I had my mage dual wielding wands. I come across the vendor and he has his Legendary Staff. It's not a MUST HAVE because Staves aren't ranged outside of Magus Bolt, which can harm your own team if they're standing in water or are wet. It's not a brainless pickup. You need to consider what you have and if it will work.

Having a static set of legendaries just limits gameplay interaction.

Ye I agree with this. While there is no doubt that Sundering Cleaver turns every 2hander in a powerhouse, it should also be considered that A) you need gold, and you need to take risks in order to get the gold - i.e. "play smart" and B) it's only available past a certain point.

Is the axe powerful? Heck yes, it is. It is nothing short of godly. Should it be removed?

I don't really think it's needed. If, as some others have said, you manage to get to that weapon at level 2 well, kudos to you and enjoy being at the driver's seat of the ra*e train, it won't make any stops because it has no brakes. If nothing else, acquiring such an item so early shows that you've played smartly, so you've deserved it, that's what I like in a multiple-path open world like D:OS.

If, instead, you get to Zaleskar after having evaded from the prison the old fashioned way, it's still your reward for having gotten that far. Besides, it's not that you won't need a good weapon, especially considering the nasty fights that will await you in the marshes (yes, I'm looking at you Voidwoken Voidspawn aka Blue Guy!).



This is a very good argument. Only legendary weapons I've found so far are either 2 handers (Axes and Claymores) and a staff with electricity, which is quite dangerous to your team.

Complete agreement here in the lack of comparable weapons of other types.
And you do get to this weapon a bit early, probably level 4 for average playthroughs.

But I'm saying, if you get the axe at its posted level of 6, then it will be replaced next level-up.
It's not overweighted, just accessible early.