Larian Studios Forums Divinity: Original Sin 2 Divinity - Original Sin 2 - Help/Tips/Tricks How to reach level 4?

I am completely stuck on two separate playthroughs because I cannot for the life of me get enough XP to reach a high enough level to be able to progress in the fort.

On my first playthrough I have 3 characters (I killed Sebille) - main character lvl 3, others lvl 2.

My second playthrough has 4 characters, all party members lvl 2.

In both cases I am stuck with no further ways to get XP that I can find.

I must be missing something major.

All I can think of is keep looking for XP: presumably you've done the crocodiles; the teleportation escape; fought in the arena under the kitchen; the acid frogs in the elf cave; the oranges quest; Withermoore's soul jar? You can actually do the latter without getting caught up in any altercations. There's also the cave under the fort that's there to be explored: I'd suggest Petpal, though, but the ensuing fight if you don't have it should give some XP.

Seriously you only need to be level 3 to start on the fort itself.

It is tough, don't get me wrong, but 4 isn't the minimum it is the "Safe level"

Withermores Soul Jar is pretty tough, also you must have entered the fort already to even get there.

Did you do the Miro and Yarrow quest? The dead child? The card players?

As I said in another thread, you missed a bunch of stuff, which should be enough to get you to level 3. That's when it's reasonable to take on level 4 enemies and win.

Plus, once inside the fort there is about 700 gold from completely unguarded and easy to steal paintings in the fort, which should be enough to equip yourself with all the skills you want. Combine those two and you should be ready to go.

Not really that hard - you don't need to fight anyone. You can sneak into the fort in a couple of ways without ant fights and as long as you only interact with his soul jar and not the others you don't have to fight there either.

The silent monks just above are XP600 each (IIRC) which may help although even individually they are pretty tough if you are under leveled.

Level 4 seems to be a big turning point in the game as it is when the decent skillbooks are available to buy or steal.

It was changed from 700 down to 200. That was a good change, as they gave too much XP for too easy a fight.

So it was, well spotted. A good change indeed.

Your plan regarding the jar and no fighting only works in two cases:
- you already know the correct jar
- you save before testing with every jar

Don't think the 'ususal' player would do it with either of those mindsets.

I actually was able to guess the correct jar based upon the tags below them and the context of the conversations.

I didn't, I'm hopeless at riddles and anything else that doesn't involve thinking literally.

Couple really kind and beautiful ways to get early XP boost...


Number 1.)
Kill the 2 magisters that you meet at the beach. They are level 4 though so you better be prepared. Killing them does not seem to effect anything and with good luck you may get some nice gear off from them.


Number 2.)
If murdering innocents comes naturally for you... Slaughter the elf fool who is in the hidden alcove for few more extra XP and tasty elf flesh bloodcake.


Number 3.)
Give in to your dark ways and without mercy decimate the two magisters guarding the entrance to Fort Joy and revel in extra XP and their guts.


But be prepared... These dark and secret ways to get you forward may also get you in trouble.... But, if you are evil you always have the option to not care of trouble and destroy everything.

I tried fighting the first set of skeletons in the swamp using a level 4 party who had just escaped Fort Joy. That went terribly since the skeletons had 15 and 13 Initiative, much higher than my party, so they stripped off my pitiful magic armor with a fireball, then an Overpowered Fear Grenade did the rest.

That was the clear indication that I needed to be level 4 and have cleared out everything and bought equipment upgrades before leaving Fort Joy. I killed off the magisters on the beach near the start and the ones at the gate to bring me to level 4, then I stole all the paintings I could find and converted them into gold. That got me up to a total of 979 gold. Unfortunately, no one had any gear worth buying except for a +1 Memory amulet which was far too expensive for my taste.

So that leaves me in a bit of a pickle. I guess all I can do is buy some extra skills, but most of the ones I want are at about 245 gold each. I think I can afford to get Snipe for my archer, Fortify for my mage, Whirlwind for my fighter, and Netherswap and Electric Discharge for my Rogue, but that'll just about clear me out.

Hmmm. I guess that'll have to do, but without any improvements to my armor, my prospects for beating the skeletons out in the swamp is not likely to improve much.

So I found an old save with our team before we fought the three skeletons. We were all level 4 with Red Prince getting level 5 during the fight and our rogue being close to level 5. I just did the fight another time and the best they could achieve was half killing my mage, all other did hardly lose their armor.

Magister with Cork and at the harbour are still alive, same goes for Court. Not sure if we fought the hound master, but we killed the butcher and his golems and looted all the paintings to buy stuff and killed the 4 skeletons at the beach.


Enemie mage died round 2, rogue round 3 and warrior round 4.

Here you can see our setup:
Main char of my friend: http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=847055202
2nd Char of his: http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=847054952
My main char: http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=847054253
My 2nd char: http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=847054710

They are seriously hard at that level. Could be I'm rubbish at fights but I almost always lose if there are more than 2 of them unless I'm at least one level higher.

You can ignore them and come back later (that is one option and what I do as otherwise I just die). If you complete everything in the fort (and kill all the magisters) before leaving you will be on level 5 (or 6 if you fight Dallis).

Alternatively you can avoid them and go south and pick up some more XP (and decent free gear) on the other side of the Island.

If you must fight them then netherswapping your mage or archer with the Pyromancer on the tower helps.

I'd suggest stealing not buying the €245 skill books if it fits with your approach. I figure if you are planning to kill someone for their crimes you may as well rob them first. I can see this may be a morally dubious idea though and there are some (OK only 3) NPCs I can't bring myself to kill.

The skeleton just north of Lucian shrine sells decent armours as you know. There are also 3 places with rare level 5 stuff on the beaches just a bit further to the north of him/her (one of which will be on your map if you have been a good elf and eating things up) and there are various other places dotted around with high level gear to pick up.

Were you playing on explorer? There are 5 not 3.

Unless I'm thinking of the wrong group of course. South/East of the Lucian Shrine.

I think we are talking about the three near the sewers, there are three. The others are near the beach, those south east. We killed them already and we always play on classic. We would play Tactician if we could.

Well, as I said I just reached level 4, and if you reached level 5 in the fight, you've been fighting many more battles than I have. I have 1 blue (Level 3) and 2 greens (levels 1 and 2). That's in total across all my characters. (Sebille does have a level 3 green bow, but I've switched her to the Houndmasters Crossbow for now.)

Your Rogue has a lot better equipment than Ifan, most notably the Flenserville daggers, from a fight I haven't tried yet. Your dual-wand guy has Gwayn's robe, and I haven't finished that quest yet (I want to buy some of his spellbooks first).

All of your characters have substantially more armor than I do except for my Red Prince, and you have a lot more magic equipment. There are only two pieces of gear for sale in the store, so yeah, there's a reason why you found the fight easy and I didn't.

I guess I'll just stock up on skills and hope that will let me acquire better gear from combat.

I did kill the houndmaster, but bypassed the dogs with a non-combat solution, Cork and the Court are still alive, as are the four guards outside the prison gate to the fort. The two magisters at the beach are dead, as are the two at the wilderness side gate and patrolman Kraus and his dog, so I can now roam the camp freely without a collar as long as I stay away from the fort gate.




What are you talking about fighting Dallis? Do you mean using the ladder to bypass the cutscene where she kills the magister, then coming back later when you're higher level? It's odd that that's even allowed, and it probably shouldn't be. In any case, I've long since passed the point where I can interfere there and I'm not restarting.

Stealing actually doesn't sound like a bad idea. I'm level 4 now, I can take Thievery. I can only lift one skillbook per person, though, so I'll have to choose carefully. I don't have to kill them if I eat the evidence. That'll let me be able to afford a piece of gear or two.

I sent someone to scout the outside-camp merchant to see what they have, and it wasn't really especially thrilling, especially for a thievery limit of 0.5 weight units.




There are three in the group south / east of the shrine on Classic. It's the group which has a little conversation before the fighting.

So I checked for the fights we did:
- 2 voidwoken at the start
- crocodiles
- tortoises
- frogs
- arena
- Migo & Yarrow
- helped Stingtail kill Silence
- front guards
- 1 separate guard from the Cork group who patrols and was therefore easy to catch alone
- both sets of Withermore skeletons
- 3 silents monks
- 2 magister with Han
- houndmaster
- Kniles the Flenser
- 4 skeletons near the beach

I think, those were all fights. Kana & Burro (thugs at the entrance) and the card players got solved non violently. We never really pickpocketed. We only tried to pickpocket Yarrow for the ring and therefore hat to kill those two, was a tough fight. All other fight scenes I recall were still on the ToDo-List.



Regarding the map, the three are south west

Those south-east are near the beach, but I think there are only 4 not 5.

[SPOILERS]I see people struggling to find xp early in the game. After about 8 playthroughs, I have determined the following steps to reach level 4 BEFORE leaving Fort Joy. I won't go into party building or earning gold, as those are covered elsewhere. For this you need at least 1 point in thievery, and look to buy any items that increase it. You don't absolutely need to do them in this order, but you do need to be a ruthless bastard. Here it is:

1. Kill the 2 Viscous Voidings near the start.
2. Dig up and kill the fresh buried corpse at the north part of the map (need a shovel or lizard in party). Pick up the tong on the south part of the beach (for equipment repair).
3. Dig up the pouch near the entrance to Hidden Alcove.
4. Take the vine to the upper level of the Hidden Alcove. Talk to the girl. Kill Unnis.
5. Just inside the main gate, talk to Fara (need a human or dwarf in party, if you don't want one, invite Lohse nearby then dismiss her after this). Offer to help Fara, then talk to Jeth, then to Fara again.
6. Confront Burro and Kana and kill them without aggroing guards or nearby NPC's. Follow the elf you saved to the Cavern.
7. Just before the Cavern, cast heal on Dain.
8. Enter Cavern and play hide-and-seek with Mody to reveal a mound to dig up a hatch.
9. Down below talk to Lord Withermore. You can remove his spear with sufficient strength (Kalias above sells a strength potion). Or you can attack the spear and destroy it.
10. Go to the Shine of 7 and select the option to reveal the hatch.
11. Go down and pick lock or break door to Vasyna. Go past her to just enter the Underground Tunnel, then turn around and come back.
12. If you have level 2 thievery, pick the lock to the door to the Main Floor.
13. Go through the door and go straight (do not go the other way at this point). Pull the switch on the left and take the hatch down.
14. Destroy the jar on the back left (only!).
15. Return to Lord Withermore to get his belt.
16. Kill Saam and Baladir near the Fort Joy kitchen area.
17. Kill the 3 card players on the upper level.
18. Talk to Magister Yarrow.
19. Go to the beach past the Cavern on the left.
20. Kill Migo and take his ring and armor.
21. Go back to Magister Yarrow and give her Migo's ring as proof.
22. Follow Magister Yarrow back to Migo's beach. Kill her and take back Migo's ring.
23. Dig up the nearby hatch to the Underground Tunnel.
24. Go down and kill the lone fire slug.
25. Talk to the elf in the cage near Boss Griff. Offer deal to Griff to find his stolen goods.
26. Go to the beach to the right of the cavern and convince Stingtail to give you Griff's orange.
27. Return the orange to Griff and narc on Stingtail.
28. Return to Stingtail and wait. Silence will fight with Stingtail. Kill them both when they are weak.
29. Kill the 2 magisters near the Beach Shrine.
30. Kill the 2 magisters by the main gate entrance.
31. Kill all NPC's in the Cavern.
32. Hopefully you are level 3 and ready to kill the crocodiles on the beach and get the teleport ring.
33. Go to Gawin. Finish his quest or kill him and take his robe.
34. Go further into the Hidden Alcove and kill the void touched turtles.
35. Go to the balcony behind the tent to the right of the gate heavily guarded by magisters. Teleport your lock picker up to the balcony to lower the ladder.
36. Pick the lock to Orivand's Chambers. Pick up the teleport book and loot. Note you can TP outside his window for another chest.
37. Back to the Underground Shrine, go slowly towards the Magister Houndmeister (but do not engage). TP into the room blocked by rubble to the left.
38. Return to the Beach Shrine. TP up to the broken bridge and go up the hill for xp and loot.
39. Kill the magister and his dog patrolling the beach inside Fort Joy.
40. Kill the frogs past the barrels inside the cavern. Go to the dock for xp, and there is a chest you can TP to.

This should get you at or very near level 4. If you come up short you can pick off some silent monks on the Main Floor. Also you can try your luck in the arena below the hatch near Boss Griff. After the arena, at some point you can also take on the group where you got the arena quest.

Did I miss anything?