Larian Studios Forums Divinity: Original Sin 2 Divinity - Original Sin 2 - General Finished a solo run as Archer + Feedbacks

It makes sense to work as it is, aside form maybe the fact that it can apply to other characters than one with no penalty. It working on one character with NPC party members makes sense, and is in no way broken.

I personally LIKE the fact that it works as it does, in fact, allowing you to really have a 'main character' feel while still having minions.

One Man Army should work like this:

You get the boost as long as you are the only party member in that combat. If another party member joins, you lose the benefit immediately. No more futzing around or figuring out the difference between Companions and human-controlled players. It's called "One Man Army", so it should only work if you are the only one in the fight.

I don't really agree. The name and description may be confusing but the idea is good (except the odd distinction between the companions you control and companions another human controls).

To get one man army you have to not take any talent point apart from what you start with. While some of them are pretty useless IMO (arrow recovery, guerilla, five star diner). There are plenty of others that are useful or even essential depending on what you are playing.

The problem is the scarcity. You want to play a rogue you need backstab. You want pet-pal as well then you can't get one man army full stop because you've used your one and only second talent as you get one at level 4 and that is it so far. You struggle getting to level 8 before the last fight without pet-pal in the same way you struggle if you play explorer mode or you don't fight Dallis in the fort. You can but the more XP you lock out the more seekers you have to kill.

For example, taking pet-pal gives you access to the XP from the dogs in the fort (2000ish I think) plus the 600*5 for the pigs and 1800 for the zombie. Fighting Dallis gives you 2880 for each of Dallis pets and another 1140 when Dallis and Alexander give up and run away. Explorer mode reduces the number of enemies in various groups. If you forego XP through your choices you'll have to kill a few seekers (they vary but all over 1000) to get to level 8.

There are plenty of other talents that give extra AP in certain circumstances - that is no problem. The problem is the name. Unfortunately I have no imagination so I can't think of a better one except for "talent that gives you a boost due to not having taken another talent" talent.

I also understand why it is not available until level 8 as the game would be too easy if it was available earlier.

What would be nice (and here I agree with you) is if there was a talent like lone wolf. Some people like playing solo (I do) and it is a bit frustrating doing it ATM. That would be a different talent though - not this one. Something that did what this talent describes perhaps but doesn't actually do. If one man army did what it said (rather than what it does) then doing as you describe and allowing it from level 1 would be an excellent choice for solo runs.

I'm doing a playthrough with 2 (human controlled) archers to see what the penalty is out of interest. That will take me a couple of days. I can't do 3 or 4 as my PC is too crappy to start more than 2 instances.

EDIT: There is no reason or need to get to level 8 to finish this act anyway of course. In fact it makes the last fight too easy. I just find it fun seeing how it works...

It works for every char the same, it does not matter if you give it to your main char or your minions. You can give it to everyone.


If you have a team of 4 people with +70% Vitality and +2 AP per round, I'm pretty sure the rest of the game will be far to easy. You can probably kill enemies who are several levels above you with ease.


I wonder if it matters, if the second main char was created by a player, or if somebody different really needs to controll it.

Hard to say, certainly the last fight would be easy but it is easy if you are at level 8 anyway. That is not the point.

It is tricky for me to say as I've played this act probably more than 50 times. What happens in later stages I've no idea. Perhaps they will be hard.

Vitality isn't terribly interesting at the moment - either you are dead or not. You are better off spending on armour than vitality.

AP however is extremely useful - if you have a crossbow and 6 AP per turn then you win. Add Flesh Sacrifice and Adrenaline you have 3 shots.

As I already said:

Hardly anyone will care about the +70% Vitality, but +2 AP per round will be quite game breaking.

You do bring up a fair point, and a "One Man Army" game mode sounds like it might be interesting (player is buffed a lot, but cannot recruit companions). Larian probably would not like having to support a new mode which is highly imbalanced, though.

You did forget that One Man Army requires you to be level 8 and you literally cannot take it at character creation. You later seemed to remember that, which makes your argument confusing.

In any case, clearly we should not be able to take One Man Army on all four characters and keep them in the same party. That would make it so powerful as to be a "Must Have" Talent.




What are you talking about? In this build, the Defensive abilities no longer include Vitality, Physical Armor or Magical armor.

If you mean from attributes, then it still doesn't make sense since you're only getting 1-2 percent of armor per point into STR/INT, which is zilch below 100 armor, and effectively zilch even above 100 armor. If you're looking for improved survivability, CON at least makes the numbers visibly move.

true , i think the way one man army applies to every four character isnt working as intended , or if it is. I hope dev take notice of this thread so it can put our worrying brains to rest xD.

I think they may add lone-wolf kind of talent although it would be no doubt hard to balance for it to be playable without cheesy tatics , because with the current defense system we're having right now , it would be really bad for a solo character once his/her armors depleted.

Okay, so. I believe that One Man Army should work mostly as it does, but have its description edited to be clearer that it only cares about what other players there are, and only be available on a single character. That way you can have a 'main character' and then a supporting cast, if you're into that kind of thing.

I also agree that there should be some kind of separate level one talent for being a solo character.

And I think that this discussion is pleasant, and hopefully people can continue being civil in it!

I agree. But only up until your first comma in your second sentence. I hope that is a civil way to put it

How One Man Army should work is exactly as its description describes it - not what it does. It should also be renamed to "Lone Wolf"

The bonus should be conditional on the number in your party (AI or real), it should be incompatible with Glass Cannon (which it is) and (here is the difference) it should be available from level 1.

The problem with this is everyone would take it. Then when they wanted to talk to Buddy or the Pigs they would recruit someone, give them pet-pal, have the discussion and then dismiss them again.

The solution to that is to not let people recruit.

"One Man Army" should be renamed "I have no friends" and give extra AP and vitality to anyone who made it to level 8 without actually remembering to use the other useful talents.

In my opinion it makes the game more fun not to wait and store up a point from level 4 so you can have a marginally easier fight at level 8. The last fight is already easy if you are on level 8 before hand in any case - certainly you don't need a few more AP.

hmm..I dont see any mentions about One Man Army in the latest patch. They left it untouched, the talent works the same like previous patches , bonus applies on all characters.

The bonus only applies to characters who have the talent.

And I personally think it should be single-person talent, but not limit you from taking AI companions because AI companions are where a lot of fluff and such comes from for this game.
It otherwise should just work how it does now (Big ol' boosts to one character) on JUST one character, and go down in power if other PLAYERS are in. Because solo is still harder than multiplayer even with a 'full party'.

Nah @TraceChaos I disagree. I think it should work like Lone Wolf in DOS1. You get the boost but at the expense of AI companions.

Just as Swen said, One-man-army is planned to be available from level 1 on. But at the current state if would be totally game breaking for single player or I guess even duo-coop, because the benefit is to strong, if you can take it with every player char and companion.

Also still not sure, why single player is seen as that much harder. At least fighting can be much easier, because you don't have to coordinate tactics with other peoples. With 4 people that surely can be tough.

I think there's a way to have it work with multiple people. The benefit might apply as long as you and your party members are NOT engaged in the SAME combat encounter at once. If that happens, or an ally joins the fight, you lose the buff immediately.