Larian Studios Forums Divinity: Original Sin 2 Divinity - Original Sin 2 - Help/Tips/Tricks [HELP] A certain fight at the end of Fort Joy

The fight against High Judge Orivand is seemingly impossible.

I am pretty good at games and have had little trouble in this game until now. I am level 4 with a party consisting of Lohse, The Red Prince, Myself, and Ifan. Kniles the Flenser was a good challenge, it required some thought and management and took me a try or two, this is not.

No matter what positioning I try or who I take down I die. It is insane how much armor and health the magisters have and High Judge Orivand was able to kill me in one hit and incapacitate my entire party in a single turn.

If I kill the cryomancer and pyromancer first while keeping the Judge away using teleport; I am murdered by the magisters and Orivand when he arrives. Killing Orivand first will result with the mages away from everyone else buffing and healing the magisters while tearing away my party's health and I inevitably die.

I don't know if I need to come back later or if I'm too low level-wise or if my equipment is bad or my party comp is awful. I don't know.

I'm simply looking for advice, thanks.

If it's too difficult, do some other fights for an extra level. Isn't the judge and others level 5? Can't remember.

Try the courtyard fight, the 2 guys near Kniles, finish up any quests up top like Emmie the dog and Migo.

As for the fight itself, I usually enter through the main door, so I'm standing on top near the 2 stairs. While he's talking, I position my people. Use your mages to take out the melee guys bc they have low magic armor, so you can CC them easily once that is broken. Send your fighter/tank or w/e have you through the gate on your right side (should be right side if ur entering through main gate), and have him go after the mages, and keep him busy. Make sure your healer/support can reach the tank as well to help him out once needed. If you have another physical, like a rogue or ranger, use them to target the mages as well. Check the armor. Some have more physical, some have more magical. Usually bosses/minibosses tend to have a lot of armor on both ends, but sometimes one is lower then the other.

Since you get incap in one turn, I assume this is on Tactical.

Enter from the side door (up the ladder near the mona tent) and leave the Elf alive. Leaving the Elf alive, with her higher wits, she will always go first before Orivand and if your char has a higher wit, it means you get to go twice before Orivang moves.

Kill the Judge first or keep him down, then go for the cryo. If you enter from the main door, ORivand will save some AP and after he gets in range, Phoenix Dive, Cripple, Battle stomp, 2-3 dead. Not worth it. Take him down first.

What I did to beat the fight was use 2 archer and have them focus fire Orivand with the 2nd one using a knock down arrow. With Ifan crossbow (if you don't have this, buy a good crossbow and use thievery after level 6 to steal load back) and Houndmaster, he is knocked down before getting to act. After that, I just keep him down for one more turn as I knock the Cryo and Pyro armor down to 0 and battle stomp all 3 of them down and begin killing each of them.

If you have a shadowblade, just have the shadowblade go first (hope he has high wits) and then have the archer follow with a knockdown arrow as knilles knives should go thorugh his armor easily.

Here's a cheap trick, set up some oil at the stair to block off the 2 guards at the elf area. They no longer have Phoenix dive they used to do on EA. You can use the time they talk to set up 2 oil on both stair case ( or just come from the other side, set it up first and return). Doing so will cause the melee soldier to take AGES to join the fight as they are slowed. They can only use shield bounce before they decide to walk through the slow field. I think it takes like 4 turns to run around the room to get to you. Use this if you really can't take Orivand down fast enough and want some free turn to res..

What difficulty and what level? Without that it is not easy to help.

At least on Classic the Orivand fight is the second easiest of the boss fights. Kniles was more difficult in the EA but now the poor monsters in the caves need an eternity to get free, it's a cakewalk.

I sneak up the whole group near Orivand and the mages. Then start the fight and kill Orivand first (you may need two turns), then the mages. The female elf and the two melees need very long to attack you, so you have part-time superiority. It's not as boringly easy as in the EA because of the new you-AI-you alternating fight order, but it is easy.

If you play Tactician, it may be much harder but you choose it to suffer and suffer you shall.

I went into the side room next to Orivand and teleported him into the room, then closed the door and killed him 4v1 before his team could assist. Once he was dead I just killed the rest of his group as they entered into the room using the door as a choke point. Worked well.

You can also barricade the outer part of the door with objects. Say, chairs/chests/ or the astrolabe - this prevents the rest of the enemy from opening the door and delays them effectively. You can then open the door, teleport one enemy inside the room, close the door behind you and gang up on the target - rinse and repeat.