Larian Studios Forums Divinity: Original Sin 2 Divinity - Original Sin 2 - Help/Tips/Tricks Ranged Party Build

I have lost count of restarts. Looking for a party I find fun. I love mobile and stealthy. (I know i can re-roll but I like to start from the beginning.) Is this viable?

Sebille Range

Warfare (focus), Ranged (focus) Pyro (1), Scoundrel (2), Huntsman (3), Poly (1)
Glass Cannon, Arrow Recovery, The Pawn, Elemental Ranger, Mnemonic
Finesse/Wits (split)
Loremaster

Ifan Range

Warfare (focus), Hydro (focus) Pyro (1), Scoundrel (2), Huntsman (3), Poly (1)
Glass Cannon, Arrow Recovery, The Pawn, Elemental Ranger, Mnemonic
Finesse/Wits (split)
Barter

Fane Sword/Shield

Warfare (focus), Single Handed (1), Geo (1), Hydro (1)
Mnemonic, Comeback Kid, Executioner,
Strength/Constitution (split)
Thievery

Lohse Range

Summon (focus), Hydro (focus), Poly(1), Scoundrel (2)
Arrow Recovery, The Pawn, Elemental Ranger, Mnemonic
Finesse/Memory (2/1)
Lucky Charm

My intent is to focus on ranged physical damage. Fane will focus on being the melee and heal in poison. Sebille and Ifan are mobile DPS from range with the ability to stealth. Lohse is a support mage / summoner who can contribute DPS with a ranged weapon.

For rangers, you don't need Arrow Recovery(Special arrows are rarely used), The Pawn (you won't move much as ranger), Elemental Ranger(situational) talents. Get Hothead, Bigger and better, and Picture of Health/All Skilled up/Executioner instead.

2 points in Aerotheurage for Uncanny Evasion, Erratic Wisp, Nether Swap, Smoke Cover, Teleportation.
2 points in Scoundrel for Adrenaline, Cloak and Dagger.
1 points in Polymorph for Chameleon Cloak, Chicken Claw, 2 points for Spread Your Wings, 3 points for Skin Graft.
1 points in Pyrokinetic for Peace of Mind, Haste.
3-5 points in Huntsman for skills.
Max Warfare for physical damage (Picture of Health talent for extra health), put any extra points into Ranged.

2/1 for Finesse/Wits. Equip gears with +warfare, +finesse, +ranged, +wits, +Critical Chance, +huntsman.

Thanks for the information!

Good advice from erubedd. Where I beg to differ is The Pawn. I used it on my ranger a lot, as there are often blocked lanes of shooting and a little bit of moving is enough to clear. Or you need a few inches to get to a position to use Tactical Retreat or Cloak and Dagger to get to higher ground. I don't see that much sense in Picture of Health for a ranger, so I would change it with this.

After Warfare I would probably max Huntsman before putting points in Ranged because as a school ability it is multiplicative instead of just additive and buffs any damage, physical, piercing and magical, so you get the most of it, but of course only from high positions. Which are there quite often.

Don't put points into Single Handed for the sword-and-board tank if there are other options left. Points in Hydro and Geo work wonders for getting armor back. And I would never make a melee without Opportunist as talent, it's astonishing how often it works.

Hey there, kehatch. I think you may be spreading yourself a bit too wide.

Sebille Range
Provided that you make ample use of high ground, which you should be as it is almost always available, Huntsman is miles better than Ranged. Max out Warfare and Huntsman and drop Ranged, Scoundrel (why this to begin with?), Poly and Pyro. These skills may seem snazzy, but you really do not want to use your AP on anything other than shooting dudes and Tactical Retreat (Huntsman) and Phoenix Strike (Warfare) to reposition or find further high ground.

Keep Glass Cannon if you like it, but get rid of Arrow Recovery (it is garbage). I much prefer Executioner over The Pawn because with a proper setup you can get a kill every round anyway and this means more AP to spend on murder. Drop Mnemonic (you do not need too many skill slots so wasting a talent to get Memory as opposed to just some stat points is very poor VFM) and Elemental Ranger (ok but not good enough). Instead, I recommend Far Out Man because the extra range makes a world of a difference, especially if you are running Glass Cannon. In stead of the other, take either Picture of Health if you feel like you are losing her too often because of Glass Cannon, or Guerrilla.

Loremaster is useless - you can simply port a dude back to town/ship after every fight to ID. Instead, max out Sneak.

Forget about Wits, just dump everything into Finesse and you are golden.


Ditto for the other characters. If you want a melee, I would recommend turning Fane into a Rogue because of the racial talent allowing you to take extra turns (it is simply silly how powerful it is). Max out Scoundrel, Warfare and Finesse and take Comeback Kid / Morning Person / What a Rush instead of Far Out Man and you are good to go.

I am running the above build right now in my dual Lone Wolf run and it just entirely trivialises the game on Classic difficulty. I position my Sebille on high ground in sneak and initiate the fight with my rogue. As an opener I use Assassinate on the enemies' biggest dude: high ground + Assassinate bonus from sneak + Guerrilla bonus from sneak means I one shot most enemies, including bosses. Sometimes a fight lasts two turns but that is only because I am picking off stragglers.


edit: I would also recommend against Barter because cash should not really be an issue if you are making wise upgrading decisions. Make sure you have Lucky Charm on whomever you use to loot. I would take Persuasion on your main dude for extra content. Sneak on your ranged Guerrilla. Thievery on the last guy to open doors and steal the good stuff (making Barter redundant again). As I said above get rid of Loremaster.

Thanks again for the advice everyone.

I will definitely adjust my talents. I also will focus on Hunstman over range. A few questions though, mostly for Mermaid:

The reason I was looking at a point in scoundrel was for Adrenaline and Cloak & Dagger. Pyro was for Haste and Clear Mind. Poly was for Chicken and Chameleon. Just adding some tools in the arsenal for minor crowd control, escape, and added AP. Is this not worth the 4 points?

Does Far Out Man really help? I might just be too early in, but I use the basic attack more routinely then anything else. I would love to increase range, but if it doesn't increase the range of my basic bow/crossbow attacks I am not sure how useful it will be.

For Guerrilla, does this actually get used very often? With the 3 AP cost it takes 5 AP for an attack (instead of 2). That is 150% increase in AP cost for a 40% increase in damage. I can see the benefit to opening a fight, but i thought it bumps the character to be the last to act. Given Sebille usually acts first that isn't worth 40%+ damage on one attack. Plus, that is an entire talent for a 40% increase on opener for one attack. Am I missing something?

As for changing Fane to a rogue, I like the idea. But as the only melee won't he die without the extra mitigation that fighter gives?

As for Finesse vs Wits, the critical chance doesn't appear significant, but the initiative does. I find acting first is a lifesaver. Plus the detect traps/treasure is a nice perk. Is 100% Finesse really worth it?

Well, I am going to give it a shot. Plan to use sneak to get my party into position, three ranged preferring high ground. The rogue will invis and go in to start the fight.

Sebille RANGE

Warfare (max), Hunstman (max)
Executioner, All Skilled Up, Bigger and Better, Far Out Man, Guerrilla
Finesse
Persuasion

Ifan RANGE

Warfare (max), Hunstman (max)
Executioner, All Skilled Up, Bigger and Better, Far Out Man, Guerrilla
Finesse
Sneak

Fane DUAL DAGGERS

Warfare (max), Scoundrel (max), Poly (1), Geo (1)
Executioner, All Skilled Up, Bigger and Better, Comeback Kid, Opportunist
Finesse
Thievery

Lohse RANGE

Summon (Max), Hydro (Max)
Executioner, All Skilled Up, Bigger and Better, Far Out Man, Guerrilla
Finesse
Lucky Charm

I disagree on special arrows not being used.

The skills are all set with a specific damage type as well as weapon scaling. This means they double scale with skills.

So a Physical damage arrow will gain warfare damage from your weapon and then again for physical damage itself.

A Fire arrow gains warfare damage from your weapon and any points in pyro

Etc

They all also benefit from huntsman and are elemental damage that scales with finesse.

Hey buddy,

Let me know how that is coming along. As for your questions:

Scoundrel: you are right in that both Adrenaline and Cloak & Dagger are very useful. The former gives you that extra burst, but the latter is just another variant of Tactical Retreat/Phoenix Strike. Those skills are of course useful, but personally I felt like having Tactical Retreat and Phoenix Strike was enough for me. As you divest more points from your main trees you start seeing diminishing returns on these investments because you are losing damage and you are only occasionally making use of these situational abilities. E.g. you could use your 1 spare AP to move positions or you could carry it over to deliver another shot the following round. So I would say that it is not worth sparing four points, simply because you would not need that CC/extra backup because you have already killed your enemies and the fight is over.

Mind you, I made extensive use of Haste, PoM and C&D on my Ranger throughout the game, but only because I got the +skill from an item and I had saved all my skill books. If you have it - great, make use of it - but if you do not it is not a biggie. I would certainly not deviate from my main build to include these situational buffs. Furthermore, keep your eye out on Necromancer. Again, I would not put any points into it, but the healing you get from it even at level one from an item is absolutely insane given that you are running a pure damage build.

Far Out Man: yes, I am sworn to this. Will be including this in any ranged build going forward. It is very strong offensively because you do not have to spend AP on moving and it is also very strong defensively because enemies have to spend AP to get into your range. Also, for Ranger it scales with Assassinate / Ballistic Shot, so there. Also, how come you are using the basic attack so much? Make sure you get all those skill books!

Guerrilla: it is a matter of playstyle. I think it incredibly powerful on higher difficulties, but if you are just minded on getting through the game without investing much thought to setting up each individual encounter then it is probably not worth the point.

As for having a tank: I did my first playthrough with a "tank", but ultimately my impression was that he was always the last dude alive, not having done shit, while the rest of my party was dead. And then he dies, having been a total dead weight during the encounter. I would much rather have another damage dealer because there is no reliable way of directing damage to your tank in this game (purely because Taunt is blocked by physical armour, unlike in the first game).

As for Wits/Finesse: Initiative is weak in this game because of the combat system consists of alternating turns, meaning that the two sides (and neutral) always alternate turns in combat. Meaning that if you have 1,2,3,4 initiative and your enemies has 7,8,9,10 initiative then the order of the combat will be 10,4,9,3,8,2,7,1 (someone correct me if I am wrong on this). So there is no real point in investing into it. Finesse, however, is pure damage.

As for your new comp... Looks good, let me know how it works out! But why Bigger and Better and All Skilled Up? These are very weak talents. I would much rather recommend at least A Picture of Health.

Yeah they are quite useful situationally but the talent is absolutely worthless

Might I suggest Parry Master/Duel Wielding/Dodge for your melee rogue? I'm not sure what difficulty you are playing. If you are on explorer this may not be useful.

In one of my runs I have a single rogue as the only melee and I've found that stacking dodge on him (Beast/Dwarf, Parry Master, occasional point into Duel Wielding, etc.) gives a lot of relief to my characters that can heal and buff. The lack of need for support is noticeable in my opinion. Something to consider.

Also, with a single melee rogue I would recommend you consider "The Pawn" on him instead. I would suspect your ranged characters will get the majority of the kill shots simply because they have more AP available for attacking versus moving. With Executioner I would feel more tempted to use a few memory slots and ability points on mobility that could otherwise be slotted into doing more damage.

Guerilla can be very powerful if you carefully position your party before combat. During combat, I found it became tedious to take advantage of Guerilla (outside of a solo tactician run).