Larian Studios Forums Divinity: Original Sin 2 Divinity - Original Sin 2 - General Is running only a single healer viable?

So initially I wanted to run a hydro/summoner as my primary healer. This way I could have powerful summons out during the downtime of healing and a cleric so I could have another healer but also have another tanky character upfront . Along with this is have a warrior/necro 2 hand character for tanking sbd self sustain, and finally a solely damage oriented mage for massive damage.

Now that release is getting closer however, I'm thinking of replacing the cleric with a rogue for more damage, and to have a character designed to detect traps and pick locks. I also hear rogues have the highest damage potential in the game.

Do you guys think running only one character with hydro would be viable on this setup?

You can certainly have a Hydro/Summoner character. However, I would not recommend running a single healer, because combat is designed to be challenging, and if your healer goes down, you'll be screwed. It's better for multiple people to have at least some healing or armor restoration magic.

Tanks are not recommended: the AI prefers to target squishy, low-armored characters and bypass tanks. Just letting you know that if your concept is to have a big tough guy up front which all the enemies will crowd around while your healer is safe in the back keeping them alive... that's not likely to work that well. A melee combatant which takes one level of Warfare and Hydro can combine a spellbook from both those skills to create the Cleanse Wounds skill, which is a very solid (but low-range) healing spell. Bow/Crossbow specialists can get the medium range First Aid from the Huntsman skill set.

In terms of damage, you want a balanced party, either all Physical (or all magic) damage or 2 physical/2 magic damage dealers. Summoners can cover both physical/magic damage, but I'd recommend taking at least one damage spell with your Hydro/Summoner. If you're only hitting an enemy's magic armor with one character, it will feel ineffective when multiple physical attackers are taking physical down faster.

Personally, I keep Restoration scrolls on all party members. This way anyone can do an emergency heal. Spreading some Fortification and Magic Shell scrolls around doesn't hurt either.

That being said, I 100% agree with Stabbey, that you should spread healing and armor buffing across the party.

fwiw the OP is a spammer. The text was copied from this Reddit post. Just fyi so nobody wastes too much time; but as the replies may be helpful to other people I've left the topic intact (other than the spam, obvs.)

Thanks for the heads up!

How about a warrior that specs into warfare,hydro and geo? I usually only invest the necessary amount for certain abilities, but I sometimes wonser if having a party that can setup elemental combos is practical.

My party is usually structured like
this (points provided by gear included):

Areothurge,hydro,scoundrel, duelwield, ( 2-3 points in necro if possible)
Warfare,geo,hydro,single handed, ( at least one point in summoning)
Pyro,Necro,Summoning,two handed ( enough hydro points for Bloodrain)
Ranged,geo,hydro,perseverance.

I also try to invest in defense catagories like leadership ect. Though I must admit that I'm prone to the Best defense is a good Offense and Weakening oponents form of strategy.