Larian Studios Forums Divinity - Original Sin Divinity - Original Sin - Enhanced Edition Tactician Mode Discussion (Spoilers)

With DOS, I started playing in medium difficulty, redid the first few fights a few times. Then, I found this *awesome* mod called Underseige, which was the equivalent of Icewind Dale to Baldur's Gate (lots of fights). Learnt a lot about comboing skills and synergy from there.

Now to the crux of the post. Since I got a bit into Cyseal with DOS, I could not but help compare Tactical Mode with the earlier fights.

My observations (so far only got to two fights - the first one outside the tutorial dungeon, and the Orc Ship fight):

1. Undead fight outside the tutorial dungeon:
A. The added zombies have an identity crisis. They are named as Cursed Servants, but have the 3D model of Cursed Lieutenants. Is it because they did not have a smaller 3D model?
Perhaps they could at least re-name them to a third category..........

2: Orc fight
A. They have added a Cultist who will attack you straight away to circumvent the tactic of letting the legionnares soften them up.

B. Is there a way to get the bridge guards / dogs join you in any way? Will running back help?

C. I ignored the tutorial dungeon, and leveled up during the fight. Will I level up if finish the tutorial dungeon?

General:
1. The newly added enemies in Tactician mode seem to have a LOT of life compared to the other ones.

Questions:
1. My earlier experience was that the first few fights were easy, and then gradually got more difficult. This makes sense given that you are getting used to the game systems.

Do the Tactician Mode fights increase in difficulty after Orc Fight, or have they made a flatter curve? I might have to re-consider or re-optimise my builds.

2. What is the best way to counter / handle Tactician Mode.

I can't answer every question but I'll do my best


The guards on the bridge are scared and run off. If you do, however, keep on walking towards them (spending every AP you have every turn), they will join the combat n the end.


Levels are based on XP caps, so if you do the tutorial dungeon later (after you already leveled up once), you will get the same amount of XP as if you would have done it firsthand. This does not mean you will level up twice, but the total amount of XP will be the same



All tactician combats are basically the normal combats + some extra difficulty. So the curve will be about the same, they will just be higher at every point.



Think outside of the box! The combats are designed so the first ideas that would have worked in the normal mode, don't work anymore or are harder to execute.

Most importantly, make sure you have a lot of resurrect scrolls, healing potions, crowd control skills and at least 1 healing skill so you can heal up after and during every combat. You might also want to have a couple of different equipment sets that are good against certain types of enemies. for example: a fire sword won't work against a fire creature, but sure does the trick against a poison type

You played the first few D:OS fights, and then did Under Siege, but that mod is pretty short. It doesn't sound like you went back to D:OS afterwards. So, you haven't finished vanilla D:OS 1 on any difficulty yet?

If that is the case, then I suggest you play the EE on classic first and finish it before starting Tactician. I don't get the impression that you're quite ready to jump into Tactician.

Having finished the game and getting a solid picture of the mechanics throughout - that is the best recipe for success in Tactician mode.


Observations.

1. ...Does this matter? It does not.

2C. I recommend you do the Tutorial dungeon anyway, because it contains loot and materials which can come in handy. Money and supplies are in very short supply early on and every bit helps. There is some XP in the tutorial dungeon and you can reach level 2 before the Orc fight on the beach if you're diligent. However, there is something to be said for leveling up during a fight - it's a free full heal.

Thanks.

I like to play my games leisurely, and was exploring. Intend to do the tutorial dungeon. Does get a bit boring, though. Everytime, I decide to try a new build - do the tutorial with it.

You are right. I only got till around level 3 with DOS1 before putting it aside. However, I did it a few times, including the last time in Hard mode.

Is Tactician mode harder than the classic edition's hard mode?

Even in hard mode, getting to level 3 is nothing. Level 3 is still the starter area, things don't start getting hard until quite a bit later.

Tactician is a LOT harder than the vanilla hard mode, so if you're saying that you never got past level 3 with any character, then you will have a hard time with Tactician. Play Explorer or Classic first and finish the game. That will give you enough understanding to be able to handle Tactical a lot better.

If think there is one minor oversight in tactician mode: with the extra enemies I'm constantly overlevelled, and I don't go out of my way to kill everything/get the best xp quest rewards.
At one point in Cyseal the party was level 9 fighting 6-7 enemies, wasn't very challenging.

If you are having problems in tactician mode, get an extra mage with 1 point in all magic skills.
The spells that can make any fight easy:
- bitter cold: costs 2(!) ap, has a great base chance to work(120-130% at lvl3) and almost nothing has immunity to it. Just take the most dangerous enemy out of the fight while you deal with the rest.
- slow current, malediction: the next best things for 2/3 ap, if they land they'll make the enemy do close to no damage.
- midnight oil, boulder bash: 3 ap midnight oil is op, just get a fire wand and you can light it up for another 3. It blocks los, then you can start dropping boulders on them: don't need vision for that and adds some extra burning surface. If you are feeling cheeky you can try and find an angle to teleport one particulary annoying baddie on your side of the smoke at the start.
- spider
- regeneration