Larian Studios Forums Divinity: Original Sin 2 Divinity - Original Sin 2 - General Looking for a viable fighter/mage build

I am joining three friends who are playing a shadowblade, a witch, and a healer/polymorph. Obviously we need more physical damage so I have been looking at knight/fighter, or battlemage.

I am leaning towards a zerker type dwarf wielding an axe. I would like to do more then just swing a weapon every turn but I don't want to be too squishy.

I really just want to jump in and tear some shit up close range with a mix of spells and weapons.

For all that have played EA what should I be looking at and should I go 2 handed, even though I want an axe, or should I dual wield axes?

i personally favor the death knight aproach (high necromancy + weapon skills = lifesteal on each hit) combined with retribution to reflect enemy damage (and thus healing you from necromancy) you get healed everytime someone attacks you and everytime you attack someone...


but thats just me.

The warfare skill tree has a lot more in it than just "swinging a weapon every turn", you'll likely be using some kind of special ability in addition to swinging, or using several abilities to deal damage.

As for the weapons, I am not sure how many axes there were in EA since I never went to look for any specifically, but it probably doesn't matter too much if you go 1 or 2 handed. You'll have to decided if you want the extra tankiness with a shield or the extra damage with either dual-wield or two-handed. You can also go with an empty off-hand and take the new "ambidextrous" talent that will allow you to throw grenades and cast scrolls for 1AP less.

I suggest you just put a point or two into a magic school if you want some utility or damage from that school, but remember that most will scale with INT and if you are planning to deal most of your damage with axe(s) then you'll likely be investing primarily in STR. Aerothurge has a number of good positioning skills (be careful not to stun yourself) and pyromancy has a number of good buff skills, neither of which would rely on INT.

The battlemage preset defaults to dual-wielding axes, +1 STR, +1 INT, +1 CON, and a point into warfare and aerothurge. This might be perfect for you if you want to really play a hybrid (just remember that you'll be dealing less physical and less magical damage than you otherwise would could be).

"Viable" is somewhat subjective, but theoretically if you take any of the presets and just run with it then that would be "viable" even if not optimised. In my opinion going too hybridised with the way things are shaping up is not worth it as you will be trying to break through both physical and magical armour at the same time, but if it synergises with your team that might not be an insurmountable obstacle.

The death knight option does seem intriguing.

Did you roll with a 2 handed weapon or sword and board?

So glad I was able to show you the beauty of the Death Knight my friend. Come and embrace the full potential of the source, don't let yourself be limited by the narrow minded!

I'd go two handed for the Death Knight, simply because the higher damage increase the heals.
The shield would be nice too since I am fairly sure I'd also put point in geomancy for the poison (to heal myself, I'd go Undead Death Knight). If you go with a living race with no other healers maybe the shield? It is hard to tell right now, we don't know if you can tank without a shield in DOS2 but you certainly could in DOS1.

I mean, on the reddits, "Death Knight" is probably the most overused word by far. EVERYONE wants to be a "Death Knight" for some reason.

As for Nuked, pretty sure on stream they changed the hybrid presets to be less noob traps.

Warfare + Hydromancy + Spear!
Freeze everything, then stab them from further away than they can stab you back!

I don't read reddit, I only mentioned it a moment ago in a different thread saying that I'd play a Dead knight to honor my forum name and Adrianna commented on that.
Not sure where your comment is from.

You don't need Necromancy to be a viable two-handed warrior but it does not hurt either. I have a group with three melee chars, one is a two-handed warrior. Of most importance for me always was mobility. Because your mega monster damage/selfheal does not count much if you hit the air. One hiphop skill was not enough in some fights, I have two on my melees. Just one on my ranged. An exception is Spread Your Wings from Polymorph, as it allows more than one jump.

Well without Necromancy, a very complimentary magic type, your build becomes a bit more complex as you start to go down the Inquisitor path using a Staff Fighter.

Sorry, I don't understand what you point at. Without Necromancy it's not more complex, it's simpler. You lose the benefit of self-heal by damage and damage by reflection, you gain the benefit of putting more points into raw damage.

I'm not sure how many points in schools later skills need. Maybe there is a punishment for spreading wide (it should be in my opinion), maybe not.

Currently I think a build with Necromancy is stronger.

Hi,

With all these magical damages in your team, i don't know if a 2 handed physical weapon is worth for you. The magical armor will be destroy really fast. U can try a 2 handed mage staff specialist.

U need only int, vitality and wits, with aero or water skills + warlord skills (if u equiped a magical staff skills will do magical damage ) It's really fun to play, and it deal some nice damage.

If u want to play a 2 handed physical damage weapon, i think geo is the best for u, u can gain some armor and slow ur ennemies (u don't need to destroy any armor for slow ennemies)

Cya, and i hope this will help you

What spells do you pick if you are going with a Staff Melee Fighter? What elements? How much?

While Warfare + Necromancy is extremely straight forward.

Dual Wield is cooler than 2H though, not no mention 2 separate stat boosts.

Mind you I prefer 2H staff and touch spells. Inquisitor basically.

Ok, now I see what you meant. I however never advised or talked about combining Warfare with magic which deals magical damage. I did not play such a build and cannot judge from experience.

Thanks for all the responses. Since my group is trying to do 2 magic damage dealers with the casters and 2 physical damage with a rogue and me it appears that a Death knight might be a good choice. Necromancy seems like the best spell line to complement warfare. Maybe a couple of points here and there for geo or pyro intro spells.

Now I only need to figure out if I should go with a shield, dual wield, or 2hander. It is hard to tell right now how good shield is going to be until they add those skills. It might not be needed if i can offset the damage from the necro spells. If I go with 2hander I hit harder but if I go dual wield i get more buffs and look cooler

Since weapons are easier to change then race/skill combos I might have to start with one and then possible change later.

@Neovinek

I maxed aeothurgie and 2 handed weapon, cause the objective is to destroy the magical armor. i took 1 in warmaster, for take some skills (u gain some mobility/aoe damage in magical damage i reapeat ), after dat... Geo and Hydro are nice too. U can take some low range spell, ur objective is to be on contact. Opportunist is really nice with dis build, u have the same range as a spear with a staff