Divinity Original Sin 2 Party Combinations Guide: Magic, Physical And Mixed

[@djaken]

"Choices can be overwhelming paralyzing a player with indecision" .. that's me

[@moduntilitbreaks]

Same, love the game, but i suck at it currently haha.

[@winoodlesnoodles1984]

@@moduntilitbreaks , there are a couple keys to getting better. One is familiarity with the game. Doing your first playthrough on classic difficulty is great to get familiar with the game. Also, no matter the difficulty setting there are 2-5 fights in each act that are challenging. Personally, I must have done 4 runs through Fort Joy before I moved on to Driftwood. This helped because I learned and saw new things with each run and I was much more comfortable with game mechanics. The 4th group was also better prepared to move on as I had better optimized my XP gain at Fort Joy and had learned thieving. Which brings me to a second thing gear. The game is highly gear dependent. If you doing a 4 character party it it HIGHLY recommended that one character max out Lucky Charm ASAP. This will get you more loot and more loot is more better because even if the gear doesn't fit any of the builds of your characters, you can always sell it. Speaking of selling things, it is good to have one character focus on bartering. This is preferably a human character as they get a bonus of +1 to bartering. The character with barter will have better rates for selling and purchasing items at vendors. Speaking of vendors, you should grease the wheels of any vendor that you will be regularly purchasing from and/or selling to. This will increase their opinion (attitude is the game mechanic) toward you and improve your rates. The max attitude value is 100. On the subject of vendors, having a character good at thievery is not just useful in lock picking doors and chests, they are great for looting (pick pocketing) vendors. The best way to do this is to have your bartering character talk to the vendor and purchase what you want from the vendor. Keep that character talking to the vendor and then have the thievery character go behind and pick pocket the vendor beginning by just grabbing all the gold first. This is the best way as stolen gold can simply be split into two groups and rejoined to get rid of the stolen tag. You can also just send the stolen gold to a character that has gold that isn't stolen. This method means that your party won't have any stolen items on them. So, if anyone searches them, they will find nothing and actually apologize for being suspicious of you. The more gold you have, the more you can keep your character in gear that is at or near their current level. A final tip you have already figured out. Builds matter and party composition matters. Fextralife is fantastic for character builds and party composition.

[@T1080M]

just go ham and try everything. i just redownloaded last week and my old save game is broken. im actually happy i get to reroll. i am building practically the same team but better this time lol

[@andrewh3079]

same, lol.

[@tacticalchunder1207]

Started on tactician and still limping my way through the first part of fort joy after about 5 hours!

[@cheesy-p1j]

I can't stress this enough, your channel has a ton of helpful content for so many games I love. It doesn't matter if it's Dark Souls, Divinity, whatever. Thank you.

[@IndustryOfMagic]

9:05 - Recomended builds for a Split Damage Party 11:10 - Split damage party compositions (12:02, 13:05, 13:59, 14:50)

[@jamile1391]

YOU THE MAN

[@emilnawoj5465]

Thank you, you are a good man.

[@tylershaina1890]

@WlakyMaster This is a bit long ago but for any other players, I am using Eternal Warrior as my main, Beast as a Stormchaser, Lohse as a Tidalist, and Ifan as a Ranger. If you select Battlemage for any character, they gain the Aerothurge skills Blinding Radiance and Shocking Touch, which both are great to work with. The Enchanter will start with Rain and Hail Strike, and with Migo's Ring you can get Restoration until you get the book for it. If you get the Two-Hander early, All In is an amazing way to get some quick damage in during the early stages of the game for your Eternal Warrior. If you get the Gloves before you add your point into Scoundrel at Lv2, there is a chance for an armor with +1 Scoundrel at the Curious Chest, so that is something to think about when speccing since you will have so few skills at the start. I am just starting out, but this is what I have learned from a practical perspective trying this game out. My other big suggestion is to not be afraid to be evil or aggressive early on. Exp is important, as is gold, especially since you need a Scoundrel AND Hydro book for Vampyric Hunger, that is costly. Get all the armor you can, and read/watch a lot of guides. They have saved me, and even then I am now restarting cause I realized I may have dun goofed

[@tylershaina1890]

@WlakyMaster If you wish to add me as a co op, Drearia is my user, I will happily oblige to help, would be nice to try a different class or at the very least have a unique experience. My current playthrough can help out a lot, I have a lot of tips with what I have at the moment, and honestly with a second custom character, it can help with Tidalist and Stormchaser in terms of required books. If anyone reading this is open to it, I'd be down to have more players for a multiplayer journey and it can be easier to spec, as I am realizing with the NPCs it can be a slight disadvantage early on, keyword slight but it is something where I realize four customs could do a lot of work in the level up regard.

[@elvenatheart982]

Thanks bro

[@Drakonfire286]

Your builds have really helped to get me invested in this game. My first playthrough was a clumsy, fumbling exercise in futility as I had just finished the previous title and was a little overwhelmed by all of the new skills they threw at us. Your Blood Mage build has become a staple for my parties; and your Elementalist and Ranger builds laid the foundation for two of my favorite custom builds. Thank you Fextra.

[@FallicIdol]

You described everyone's first playthrough. That builds character though.

[@MartialLoreNZ]

This guide, combined with your detailed build guides, has got me back into my tactician campaign again after I hit a wall with a poorly optimized magic build party. Absolutely fantastic! A brilliant, brilliant set of guides. The best I have ever encountered for any game.

[@leoren5128]

After 100 hours into the game and 1 complete run. I watched this video and still managed to be confused AF....

[@AllThings_Gaming-c1m]

Léo REN Well, most of this kinda seems like hybrid mixture of builds. It’s what DOS2 originates around with lol

[@SwaggerHarrystlyesminecrafter]

After 240 hours into the game i havent even seen act 3 lmao

[@Malos_]

Bruh I’m 16 hours in and just got out of Fort Joy

[@marquisduhsade]

@@SwaggerHarrystlyesminecrafter fr it feels like everytime i leave act 1 i want to do a different build

[@danbeje2157]

Thank you, I barely started playing and have no idea what hes talking about. I guess Im not as stupid as I thought.

[@madestro]

Great video. I am still very new to DOS2 and struggle a lot with party comp. Also trying to figure out who to choose to play as, or even what type of character I should build. This along with your other guides helps a lot

[@waterstardrop]

water is my favorite element too in divinity 2! especially when it comes to magic elements in general! also love the druid!

[@tylerreed2409]

Playing with my BF has made me hate water. He ended up choosing two casters for his characters, and since we are doing a split damage team I am doing the physical damage. He just keeps fucking shocking me, no matter how much I remind him that blood can be shocked

[@mattyspoons777]

Mate, thank you very much for this vid (and all your other DOS2 vids). Incredibly helpful and easy to understand. Legend

[@cmel7841]

I love your videos, so while waiting for New World to come out, I finally installed this game. It's really fun but MAN there is a steep learning curve, even for a seasoned RPG player. These videos helped.

[@Fextralife]

Have fun!

[@MrMultiPat]

This video is fantastic, you earned my subscription. I went into DOS2 blind, only having played the first game, so I wasn't aware of the new magic/physical armor system. This really helped me understand that system better. Thanks mate

[@inerevaraskedforthis]

Nice video, thanks. My biggest sticking point in party building was whether it is ever worthwhile in taking opposite elements on multiple characters, such as having a fire/earth mage and a water/air mage. It seemed logical to have a good variety of elemental types to deal with various elemental resistances, but in reality it became difficult to strategically use elemental terrain (unless the fight was in a big area) and to maintain magical CCs whilst still causing magical damage, such as your frozen and fireball example.

[@Fextralife]

Indeed. I love fire to death, but if you have a hydro mage in your group, they don't get along really well.

[@lightsnow123]

inerevaraskedforthis I do this - and it’s easier done than you might think. It’s really just about focus targeting. I use more of the single target or small aoe of fire. My air/water is a lot of support, or quick cc capabilities with rain/shock or frozen. It’s incredibly fun, and I enjoy having the extreme difference between my two mages.

[@uncledrake6606]

If you have a mage in a party, there is really only one build that remains viable for the whole playthrough (at least on tactician/heroic mode) and that is an all elements mage with fire and earth 10, water and air 2 as the only magic user. 2 mages and you will tank the endgame hard, no mage and you will basically make the game impossible to complete on heroic. This is of course just my opinion on it, but I do have dozens of playthroughs under my belt, including some speedrun attempts (which admittedly didn't go as well as I hoped xD)

[@ionceateapinecone]

It's less about classes used and more about roles filled; -every team needs at least one CC (I usually fill this role with a tanky fighter) -every team needs a healer of some sort (the cleric starting class is an obvious contender) -every party needs a ranged attacker (this can be a ranger or an offensive mage) -every party needs a DPS (I usually go with a high crit assassin, but shadowblades or witches work well here too) in reality you can have whatever party makeup makes you happy/you have the most fun with, but for a balanced playthrough these are the roles that need filling.

[@johnnycomelately9400]

How did the pinecone taste?

[@Queesh10000]

I don't believe you need a dedicated healer for every team. While it helps, you can certainly get around it. Have a party of 4 mages for example, each touching one school of magic. And have each of them picking up at least two support skills from corresponding magic school. Worked really nice on my last tactician run. Also you don't need actual DPS. My second run of the game (and only one on Lone Wolf since I think it was and still is utterly broken) consisted of support tank and retribution tank. In the end game I was reflecting around 140 % damage as physical + some as air due to armor bonuses. It was absolutely crazy seeing last boss killing himself on the armor of my character. :D

[@broskie9362]

What if you are only 2 what is the best class for both of us?

[@marcorossi8740]

@@broskie9362 Rogue/Warrior + Ranger/Mage Play with Lonewolf.

[@yp8495]

@IOnceAteAPinecone the OP, let me reiterate, for a easier gameplay experience. -CCs are good, but it's built into literally every build except necro and pyro. No need to specifically look out for them. -healers make the game harder; the best defense is a good party wipe on the other side -every party needs a ranged attacker, thought 4 is always better than 1 -every party needs 3 or 4 DPS, though rogue doesn't count; they are more for roleplaying than actually winning fights.

[@LaughingCrows124]

I just recently picked up the game at the behest of some friends of mine, flipping through the classes I was sorta disappointed there weren't any Paladin class options. Then I was doing some party research and found your Frost Paladin video, we aren't too far in but it's pretty fun to play so far, so thanks

[@cell4224]

It's funny after playing for a bit i almost immediately noticed how much more build variety there is in physical damage builds. As a spellcaster you almost always go for the jack of all trades builds due to the quantitiy of skills being more important than the quality.

[@ArchAngelThomas]

I just need to know how to convince my girlfriend she should be using battering ram and battle stomp on her Rogue when we play co-op together. This has been a serious point of argument between us. Somehow an IGN article convinced her rogues should not have those 2 skills.

[@Fextralife]

IGN...sigh

[@Ricard1807o]

If it isn't limited by a weapon requirement, which it isn't, then there's no reason not to make good use of a CC when you're dealing up close physical damage. Tell her she can basically get an extra turn over each enemy she uses it on once they have no physical armor left (or if the damage of the skill is enough to reduce physical armor to 0). It might feel weird for her at first as they don't feel like a rogue-ish skills but they're well worth it in a class that suffers from lack of knock down CC.

[@jam34786]

Maybe she's going more for RP than effectiveness? But yeah if she wants to wreck faces, the more tools the merrier!

[@kitkami]

Unless she is wanting to keep it rp friendly those two skills are freaking amazing on as many people as you can get them. Knockdown is your best friend.

[@gamrage]

ArchAngelThomas Never believe anything IGN says.

[@karimsonsafehold9233]

The system I used for Divine Divinity OS was a mix of physical with one pure glass cannon mage and a dual wielding wand scoundel/aero. A lot of builds are versatile in that they can pick a few points in Hydo for self heals. You buff yourself with some type of warrior regen and defense ability, and give them elemental skills that let you do aoe control setups, like rain. The rear 2 are the primary dps/support/healer/summoners, and they control the tactics of the fight, while the 2 front tanks hold corridors or bosses. Scoundrel and aero teleportations make it easy to hit and run, and if OS2 allows dual wielding wands, then you basically have an easy way to penetrate magic armor. Assuming wands still do elemental damage. You just have a dps buff to maximize the damage of a single character. Whether that means they are glass cannon or not, depends on how much dps you need to break down the magic armor. I didn't setup an optimized max dps scoundrel dual want build in OS 1 until about level 11. Getting the perfect synergies going on between 2-3 that can cast, is challenging but fun. And eventually, you'll be able to modify the tank equipments so that they aren't even affected by status or terrain. Or use summons for the same effect that are immune to fire. They deal fire dmg, are immune to fire aoe terrain, so you can spam your fire skills non stop. Once the fire aoe is cooking enemies, you just rotate to your other summons if the first one is dead and on cooldown, use terrain shifting spells to change the fire into steam or cool it down with water, to transition to a freeze cc mode. Let's take an example using Earth elementals that create poison gas on death. You will need to stack 1 or 2 tanks with poison resist, and frost aura shields, while helping them heal themselves. The tanks if they are also dps tanks, can probably sustain themselves for awhile, but they won't have the focus fire to burst down single enemies well. Or hordes. This is where your glass cannon mages/scoundrels/range in the back come in. They can choose which target to burst. You can burst dps the enemy's backline, who are firing at your tanks usually. Or you can burst down a single target's armor and cc them, then switch to dpsing the other guy. You can drop difficult terrain oil to make it harder for enemy melee to arrive and crowd your tanks, giving you a turn or two of dps. Buff up the magical damage of one of your backline, hasten them with scourge or spells, and have them throw out as much magic damage as they can. When it is the tank's turn, you can decide whether they need to heal themselves, heal somebody else, taunt aoe, adjust position, or charge further into the enemy's front and back lines (if you are killing em fast). And then after the tanks' turn, your backline has to decide whether to keep healing, summoning, or focusing on one target or another. If you need more cc in the beginning, then ice them down and freeze them, while using physical attacks or water attacks against them. If there are many many enemies, use earth oil + fire aoe, to burn them down. Then cast Rain or create smoke, to obscure the enemy's backlines so they cannot fire range. These are OS1 tactics as I have not spent much time on OS2, but the systems should be tactically compatible. They have armor in OS2, but in OS1 tactician difficulty, people have huge hp bars and high esistances which I had to debuff, so that was about the same thing. I used Divine Light on my tanks to aoe cone debuff enemies, as well as my mage witch dain willpowe, to ensure I could control enemies easily. Giving me more time to burst down foes. For people trying to make team builds that fit their playstyles, just keep a few simple points in mind. The tanks generally need to be 2 to create the most stable defense for the group. That means 2 melee or 1 melee and 2+ summons. This is important because you need someone to buy the group time. And that is not getting CCed all the time. These tanks will be mostly specialized in a path, but they can use magic to buff/debuff/heal/control the terrain. They don't need a high attribute in INT to do damage. They just need to create an effect. Think of them as using their AP on scrolls to do things that your mages don't need high INT for. By focusing on your main vanguard battleline, once it is up and running, then you can do many different things with your backline dps. You can go glass cannon early or late. You can do physical or magical damage. High DPS characters usually have the most self buffs and the highest attribute in one stat. So tanks have most stats in defense and warrior stuff. Backline dps have their attributes in dps related attributes and skills. And for beginners, try to use on level or -1 level weapons and armor. If it is level 2+ greater in difference, you need to upgrade or wait. That is because weapon levels make the most difference in you dps.

[@rokkvi09]

If there's any late DOS2 players looking for builds, quick tip. What class you pick / tell your companions to pick is irrelevant. It simply gives you different starting spells. So I'd recommend you pick Healer on all of them so you can Steamroll any undead encounters by one shotting them with 4x heals. (8 If you find a couple of First Aid books, which are all over the place)

[@DesertHomesteader]

First Aid skill is a must for removing conditions. My mixed build is Paladin, Wayfarer, Shadowblade, Necromancer. Even with an all-physical party, you can always add a little magic damage by morphing your classes a bit. Even a few points in the magic skills can be helpful with mobs with high physical/low magic armor to get them to where you can apply effects faster.

[@mjvv81]

I just did a playthrough with a friend using the lonewolf trait. he went rogue/thief/glass cannon, I went tank/healer/support. we had only 2 characters him and me... start to finish we cleared everything in just under 90 hours. By the end nothing could kill me which was rather hilarious! I had over 22k HPS and 10k armour and 8k magic armour. Was a great game had an amazing time. Now we've modded the game and were going through it with 6 characters! he has 3 I have 3 no lonewolf and we've bumped the difficulty. Were about 10 hours in and damn the Randomization + double monsters mods has made it tough but loving it! Rarity when I actually say a game is worth paying full price, but this is.

[@DocSardo]

Can confirm that the Hydromania party is indeed a great deal of fun! Even with Fane as the cleric for the memes (actually works fine because of the passive healing from Necromancy). Something very satisfying about the enemies constantly slipping on ice once you have the full complement of skills. Works well on Tactician or Honour modes because of the tankiness and cc's.

[@avisdunrandom]

I did it in my second game and being totally serious just that I used the mix "aero+hydro" mage rather than and well build hydromania. (in my first fane was just a dual element earth+Pyro, yeah not really original)

[@erebulism]

​@@avisdunrandom What characters did you use for your hydromania team, and what were their roles? Sebille served as an example for three of the party members in this video, and I'm uncertain what characters to utilise to build the team

[@greenmann1217]

Eternal Warrior, Frost Paladin, Duelist, magick archer has been an amazing physical damage team. Highly recommend it.

[@bignasty4995]

Vinsplosion you can’t. You can only make your 1 hero character and then (unless you’re playing with other online people) you have to recruit the rest of the companions. Although, there is a mirror that you can find on the bottom level of your ship that allows you to customize any playable character, so technically, you can still make them look however you like! Just can’t change their origin story or their name!

[@phosphorusdaemon7]

@Vinsplosion You can connect a xbox controller when you are making a new player and then the game will recognize it as a "second player" and you can build two characters from level 1. But you will never be able to dismiss the character because it will be like you are starting with two main protagonists-leaders of your group

[@phosphorusdaemon7]

@Vinsplosion As for the respec you can respec ALL of the characters when you escape fort Joy. You will see a magical mirror for respec

[@ogikay7056]

i want to play as magic archer so will try this build,hope its easy to get into

[@Trumie]

@@bignasty4995 On PC you can open 4 instances of the game, start a lan server, and join it with each instance, making as many custom party members as you want

[@moduntilitbreaks]

I'm stunned how much you know about games mechanics. Every video you put out is solid golden with information overload. Thanks!

[@Gracklef1int]

This video brought all of your class builds together in a great way. Thanks for keeping the Divinity content going. I’ve been working on a build that uses Summoning, Pyrokensis, and Necromancy. I got the idea from your Terramamcer-dealing either physical or magic damage with one character. If you want to deal physical damage it can summon its incarnate on a blood surface. If you want to deal magic damage you create a fire surface to summon on. I recommend Elf for this build since Flesh Sacrifice is the easiest way to create a blood surface at the start of a fight, and Summoning is AP intensive. Would you consider featuring viewer submitted builds in future videos? I’d love to share this one with the community, but don’t have the time or resources to produce an edited video.

[@velhomiguel]

Really appreciate the video! I'm really excited to be getting into DOS2 when it comes for us console plebs, and I've already started planning some build combinations with your guides!

[@ikramlaksmana]

I know im a year late but how is the game on console? Im considering getting the game since my laptop couldn't possibly handle this game

[@poop_storm]

Wolfgang Weber I realize I’m late but the console version is still amazing, controller support is great and everything is exactly the same, the only real downside is not having keyboard and mouse

[@ikramlaksmana]

Storm Sears No shit captain obvious

[@ikramlaksmana]

Storm Sears Jk, thanks man!

[@SkyeRequiem001]

I like 3:1 physical to magic, with a couple of primarily physical characters with charm and giving as many teleportation skills to the party as possible for ultimate mobility

[@SkyeRequiem001]

Basically ended up with a head melee character which I somehow got up to 98% chance of a critical hit before the end, a rogue type character with stuff from warfare adding backup knockdowns and mobility, a necromancer/summoner, and a pyromancer/healer

[@dajolaw]

Thank you for these guides, they really help to focus on a specific theme for your character and companions. Just started the game and currently planning on this combo: PC: Frost Paladin (Beast) Druid (Lohse) Warden or Magic Archer (Ifan) Assassin or Duelist (Sebille) We'll see how it goes

[@williamprice8827]

Great video. I love the content I know I'm late to the party but as a new player to the game this is crucial and excellent information. Much appreciated!

[@Khepriem]

Wonderful video, really helped me and my brother out in our playthrough! Fextralife has been invaluable throughout my time playing this, and it's predecessor.

[@rokkvi09]

All you need is Undead char: with forced exchange & 2 heals, Ritual and First Aid. And then a Physical dmg burst character with death resist on an ally target. Enter conversation with the boss on your undead after Healing him 2 times. Then pop Death resist on him with your Physical dps. Then once fight starts skip undeads turn If he goes b4 Rogue. Have Rogue burst down the Armor. Undead swaps his 1hp for bosses full hp and hits him with any physical atk. Instant win everytime.

[@Fextralife]

🎮 Read the whole article here: fextralife.com/divinity-original-sin-2-party-combinations-guide-magic-physical-and-mixed/ 💸 Sponsor us for more great content! goo.gl/yyPtda 💖 Become a Fextralife VIP fextralife.com/Be-a-vip/ 🎮 Check out the description for more guides on Divinity Original Sin 2

[@Gracklef1int]

I'm having trouble with my current party makeup. I'm using the following builds: Crystalline Cleric, Juggernaut, Ranger (summoner), and Stormchaser. I chose Stormchaser because I thought it would work well with the Crystalline Cleric so I'm not cancelling burning with wet, etc. Everything feels good except for the Stormchaser. The cooldowns are very long and it's a very frail build that I can't seem to protect while getting line of sight to my enemies. Would a different spell caster build be better here? Should I be running Magic Archer and Terramancer instead of Ranger and Stormchaser? Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

[@aivarioha]

+Fextralife Yo, should I be worried about sustain/healing when playing your Earth and Fire build with Battlemage, Terramancer, Jugg and Magick ranger?

[@jsavage4625]

wtf does CCIng mean? sorry I don't know your nerd lingo

[@Fextralife]

Crowd control. It means preventing enemies from attacking by freezing, stunning or knocking down

[@theodale1710]

Hey are your Divinity Original Sin 2 Builds guides outdated? have they changed the game anough so it would be better to make new ones?

[@DanNguyen-pu5fk]

Learned a few party tricks here, hopefully i'll be fun in parties

[@martinhronec9424]

The videos are very useful and informative. Thanks for making them!

[@Fextralife]

Thanks for watching!

[@jamesbearden3468]

Bought DOS 2 on sale last month. I had no idea what I was doing the first time and restarted shortly after escaping reaper's eye with a neuter understanding of the game. I eventually settled on two-handed warrior, a fire/earth mage, a scoundrel/ air build, and a necro/ hydro/ warfare team. All but the mage have fantastic cc and mobility. Only downside is that some fights leave one party member struggling to contribute beyond tanking or buffs. Most of the time however, the air build goes first, and her insane mobility allows her to position herself and others into optimal positions. Sometimes she backstabs to bring enemies into knockdown range for the warriors

[@aleksandrsverchkov375]

Thanks for a great video, I has been delaying starting playing the game waiting for such a video. Finally I can start playing the game.

[@digilydave9923]

Lol, maybe make your own experiences? You can watch a video of this kind if you keep failing, but knowing which is the best setup before you ever played the game takes a lot of the fun away imo.

[@jf2181]

@@digilydave9923 I was really excited to get into the game initially, but through watching other videos and tip guides I realized how massive the game is and became paralyzed. Honestly this specific guide has made me more comfortable with the idea of starting

[@angryglock]

Thanks for creating this guide. I stopped playing a few weeks ago because I could not seem to get my party right for high-level difficulty. I could handle fights where I was at the same level as the enemy but once the enemy out-leveled me, my tactics would fall apart. Your guide should solve that problem. If you would create a guide where you use one of your mixed party builds in a couple of tough fights showing how you would approach the battles and show how each role would work in a practical application, would really round out this guide.

[@Fextralife]

I thought about doing that, but it's really tough to get the proper footage for because I essentially have to load a save, re-spec and re-gear each member to one of these setups and then find a tough fight or two in order to really show that.

[@adler5653]

Fextralife Are there no mods to cheat the proper gear?

[@Woodshadow]

Not sure what difficulty you are on. We are playing on regular and We haven’t had a ton of trouble. Our summoner is not great at playing games and imo is playing her character subpar. We have a tank who doesn’t do almost any damage. Not sure why exactly. They just seem really really weak. Not sure on his build. We have a ranger who one shots most enemies and ever since I got my apotheosis skill as the elementalist I am just destroying enemies groups at a time. Thunderstorm feels OP as hell. I cast it and do like 3k to every enemy each turn and then still get to cast my regular spells. I want to try playing a tactician game but I think the skill level of my friends is too low. We have fun but sometimes it feels like it is just two of us doing the work

[@Queesh10000]

Good guide, but here are few things I think are important when creating party comp and builds: - all or at least almost all physical damage skills can be evaded (executor Ninyan says hello btw). That's huge when you want to cc and your knockdown misses. Magic aoe's basically never miss unless you place them that way. - summoning is more of an option for lower difficulties. On tactician/honour while it may serve as an okay distraction for overwhelming enemy, after Nameless Isle is just not worth it, since most of difficult fights will take out any summons with random aoe's, and on easy ones bothering with summoning is just a waste of time (quick example - no matter how I tried, my incarnate with summoning level 14 and 3 infusions always dies to indirect attacks in final fights, so yeah...). - also (imo ofc, like all of this comment) archer character should be always focused on pure damage and utilizing set of arrows. Every ap not spent on attack - unless you really have to pick up someone knocked down - defeats your role as damage in party. - magic damage parties usually focus on intelligence based magic armor making them extremely squishy, especially when fighting with physical based priority turn enemies in late game (for example Lord Kemm). - fire damage probably should be almost never used. A lot of enemies in the game are straight immune to fire, it causes random explosions that can hurt your party and your so called "companions" like that rat Lora, that you are trying to keep alive for some reason despite knowing how dissapointing he is. While in early game it might seem effective, later it falls in the back to power creep of air and earth (talking mostly about apotheosis/pyroclastic eruption/skin graft combo from geomancy + polymorph - ofc Fane is not necessary, having a high initiative character that delays for double turn also works - oh, and if enemies are stacked, pyroclastic eruption will hit each of them multiple times). - also if you feel like the game is hard in the early/mid game, I recommend always having someone with at least few points into polymorph + reading up a bit on crafting. Soul mate + drinking healing potions works wonders on undead enemies (makes you kill certain Witch while being like 4-5 levels lower) :)

[@madhoze1549]

I run a dual lone wolf with a Tempest master(Hydro+electricity) with a pinch of necro for physical damage. I paired him with a physical tank who can use a little earth + fire if needed

[@gootballe583]

We are brand new to RPG games (and the entire genre). This guide is good. Although I must admit I still got lost. The game is amazing though at times almost overwhelming - however after each play we always seem to have learned lots.

[@michaelyap6]

I just bought this game ...and this video help me a lot .. Thanks man

[@filipevasconcelos4409]

I always do 2 conjurers with lone wolf, even from the first playthrough. It's being pretty good

[@Tsubaki189]

And with Conjurer you mean? D:

[@harisuddin7755]

Damn that must be fun

[@solitude687]

Thanks for the great video. DOS2 can get very tricky but your builds have made "replaybility" worthwhile👍

[@OSYofRR]

Best party is one that has access to all combat schools including a Marksman with Huntsman and Aerotheurge ,front liner (preferably one handed and shield fighter but a rogue will do fine,just less forgiving with mistakes) with either Warfare and Polymorph or Scoundrel and Polymorph, offensive magic user with a mix of geomancy,pyrokinetic, and necromancy (max geomancy and split the rest between the other two as geomancy buffs armor increasing skills and TWO elements) and finally a summoner who doubles as a healer and ice mage with Hydrosophist. With this party composition you will have access to every discipline school and great diversity and tactical flexibility. Of course there are many other team compositions that will work well,or even shine, but for a new player to Divinity this will allow you to learn all the skills and have a well balanced party with no weaknesses. Honestly unless you are playing on tactician, you do not really need a balanced party or even taking advantage of over powered skills and combos.

[@winoodlesnoodles1984]

Just because water arrows are so cheap to make, the Aero/Archer is one of the best builds in the game. Great CC, while doing respectable magic damage. However, it is also a beastly physical damage dealer and knock down arrows add godd CC to that as well. I tend to run a similar party comp. With the summoner, I will go healer/support role. The incarnate is fantastic as you can choose the type of damage to do making the summoner capable of great physical or magical damage output. In just these two, you make for a fantastic core to any party comp. If I run this, I will typically go a strength based melee character going sword and board to front line tank as much as possible. The final character will be some magic focused character. The beauty of this set up in that encounters will have some enemies with low physical armor and some with low magical. Depending on which percentage is which, you can use the archer and summoner to flexibly swap as to which to focus to strip armor and being CCing opponents. This is so effective that often by the end of round 2 all my opponents are typically dead or in a state of permanent CC.

[@milokadamus7721]

Huge thanks for this Vid. I have played a lot of RPG's and for the first I am having difficulty also. This has given me some great choices to make at least to get inot the game. Once I can be comfortable and maybe don't die so much I can look at tweaking or recreating builds. Without your help though I must admit I was getting a bit lost. Again thank you as this has helped a lot!

[@tybronx2446]

I've actually never used any of your builds cus customizing my characters is my absolute favorite thing about this game... but I keep watching your videos anyway lol.

[@machomandalf2893]

Right now I’m using a Blazing Deep Stalker, Tectonic Sage, Ranger, and Blood Mage. I’m having a blast with it.

[@FreeFlow__]

Excellent video. Cant wait to play it for the first time in August. Somehow I just know I will love it a lot.

[@Fextralife]

It's a great game. I'm looking forward to couch co op in August. Was loads of fun in the Enhanced Edition of the first game!

[@iamjuice420]

Loving the videos. The DnB was a nice touch at the end!

[@ghost2031]

Thx for the video, this game is sooo good. really enjoying it for the second time.

[@Vincrand]

As a new player I'm in a party of 2 with another new player. Our set-up: I'm a tank that has a focus on healing and replenishing armor. Other is a summoner with leadership. Let's hope it works ;p.

[@sabbasarishvili6677]

Single most devastating combo I had was full blown Hydro Lohse with Skin Graft and you are unstoppable Ice Mage, Two Handed Red Prince with Warfare with touch of Geomancer for Armor buffs, Warfare plus heavy necro Fane with shield and Summoner Ifan 🤝💪

[@NiccoloHamlin]

There’s usually just one or two high magic armor enemies in a mob. Usually some kind of mage. If you’re going for a magic damage party, just giving one character a few necro skills (int-based but physical damage dealing) allows you to kill or cc that one pesky high magic armor enemy.

[@skratboarddingus8819]

So i literally just got this game and am about 20 hours or so into it, loving it btw. Stumbled upon this video and now im like...maybe ill restart the game a thousand times to try one of these plethora of amazing builds..hahaha

[@EvanCastor]

Lucky you, you can respec anytime after the 1st act. Try everything!

[@exodere9105]

Amazing videos and guides. Fantastic job. Thank you.

[@azaral8200]

Best party is 4 warriors with some necro and geomancer skills, retaliation, pref human with wits for high crit, and have them spam shield bounce, get teleport gloves to drop archers infront of them or group up units, massive cc with 4 knockdowns, leech ability, living armor, bloodrain, infect etc.. you do massive ranged physical damage, when they get in close use opportunist to get free hits on enemy trying to reposition, they can heal each other with encourage, mend metal, shields up, fortify or u can use restoration ring etc.

[@RaZeyLWindBladE]

i had a rogue, ranger, summoner and death knight. rogue was a self sustain killing machine, ranger was the CC master while the Summoner keeps everyone alive and help out the death knight with an additional summon or two. Death knight was literally unkillable with the provoke - share damage with enemies skill. Also, it helps that the ranger was a geocaster too XD. fun times!

[@francoquiroz4772]

8:45 "Choices can be overwhelming, paralyzing players with indecision" Bro just described my life.

[@twistedtonestudio3716]

my fave party was a custom undead character with fane in a lone wolf magic build. I leveled to 15 with summoner (10 points) and spreading the rest out over the other schools of magic then after 15 I put 2 in summoner (for charm) and spread the rest out equally over the other schools of magic with a few in scoundrel to up my crit dmg for both. it was a great jack of all trades magic team that just decimated everything

[@BaoHadir]

I play exclusively with my best friend, and we split our party members and our roles. I have a dual-wielding warrior with a 10 in warfare, and points in hydro for healing and aero for the teleport spell. Enemies cannot flee from me; I just drag them back into range. I also took ranks in huntsman for Tactical Retreat, a nifty self teleport and extra fun if you have it with Phoenix Dive for great battlefield mobility. I also have a dual-wield scoundrel/warfare character who makes much use of teleportation to get behind enemies and backstab the crap out of them. My friend became fixated on the idea of Summoning so his primary is a Summoning 10, with pyromancy when his summons are on cooldown and a bit of necromancy because he thought the bonewidow sounded cool. Lastly we have the Huntsman 10. Focuses on getting up high and raining down death. If high ground isn't available, Sky Shot provides. Was made a ranger due to our experience with D:OS, where Rain of Arrows was broken as hell. Entirely focused on vomiting as much damage as possible.

[@DanteCrowlley]

Mixed is the way to go in any rpg, now on divinity I'm learning who the spells works so I usually miss play or just kill my party due poor decisions

[@Alexor715]

Tip for beginners playing on lower difficulties (story, explorer): Forget you saw this video. Seriously this video is obviously made for HC players playing on tactician difficulty, seeking some challenge. If playing casually, just pick whatever classes/party is appealing to you, don't bother with much of a tactics and just enjoy the game.

[@iceyywastaken2689]

Team devastation sounds fun! I'll be running that in my playthrough

[@c_f0rce]

I knew all this already. But im happy someone finally made a good video on it. You sir get a sub.

[@JamisonStone]

Great guide, guys. Thanks!

[@maddstewie1289]

Love your videos man.. I think I have as much fun obsessing over what what build to play as I do playing the game lol. Any updated version of the usual suspects or is this my best bet as a new player? Thanks for all the hard work I know it's a pain keeping up with all this :)

[@augustkonigmusic]

Great video, thanks mate!

[@hitwalkhook3831]

When you are a hydrophist necromancer polymorph aerothurge, your ally is a pyromancer summoner geomancer and the last one is an assasssin sht goes down. These happen usually: 1. I make as much rain as possible filling the whole area, except our location(blood rain + healing from it removes the surface) 2. Vaporize it 3. Repeat the whole thing once again. 4. Hit the ground with staff of posion. 5. Whole area becomes toxin(kzbin.info/www/bejne/i2HUk4elptN2Z7c i didn't do the surface tho, it took too much time anyway) 6. make the pyromancer blow it all up. 7. Vaporize the burning grounds when there is only 1 turn left from ground. 8. Wait for enemies to burn 9. Block vision and let the sneaky boi in 10. Let him finish a few off 11. Battle starts without their magic shields and them burning and if they had specifically low magic shield they will also be poisoned. This is almost as great as the "Teleport boom" Teleport boom: 1. 2 people teleport 2 people on a 3rd one 2. 3rd person uses geomancer skills 3. 4th person uses pyromancer skills Good damage

[@michaelandreasen993]

really some great videos mate, especially the combo setups! - would have like some build links to each though, that would have been nice, but I guess I can look them up my self :D keep up the good work!

[@JoshuaOnTheTube]

Hi Fextra life, thanks for a great guide. Regarding the "The Usual suspects" combination: Why is stormchaser in there? In the Stormchaser build gude you say that Lone Wolf makes the Stormchaser build possible. How does that connect with using the stormchaser in a four party group as you recommend in "The usual suspects"?

[@emilanghel9984]

the elf rogues are pretty insane can kill almost any mob in one turn (2 scoundrel, 1 polymorph, 1 aero, 2+ warfare, 2+ dual wielding) .... I have tone of cc, tone of movement tools, insane burst damage. In my first playtrough I had: 1 tank warfare+poly, 1 rogue (described before), 1 hydro+summoning (healing all the party and also doing a lot of damage as mage or summoner), 1 necro archer (good survival tools and nice damage). I can described my party as physical dmg one, but that idea.... full hydro sounds fun like hell. I'll do it. But what I want to play and I'll do it soon - 3 rogues + healer, if not 4 rogues :P

[@kirby5329]

man this game is so much more complicated and difficult than i could possibly imagine. no wonder playing it has been such a nightmare despite turning the difficulty down. these builds look great but i have no idea how to make them with each build requiring so much information i feel like im being overloaded. still gonna try because the story is great but wow this is a extremely complex game.

[@Plague_Doc22]

In that same boat. A tip for magic builds though is to use logic. If you have one water and one who can use electricity. You can combine the two greatly with water going first.

[@kirby5329]

@@Plague_Doc22 that's good advice thanks and I've found that after restarting and going with more dedicated builds that dont heavily rely on fire has really helped me so far. Still haven't made my way out of fort joy yet but things are going much better than last time

[@SkeleSama]

I have a group going on with my friends and we have a pretty decent split damage party. I'm running a necro huntsman who is supporty with damage via first aid and bloodsucker. Our tank is a knight who started off with fortify and the hydro skill that gives magic armor, it's pretty much frost paladin. A pyro scoundrel lizard that takes advantage of haste and adrenaline and the scourge abilities to lower a bit of magic armor Then losche as a summoner for...summoning. So far pretty good party with some split damage. I'm enjoying this play through a lot and firgued I'd just give my two cents here.

[@subway666SHITHOLE]

just adding my 2 cents.. ive had this game install on my pc for around 2 years, over that time ive tried 3 times to "get into it" and struggled. it wasnt until my 3rd time, with a bit of luck on drops and suddenly im 20 hours into the game and ive only just finished Fort Joy!! - all magisters dead, all quests (avialable with the current setup) done and i can tell you its been so much fun. first play through and nothing is min maxed or anything, just trying to get my head around the game. Apparntly things dont start opening up till AFTER Fort Joy, which is insane, ive found about 3 ways to leave/exit fort joy and along the way ive killed npcs that could/would have given diffrent quests (killed due to race interactions and chat pathways etc, i never intended for this is just happend) thats all with out the "talk to pets" perk either, which means more quests and just simply being a diffrent race and toon opens more up here AGAIN.. holy hell. and thats just the starting area.. i think if i was to see everything in the starting area i would need to play through 3 maybe 4 times at lets say 10 - 15 hours each. just go with the flow, take your time, you will not see everything in one or even two play throughs. its insanely deep.. just stck with it, re roll if you have to to find the right toon or (group) and you will be away... again this is only from the starting area..

[@dylanmeier2473]

Great video brother have a safe and awesome night! God bless!

[@charlieturk8141]

I'm in act 3 on easy mode, and thanks to this video, I am now realizing what my issue is. I think that I am just going to start over.

[@davidfarinha3880]

You can re spec your chars

[@charlieturk8141]

@@davidfarinha3880 right, but I wanted to try the whole game on a higher difficulty level.

[@yureft]

I love how this game is complex. Im STUDYING to play it! That is so awesome. MIght appear boring but its not. I could just play and struggle my way in to the game itself but i really want to know more and be efficient and all that. Its crazy. I like Role Playing though, so im figuring a way to walk between efficiency and RP.

[@k.f.kobold7910]

Same here! Had the game for over a year, but never had the time to sit down and play it proper. Anytime I would, the AI would trounce me cuz I didn't have any understanding of the system to help me. Now, after much trial and error, and finding strategies for the various types of builds, I think I'm ready to charge into the game proper. Starting from scratch, more or less, I'll be running a Lizard CAC with the Occult Flamewielder build and the Noble and Scholar tags. The idea being that he was a scholar that just happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time, and as such was sent to Fort Joy alongside the Red Prince. (Insert obligatory Skyrim meme here.) Following that, I was going to pick up Red Prince, Fane, and either Ifan/Beast as my party. Prince was going to be a Juggernaut build, Warfare and Geomancer. Ifan/Beast I think would be either some Ranger build, or a cleric. Fane would probably be a rogue type, probably the Assassin build over duelist, as otherwise I think he would build a nasty habit of... exploding. Either that, or I'll have him as a summoner/support mage. I think the role playing potential of the game is amazing, as it offers a pretty wide plethora of ways to tackle most situations in the game.

[@phosphorusdaemon7]

Currently I'm sitting on my desk trying to collect information about Fextralife guides I'm writing down useful tips for each of my characters. Red Prince as my main protagonist being a Juggernaut because he is a prince and I want him to have blade and shield. Sebille as Frost Paladin she is an elf and it looks cool. Beast as Crystalline Cleric because I love the idea of a Dwarf Runesmith (based on other RPG lores). Ifan as Magic Archer

[@bwestacado9643]

I use a battle mage (warfare and metamorph), the red prince as a 2 handed melee build, the assassin and the mage which uses both water and lightning as her skills. I started out using water on my battlemage, but switched to pyro and finally metamorph. The ring I have on him casts heal and my mage uses heal, so it wasn't necessary to keep my main as a water user. Fire is okay, but I spend more time putting out fires on my allies than I wanted to. Metamorph has been really helpful with the steel skin and wings abilities. I also have chicken form, tentacle and medusa head. I killed a character that had the skill books on them, so I put them to good use lol. Oh my red prince also has necromancy to go with warfare and his earth skills. There's an item I put on him that grants a point into necro so now he has blood leech, raise corpse and I mosquitos. Not sure. I have a book for blood rain, but I need water as well as necro to use it. Debating on specing my water/lightning mage into it so she can use blood rain, which I'm guessing red prince can use to heal with his leech healing skill

[@SeventhheavenDK]

Playing with Split Damage is my favorite. It may not be as efficient as full physical party or fukl magical, but for me it's more enjoyable.

[@AzgarthX]

Divinity Unleashed is a must have mod to change how armor works and makes mixed parties a lot better

[@jarheadanifoogam2583]

THANK YOU SO MUCH HOLY CRAP !!!!

[@allfenom]

If you guys get the chance, try the mod "Divinity Unleashed", it changed the game system, turns physical and magic armor into damage reductions and many other things.

[@Tentacl]

It's pretty simple - CC requires armos removal, just focus on physical damage (since otherwise you'd have to give up on ranger and rogue, 2 of the most powerful DPS classes). Healing skills don't scale with int and your casters can deal physical damage with necro and summoning skills i general.

[@MrODST57]

Tentacles* ranger and 2 handed

[@andrewh3079]

Awesome video thanks.

[@tom2gunzbombadil689]

I know this video is old so might not hear back... Lv 11. I'm struggling, basically with almost every fight. Everything is a war. Made a basic fighter sword and sheild, n he summons. Sebille is the rouge and works well if alil squishy. Fane is idk, came with a wand but he uses a sword now. Kinda 50/50 between melee n earth. N Lo is my mage. Mostly water/air. No classic range character besides spells. I def mess up alot.. n my tactics aren't really optimized.

[@Vydonis]

4 Skeletons (using the join party function with 4 runs of the game) can do poison and hydro, healing themselves and poisoning enemies with bit of necro to add to self healing while wanding? might be too split

[@involuntaryanalysis]

I'm on my first playthrough, and just kinda ended up with a strange build apparently, I use a rogue, meta morph, wizard, and summoner. my main defensive strat is to just keep out of reach (using spread your wings, which I have on all of them), while just hammering my enemies with whichever character that's not being directly attacked that turn. Got me to the Nameless Isle, with minimal fuss.

[@charlesatanasio]

The forth build: Three that do one kind of damage and the forth devoted to buffs/debuffs and utility with no attempt at damage at all.

[@aaronunroe5267]

Great video

[@glomibabel1894]

my team: human: polymorph + summoning lizardmen: mage (pyrokinetic+ geomancer (earth) elf: enchanter (aerotheurge + hydrosophist) undead: necromancer + geomancer (poison)

[@marcinbaczek1814]

When it comes to mixed damage party builds, I would recommend to mix tidalist build with necromancy and a shield. Necromancy skills scales only with intelligence, so you need to put only 3 points into this skill tree ( to get acces to blood storm and other skills ). Bouncing shield costs only 1 warfare and scales of the shiled, not strenght atribiutte.

[@CampbellMcIntosh]

lots of help, thanks!

[@TheGoblinoid]

Great guide

[@imppen]

These guides seem more aimed at people who actually know the game? I've never played this before and here i am. What are even these classes you talk about? I guess it's builds you've come up with own names to? Perhaps a good addition would be which class to start off with (including their own abilities) and then how to progress them into these builds? _This_ is information a beginner needs and have no idea about.

[@oditeomnes]

there is a playlist with all the aforementioned builds and a playlist for revised builds for the definitive edition of the game. I recommend watching those first.

[@Fextralife]

Start here: fextralife.com/divinity-original-sin-2-which-build-is-right-for-you/ And here: fextralife.com/beginners-guide-for-divinity-original-sin-2-definitive-edition/

[@antongrigoryev6381]

Is it a good idea to max Leadership in 4-character party? It gives good bonuses, but in cost of 10 points. Is it worth it? What build can carry it?

[@112523]

i use a mainly physical party. having beast as ranger/summoner fane as the dps lohse as the buffer/crowd controll and sebille as the rogue with high dps and i use that to pick off the weaker enemies

[@112523]

also, since fane is focussed on warfare i decided to make him a necromancer as well. wich so far is a good decision

[@zoppletee5400]

I'm going to run Crystalline Cleric, Battlemage, Druid, and Elementalist. I think it'll build a good magic and physical damage ratio

[@Quantenbruder]

I am so confused!

[@kitkami]

My first play through I did not look up any builds. Ended up with a mage with a little of all 4 elements but focused on fire and earth mostly. A tank/healer/buffer. Shield and heavy armor, buffs and heals with some warfare and necro. A rogue, your standard dagger user. And something that pretty much was the same as your ranger build. Now I'm trying your eternal warrior, druid, assassin, and elemental champ or as close as I can get them. I might switch the elemental champ to a juggernaut and the druid to a ranger so im doing all physical damage once I get to where i can. I just really liked the idea of a warrior with a staff.

[@Mr.Verethron]

I did the same but with a two handed fighter instead of a ranger and my use of bow in the entire game was on my rogue when he couldn't survive in close range.

[@RB-in7fl]

My build is an elemental ranger which deals the most damage per AP. Focus on stealth, mobility and lots of finesse. They are allowed to start first 9/10 times and can create whatever surface they like. I would advice Sebille or Loshe for this. Loshe because of her talent, Sebille because of flesh sacrifice. Second a polymorphing knight start as a knight and put points into polymorph. You have a mule because both generally depends on strength. What is the added value of polymorph. Pretty simple tentacle lash and chicken basically are two extra neutralizing skills. Tentacle lash is also very strong and deals loads of damage. Finally put two or three points in necro and get the talent living armor so you can withstand a few magic attacks and statusses. Also healing and bone armor are also pretty nice. The third the druid with a few offensive tricks. You already have an elemental ranger. So you don't need all the infusions let the ranger shoot a special arrow and you are all set. To infuse your incarnate with the required infusion when summoning. After you have infused and summoned your character it is your primairy healer and aerothurge. Because those work well together and teleport is a necessity. Finally and elemental bloodmage, I strongly suggest fane. Why because healing him is a tad harder. With 3 points in necro and mosquito swarm and acces to the terra skills he can heal himself and deal a lot damage. Primairy skills are necro, terra and fire. You could put two or three points in summoning for the bone widow when extra physical damage is required. Or go full terra, pyro when magic ought to do the trick. A few points in aero for teleport/shocking can also be quite useful. The build is more favoured to physical dmg but the two mages have loads of intelligence anyway. Making them useful to deal an adequate amount of magical damage.

[@ahmadanggra4370]

Second play through i using team inversion without seeing your video, i kind of like spark mechanic and can combo with ranger incarnate, ranger doing situational damage. Jungernaut hit physical and doing cc based on what armor stripped and lastly bloodmage kind of support physical damage dealer. I heard blood storm and starve hand doing crazy damage but i am still on act 2