So, yeah, been playing this awhile. Hit Level 15 recently. I'm playing a hybrid mage/warrior build. Mostly relies on Rush to get in close and smack things with a two handed sword and whirlwind, but also has Magic Missiles for range spamming, and a few passive skills like Mana Leech and Potion Efficiency, a fairly balanced stat-set with an emphasis on strength, and...

He gets SLAUGHTERED! Seriously, I feel like I have to chug a potion every couple of seconds to not die. If I run into a group of Level 11 Black Rings, 4 levels below me...THEY win due to sheer numbers and how fast they can damage me! So I guess what I'm wondering is...

Well, yeah. How do I make a hero that doesn't feel like a piece of paper? I can hit hard enough, usually do around 50-100 damage per swing, but when enemies I outlevel can tear me apart...Something doesn't feel right.

Hi fella

I had the same problem around that lvl i had to run around use all my potions and could do barely nothing, then i chanced to full specced mage/priest only having points in the demon summoning spell, Magic missile, firebolt then when i got in higher lvl also regenerate, mana insu... the 1 where your spells cost less mana, and healing this with this summon your demon (lvl 20 spell so you cant do that yet) your undead monster from your necromancer and simply damage your anemies from afar with magic missile and firebolt with this setup it will make it easy to survive and you'll have a big overview of the battlefield

PS. you might want to put points in Lock Picking :P i forgot that and could never open any chests.

GL with it.

Alenar

Anyone help a newb with Warrior build ... ??? (and a bit on rangers)

For a battle mage type build, you should probably concentrate on intelligence and use magic based weapons.

Level 1 of Evade helps with melee combat (higher levels give less of an effect per skill point). If you are surrounded, Firewall would probably help, as well.

Mages can be very effective in DKS, especially if they duel wield weapons with magic damage bonuses and/or enchantments (no need to boost the Duel Wielding Expertise skill for a pure mage, but you would for a battle mage). Any magic damage bonuses get applied to each magic missile or other attack spell. Early in the game you can use magical weapons so you can concentrate on boosting Intelligence and still have the option to fall back on ranged or melee combat waiting for spell cooldown or mana recharge. Since you are already level 15, you would just need to focus on intelligence as you level. I actually stopped distributing stat points with my ranger in DKS after level 15, to keep things challenging; your strength now will at least help with melee resistance and healing rate, and would help with a balanced weapon, and even if it takes a few levels to start getting your intelligence up a bit, magic damage enchantments would help more than that, anyway.

Battlemage build

mages

Spell question

New character help..


Welcome to the forum.

I don't think you can get away with slugging it out with groups toe-to-toe until your well above L30 and have some good armour, some significant health regen buffs going and you're dealing 1000+ damage per hit. Until then you have to fight clever using specific tactics for different situations.

A typical way i would deal with a tight mixed group would be:

rush the most dangerous target
whirlwind the group
firewall the group
thousand strikes the most dangerous target
Maybe one more hit on most dangerous target if thousand strikes almost got him/her
jump out or roll away. Opportunity for ranged magic and recovery.
repeat to finish off target or target next most dangerous when rush and whirlwind cool down

I use pause to do it systematically and quickly - take a lot less damage that way. The whirlwinds and firewalls don't kill outright but they do significant mass damage.

I found it's not too good to have a high level rush 'cos it tends to knock the target over which is more of nuisance than anything if they are your prime target. Magic blast is very usefull against groups of rangers/mages/summoners because they will try to run away to hit you from range leaving you swinging at air and taking damage and magic blast seems to stop them in their tracks for a short time enabling you to get a couple of good chops in on them.

Very few enemies are able to survive rush + thousand strikes, but IMO you want your points in thousand strikes, not rush, so they are still standing after you rush them.

Finally, do you have summon demon and have you got your creature up and running? They make a big difference if you let them take the aggro first.

The Black Ring are the toughest opponent type in the game, tough enough that even facing them at level 34, when they're level 28 can still be dangerous.

My advice is to drink your buffing potions, and try hit and run attacks. Points into vitality might be helpful as well.

I'm not sure that it's a great idea to use Magic Missiles with a melee-focused character. Magic Missiles are meant for a caster, it's the weak spamming spell they use to keep dealing damage while they wait for the cooldowns on their main damage-dealing spells to wear off. The key word there is WEAK.

For a melee-fighting hybrid, you want to use any of the other three offensive skills - I recommend Firewall, which is a perfect spell for a fighter-mage, it hits everyone in a short range around you for heavy damage, making it perfect for fighting in melee.

I hope you didn't put in a lot of points into Mana Leech and potion efficiency. Or Magic Missile.

I also hope by "fairly balanced" stat set that you aren't trying to raise Strength, Intelligence, and Dexterity by the same amount. Especially Dexterity, don't put points into that one at all.

Unfortunately, I was trying to keep stat point distribution fairly even, so I'm convinced I need to give it another go with a new character.

So if I'm not going to focus in an area at all, I shouldn't bother with the related stat? Even if, say, I need some damage resistance in that area? (IE, ranged resistance via DEX).

I've already concluded there's not much reason to put more than one point in Mana Leech, since it seems plenty effective with one point. I did put multiple points into Potion Efficiency, though the difference has seemed so minor I think that was also a waste.

Other people have gone with fairly even stat distributions.

A little bit of everything is fine, but you will eventually be get getting a fair chunk of resistance from equipment and possibly enchantments. If you are not going to be using a bow, then there is not much point with a high dexterity.

I boosted Potion Efficiency my first game, as well. Once you get the battle tower (about another 5 levels, if you keep going), you will be able to unlearn your skills (for a price), and then just not re-learn it (potions are easy to get after you have the battle tower, anyway).

In RPGs you get slaughtered frequently when you don't have a solid strategy. DKS is a very good example of that. You notice a large enemy group or a boss, you pause and make a strategy. If your tactic is a solid one, you can skip the pause part soon enough. Most of the fighting takes place in open area, use the openness to your advantage, do some maneuvering - jump and run a bit. A battlemage can very effectively use hit and run with missiles and fireball. Be innovative, try combining your skills. My char is also a dual wielding battlemage and I used Rush attack-Fire wall-whirlwind combo with deadly success. The toughest ones are fought when the door gets shut on you, with you inside of course! Nothing works like melee indoors, hack everything that moves inside a burning circle!

Stats points aren't that much important, I stopped bothering about them after I reached level 18/19 and have a lot to spare. You'll get many items that offer huge stat buffs. I get 44 intelligence points from 4 items (2 weapons, 2 jeweleries).

Don't get STUNNED often, get some indomitable will buffs from items and use intelligence boosting potions. Stun arrows are mostly followed by an explosive one, you'll be dead meat! Not every enemy ranger shots stun/explosive combo, finish off those who does asap.

If magic is your friend make sure so is Confusion. A very powerful skill and at higher levels everything around you gets stunned. I've six levels of it and +3 from an earring and the effects are stunning, literally! It doesn't work on Boss characters, but from my experience it's the ones around the bosses who does most of the damage.

The creature itself is a deciding factor. A proper use of your creature should make most fights a cakewalk. If you've a summon demon jewelry, use it before a tough fight to cast the spell and then replace it with your usual one - the demon will stay! It's a powerful fighter and takes enemy head-on. Make it even more powerful using Liken's sword and Maxos' mallet.

Even with a powerful character, you'll get slaughtered once in a while and that's the fun of it!

^^ ^^
I fully agree with iFLAME's words :
In Divinity II is so nice to make a strategy plan And the funny thing is if you don't make one sometimes the fight is fast over because of Game Over or it was an easy fight that didn't need a stratey plan (so you're the lucky one).

But I like it to think about my next move/plan. In most situations there's always a strategy plan for each kind of character/gamer's preferred or favorite skills, I'm sure !

Stat points aren't that important yes, althought it can make a fight more enjoyable if your manapool is big enough when playing a character that uses many mana in battle (like a Priest/Mage).

Of course you can always use a potion now and then, but it's a little bit too frustrating if you need to SPAM many potions, that kind of "strategy" I don't like ...

for me strategy plan goes about using a skill or combination of skills & tactical moves !

Good luck everyone, enjoy your battle

Simple strategy, check for a way out, rush in, smash everyone, use the way out if things get bad ! Worked till the flying fortresses on nightmare mode :s

That strategy was much more effective with a Mage that didn't use Rush than with a Warrior

True, I also don't like the idea of guzzling potions like BEAR If you regularly need to drink lots of potions just to survive in tough situations then chances are your build is far from a good one. A stealthy character build with low health, one which focuses on delivering fast but heavy damage, might be an exception though. But DKS isn't ideal for those type of character designs.

About strategy planning, what can I say? That's one of the key aspects which makes RPG what it is and I hope they keep it that way.

Putting points into attributes to increase your Damage resistance is bad for two reasons:

Number one, Damage resistance is crap. Enemies do too much damage.

Number two, it's a losing battle, there aren't enough points to get all three high enough to max out your damage resistance to all types.

Put points into Vitality instead, more health is basically increasing your damage resistance to all three damage types at once.

They do if you don't have any resistance :p
Once your resistance is up to 75%, it's great.



You also have gear that can get your stats up. It's not unusual to finish the game with more than 50% resistance to everything.
Also, Dext upgrades ranged damage, Strength upgrades normal damage, and Intelligence upgrades Magic Damage. Also, remember stats upgrades regeneration speed, resistance AND damage. Not a bad bargain.

You do have some good points. But remember that the OP was complaining that he was having trouble surviving. The solution to that is generally points into Vitality, NOT trying to raise Damage Resistance by tiny fractions of a percent. (Today, having nothing better to do with my points, put 4 points into Intelligence and got about a 1.2% increase in Magic DR.) So my advice to not spend stat points on Damage resistance is perfectly sound, especially considering that the guy was specifically complaining about dying too much.


But for the sake of fairness, I took a look at three characters at level 44 (one magic, one melee, one ranged) and compared all their stats, both in final gear, and naked.


It is definitely possible to get all three of your resistances above 50 (by the way, I believe that the cap is 67% damage resistance, not 75%), but nearly all of that comes from equipment, NOT attribute points.

My mage with 97 Intelligence naked, only had 34.98% Magic resistance. With all the gear on, the mage had 54.39% MgR.

Oddly, the amount of resistance of naked characters seemed to vary wildly. My naked Warrior with 71 Strength had 28.25% MeR (with all gear it was 63.23% MeR), but my naked Ranger with 73 Dex had a whopping 50.71% RgR (with all the gear on, only had 60.62% RgR).

My guess is that Dexterity increases its associated resistance a lot more than Strength and Intelligence do for theirs, because Str and Int raise regeneration rates instead. But for the other two, I wouldn't put points into them just for the Resistances.


I counted about 206 or so stat points gained at Level 44. Counting points added by gear, you can get 315-340 or maybe more, depending on gear and Charms.

I didn't have a hard time with anything except the 3 dragonslayers outsice Maxos Temple. I was level 11 at the time and they were 13. I still beat them after i used every potion. And when i got to the Dragon, I was level 12 and he was 13. I kicked his ass when he was in human form. Also, I dont know where to go after i free the guy in the tower. I cant open one chest because my lockpicking sucks. I sold Amdusias' helmet cause its a lvl 19. My char is pretty bad ass looking for level 13. I found the fortune teller and the enchanter in the woods and the mine. Do i go to the Fjords now?

I went to the Fjord at level 13 and leveled to 18 in the first 5 minutes.

Most of the fjords will be blocked off with a barrier (which can not be disabled until you take over the battle tower). There should also be stuff left to do in Broken Valley.

When you defeated Amdusias, a barrier blocking off one of the corridors there was lowered (opposite the chamber with the bedrooms upstairs), which leads to a teleporter which will bring you to Sentinel Island. Your first encounter there you can mindread to go up a level, so the higher level you are the more of an experience bonus that will be. I made it to 22 in the fjords, with Broken Valley pretty much cleared (only a few quests left to turn in). You don't need to get to a high level, but it would be better if you got to a new level before entering, to get a full level bonus (equip anything you have with a Wisdom boost).

I see the Battle Tower from the Fjords when I'm swimming and found lvl 21 imps under the waterfall. I didn't know about the teleporter in that other tower. Thanks.

I understand your frustration. there some things you want to consider, but before I make some recommendations I will tell you that I killed all enemy's without using statpoints in broken valley. now for the recommendations:

1) ranged attacks: a good bow can realy end a fight in seconds
some skills that are usefull with ranged attacks are:
poison arrows 1 or 2 points (single person skill)
Explosive arrows 8 points max (because gear that can add
points to this skill) and (it's an area of effect skill
thus mutiple enemy's you can hit)

2) hide in shadows 1 point only: because you will be seen
with your bow you can use this to turn invisible and run
away so the enemy's won't chase you

3) use your creature: (finish the quest Vigor Mortis)
you creature can take the incomming fire from your
enemy's

4) defending against melee attacks:

firewall is a nice skill to have 8 points max ( it's an
area of effect skill all enemy's in a x amount in meters
will be recieving damage)

dual wielding skill max this one out (10 points) doing dubble
damage by 8 points you of hand wapon has no penalty) or
you can use 2 handed skill max this one out (10 points)

bleed skill (passive skill 1 point only) does an extra
10% to your melee damage

life leach 4 points (does an X amount in % chance to get a
X amount in % back in hitpoints use this to survive longer
in melee attacks

5) other skills that are interesting if you have points left

mana leach or many efficiency 4 points using firewall and
explosive arrows uses up alot of mana use this to keep it
full

reflect skill reflect an % of the damge you recieve back
to your enemy

Evade skill use this to evade melee attacks

rush attack 1 point only

6) attacking tips:
your enemy's are grouped ALWAYS. there is no enemy alone in this game. so you need to be smart and fight them one by one
or you will be killed very quickly.
you can do this by walking to your enemy's until you see the name the run back and let him follow you. then use your bow first on him as he get closer switch over to melee wapon. (use firewall, because it is most effective when enemy's are close to you)
when you are low on health use a potion and/or hide in shadows skill


about 95% of the enemy's uses magic and 60% are ranged fighters (enemy's with a bow) so heighten reflexes and indomminable will are a must to put stat points in it hance it will make you more resistend against magic and ranged attacks (ladybird, magicblast, stun arrows, explosive and poison arrows)

there is a disadvantage: you CAN NOT DODGE poison (green) ,explosive (yellow) or stun (blue) arrows. but what you can do is let them hit a wall instead by standing behind a wall at the time they fire it. takes some practice but you'll make it

when enemy's fires magic or a REGULAR ARROW's (they are white) at you, you can step (ctrl)to the left or right and thus dodging the attack. this way they can never hit you

because the groups of enemy's are mixed (melee and ranged/magic) you must use there own wapons against them. so with melee attackers you use ranged/magic attacks to kill them before they reach you.
for the ranged/magic attackers you use melee attacks in return (rush attack in combination with firewall is handy with those enemy's)

Note: if you can kill the magic attackers from a distance (explosive arrows is handy) DO THAT, because if you are going use melee you are exposed to magic that can use on you (like lowering you resistances)

last advice I give you: have a LOT of patience don't rush in take your time!!!!!

well good luck and don't let Damian mok you;)

A point or two in Stun Arrows is also handy early in the game (especially when fighting two strong opponents). Later in the game that and Poison Arrow can be replaced by explosive and splitting arrows.

I have not played a warrior yet in DKS, but I think Bleed would be worth boosting for the increase in damage and drop in duration. It isn't nearly as effective as it was in the original release of D2:ED, though, so I would only level it when I had spare skill points not reserved for the next level of primary skills.

Rush Attack against rangers/mages can be quite helpful (it can force them to switch to a melee weapon they are weaker with), but I never bothered doing so with my ranger in DKS.