No. You're better off forgetting DOS2 builds when playing this game. The mindless DPS that works there will get you absolutely stomped here.

I went from DOS1 Tactician to DOS2 Tactician and had to do the same. My initial attempt was based on DOS1 knowledge and it turned out to be utter garbage in that game. I restarted an hour or two in.

Originally posted by Highrule -1:

No. You're better off forgetting DOS2 builds when playing this game. The mindless DPS that works there will get you absolutely stomped here.

I went from DOS1 Tactician to DOS2 Tactician and had to do the same. My initial attempt was based on DOS1 knowledge and it turned out to be utter garbage in that game. I restarted an hour or two in.

You don't have to give me a super in depth breakdown but any tips for building characters? I know for DOS2 for phys characters for example you basically just pump warfare for damage. Assuming its not the same here?

No. You need a mix of life (Constitution), Speed (turn AP) and your main stat (Strength, Dexterity, Intelligence). Building pure damage through Speed + main stat is an option too, but that's basically the high level stuff where a slight slip-up equals dead character. With a 4-man party, the rest can cover for a Glass Cannon pretty well.

There's no armor to protect you from status effects. Bodybuilding/Willpower grant defense against status effects and are pretty mandatory later on in Tactician. Same with at least one character having Leadership.

There are no "pure phys" or "pure ele" parties like in DOS2. Having a mix of mage+phys is very much preferable. Incidentally, I've ran a knight+rogue LW party once, and that run was in the top three worst runs I've ever done.

Lastly, there is no such thing as "summoner" in this game. Summons exist, but if you try to play a "summoner" archetype, you're going to suffer very, very much.


Lastly lastly, trying to build anything as "pure DPS" is highly inadvisable. I did mention this earlier, but coming from DOS2, I think it's fair to strain this point. Until you become gamebreakingly op (which happens way later in this game than it does in DOS2), you won't be finishing enemies in one go. And anything you don't finish in one go will have a chance to inflict status effects on you. A pure DPS that gets stunned or anything else is basically dead unless the rest of your party can save it in time.

Agreed. Damage isn't the focus for Dos1. The game pretty much says so by having Str/Dex/Int stats not increasing dps. Lonewolf also isn't better here, 2 characters compare to using 4 characters.

Just a note - INT does increase spell damage, whereas DEX and STR do not - they improve DEF and/or accuracy etc. Putting 10/11 into DEX/STR plus gear bonuses to get it to over 15 is fine, but get INT as high as possible.

A mage, therefore, is absolutely a DPS machine. You still want enough CON/SPD to have enough AP for the stronger spells (late spells need up to 11). 15 is the max you can put in a stat, though you may only do 13 or 14 INT, depending on how much spd you add. The armor values are way less important in this game, so get as much INT/SPD from gear that you can and don't worry about armour values too much. You can also get 6-8 INT from gear, and you will wreck the last 1/3 of the game with a mage. Literally one spell cast for many fights.

AP is king in this game -
1. SPD gives you an AP for every 2 (odd numbers, so get speed to 7,9,11 etc). I usually give the
2. PER only gives you an AP at the start of the fight, so you only need a character with 1 or 2 PER added plus light stepper for finding traps etc. The rest you can get from gear is needed. (It can be ok for Archers as it improves accuracy, but even then isn't necessary at all).
3. CON increases your max AP by 1 per point. It also helps squishiness, obvs. Generally I give every character 2 CON by end game, as 14 AP allows you to move a little bit then cast your strongest skill/spell. PLus a couple of CON from gear and you will have high enough max AP.
NOTE: in late game, always check that your character's max AP is not lower than their turn/start AP. It can happen pretty easily if you get high speed. You may need to add CON from gear if this happens.

Here is the best explanation of stats I have found:

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/pc/672174-divinity-original-sin/faqs/72764

Originally posted by gregfromthepeg:

A mage, therefore, is absolutely a DPS machine.

This is only true after Master-tier spells are available. Early-mid game mages have crappy damage, apart from specific fights where enemy resistances compliment the few decent offensive spells mages can get. In no way is their damage output comparable to rogues, 2h/dw or bows before late game.

Originally posted by Highrule -1:

Originally posted by gregfromthepeg:

A mage, therefore, is absolutely a DPS machine.

This is only true after Master-tier spells are available. Early-mid game mages have crappy damage, apart from specific fights where enemy resistances compliment the few decent offensive spells mages can get. In no way is their damage output comparable to rogues, 2h/dw or bows before late game.

Totally fair, though it is a general rule in this game that mages start weak and grow by leaps and bounds - so focusing on hard cc and wand attacks early on is the compromise. Plus I am just giving broad advice for the full game. I can get into the stage by stage best builds if the OP really wanted but they may find it as tedious as I do. lol

Also, OP, I forgot to mention the cooldowns. You mentioned they are longer - which is true but they reduce as your main stat goes up. I believe rogues/archer/2H reduce when dex or STR get to 10 and 15. Mages get reductions at 8,10,13, & 15. So mages have more incentive to boost INT for this reason as well. Their cooldowns start higher so getting that little bit lower helps a lot.

Originally posted by gregfromthepeg:

Just a note - INT does increase spell damage, whereas DEX and STR do not - they improve DEF and/or accuracy etc. Putting 10/11 into DEX/STR plus gear bonuses to get it to over 15 is fine, but get INT as high as possible.

STR and DEX increase ability damage (Barrage, Crippling Blow, etc.)

P.S. I would recommend getting the Melee Power Stance for mages - it increases spell damage

ahm yes and no..
they totaly work differently but if you mean teamcomwise yes.

you got stomped and will get stomped again if you just walk in and let everyone atack you.. use your brain how its intented.. all Divinity games expecting from you to be craeative..
you can summon stuff... place granates before the fight happens or trowh them in fight or put them into a barrel and move/teleport the barrel while fighting into the enemy.. you can put the pyramids across the room and make the enemy chase you.. you can go invisible.. you can teleport the enemy closer or away from you.. you cna use potions.. you can use scrolls.. you can place barels/chest infront of the enemys way so it cannot reach you. or around yourself if you play a marksmen/mage.. so they cannot come in mele range. their are tons of stuff you can do.

even if you mess up your charakters attributes str/dex/int you can easyliy win every fight with what i described