Need an explanation on the combat system

[ponpon_x86]

I enjoyed Divinity: Original Sin a lot. The combat in Divinity: Original Sin was pretty simple, for example armour was just reducing the amount of received damage. The enemies and I were more or less equal in health, thus the only problem was a numerical superiority of the enemy.

When it comes to Divinity: Original Sin 2, I feel kinda lost. Not only enemies of my level have more health, they have some sort of "armour bar", which (as I assume) does not allow me to use physical or magical skills on them, unless the armour bar is down. Moreover, the enemies that are just 1 level higher than me have significantly more health and 100 of armour points, while I have almost none.

So. The question is: how to "get good" in this game, and what should I do to increase my chances of surviving in combat.

(Sorry, I do not know English that well)

[Chaoslink]

Armor is essentially extra health that also protects against status effects like chilled, shocked, crippled or knockdown. So to apply those effects from an ability like battlestomp, you need to remove th enemy physical armor. For magic skills you have to remove the magic armor instead. The ability itself still deals damage to armor as it would normally however, only status effects are blocked.

Early game you need to simply get all the armor and gear you can. Steal from vendors, buy things, look for chests, whatever you can do. Try to get a few copies of fortify and magic shell skillbooks as well and teach it to multiple party members for healing your armor values or giving them a buff.

Level scaling in this game is pretty harsh, so you'll need to do everything you can to keep armor and weapons as close to your level as possible and avoid any enemy that is of a higher level. You should never be forced to fight en enemy higher than your level, so if you are, you probably missed something somewhere.

Beyond that, I'd need more specific information on what kinds of characters you are using, your class builds and what you want out of them before I can help you with anything more specific.

[ponpon_x86]

Thanks for the advice.

Well... I do not exactly have any "builds", that's why I'm here.

About team members.
What character classes should I choose in the beginning, and what should I make of my companions? I'm not that deep into the game yet, so I can easily start over.

Also, what skills should I combine? Like, a melee fighter with geomancer skills like "fortify" should do fine, right? What skill combinations are also useful?

[Chaoslink]

Picking up a single point in Geo or hydro for armor restoration is a good idea usually.

Overall my usual preferred team build uses a 2/2 split with two physical damage and two magic damage characters. Many people will tell you to go with all magic or all physical so you can focus armor down with any character as you won’t have to deal with both armor values. This is effective, but also very simple to pull off. However, contrary to popular belief, a split party is still much more effective. It’s just harder to pull off. The variety often makes it more fun though.

As far as character builds, hydro and aero as a mage is my go-to combo, while the other common mage goes Pyro and Geo. I don’t recommend taking one of each however, as air mages use wet status for extra damage while fire cancels the wet effect and vice versa. You’re better off with two mages going with the same build, each focusing the opposite element. So two air/water mages where one stacks heavy air and the other focuses water.

If you take two mages, then want two physical dealers to focus other targets, archers and dagger rogues best compliment mages. A pair of wand and shield mages can prove quite tanky, so stealth or ranged builds work well with them to avoid too much damage. Archers can support the mages with elemental arrows and dagger rogues near mid game can deal about 75% of their physical damage as magic if you get good rolls on the daggers you find/buy.

Overall it’s hard to tell you exactly what to build until you know enough that you can figure most out yourself.

Still, pick things you like or know you’ll enjoy as you’re going to be playing them for many hours. Better to like your team than regret a choice simply because you went with the more effective suggestions.

[ponpon_x86]

Thanks a lot!

[Chaoslink]

Another big tip is to avoid the traditional tank/healer/damage combo. It’s better to have four damage with some healing/armor restoration and mix those roles into four damage than having a dedicated healer and tank.

[eom]

yeah, another thing is that once you leave fort joy --- and I mean the island, not just the fort, you will get access to a thing that lets you respec all you want for free, so you can adjust anything you don't like, tear down and rebuild, etc
and as you level up you will get all kinds of gear that gives a level of this or that skill, so it is very easy to get a single level of something for healing even if you don't 'buy' it
and also, healing potions are plentiful and you can craft them from mushrooms ---- hold down alt key and you will find herbs and stuff to pick

as for class combos, I could prob just give the worst advice on every board -- just do whatever you like
you don't need to optimize and there are all kinds of skills to learn

this is maybe kind of a spoiler, but summoner is very powerful, and if you play this type you will want to rush him to 10 summoning asap
my buddy used the Beast npc and made him a shield tank mixed with poly, which is a great combo cuz some poly skills scale off str, which is also the warfare stat, and the poly levels give extra attribute pts so you can then pump str and w/e even higher
I used fane and he was cool cuz his undead dialogue options + tags were useful
also you should prob get pet pal talent with somebody

I would basically just check out the skills and see which you like and remember that even when you focus on 1 or 2 skill types you can always just add a single level here and there if you like those lower lvl skills
rogue has some cool ones, ranger has heal at 1 and teleport at 2, and you get other useful stuff at low lvl in other schools