Divinity Original Sin 2: how to play and enjoy

Mod recommendations and gameplay suggestions. Spoiler-free!

published 2023-Mar-17, updated 2023-Aug-25

This post is about the game Divinity Original Sin 2 by Larian Studios, and how to customize it for maximum enjoyment. Links: on Steam, on GoG.

Mods

Like most games, DOS2 requires some unfucking via mods. Unlike most games, it has a very nice selection of mods, both built-in and external.

Built-in mods

In-game, these are called "gift bags" and have a dedicated UI section.

External mods

Trust me, this is well worth the effort.

Cheats

Save editor

Link: https://github.com/NovFR/DoS-2-Savegame-Editor.

Speedhacks

Characters run extremely slowly and have extremely long casting animations. Speedhacks are practically required. See my post on speedhacking.

Strats

Try different party sizes

Game rewards violence over peace

Tips for mage builds

Misc tips and tricks

Misc

Use fast travel. Setup a hotkey for the waypoints menu.

SAVE A LOT. Keep named manual saves in addition to quick and auto saves.

Don't be shy about disabling music when you find it grating.

Ability to talk to animals is essential. They have amazingly written and voiced dialogs. Start with the Pet Pal talent, or enable the built-in mod Animal Empathy.

Useful external resources:

Avatar tier list

Note: avatar dialogs and story choices are different from companion dialogs and story choices.

Character tag tier list

Profiles