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
  • #Built-in mods
  • #External mods
• #Cheats
  • #Save editor
• #Speedhacks
• #Strats
  • #Try different party sizes
  • #Game rewards violence over peace
  • #Tips for mage builds
  • #Misc tips and tricks
• #Misc
  • #Avatar tier list
  • #Character tag tier list
  • #Profiles

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.

• Recommended for first playthrough:
  • "Animal Empathy" if playing with 2 or 1 characters
  • "Enhanced Spirit Vision"
  • "Fort Joy Magic Mirror"
  • "Endless Runner"
  • "Hagglers" (but #cheating gold is better)
  • "Sourcerous Sundries" (but automatic item leveling is better, see #mods)
• Recommended for other playthroughs, to save time:
  • "Source Meditation"

External mods

Trust me, this is well worth the effort.

• Some mods require Norbyte Script Extender.
• Some mods are only available on Steam Workshop:
  • Serve the Covenant Option (Non-Undead Workaround).
  • Physical Wands and Staves.
• Other mods are available on Nexus, which is compatible with the GoG version of the game. Install them via Vortex, Nexus' mod manager.
  • The Cheat Commander.
  • Scoundrel Skills for All Weapons.
  • No Equipping Requirements.
  • Lend me your skillbook bro.
  • Learn Skills Automatically - No Skill Books.
  • Increase Companion Dialogue Timer.
  • Book of Origins.
  • Better Item Borders.
    • Not compatible with Vortex, requires manual install, still worth it.
  • Automatic Item Leveling.
    • By adding Sorcerous Sundries to the game, the developers have pretty much admitted that item levels are a flawed concept.
  • Annoying NPC dialogue removed.

Cheats

• If, like me, you don't enjoy the game's economy, it's easy to opt out by cheating gold, in any of these ways:
  • "Cheat Commander", see #mods
  • Cheat Engine
  • #Save editor
• Cheat inventory capacity by cheating character strength, unless party has a character with high strength.
• Cheat civil abilities if playing with 2 or 1 characters.
  • Points are gained extremely slowly.
  • Balanced for party of 4.
  • Unaffected by Lone Wolf talent.
  • Possible to hoard gear with +civil abilities, but micromanagement is tiring, and is basically a waste of time.
• Also see #mods.

Save editor

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

• Use to customize your gear to select the right stats.
• Avoids the tedium of looking for the "right" randomly generated items.
• Avoids the annoyance of having the wrong stats despite making the right choices.
• Can be used without restarting the game. Simply wait for a save file to be fully generated, then load that save.

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

• The game is perfectly suited for party sizes of 4, 2, and 1.
• Different gameplay experiences.
• Different story experiences.
• Don't worry about difficulty.
  • Characters can pick the Lone Wolf talent, which dramatically raises their power in a party of 1 or 2.
  • Fewer characters = better gear.
  • Fewer characters → combat advantage: your turns are more condensed, less spread out.
  • Solo character has access to cheesier strategies, such as wasting entire enemy turns by turning invisible.
• Can adjust on the fly during a playthrough.
• Suggestion: playthrough with 4, then playthrough with 2, then playthrough with 1. My personal preference is 1.

Game rewards violence over peace

• Whenever a peaceful solution leads to NPCs leaving the area, committing suicide, or otherwise not being killed by you, the "correct" solution is to kill the NPCs yourself.
• Many peaceful solutions reward no XP.
• Combat is interesting. Avoiding combat is boring.
• Most NPCs drop XP and loot when killed. Leaving them alive rewards nothing.
  • Non-fighter citizens and traders usually don't drop XP, but they are a minority.
• Many players, including myself, consider it standard procedure to "clear" the map at the end of every act, killing most NPCs.
  • Community term: "murderhobo".
  • Do this only if you enjoy maximization, overleveling, overpowering.
  • Overleveling takes the fun out of combat.
  • Not required for completing the game and having fun.
  • Requires knowledge which NPCs do and don't transfer to future acts. Avoid this on the first playthrough.

Tips for mage builds

• Learn and use elemental combos!
• Raise the Loremaster ability to see enemy elemental resistances.
• Tips for Tactician difficulty:
  • Element tier list, from lower enemy resistance to higher:
    • Physical.
    • Air and Earth.
    • Water and Fire.
    • Poison.
  • Geomancer and Aerothurge are far more reliably useful than Pyrokinetic and Hydrosophist. Very few enemies have a higher resistance to Air and Earth while having a lower resistance to Fire and Water. The only area in the entire game where most enemies are resistant to both elements is Wrecker's Cave in Act 2. Respec your character into Pyrokinetic or Necromancy for this area, then revert. There are also two troll fights, one in Act 2 and one in Act 3, where you want either Meteor Shower (Pyrokinetic 5) or Grasp of the Starved (Necromancy 3). You don't need to change your entire setup, just do a quick partial respec into one of these spells. Spam them via Apotheosis + Skin Graft.
  • As it happens, Aerothurge is also incredibly useful for all Lone Wolf characters, making this school easier to focus in.
• Necromancy is not the only way to deal physical damage.
• Use scrolls!
• Dual wands are a decent alternative to spells. Spells are mostly for AoE. On single targets, dual wands are often good enough.
  • Dual wands of the same level as your character, of epic or higher quality, socketed with giant-quality gems of the same element, deal approximately 70% damage for 2 AP, while many "standard" spells deal 100% damage for 2 or 3 AP in an AoE. However, wand attacks are spammable, and can be decent at applying statuses.
• Air dual wands are good at stunlocking targets, especially if wet.

Misc tips and tricks

• Adding Fire damage to any weapon, even to a wand or staff with another element, allows it to ignite surfaces. Useful for clearing poison and oil.
• Broken strats:
  • Shooting from farther away than enemy engagement range.
  • Radial projectile spells: Pyroclastic Eruption, Dust Blast, Superconductor. Especially Pyroclastic Eruption.
  • Telekinesis + superheavy object. Damage scales with weight. Find an indestructible chest and fill it with everything heavy that you find along the way: elemental barrels, useless packages and boxes, other chests, and so on. Don't forget to move your chest to your ship when progressing to the next act!
  • Soul Mate on undead or decaying targets, followed by healing yourself. Damage can crit with the Savage Sortilege talent. Soul Mate scroll can be crafted to avoid investing into Summoning.
  • Stealth exterminations. When you kill an NPC with a single attack, while staying out of sight of its allies, you don't engage in combat. This way you can clear difficult enemy groups one-by-one.
  • Engaging in conversation pauses buffs and debuffs. This allows pre-buffing before combat. Especially effective with party of 1 or 2.

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 ("gift bag") Animal Empathy.

Useful external resources:

• https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1137514488
• https://divinityoriginalsin2.wiki.fextralife.com

Avatar tier list

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

• Fane:
  • Integral to main plot.
  • Dialogs with some NPCs reveal additional story background that is otherwise unavailable.
  • Personal preference: I like the voice acting, the attitude.
  • Undead: interesting mechanics, option to become Sworn for additional story choices and power.
• Lohse:
  • Cool personal story and resolution.
  • Personal preference: I like the voice acting, the attitude, the lines.
• Sebille:
  • Interesting story options and additional context related to elves.
  • Personal preference: I like the voice acting, the attitude.
• Custom:
  • Subjective: lizard female = best fashion and animations.
  • Undead = interesting mechanics. Fane has good story integration. Custom lets you choose another species and gender for alternative fashion and animations.
• Red Prince:
  • Aplomb, attitude.
• Ifan: never tried.
• Beast: never tried.

Character tag tier list

• Scholar: most useful, just like IRL.
• Jester: most fun.
• Mystic: useful once or twice.

Profiles

• I suggest allocating two profiles: solo and multiplayer.
• I tried allocating a new profile for each new solo playthrough, but you have to readjust the settings every time. Not worth it.