Larian Studios Forums Divinity: Original Sin 2 Divinity - Original Sin 2 - Help/Tips/Tricks Warfare/Polymancer/Geomancer

I’m playing as a 1h/ Shield Sebille, I’m currently lvl 9 and I play with 2 more friends, one is a pyro/poison mage and the other is a ranger (ifan) we took red prince 2h/ warfare/necro as our 4th member in the party.

I saw this [guide](https://fextralife.com/divinity-original-sin-2-builds-juggernaut/) on the internet yesterday and I was thinking on doing something similar to my char, I just don’t know if it’s worth it, I know that reactive armor was nerfed and that earthquake is a cc skill more than damage in this build.

I like to have a lot of armor and life and CC skills are needed in my pty, but I also don’t want to fall behind on damage (tentacle leash and bouncing shield do a lot of damage).

What do you guys think? Do you have a different build that you think would be better? Or even changing it to 2H?

Yes, I have a lvl 16 juggernaut from the Fextra guide and it's working pretty well, with minor tweaks.

1) Reactive Armor is totally worth it. If you first apply Fortify (1AP) and Defensive Barrier (2AP), then Reactive Armor (2AP) becomes the highest damage skill, much higher than Bouncing Shield or Tentacle. It hits all enemies in 3m radius, so yea..

So, if you get Adrenaline Rush (Scoundrel 1) for +2AP, which every single character should have because it's so cheap, you will be able to cast the following combo in a single turn:
- Phoenix Dive (1AP) will position you between multiple enemies.
- Fortify + Defensive Barrier (3AP)
- Blast everyone with Reactive Armor (2AP)

But of course, you dont' have to do all that with the juggernaut because you can teleport him and apply Fortify using other characters, so you really just need the 4AP without Adrenaline.

Also, in order to boost the damage from Reactive Armor, you need to boost the phys armor bonus from Fortify and Def Barrier, which is done by putting points in Geomancer.

2) A few things about Earthquake:
- EQ is much more useful when playing Lone Wolf because of the large radius (13m). I just dont use it in my party of 4.
- Damage from Earthquake is not relevant for this build because it scales with Int. So it's all about applying oil which is one of the few CC effects that's not countered by armor. And of course, it also knocks down enemies without armor...
- Oil is applied at random locations so it's a hit and miss. Usually you want to apply oil to a specific enemy or location...

For these reasons I prefer Impalement (Geo 2) which costs only 2AP, and applies oil and Crippled within a 3m radius of target. It won't hurt your party and you can often capture multiple enemies with it.

All my guys also have Fossil Strike (Geo 1) too, but since I already need Geo 2 for Reactive Armor, then Impalement makes more sense than Fossil Strike because it has a larger radius, does more damage, and applies Crippled in addition to slowed.

3) My j-naut is at lvl 16 and I haven't put any points in 1H or 2H (yet) because I don't want a narrow build. Now that I think about it, even after I max out Warfare, I don't think I will be putting any points in 1H or 2H, at all. I already get enough of a boost in all weapon damage from Str and Warfare. Also, the 3 highest damage skills: Reactive Armor, Tentacle, and Bounding Shield, do not scale with weapon damage anyway. Reactive needs Geo, Tentacle needs Str, and Bouncing just needs the best shield. I rarely use the weapon itself or other skills that scale with weapon damage like Crippling Blow and Whirlwind. I do use Stomp and Battering Ram, which do scale with weapon damage, but I use them only for the knock down effect because their damage is too low to begin with.

So, after maxing out Warfare, instead of 1H/2H I will be putting points in Geo for the reason mentioned above, and maybe Scoundrel to increase my crit modifier. Anyway, I always carry with me a two-handed weapon just in case, but most of the time I do 1H/shield and it works great.

From the Fextra guide, I replace EQ with Impale, I put a point in Scoundrel to get Adrenaline, which is good on all builds, and instead of 1H/2H, I invest in Warf/Geo/Scou.

reactive barrier is definitely better with a shield. That being said, I hate it when my auto attack and warfare abilities hit like a wet noodle. I like 2h.

But they are squishier. investing in armor buffing skills and armor restore skills is a must (Geo and Hydro respectively).

There's no "reactive barrier". You mean Deflective Barrier or Reactive Armor? Deflective barrier actually requires a shield, so yes, its better with one



Hydro on a warrior? Seems like a waste. If you get the Five-Star Diner talent, you can replenish 30% of your total vitality by eating a single dinner for 1AP! This restores even more than the Huge Healing potion, and yes, MUCH more than the Hydro HP spells like Restoration or Healing Ritual even at Hydro 10. You shouldn't need any healing spells on your warrior, just chug those dinners, which are very cheap to make too (raw meat/fish + fire). And if you also get the Living Armor talent, any heals will also restore your magic armor.

hydro on a warrior is good for armour of frost, and having a second character with restoration (not just for the heal but to get rid of negative statuses) is never bad

i find necro + living armour talent very useful on 2handers

putting points in hydro on a Str build means not putting those points in damage dealing i.e. Warfare/Scoundrel/Geo/1H/2H etc. It's interesting that many players are entrenched in this mentality that the best way to restore HP or armor is by using spells, even though there are more efficient ways to restore those. Hydro certainly has its uses on other builds that specialize in restoration/hydro damage, but not so much on a DPS warrior.

Again, using Five-Star Diner + Living Armor, a single dinner restores 30% of Vitality AND about 30% of magic armor. A single Large Magic armor potion with Five-Star Diner restores more than Armor of Frost! Plus you can eat/drink 4 items every single turn, no cooldowns!. And if you still want to use Armor of Frost, you can easily make the scrolls, which also dont have cooldowns AND dont' need points in Hydro.

So, spending points in Hydro just to be able to cast Armor of Frost ONCE every 4 turns, when you can restore many times more armor with consumables every single turn, is a complete waste.

doesn't seem like you read my post correctly if you think armor restoration and heal is the primary reason for putting 1 (one) point into a non-dps school, but i'm not sure you really came here to discuss anything anyway