In this Divinity Original Sin 2: Definitive Edition Guide, I want to explore Lone Wolf characters and Builds. The most frequent questions I’m asked about most of my Builds are: “Can you play this Build Lone Wolf? And if so, how do you do it?”. As it takes a lot of time to answer these questions, and I am not generally fond of repeating myself, I decided to create this Guide. Hopefully it will answer everything you want to know about Lone Wolf Builds in general, and how to make my Builds into Lone Wolf Variants. Let’s get started.

Divinity Original Sin 2 Definitive Edition: Lone Wolf Guide

The Definitive Edition has changed the way Lone Wolf works, because you can now no longer pump Attributes past 40 with Attribute Points, and you cannot increase Combat Abilities past 10 with Ability Points. What this creates is an over abundance of Points to place, and not always a clear picture of where to place them.

As it stands now you will hit the cap for your primary Attribute (Strength, Finesse, Intelligence) at Level 7, and you will hit your Combat Ability cap for a particular Skill at Level 5. This is of course supposing you don’t diversify, but allowing for some of that, you’re still looking at Level 7 or so to reach these caps. Since more than half of the game is played after that point, it leaves a lot of players wondering how to efficiently progress their Builds. To help answer those questions, let’s begin by taking a deeper look at Attributes.

Attributes and Lone Wolf Builds

Before the Definitive Edition players would simply push their primary Attribute up to 80, maxing the damage they dealt, and that WAS the most efficient method of playing. However, it relegated even the hardest difficult of the game to mere child’s play, and thus Larian made the above adjustments when bringing the game to console in August. Since pumping your primary Attribute still remains the most efficient use of your Attribute Points in the majority of cases, you’re faced with the decision of where to spend future points once you hit Level 8 or so. Luckily the answer is the same for most Builds:

Once your Primary Attribute (Strength, Intelligence, Finesse) has been maxed out, always pump Wits if you do not need any more Memory.

Most Builds will need a few Points for Memory, to be able to slot all the Skills they wish, but almost all additional points will go into Wits for increased Critical Chance. There are very few Builds that do not benefit from this, most notably are the “Rogue” archetype that gets guaranteed Criticals from Backstabs, and those that rely upon Enrage for their Critical Chance. And even then it isn’t possible to Backstab 100% of the time, and Enrage only lasts 2 turns, so they will still get some use from Wits. This means nearly all Builds will follow this principle.

Constitution is mostly a wasted Attribute in Divinity Original Sin 2, because if you’re taking Vitality Damage then you’ve already lost your Armour. This often results in being CCed, and blown apart no matter how much Vitality you have, unless you have a boat load of it. However, because you will max out Wits around level 17 or so, you will dump all remaining points here. This is simply because there is no other useful place to put them but Memory, and you only need so much of that.

The only exceptions to this are those Builds that deal the same damage type, but use two different Attributes to achieve this. Since the only way this is possible is via Physical Damage, this applies to Builds that use some combination of Warfare Skills, Huntsman Skills, Scoundrel Skills or Necromancer Skills. Of all the Builds I have made I have only done this with the Sanguine Bowman and the Death Knight, which are Ranger/Necro and Warrior/Necro respectively. I have spent many hours working on a Scoundrel/Necro Build, but after much testing, I came to the realization that is not efficient enough to use reliably outside of Lone Wolf. “Rogues” need to push their damage at every available opportunity to get the most from each attack, and you simply cannot do that by spreading out their Attribute Points.

If you were to make the Sanguine Bowman and Death Knight into Lone Wolf Builds, then you would not reach your two primary Attribute caps until Level 15. And, that’s assuming you placed no points into Memory, which you almost certainly have to do. So realistically, you’re looking at Level 17 or 18. Once there, you apply this same rule and pump Wits. Wardens and Assassins use the same Attribute, and thus they would increase Wits once Finesse is maxed, and do not fall into the above exception.

Combat Abilities and Lone Wolf Builds

While Attributes are rather straight forward when it comes to Lone Wolf, Combat Abilities are another matter entirely. The Definitive Edition change has taken what used to be a very clear way of making Builds, and made the waters very very murky. While players used to be able to take their Primary Combat Ability up to 20, now they can only take it up to 10, at which point they must find another two or (three) Abilities that will help to boost their damage. This is much easier to do for Builds that use Weapons as their primary means of damage, than those who don’t, so let’s break this down by archetype.

When making a Lone Wolf Build you will be able to max out 4 Combat Abilities. You will only need 3 that boost damage in order to succeed on the hardest difficulties, but any less than that and your Build will struggle later in the game.

Warrior Builds

Warrior Builds focus on the use of Weapons to deal damage, whether they use Strength, Finesse or Intelligence, it makes no difference. Traditional Warriors will pump Warfare to max ideally, while Battlemage types will pump whatever school of magic they are using. The next Combat Ability they will pump is determined by what they are wielding for weapons: Two-Handed, One-Handed or Dual Wielding. In any of these cases, you simply pump that Ability next to increase your damage with that weapon setup even further. However, it doesn’t end there.

Players will reach the cap for any of these Abilities at Level 9, if they don’t spend any other Points anywhere else, which means they have a lot more Ability Points to spend and a long way to go. Besides the odd Ability Point into various other Abilities to pick up some Skills, Warrior Builds will now add Scoundrel to increase their Critical Damage even further. By the time you’re done doing that, you should be around Level 14 or 15. Nothing after this point is going to boost your damage except Retribution, so either take that or Necromancer (if you took Living Armour), or Leadership to buff your party.

Now, this becomes a bit more convoluted when you add another type of damage to a Warrior Build. For example, the Juggernaut, Frost Paladin, Blazing Deepstalker, and Elemental Champion all deal 2 or more damage types. However, they are not as complicated as they might appear. Of these, only the Elemental Champion really suffers from the Definitive Edition changes, with respect to Combat Abilities. Below is some information that explains what to do with these Builds, it is a bit generalized and doesn’t take into account Abilities you may wish to take outside of these, so please see each Build Guide for more details if you need to.

• Juggernaut – Juggernauts will prioritize Warfare while at the same time placing some points into Geomancer. When Warfare is maxed out, Geomancer should be around 5 or 6, and then taken to max as well. Then you will pump Two-Handed for increased Physical Damage and increased Critical Damage with both Physical and Geomancer attacks. All extra points will go into Scoundrel for further increased Critical Damage with both damage types.
• Frost Paladin – Similar to the Juggernaut, you will prioritize Warfare while placing some points into Hydrosophist. When Warfare is maxed, then you will max out Hydrosophist, and then One-Handed or Two-Handed (depending on what you chose). And then it’s Scoundrel for further increased Critical Damage.
• Blazing Deepstalker – Pump Two-Handed while placing some points into Pyrokinetic. When Two-handed is maxed Pyrokinetic should be at around 5 or 6, and should then go up to max. Max out Warfare and then Scoundrel for further increased Physical Damage and Critical Damage.
• Elemental Champion – Pump Two-Handed to max, followed by the two schools of magic that matches the damage type of your favorite 2 Staves, and then follow up with Scoundrel for increased Critical Damage. Note that this Build has seriously been nerfed by the Definitive Edition change and is much much harder to play.

In short, you are simply prioritizing your primary damage type first, and then pumping up your secondary source. Mixed damage Builds really shine in Lone Wolf, because the extra Ability Points can be put to better use than those that have only 1 in most cases. Also note that Two-Handed works exceptionally well with mixed Builds because the Critical Damage multiplier will apply to ALL of your Skills.

Ranger Builds

Rangers are a more simplified version of Warriors in that they all use the same Weapon type: Bows. All Bows are Physical Damage so they will always max Warfare first, except of course a few points into Huntsman to gain Skills. From here they can either max Ranged or Huntsman, with Huntsman outperforming Ranged in terms of damage, but only when elevated. No matter which you choose, be sure to max it out and then max out the other after. Follow this up with Scoundrel for increased Critical Damage. Note that Elemental Arrows will deal the most damage from the above order of Combat Abilities, and they are not factored into “other damage types”.

When you add in additional damage types, the order of things change slightly, and I have really only one Build that does this. The Venomous Sentry focuses on mostly Magic Damage types, so pumps Geomancer, then Huntsman and then Scoundrel. Huntsman and Scoundrel boost both Physical and Magic Damage, so are a great choice. Lastly you can pump Ranged for more Physical Damage and increased Critical Chance.

The general concept is the same as the Warrior. You want to max out that which increases your primary type of damage first, while putting some points into your secondary source so it’s not completely irrelevant. Then once it is maxed, max out your secondary source, and try to add things that boost both of them if possible.

Rogue Builds

Rogues, much like Rangers, are rather straightforward. They will almost always Dual Wield Daggers, if they want to be effective, which means Warfare will be their Primary Combat Ability. Once this is maxed you can either pump Dual Wield, or Scoundrel, but no matter which you choose, you will max out both of these one after the other. There are really no other Abilities that help Rogues, so I would advise taking Necromancer for Life Steal, but only if you have the Living Armour Talent. Or you could use Retribution to return some damage taken.

I strongly advise not supplementing Rogues with additional damage types, as they tend to be much less effective when they spread their Combat Ability Points out too much. However, you can use something like Deploy Mass Traps or Ice Breaker very effectively with Lone Wolf, since you essentially have a 4 Combat Abilities maxed by end game. Rogues only need 3, so picking up a fourth that doesn’t require any investment into Intelligence is not a bad choice. Additionally, you could play something like the Assassin Build, and spend some points into Huntsman or Ranged for when you use a Bow.

Mage Builds

Mage Builds are the trickiest because they do not really have a Weapon Combat Ability that they can take after their primary school of magic, and they don’t attack with Weapons unless they absolutely have to. They can of course use Two-Handed for increased Critical Damage, but then they must use a Staff, and this leaves them particularly vulnerable to attacks, as they will have lower Armor. So what does a Mage do then once their school is maxed out? That’s a great question and it will really depend on the type of Mage they want to play.

Single School Mages like Tidalist, Stormchaser, Tectonic Sage, Pyromancer or Blood Mage will seek to max out their primary school of magic first. In the case of Blood Mage, this become Warfare, as that is what increases Physical Damage. Past this point the only real way to increase damage with a single school is by increasing your Critical Damage or damage from elevation. The way you do this is by investing into Huntsman for elevation damage, placing points into Scoundrel for increased Critical Damage, and placing points into Two-Handed for increased Critical Damage. However, what do you for your 4th Combat Ability if you don’t want to use a Staff? The answer to this is quite simple really:

When playing a Mage in Lone Wolf it is highly recommended that you choose a second school of magic (or Summoning) in order to deal with Resistances, and to be able to gain extra Armor from using a Shield.

This allows you to use a Shield for extra Armor, and to be able to deal two different damage types, which really really helps when dealing with resistant enemies. Summoning is probably the easiest to add to a Single School Mage, because it allows them to add damage of the same type easily. In addition, it helps to fill out gaps in skill usage, caused by a lack of skills that some Single School Mages suffer from. So if you’re playing a Tidalist, Stormchaser, Tectonic Sage, Pyromancer or Blood Mage I’ve listed what I would add to them and why:

• Tidalist – Necromancer is my favorite thing to add here because it allows you to attack 2 different Armour types with the same setup. Additionally, healing Undead deals damage that is amplified by Warfare, which is what you’d be adding here. This effectively makes you a Cleric. However, you can add Summoning to make them into a Glacial Guardian very easily. If none of those sound good, then there’s always Aerotheurge, since Wet + Shocked = Stunned.
• Stormchaser – There is also some synergy between Aero and Necro in the forms of Vacuum Touch and Vacuum Aura, which are both quite good, so I would recommend this one first. You can, however, add Hydro for the same reason listed above. Summoning and Pyrokinetic can also work, but they don’t have any particular synergies. I would avoid Geomancer because Petrified enemies have additional Air Resistance.
• Tectonic Sage – The two best choices here are either Necromancer or Pyrokinetic. Many Geo spells apply Status Effects if the target has no Physical Armor, thus the reason for Necromancer. Using spells that place Oil or Poison do extra damage when struck with fire, thus Pyrokinetic. Adding either of these schools will effectively turn this Build into a Terramancer or a Wizard.
• Pyromancer – I’d either add Summoning and turn this Build into a Summoner of Sparks, or I would add Geomancer and make it into a Wizard.
• Blood Mage – Blood Mages have so many options when it comes to adding a second school. You can add Hydro for the Cleric Build, you can add Geo for a Terramancer, you can add Pyro for an Occult Flamewielder, or Aero if you wish. Summoning also works very well here, so the choice is up to you.

You can still use Single School Mages in Lone Wolf very effectively if you use a Staff, but if you don’t, consider making some of the changes listed above for the reasons I’ve mentioned. Much like Warrior Builds that aren’t Two-Handed, it is difficult to deal only one damage type without seeing a drop off in performance further into the game, so consider supplementing your Build with another school or Summoning.

Summoner Builds

Summoners are a bit of a different animal than most other Builds, but they are not hard to create, and they work exceptionally well in Lone Wolf. This is because many Builds don’t have a 4th Combat Ability that makes sense, and Summoning requires no Attribute investment to be effective. If you are looking for something to flesh out your Lone Wolf Build, I highly recommend Summoning, because it is compatible with just about any Build out there.

Summoners should prioritize Summoning above all else until they have maxed it out in order to get a much more effective Incarnate. Once Summoning is maxed they will increase whatever makes the most logical sense for what they paired it with. It’s either going to be Mage, Ranger, Warrior or Rogue, so you simply follow the guidelines for those particular archetypes once Summoning is maxed.

Builds that utilize the Summoning Skill line should prioritize Summoning before boosting damage with their primary means of doing so. This means if you are a Warrior/Summoner, you want to place just enough points into Warfare to get some Skills and then pump Summoning to 10 before coming back to Warfare.

Summary

When it comes to Attribute Points, we’ve learned that most Builds will operate much the same way, placing most of their points into their Primary Attribute(s) first. This is the most efficient way, and the exception is placing a point or two into Memory to get more Skills, or Constitution in order to use a Shield if needed. Once this has been accomplished, they will place points into Wits for increased Critical Chance, which will in turn boost their damage.

All Lone Wolf Builds will be able to max out 4 Combat Abilities by the time they reach the end of the game, or very close to this. We don’t factor the odd ball point here and there into other Abilities, because it is likely this will be covered by equipment. You should aim to have at least 3 Combat Abilities that boost your damage, or you may be sailing along in Act 2, which is where Lone Wolf Builds really shine, only to find later Acts more difficult if you don’t plan ahead.

Single School Mages are now among the hardest Builds to play in Lone Wolf, because while they have means of increasing their damage, they are heavily reliant on circumstances they cannot always control. Elevation is not always possible in some fights, and their Critical Chance must be very high in order to make use of that extra Critical Damage. Since Critical Chance is somewhat reliant upon gear, you may have a harder time if you don’t get good equipment. Be sure to take the Hothead Talent when playing a Single School Mage for increased Critical Chance when at full health.

Lone Wolf Builds Cheatsheet

Lastly, I’ve compiled a cheat sheet of my Builds so that you can see just what 4 Combat Abilities I recommend maxing when playing them in Lone Wolf. Please keep in mind that these recommendations are not the ONLY thing you can do with them, but just my suggestions. I’ve listed them in priority of importance, but there is some wiggle room within them. However, at the end of the game these are the 4 Combat Abilities that I would have maxed.

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Be sure to check out our other Guides! Good luck Sourcerers, Rivellon is counting on you!