It has been over a year since my last Divinity: Original Sin 2 Enhanced Edition Build Guide, which is far too long. There are many Builds you can make in Divinity: Original Sin 2, and in this Build Guide we’re going to be taking a look at the Elusive Enchanter.
The Elusive Enchanter is a Mage Build that utilizes Aerotheurge and Hydrosophist spells in order to keep enemies disabled and crowd controlled. Frozen and Stunned enemies cannot take an action on their turn, while Chilled enemies have reduced Dodge chance and Movement, and Shocked enemies have reduced Dodge chance and Action Points. This means even when enemies aren’t Frozen or Stunned they will still be at a serious disadvantage. The reason these two Schools synergize well together is because Wet enemies take more Air and Water Damage, and can be Frozen and Stunned more easily, which makes Rain benefit both of these Skill lines because it sets the Wet status effect in a rather large AoE.
- Shocked – For this Status Effect to apply you need to hit enemies with one Electricity spell from the Aerotheurge line. These are: Shocking Touch, Electric Discharge, Dazing Bolt, Closed Circuit, Superconductor, Chain Lightning, and Thunderstorm.
- Stunned – For this Status Effect to apply you need to hit a Shocked or Wet enemy with one of the above spells.
- Chilled – For this Status Effect to apply you need to hit an enemy with any Ice spell from the Hydrosophist line. These are: Hail Strike, Winter Blast, Ice Fan, Global Cooling, Hail Storm , Deep Freeze, and Ice Breaker.
- Frozen – For this Status Effect to apply you need to hit an enemy that is Chilled or Wet with one of the above Ice spells.
The best way to begin this Build is to take the Enchanter Class during Character Creation, and change your Attributes to 3 points into Intelligence. This will give you maximum damage right off the bat, and you shouldn’t need Constitution because you won’t be using a Shield. Leave Skills as is, as these are ideal for this Build, and change your Talent to Mnemonic to gain extra Memory Slots.
Elusive Enchanter Attributes and Equipment
As far asAttributesgo, you’ll want to pump Intelligence to max as quickly as you can, only putting points intoMemoryto gainSkills you need. Once Intelligence is maxed out, you’ll focus onWitsto increase your Critical Chance.
Weapon-wise, you can go in two different directions if you wish. You can use Wand and Shield or Dual Wands. Both will work, but they come with their own advantages and disadvantages. Of the two, I suggest using Dual Wands since these both can come with Intelligence and Critical Chance buffs, and you will have cooldowns early on that leave you with nothing to do. Having Dual Wands ensures you still deal decent damage when this occurs, but as you progress the game becomes less of an issue, particularly if you take the Skin Graft Skill. So later on you may opt for a Shield for extra protection.
Armour-wise you will be using Intelligence-based Armour, as that is where the majority of your Attribute points will lie. This means you will have exceptionally high Magic Armour, particularly because you can use Armor of Frost to boost it even higher. Since you’ll use Uncanny Evasion and Chameleon Cloak to avoid Physical Damage attacks, you shouldn’t need to worry much about Physical Armour. Just make sure to focus enemies that deal Physical Damage, so they cannot attack you. They generally have lower Magic Armour anyway, so this shouldn’t be a problem.
Elusive Enchanter Abilities and Talents
Elusive Enchanters begin the game with 1 point into Aerotheurge and 1 point into Hydrosophist. You’ll want to get these both to 2 points with your first two levels, and then put 1 point into Polymorph so that you can pick up Chameleon Cloak. This means at Level 4 you should have 2 Aero, 2 Hydro and 1 Poly, and have access to nearly all Skills for this Build until you reach Driftwood, since vendors gain new Spells once you reach level 4.
From here onward you’ll alternate Aero and Hydro until they are both maxed out, only putting a couple points into Polymorph to pick up Skin Graft in Driftwood. You can also put 1 point into Warfare to take Executioner if you wish, but that is up to you. You shouldn’t have many points left over for anything else by the end of the game.
As far asTalentsgo I’d recommend the following:
Mnemonic – This is the Talent you should take during Character Creation so that you don’t need to invest as many points into Memory early on, allowing you to focus on Intelligence to increase your damage. This one will carry you through most of the game, but you can drop it later on if you find you no longer need it.
Elemental Affinity – This Talent allows you to cast Hyrdo spells for 1 Action Point cheaper when standing in Water or on Ice, and sometimes Aero spells if the Water is electrified. A must have for any Hydrosophist Mage, because you can make this happen by simply casting Rain.
Savage Sortilege – This Talent will allow your spells to Critically Strike and is a must have later on in the game to increase your damage. Consider taking this one when your Critical Chance hits about 20% around the beginning of Act 2, it won’t help out much until you actually have some Critical Chance.
Executioner – This is optional for this Build, but it’s good on nearly every Build out there if they deal substantial damage. It can give you an extra 2-4 AP per combat on some characters, so consider taking this one at level 13 if you find yourself finishing off enemies often. Just remember you’ll need a point into Warfare to take it.
Hothead – If you didn’t take Executioner, this is a good choice. It will increase your overall Critical Chance by 10% and Accuracy by 10% when at Max Vitality. Accuracy isn’t useful for casting, but the extra 10% Critical Chance can help boost your damage, resulting in more Frozen and Stunned enemies since you will get through their Armour faster.
Elusive Enchanter Skills
Elusive Enchanters use a mix of Hydrosophist and Aerotheurge Skills in order to keep enemies Crowd Controlled. Below is a list of Skills you will use and I will put them in the order you should obtain them in.
Character Creation
Rain – This should always be the first Skill you use in battle to give yourself Elemental Affinity with Hydro spells, and to make enemies Wet. Make sure you cast it where it puts a puddle on you as well, or you’ll miss out on the Elemental Affinity.
Hail Strike – This will be your go-to damaging spell until you reach Level 4 and more Skills become available. Be careful not to hit other party members with it, and make sure not to miss the enemy with some of the shards, which can happen. Aim dead center for best results.
Electric Discharge – A decent ranged skill with ok damage. We use this mostly for the range, and because it’s one of few Skills that can set Shocked and Stunned.
Character Levels 1-3
Armour of Frost – Armour of Frost will give you the Magic Shell status which increases your overall Magic Armour. It only gets more effective as you place points into Hydrosophist, an you’ll likely use it more later in the game than early on.
Shocking Touch– Does about 10% more damage thanElectric Discharge, which isn’t a whole lot, but is still better. You will use this Skill much more often early in the game then you will later in the game because you don’t want to be near enemies if possible. Early on though, you simply won’t have the Skills needed to prevent this 100% of the time, and so it’s useful.
Chameleon Cloak – Use this skill at the end of your first or second turn to hide from enemies and prevent them from attacking you. It only costs 1 AP and is an excellent way to make sure you don’t take damage.
Character Levels 4-8
Winter Blast – This skill give you some AoE Freeze capability and only costs 1 AP while standing in water or on ice. It also doesn’t harm friendly targets, so don’t be afraid to use it liberally.
Ice Fan – You can hit 3 different targets with this skill, allowing for multiple Frozen enemies. Keep in mind they need to be Chilled first, so hit one target with 2 shards to Freeze them if you need to, or cast Rain on top of the 3 Chilled targets to Freeze them all.
Dazing Bolt – Has a hefty cost at 3 AP, but deals substantial damage in a small AoE. This skill can often 1 shot enemies if it Crits, and is a great way to create electrified Water if you have cast Rain already.
Uncanny Evasion– This skill is one of the few defensive skills thisBuild has and this one is a must. For 1 AP you’ll be virtually un-hittable during the enemies’ round (except by magic spells). Between this, Chameleon Cloak and all your CC spells, you should be near untouchable.
Character Levels 9-15
Global Cooling – A huge AoE that Chills enemies with no Magic Armour and Freezes water. Use this to Chill lots of enemies, or Freeze enemies that are already Chilled or Wet. Be wary of walking on Icy surfaces and put nails in your Boots to prevent slipping.
Pressure Spike – Though this is not an Electrical spell and it cannot set Shocked or Stunned, it deals decent damage for 1 AP so I like to take it. It can also douse Fire, but you won’t use it for that as much as you think.
Chain Lightning– Hits up to 8 targets and has extremely good range. The damage on this skill is also higher than all butClosed Circuit (which has a very small AoE) and isn’t optimal for this Build. A great way to open up a battle if you have the Source Points, after casting Rain.
Skin Graft – This skill works fantastically with this Build and it only costs 1 AP. Because you blow through Skills quickly, you’ll often find that you need to attack with your Wand(s). But with this Skill you can reset the cooldowns of your Skills and just blow through them again.
Character Levels 16 & Up
Ice Breaker – This skill destroys ice surfaces, dealing Water Damage to any target standing on them, friend and foe alike so be careful when using it. It only costs 1 AP, and it’ll return Ice to a Water Surface, allowing you to re-electrify it, which is great.
Hail Storm – This skill is absolutely devastating but costs you all your Source Points. Use when you just want to nuke anything on the battlefield, and if you haven’t already used Skin Graft.
Thunderstorm – Another absolutely devastating Skill that nukes enemies from orbit, but does so over several turns. You won’t be able to use this and Hail Storm in the same combat, so figure out what the enemy Resistances are and use the most appropriate one.
Final Tips
Because you’ll be doing a lot of nuking with this setup, ideally you wouldn’t have many melee units on the battlefield. This will prevent them from getting Shocked or Stunned. But if you do, make sure they have Nails in their Boots so they don’t slip on Ice, and make sure they have decent Air Resistance. Frost Paladins can pair really well with this Build, so don’t be afraid to use one.
Rain is such a crucial part of this Build that I recommend bringing along Rain Scrolls for some of the more challenging fights. That way you can make nearly every enemy Wet for just 1 AP as often as needed, drastically increasing the amount of CC you have. You can craft Rain Scrolls by combining: a Sheet of Paper, a Water Essence, and a Herring Fish. Keep these ingredients and be on the look out for them when looting.
Having a Summoner in your party can really really help this Build out a lot. Casting Totems on Water will allow them to make enemies Wet with each attack, making it much easier to Freeze or Stun them. Make sure they cast one Totem every round for best results.
Avoid playing this Build in a party with a Pyromancer or Geomancer if you can because they will ruin your Water and Ice, and prevent you from taking the most advantage of it. If you want a second Mage I recommend adding a Necromancer, or another Mage that utilizes one of these two schools of magic as well. You can never have enough Frozen or Stunned enemies!
Lastly, this Build has almost no mobility to speak of, so consider picking up something like Bull Rush or Tactical Retreat if you find it becomes an issue from you. This may require spending some points into Huntsman, which isn’t ideal, so look for gear with it instead. It’s not hard to find one or two items with Huntsman, and Huntsman will boost your damage from elevation as well.
Stay tuned as we bring you another round of Divinity: Original Sin 2 Enhanced Edition Build Guides. And be sure to keep a look out for our upcoming Pillars of Eternity 2 Builds, as the game releases on console in just over a week.
