Divinity: Original Sin 2 is in full swing, and one of the major issues players are having with the game isBuilds. WhatBuilddo I use? What’s a goodBuildfor a Warrior? Ranger? Mage? etc. Since the game is extremely difficult this has come much more into focus than one would expect. In thisBuild Guidewere going to cover the absolutely devastating:Juggernaut. Let’s jump into thisBuildand see just how it works.
Juggernaut – Warrior Build
The Juggernaut is a Warrior Build that uses a mix of Warfare, Geomancer and Polymorph Skills to flatten his/her enemies to a pulp or turn them to stone. Juggernauts focus on pure Strength, but deal a mix of physical and earth damage to their enemies. At first glance this seems like a bad idea, because splitting damage types generally reduces your overall DPS. However, this Build takes advantage of Geomancer Skills that reward players who deal physical damage and a Polymorph Skill that deals earth damage, but scales off of Strength. The purpose of this Build is to deal punishing amounts of damage to the Armour of various enemies, while at the same time keeping them Knocked Down or Petrified and out of the fight. The reason why this Build is so good, is because it’s able to focus on the damage type that best fits the situation.
Juggernaut Attributes and Equipment
Juggernauts are going to focus primarily in Strength, only putting some points into Wits and Constitution as necessary. Strength will not only increase the damage of your Warfare Skills if you use a weapon that scales with Strength, but it will increase the damage of Polymorph Skills. Because you’ll be a front lines type of Build, it is recommended you put a few more points into Constitution than your average character, but you want to use as little as possible. Wits will help give you needed Initiative to get into combat early as well as bump your Critical Chance.
Juggernauts will be using Strength-based Armour that is skewed heavily towards physical protection, which is excellent for this Build. Juggernauts want to stack Physical Armour up as high as they possibly can because Reactive Armour increases in damage in relation to your current Physical Armour. Reactive Armour does have very limited range, so it’s not the greatest skill for this Build, but it can deal wicked damage under the right circ*mstances.
Juggernauts should utilize Single-Handed and Shield for very good reasons. Shield using Juggernauts will not only gain access to Bouncing Shield which does great AoE damage, but also Deflective Barrier, which increases your Armour even further as well as reflecting projectile attacks. Using a Shield will also increase the effectiveness of Reactive Armour, and won’t reduce the damage you deal with Petrifying Visage, since it simply scales with Strength and Geomancer, not Weapon damage. You will also gain more Magic Armour, which you will be very low on otherwise. All said and done, you don’t have to use a Shield with this Build, but I will absolutely recommend it.
Juggernaut Abilities and Talents
One of the hardest parts about making aBuildinDivinity: Original Sin 2is getting yourAbilitiesdistribution correct. It’s easy to get spread too thin, and often people make the mistake of not spreading points around enough. The bonuses you gain fromAbilitiesin this game are somewhat different than the original, so it’s easy to see why people can get confused. Let’s take a look at whatAbilitiesandTalentsyou need for aJuggernaut.
When playing as a Juggernaut there are almost no hard and fast rules on exactly how many points to put into Abilities, but you will for sure want many points into Warfare for the increase to physical damage and many points into Geomancer for the increase in Physical Armour, as well as increase in earth damage. Just exactly what balance you choose is up to you, but you will deal more physical damage than earth, so I suggest favoring Warfare in a 2:1 or 1.5:1 ratio. You’ll also need at least 2 points into Polymorph, to be able to use Medusa Head and 3 if you wish to use the Skin Graft skill (which I highly recommend).
As far asTalentsgo I’d recommend the following:
Opportunist – A must have Talent for every melee character because it will proc 2 or 3 times in combat easily, nearly doubling your attacks. This one should be high on the list, if not first.
The Pawn – This requires 1 point into Scoundrel, but it will allow you to move 1 AP worth of Movement for free per turn, which is huge because positioning is key with this Build and you need all of your AP to attack with.
Picture of Health – This is another no brainer Talent for any Build that utilizes Warfare. You can hold off on this one until you have 6+ points into Warfare though, since it won’t be overly useful right away.
Savage Sortilege – Worth considering with this Build because of Petrifying Visage and Earthquake. It’s certainly not a must have, but can increase your DPS if you have a high Crit Chance.
Far Out Man – This will increase the range of your Earthquake and your Petrifying Visage skills. However, they both have extremely long range as it is so I suggest trying it out and seeing if you really need it. 2m is not a lot, but it may allow you to hit all targets on the screen while not being positioned perfectly.
Hothead – Since you will have so much Armour, it will be very hard for enemies to damage your Vitality directly. Consider taking this one if you took Savage Sortilege, as it will affect spells as well.
Juggernaut Skills
Now that you’ve decided whichTalentsandAbilitiesyou want, you’ll need to identify just whichSkillswork best with this kind of setup.Juggernautswill use a mix ofWarfareand Geomancer and PolymorphSkillsto deal damage and stay alive. SinceBuildsevolve over the course of the game, I’m going to put theSkillsin order from earliest obtainable to latest, because you won’t be able to get them all right way.
Warfare Skills
Battering Ram – Not a skill I would normally recommend, however, this Build focuses on disabling enemies and the Knockdown is useful once targets’ Armour has been stripped. Save this for when you can get the Status Effect.
Battle Stomp – This skill has a nice synergy with this Build because of the AoE Knockdown with decent range. As with above, try to save this until you know you can get the Status Effect applied.
Bouncing Shield – Deals more damage then just about any other Warfare Skill that doesn’t use Source, and hits multiple targets. This skill is one of the best ways to deal physical damage with this Build and is a big reason I recommend a Shield.
Whirlwind – A great AoE for a melee type Build and since you’ll be right in the center of the action it’s a natural fit here. Ironically you probably won’t use this AoE later in game, but it’s great early on when your skill selection is limited.
Deflective Barrier – A great way to increase your Physical Armour and also reflects projectiles. Requires a Shield, however, is currently bugged and can be used without one (I don’t know for how long). Use this before using Reactive Armour if you can.
Challenge–As of February 1st, 2018 this Skill now only costs 1 AP, making it viable for nearly every Warfare oriented Build. Buffs Physical and Magic Armour in addition to increasing your damage by 15% for 1 turn.
Thick of the Fight – A great way to buff your damage based on total characters around you (10% increase per character). This skill also buffs Earthquake and Petrifying Visage. Works fantastically with AoEs, which this Build is chalked full of.
Geomancer Skills
Fortify – Another great way to buff your Physical Armour while removing negative Status Effects. Ideally you’d use this paired with Deflective Barrier and then follow up with Reactive Armour. Can be cast on a teammate as well if needed.
Oily Carpace – This skill can generate a crazy amount of Physical Armour for 1 AP. However, there aren’t too many circ*mstances where you can pull that off. Keep on your bar just in case you find yourself covered in oil.
Earthquake – Since Knockdown is resisted by Physical Armour, it works here because you will be doing a ton of physical damage with this Build. Follow up a Whirlwind or Reactive Armour with this skill for best results.
Reactive Armour – This skill deals damage based on your Physical Armour in an AoE. If you use a Shield, stack up Fortify and Deflective Barrier before using this skill will outperform any other AoE you possess. Is also buffed by Thick of the Fight.
Venom Coating – Since you’ll have a high amount of points into Geomancer this skill is a nice addition to this Build. It’s one of the few Builds that can use it effectively.
Polymorph Skills
Tentacle Lash – One of the most powerful single-target attacks in the game. Get this one early and use it near the beginning of the game when your skill selection is limited, or when an AoE would be less effective than single-target damage.
Chicken Claw – This skill is here because there’s really no reason not to have it. Good for when you really need to prevent a fearsome enemy from dealing damage. I recommend slotting this skill on almost any melee character for this reason.
Medusa Head – Grants the skill Petrifying Visage which deals earth damage in a massive AoE (only to hostile targets) and Petrifies them. Scales with Strength, which is pefect. Use this against targets with weak Magic Armour to Petrify them.
Skin Graft – For 2AP and 1 SP you can reset ALL of your cooldowns once per combat. So your enemies are just getting up from your Earthquake? Just pop this skill and then level them again, or re-petrify them with Petrifying Visage…
Final Tips
Because you will have less Magic Armour than Physical by a good margin, it’s a good idea to have someone buff you with Armour of Frost at the beginning of each fight. Or simply place one 1 point into Hydrosophist and take it yourself. You can probably get 1 point from gear anyhow, so this shouldn’t take away damage from your Build.
Spider Legs is another great skill that you can utilize in this Build, but you’ll probably get much more use out of it early on. It might be a good idea to get it when you reach Level 4 and then drop it when you get to higher levels where you have more access to Skills. One great thing about it is that if you run through the web you cast, you will gain Haste, which will grant an extra AP next turn.
It isn’t recommended that you split Attributes between Intelligence and Strength because then your physical damage would suffer greatly, which is the bulk of damage you will do. One of the reasons you can get away with a physical damage type and magical damage type in this Build is because the primary magic damage skill (Petrifying Visage) scales with Strength, making the loss in damage to the skill much less than if it scaled with Intelligence (witness Earthquake). The other reason is that Geomancer in particular increases your Physical Armour from Skills, and Reactive Armour (which is a Geomancer skill) deals physical damage.
Lastly, I highly recommend you place 1 Masterwork Rune into your Chest Armour and 1 into your Shield, increasing yourPhysical Armour by good portion if you use Giant ones. This will push your Reactive Armour skill to even higher damage, making it just OP as hell. You can always remove Runes later, so place whatever you’ve got in there and remove it and replace it later.
Be sure to check out our otherBuild Guides! Good luck Sourcerers, Rivellon is counting on you!
