Divinity: Original Sin 2 is in full swing, and one of the major issues players are having with the game is Builds. What Build do I use? What’s a good Build for a Warrior? Ranger? Mage? etc. Since the game is extremely difficult this has come much more into focus than one would expect. In this Build Guide were going to cover the extremely versatile: Elementalist. Let’s jump into this Build and see just how it works. Note that it is recommended you play this Build as a Human to maximize your Critical Chance.

Elementalist – Mage Build

The Elementalist uses all forms of Magic to destroy their enemies. At first glance this doesn’t seem like a great idea because spreading your Attributes so widely can reduce your damage, which is much more noticeable later in the game. However, there is a way around this so that you can still deal excellent damage with a more spread stat distribution. Dumping only the minimum points into each Magic skill line, and the rest into Polymorph will grant you one extra Attribute point for each rank. This allows you to drop it into Intelligence, which increases the damage of all Intelligence-based Skills by 5%, regardless of skill line.

Elementalist Attributes and Equipment

When making an Elementalist you’re going to need to focus on 3 different Attributes: Intelligence, Constitution and Memory. Intelligence will increase the effectiveness of all damage dealing Skills, Constitution will help keep you alive and Memory will allow you to memorize many Skills. Elementalists will need far more Memory than the average player because they have access to many more Skills. I recommend a 2:1:1 ratio of Intelligence, Constitution and Memory. This will allow you to deal decent damage, stay alive and have a significant assortment of spells.

As an Elementalist you will be using Armour that requires Intelligence. This type primarily focuses on Magic Armour, so you will be more vulnerable to physical attacks by melee units and archers. You can use Geomancer Skills, however, to buff your Physical Armour to compensate. As an Elementalist you will be extremely hard to kill because you have access to nearly every magic spell in the game, and can buff your Armour constantly.

When it comes to weapons you’ll want to use a Wand and Shield. The Wand simply because it will require Intelligence, which you will have tons of, and a Shield to increase your Armour. You should never need to attack with your Wand and you gain no extra damage to your Skills from using a Staff. For this reason, use the Wand with the best bonuses, not with the highest damage.

Just a general note about gear as an Elementalist. Ideally you want equipment that increases Intelligence, as this is the best way to increase the overall damage of your Build. After Intelligence you will want Critical Chance because it affects all spells. Gear that increases individual abilities like Aerotheurge, is not as good as just flat Intelligence or Critical, but is better than nothing. However, don’t be afraid to prioritize 1 or 2 elements if you find they are working best for you, and keep that in mind when selecting equipment. After all, you don’t need to be a perfectly balanced Elementalist, especially if you find some Skills better than others.

Elementalist Abilities and Talents

One of the hardest parts about making a Build in Divinity: Original Sin 2 is getting your Abilities distribution 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 from Abilities in 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 what Abilities and Talents you need for an Elementalist.

For this Build you’ll want to put 3 points in Geomancer, 3 points in Hydrosophist, 3 points into Pyrokinetic, 3 points into Aerotheurge, 10 points into Polymorph and the rest into Huntsman. This will allow you to use nearly every elemental skill in the game, while maximizing your damage. Early game players will not need more than 2 points in each elemental Ability, so be sure to start increasing Polymorph around level 5 and only take the others to 3 points as necessary to unlock Skills. You can also take any of the elemental Abilities up to 5 later in the game to unlock the more power Skills.

Polymorph is the best way to increase your damage so you want to add to it as often as you can. Elevation can drastically increase your damage as an Elementalist, but it’s not always possible, which is why Huntsman is prioritized last. If you really don’t want to take Huntsman then I suggest alternating investing points into the elemental Abilities, however, you will do less damage on average this way.

As far as Talents go I’d recommend the following:

Mnemonic – Since you will need to memorize a shit load of spells, this will help ease the amount of Attribute points spent on Memory. Take this one early to free up points for Intelligence.

Elemental Affinity – Since you will literally be capable of using every element, you can utilize this Talent more than any other possible Build out there. Note that it cannot reduce the cost of a skill below 1.

Savage Sortelige – This will allow your spells to Critically Hit which will help to increase your damage output. You’ll want to take this around the end of Act 1 because you won’t have much Crit early on anyhow.

Far Out Man – This will increase the range of your Skills (and Wand attacks) by 2 meters. This isn’t the most useful Talent, but it fits with this sort of Build better than most. This Talent is much more noticeable when you are at a higher elevation than your target.

Hothead – Since it is much more difficult for Mages to reach higher Critical Chance values than other characters, this Talent can help fill in the gap. Just be sure that you have high Initiative so you can buff up before you take Vitality damage.

Executioner – Depending on your group make-up and how well you’ve followed this guide/spent time on gear, this Talent is likely a decent addition to your Build. The downside is that you will have to put a point into Warfare, and it only triggers once per turn.

Torturer – Increases the duration of your DAMAGING Status Effects from Skills and surfaces. You’ll have to evaluate if you think this is work a slot, since the only 2 damaging effects you’ll do here are Burning and Poisoned.

Elementalist Skills

Now that you’ve decided which Talents and Abilities you want, you’ll need to identify just which Skills work best with this kind of setup. This section would be pages and pages long if I listed all the Skills you could use here, so instead I will simply list some I feel are must-haves for this Build. Keep in mind that you will literally have over 100 Skills to choose from. Since Builds evolve over the course of the game, I’m going to put the Skills in order from earliest obtainable to latest, because you won’t be able to get them all right way.

Fossil Strike – Another decent AoE for 2 AP that also Slows targets and puts oil around them, hindering their Movement. This skill is excellent for controlling the battlefield early on and taking melee out of the fight until they can be dealt with.

Impalement – For 2 AP does pretty decent AoE damage and can Cripple enemies, keeping them from moving on their turn. Worm Tremor is also good, but the 3 AP cost prevents me from adding it here.

Teleportation – This skill is one of the few ways you can deal physical damage, which you will need to do on the rare occasion, and it just has so many uses both in and out of combat that you pretty much can’t live without it.

Chain Lightning – This skill does very good damage for 1 SP and that’s why it is listed here. It’s sometimes difficult to hit many targets with, so use Teleportation and move them together before unloading with this skill.

Armour of Frost –  A good way to regain some Magic Armour and removes many negative Status Effects. Can also use on a teammate, which is good. You shouldn’t need it often, but it’s good to have.

Winter Blast – Deals really good damage in an AoE that ignores teammates and also chills enemies. This skill hits like a truck from high up and can really help put pressure on a group of enemies.

Fireball – This is your go to skill for massive fire damage and for igniting surfaces. Not really much else needs to be said about it, because it’s a no brainer. Make enemies walk through it to get to you.

Meteor Shower – Does devastating damage, but costs 3 SP and 4 AP. Use Apothesis and then unload with this skill and any other high SP cost skill, like Hail Storm!

Tactical Retreat – Although a Huntsman skill, using this can immediately put you up into a high elevation, helping to increase your damage output. Very good to get early on.

Farsight -This will further increase the range of your casts Skills, making you even more dangerous. It requires 3 into Huntsman, so you won’t be getting this until the second half of the game however.

Apothesis – This skill is frankly just beastly with this Build. This skill will allow you to use every Source costing skill for 0 Source for 2 turns! Hands down one of the best Skills in the game, but works the best in this sort of setup.

Final Tips

Consider adding some Necromancer Skills to this Build if you wish to be able to deal a bit more physical damage. Damaging Necromancer Skills are Intelligence-based, so they will still perform well. Because of the way this Build distributes its points, this will not cost you a huge loss in damage, only the 1 or 2 points spent in Necromancer vs. wherever else they would go.

If you are running an Elementalist in a group of 4 then you will have difficulty early on acquiring the necessary Skills to play this role effectively without severely gimping your other party members. Skill Books cost money and you will need to purchase as many or more for this one character as you would the rest of your teammates. For this reason, Elementalists take a while to get going and you won’t start to see this Build really start to shine until around level 9. Keep that in mind and don’t let that discourage you.

As an Elementalist your job is really to control the battlefield so that enemies cannot easily attack your teammates using Ice, Fire, Poison, Oil, Electricity and whatever else you can pull out of your arsenal. Create barriers, making enemies have to make tough choices and of course rain destruction down upon them in every way possible. What’s really fun about this Build is that you have something in your bag of tricks for just about any scenario.

You don’t have to take all elements to be an Elementalist. If you have a player in your party for example that specializes in Fire spells it’s perfectly acceptable to drop Fire and focus on the other 3 elements. Party composition and synergy is far more important than just the make up of one character. Keep this in mind when making an Elementalist, and adjust it to fit the needs of your group. 3 out of 4 ain’t bad…

This Build really shines in Lone Wolf, as you will have extra AP and tons of Skills to use with that AP. You will want to ensure your teammate primarily deals physical damage, or you will have issues taking down targets that stack Magic Armour. Also, I recommend taking some Necromancer Skills when playing Lone Wolf, not only for the physical damage, but the extra healing can really help a lot.

Lastly, out of any Build you will every make, the Elementalist has the highest potential to swing a fight from impossible to easily doable. Take time during your turn, and really think about all the possible things you could do before you just click and use a skill. What you decide to do in the first turn or two might be the difference between a wasted 20 minutes or a flawless victory. The Elementalist is one of the most complex and rewarding Builds out there because it is extremely easy to do wrong, but amazingly satisfying when you pull off some Gandalf level shit that leave your friends’ minds blown.

Check out our other Build Guides! Good luck Sourcerers, Rivellon is counting on you!