Divinity: Original Sin 2 has been out for several months now, and one of the major issues players are still 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 can be difficult early on, this has come much more into focus than one would expect. In this Build Guide were going to cover the Terramancer. Let’s jump into this Build and see just how it works.

Terramancer – Mage Build

The Terramancer is a Mage Build that utilizes the devastating AoEs of Geomancer to deal tons of Earth Damage, while also making use of Necromancer Skills that hit for Physical Damage to individual targets. Sprinkle in a few Hydrosophist Skills and you have a Terramancer.

At first glance this seems an unusual combination, however it can be quite deadly as Earthquake will knockdown targets with no Physical Armour and Global Cooling will Freeze enemies with no Magic Armour. By adding Physical Damage with Necromancer, we ensure that we can CC any target we face and deal whichever damage type is more useful. Terramancers are not DPS monsters, but they do have a flexibility that some other Builds do not.

Terramancers are also particularly durable, not only because of their access to nearly every single Armour buff, but also through the use of Vampiric Hunger and Living Armour. This skill used in conjunction with this Talent ensures that they never run out of Magic Armour, and since Terramancers are heavily invested in Geomancer, their Physical Armour buffs are extremely powerful making them nearly impossible to kill.

Terramancer Attributes and Equipment

Terramancers focus on Intelligence to increase the damage of their Geomancer and Necromancer Skills. Terrmancers should start putting points into Wits once Intelligence is maxed out to help increase their Critical Chance. Be sure to place enough points into Memory as you go to be able to use all the Skills this Build takes advantage of as well. Also places a couple of points into Strength or Constitution as necessary to be able to use Strength-based Armour as well as a good Shield.

Terramancers use a mix of Strength and Intelligence-based Armours to get excellent Physical and Magic Armour. Terramancers want to find a balance between the two if possible, with enough Magic Armour to give yourself time to replenish it via damage. They should look for Armour with Geomancer, Warfare, Intelligence, Wits and Critical Chance in that order for best results. Points into Necromancer or Hydrosophist are also a plus.

On the Weapons side of things, Terramancers should use either a Poison Wand or any One-Handed Weapon. The upside to using the Wand is that you will have an extra ranged attack if you need and it also provides an Intelligence bonus, which is nice. One-Handed Weapons will allow you to use Battle Stomp, which helps with CC, but does not hit very hard with this Build. Either of these will work just fine, since you won’t be using them often any how.

Terramancer Talents and Abilities

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 a Terramancer.

Terramancers have a pretty straight forwards ability distribution, placing 2 points into Geomancer, Necromancer and Hydrosophist early on in order to gain access to the Skills there. Then taking Geomancer and Warfare up in a 1:1 ratio until maxed, only dropping 1 extra point into Necromancer and Hydrosophist if you want to take Blood Storm and Silencing Stare in Act 2. Makes sure you have 1 point into Scroundrel for Vampiric Hunger as well, which you should get from gear anyhow.

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

Living Armour – Vampiric Hunger makes this Talent shine with this Build. Mosquito Swarm on an enemy when buffed by Vampiric Hunger will replace huge chunks of missing Magic Armour, which is fantastic.

Elemental Affinity – This Talent works decently with this Build because you can use Flesh Sacrifice for 0 AP if you are an Elf and you quite often cover the map in oil.

Savage Sortelige – This Talent is a must for any Mage Build and will allow your skills to Critically Hit. Get this one near the end of Act 1 or beginning of Act 2.

Hothead – This Talent is really good with this Build because it will increase the Critical Chance of all of your Skills. Only needed in Act 2 when you have Savage Sortelige.

Terramancer 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. Terramancers will use a mix of Geomancer and Necromancer Skills, with a few Hydrosophist Skills. This allows them to deal 2 damage types (Earth and Physical), while maintaining huge quantities of Armour. 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.

Geomancer Skills

Fortify – A great skill for buffing your Physical Armour. Works extremely well with this Build because of the high Geomancer ability and can buff party members as well.

Fossil Strike – Will be your main DPS skill until you get Impalement and Earthquake. Great a slowing melee units, preventing them from getting to you or your teammates.

Impalement – A very good damaging AoE for 2 AP. Creates oil, which slows enemies and can Cripple targets with no Physical Armour, which synergizes with Necromancer Skills.

Earthquake – Decent damage in a massive AoE, but is expensive at 3 AP. Use when you can hit many targets in order to soften them up for Global Cooling, which can Freeze them.

Worm Tremor – An expensive skill, but can root targets in place (through Armour) preventing them from getting to you or your party members. Use this when other Geo Skills are on cooldown.

 

Necromancer Skills

Mosquito Swarm – Deals decent damage and sets the Bleeding Status Effect and has very good range (13 meters). Also heals you for a decent amount, which works extremely well with Living Armour.

Decaying Touch – This skill has very limited range but can deal good damage and set decaying, which allows you to damage enemies with healing. Not a must for this Build, but useful for the Physical Damage.

Shackles of Pain – This skill is an excellent way of controlling the battlefield, as the AI in the game doesn’t like to hit you if you have this on one of them. Learn how to use this and predict enemy behavior when applied.

Bone Cage – A great skill for buffing up your Armour and the more dead bodies around the better. Does get boosted by high Geomancer ability, making it the best Physical Armour you have.

Infect – As of February 1st, 2018 this skill’s damage was buffed by 40%, making it more potent, but it still has a high cost at 3 AP. Has a 13m range which is really nice though.

Silencing Stare – This might be the one and only Build I actually use this skill in, and as of February 1st, 2018 now destroys Magic Armour too. It works well after an Earthquake when enemies have their Magic Armour stripped.

Blood Storm – Might be the single deadliest skill in the game. For 4 AP and 3 SP you get a skill that deals insane damage to all targets in a huge AoE, sets Diseased and Decaying, then does it again for 2 more rounds.

 

Hydrosophist Skills

Armour of Frost – The best way to buff your Magic Armour and also removes a variety of Status Effects. You won’t use this that often, because of Living Armour, but it’s still nice to have just in case.

Vampiric Hunger – A vastly underrated skill that adds 50% Life Steal. Useful to help help replenish Magic Armour via Living Armour and only cost 1 AP and lasts 2 turns, which is great.

Global Cooling – Use this skill after an Earthquake to Freeze enemies that have little or no Armour. Extremely useful for 1 AP and recommended on any Build that uses some sort of Elemental Damage.

 

Warfare Skills

Bouncing Shield – A must-have skill for any Build that uses a Shield. Will capitalize on the high Warfare ability you will have and will help to strip Physical Armour, which allows for Earthquake and Impalement to apply their Status Effects.

Deflective Barrier – A great skill that will help to soften your enemies up so that you can apply your Status Effects. Also benefits from the high Geomancer ability you will have, so becomes much more useful.

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.

Final Tips

This Build is one of the few I’ve made that use Vampiric Hunger (with Eternal Warrior being the other), which provides 50% Life Steal. Life Steal adds together with whatever you have on your Weapon and with whatever percent you have from Necromancer. This is then multiplied vs your Hydrosophist to calculate exactly how much you will heal. Life Steal is dependent on damage so dealing more damage will provide a bigger heal, which make AoEs particularly useful. We don’t use this skill for the healing, but rather the effect of Living Armour which allows you to replenish large quantities of Magic Armour via damaging enemies.

Terramancers have a mix of Earth and Physical Damage that allows them to select which is most appropriate for their target(s). Think before you act and remember that you want to strip Physical Armour first if you can because Earthquake and Impalement are resisted by it. Bouncing Shield is a great way to do this, as are Mosquito Swarm and Infect. Then follow up with Earthquake for some Knockdowns and then follow that with Global Cooling for some Frozen enemies. Rinse and repeat.

I use a Shield with Reflect Physical Damage for this Build, because it helps to strip Armour, making it possible to apply Status Effects, and there’s really no reason not to have it on there. Physical Reflect is the best type because your Resistances mitigate how much damage you take, and therefore you will Reflect a lower number. Enemies can also resist Elemental Damage, reducing the damage they take even further from this Reflect. There is currently no Resistance to Physical Damage, unless an immunity, and so it will always deal full value. These Shields are hard to find, so keep your eyes open for them.

As of Feb 1st, Provoke now goes through Physical Armour and will allow you to Taunt nearby enemies. Consider adding this to this Build if you wish to fulfill the “tank” role. You have tons and tons of Armour as a Terramancer so this would be a natural fit. If you decide to do this, I would suggest taking a couple points of Summoning to get the Soul Mate skill.

Lastly, having good Fire Resistance is useful for this Build, but not required. This is because that often enemies will use the oily surfaces you have provided to set things on fire and it can get out of control really fast. Standing in Fire is not really that bad for this Build because you replenish Magic Armour when you attack, but lessening how much it does can be useful. Use Fire, Ice and any other surfaces to keep melee units away so that you don’t need to spend AP buffing your Physical Armour and can keep on attacking.

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