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 rather difficult this has come much more into focus than one would expect. In this Build Guide were going to cover the extremely versatile (and fun) Druid. Let’s jump into this Build and see just how it works.

Druid – Mage/Summoner Build

The Druid is a Summoner who utilizes his Conjure Incarnate to the fullest by buffing him to extreme lengths that make the Incarnate extremely deadly. Druids also come equipped with many utility Skills from many different skill lines and this allows them to have a wide variety of spells for nearly every situation. Druids stack Armour up high so that they cannot be controlled and they force their enemies to deal with their Incarnate or face the consequences. No Build uses more Skills than the Druid. The Druid is simply an Elementalist living vicariously via the Incarnate.

Druid Attributes and Equipment

Druids focus primarily on Memory with a secondary focus on Intelligence (yes you read that right).  Druids need a butt load of Memory because they use more Skills than any other Build in the game, so be sure to place as many points as needed. Druids don’t deal much direct damage, but when they do, they want their spells to hit as hard as they can…thus the Intelligence. There is not an Attribute that increases summon strength, so you can match summoning with other sorts of Builds (like the Ranger).

Druids will utilize Intelligence-based Armour and in doing so will have very high Magic Armour. This makes their primary threat melee and archer enemies, so they will need to watch out for these and deal with them accordingly. With this Build you want to pump Summoning up as high as you possibly can, so taking gear that has Summoning on it is advised. However, because Druids utilize such a wide variety of Skills, taking the one with the highest number of overall bonuses may be better in some cases. When in doubt, just prioritize Summoning.

As far as Weapons go, you’ll want to use a Wand and Shield for maximum Armour. You won’t ever need to attack with your Weapon, so we’ll take a Wand here just because you’ll have the correct Attributes for it and they generally give a bonus to Intelligence. Always pick the one with best bonuses, not damage. Shields will help keep you alive, and will allow you to replenish Armour on yourself (and your Incarnate if you have Soul Mate on it). You can also use Deflective Barrier with a Shield, which works great with this Build.

Druid 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 Druid.

Druids want to max out their Summoning as quickly as they can, but they will need at least 1 point in nearly every skill line early on to make the best use of this Build. Druids should shoot for at least 2 points into every skill line except Polymorph, Necromancer and Huntsman by somewhere in the middle of Act 2. The idea here is that you have access to all buffs for your Incarnate as well as many useful Skills like Teleportation or Shackles of Pain, that help you control the situation while your Incarnate mangles target after target. Your own character will have pretty mediocre damage on its own, but your Incarnate will hit like a freight train and you will be free to buff and cast support Skills for you and your party.

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

Mnemonic – This Talent is extremely useful for this Build because you will be casting tons of buffs and spells and you will need to have the slots available for them all. Take this one first or second.

All Skilled Up – I really like this Talent for this Build because you’re spread all over the place and even one more Ability Point comes in handy. Take this one 2nd or 3rd.

Far Out Man – A really good Talent for this Build because it will allow you to buff anyone you need more often than not. Take this or All Skilled Up second.

Stench – Consider taking this Talent 4th because you don’t want to be attacked if you can help it. It’s better if enemies attack your Incarnate or another player that you can buff from behind (you heard me…).

Druid 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. Druids will use a heavy dose of Summoning Skills, as well as Skills from nearly every other skill line available. This allows them to buff their Incarnate efficiently as well as cast other buffs and spells that help the group. 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.

Summoning Skills

Conjure Incarnate – This is obviously a must have skill for this Build as being a Druid revolves completely around it. Take this during Character Creation and always cast it turn 1.

Elemental Totem – A great way to spend AP when you don’t have the greatest attacks in the world. Use extra AP on this when casting a damaging spell wouldn’t do a whole lot.

Dominate Mind – If you’re going to run Summoning you might as well slot this skill. It comes in handy now and then and can help give you an edge for a turn or two by controlling an enemy.

Soul Mate – This is a great way to clear Status Effects from your Incarnate (if you ever need to) and from other party members, while granting them bonus Armour and Vitality. Very good for this Build.

All Infusions – You want to get EVERY single Infusion you can for your Incarnate. You don’t need to get them all right away, but you should get Power, Farsight, Shadow and Warp as soon as you possibly can while filling in the others when convenient. Focus on Fire, Lightning, Poison and then Water, in that order.

Miscellaneous Skills

Teleportation – A great way to move melee units away from you or to get archers down from their height advantage. Has many uses outside of combat as well, so be sure to get it.

Nether Swap – Great for swapping places with archers or mages who have the high ground, or for moving melee units further away from you. Can also be used to move your Incarnate.

Erratic Wisp – A great skill for increasing Air Resistance on a target and for preventing them from being hit by multiple attacks from the same target. Consider casting this on yourself or a ranged DPS.

Fortify – Good for buffing Phsysical Armour on whichever target needs it: Incarnate, yourself or anyone else. Also prevents you from being Teleported and removes some Status Effects.

Armour of Frost – Excellent for buffing Magic Armour and removing unwanted Status Effects. You can buff yourself, Incarnate or any other party member in range.

Rain – Can put out Burning teammates or create a Wet surface that you can later freeze. This skill has just a lot of different uses both in and out of combat so it’s good to have.

Global Cooling – I like this skill because it has some wicked uses when used properly and only costs 1 AP. You might not need it every fight, but it’s nice to have just in case.

Peace of Mind – A great way to boost damage and Critical Chance on a target and only costs 1 AP. Just an all around good skill to use on anyone in your party. Always cast when off cooldown.

Haste – An excellent skill for a Druid because you can buff your Incarnate with it on turn 1, giving him an additional AP right away. Even if it does not use it right away, your Incarnate will get an extra attack turn 2.

Adrenaline – This skill is sooo good for Druids because they have many many 1 AP Skills that they can cast. Use this right away on turn 1 and buff the living shit out of everyone!

Phoenix Dive – This skill is great for moving to where you need to go for 1 AP. You can use other Skills like it as well but you shouldn’t need more than 1 or 2 tops. Great for getting away from melee.

Bouncing Shield – Since this skill doesn’t scale off any Attribute it might be the best source of damage for this Build. Take this one early and never unslot it. Use as often as you can without sacrificing buffs.

Enrage – You can buff your Incarnate or other party members allowing them to deal huge damage. Use this wisely because it won’t work well on Mages or anyone who needs to move before attacking.

Deflective Barrier – A great way to punish enemies who attack you instead of your Incarnate. I like to cast this turn 1 to make sure I get the most use of it, excepting when there doesn’t seem much of a chance I’ll be hit right away.

Final Tips

Firstly, when choosing how to buff your Incarnate be sure to inspect the target you want it to attack. It may have really high resistances to what you were going to attack with, so be sure to choose the least resisted type. You can inspect a target by right-clicking on it and then clicking “Examine”. Sometimes there is not obvious choice and you might just be better off attacking with physical damage.

You can play the Druid as a Lone Wolf, but it is not nearly as useful as you will find that you have plenty of buffs to use every round, but only a couple of targets to use them on. The key to playing successfully here is to make sure that you always maintain your Incarnate’s and your own Armour values so that you cannot be CCed for 1 or more turns. Prioritize the lower of the two values and make sure neither of you are ever reduced below 0. When playing Lone Wolf it is also suggested that you have some damage dealing Skills, that way you can help your Incarnate.

When playing a Druid in a full party it shouldn’t be necessary for other characters to have many buffing Skills slotted (if any at all because you should have them covered). For all intents in purposes your primary goal is to buff your Incarnate, then your party, then yourself in that order. Your job is to make sure no one dies and to prioritize buffs based on what is happening on the battlefield and cast heals if you absolutely need to, and you can slot 1 or 2 if necessary. Extra AP can be used casting Elemental Totems or rarely attacking.

You may be tempted to choose another “pet” for this sort of Build, however, you won’t find a more powerful one out there. The text on the the tooltip for the Infusions is very misleading and they can seem underwhelming at first glance. For example on Power Infusion it says adds 521 Physical Armour to your Incarnate (at Summoning 13), when in fact your Incarnate will actually gain closer to 1200 Physical Armour. Same goes for Farsight Infusion and Magic Armour, and when you’re playing Lone Wolf these numbers only grow even higher. These two Infusions alone will make your Incarnate have more Armour than any other party member, with nearly as much damage, and much more flexibility.

I recommend playing as an Elf when playing a Druid simply because of the Flesh Sacrifice skill that can give you 1 extra AP for 1 turn. Druids need to throw out as many buffs as they can on the first turn and this can really help accelerate the effectiveness of this Build. Another good choice is Fane, if you don’t mind being locked into a pre-made character who is also Undead, because he has the Time Warp skill that will allow you take 2 turns in a row, which is even better. No other Race has any Talents that really help a Summoner type of Build.

Finally, you can play this sort of Build with limiting yourself to one element and your Incarnate to one as well, but it isn’t recommended. The reason for this that if you’re only going to do one type of damage, like Fire, you’ll have much less damage then if you just played a Battlemage. You also won’t have very much flexibility at all, because both you and your Incarnate will deal the same type of damage. You could try to split into two elements but then you’d be doing even less damage on average. This is why I suggest simply biting the bullet and realizing the role of the Druid isn’t as a primary damage dealer, but as a “Buffer” who has an extremely powerful pet.

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