The advice that follows is based on my experience at Tactician difficulty. If you're playing at lower difficulties, you can probably get by without needing all the tricks I mention below.

There are 4 difficulty levels: Explorer (easy), Classic (normal), Tactician (very hard), and Honor (Tactician with Iron Man). Note the "very hard", there is a huge jump in difficulty from Classic to Tactician. If you start the game on Explorer or Classic, you can change the difficulty back and forth between Explorer and Classic. If you start on Tactician or Honor, you are stuck on Tactician or Honor.

Honor mode is extremely hard. The game is full of traps that will one shot whoever triggers them. If you want a challenge, Tactician is the most challenging difficulty level I would recommend.

Assuming you're playing alone, then this is a single player game, and if you're not having fun, then what's the point? Although if you're into achievements, there is an achievement for completing the game on Tactician, and another one for completing the game on Honor.

By default, DOS-EE lets you create and control 2 Main Characters (which I shall call MC for short). You can also take along 2 companions, for a total party size of 4. You could also play co-op with a friend, where each of you create and control one MC, and each of you take along 1 companion. There are also mods which let you play up to 12 players co-op, and throw balance completely out the window.

Assuming you go with the standard party of 4, the ideal party makeup for a beginner would be: 2 Mages, 1 Ranger, and 1 Str Warrior (either going Two-Handed or Dual Wield), all 'pure' classes. See "Notes on Example Builds" for why I think 'pure' classes are better for beginners.

There is one last 'pure' class not in the list above: Dual Wield Dex Scoundrels. Unfortunately, they pale in comparison to the Warrior, simply because the Sneak ability got nerfed hard in DOS-EE compared to DOS-Classic. (Although there are some mage hybrid builds that include Dual Wield Dex, to make use of crafted speed daggers.)

The game provides a Ranger (Baidotr), a Hydro/Aero Mage (Jahan) and a Two-Hander Str Warrior (Madora) as possible companions. (There is also Wolgraff, who is a Dual Wield Scoundrel, but can be reshaped into a Ranger or Mage-Hybrid with much effort.)

Without giving away too much, the ideal setup would be to have your two MCs be Mage/Ranger, and pick the Warrior (Madora) and Mage (Jahan) companions.

There is one Talent called Lone Wolf, which can only be taken by the MCs. If an MC takes it, they gain 70% bonus to base vitality, 2 bonus to turn AP/maximum AP, and 1 extra Ability Point on level up. But your party size is reduced by 1. E.g. If one MC takes it, then your party size goes from 4 to 3. If both MCs take it, then your party size is reduced to 2 (i.e. just the MCs only).

Lone Wolf actually makes the game harder, so I do not recommend this for a beginner on his first run. But if you want a challenge, then go ahead. Because Lone Wolf only provide the bonus Ability Point when you level up AFTER taking Lone Wolf, it should be taken on level 1. You do not retroactively gain Ability points for previous level ups.

There is an achievement for completing the game with Lone Wolf, but you can get it by saving a Talent point, and then buying Lone Wolf 10 seconds before the end of the game.

For each MC you create, you have the option of giving them an AI personality, which will dictate how they react. For ease of play, I recommend either "Loyal" (AI will always follow your decisions) or "No AI" (you control exactly how the MC will react). If the AI is given any other personality, it may disagree with you on occasion, and then you have to play RPS to resolve the conflict.

DOS-EE: Divinity Original Sin-Enhanced Edition.

MC: Main Character. One of the two player made characters.

CC: Crowd Control. Refers to status effects which prevent a character (friend or foe) from acting, and leaves them defenceless. A character who has been so affected, has been "Crowd Controlled" or CC'ed for short.

AP: Action Points. During turn based combat, they are tracked by the green dots above the skill quickbar, and are used up as you take actions.

DOS-EE uses a classless point system for character creation and levelling. The "class" you choose at the very start, comes with starting equipment and a default point allocation. However, after selecting a class, you can click "customize" to modify the MC's appearance, and then "customize" again to completely reassign your points. This leaves you with just the equipment, which will be quickly replaced anyway.

This point system means there is a lot of flexibility in how you make your character: you could make a mage, warrior, ranger, or some sort of hybrid. It also means that you can shoot yourself in the foot and make a totally crap build.

Here are the points you gain as you level (number in brackets indicates the total up to this point):


Note the "Soft Cap". To quote the wiki: "There are enough experience points to get to level 20 by just doing quests without murdering everything for experience points. if you do all of the side quests, you can end the game at level 22 and if you maximize exp gains, you can end the game at level 23".

In other words, you can probably count on reaching level 20. And whatever builds you choose should ideally be fully functional by this point. It would be a waste to pick a build that becomes super awesome only at level 23, if you never reach level 23. In the builds section below, I assume the character's final level is 20.

Throughout the game, MCs will have many chances to make decisions, whether it be a certain course of action, or merely taking a point of view on an incident that has happened. The decisions you make will affect the MC's traits. (If you are playing co-op, then you and your friend each control the decision of your own MC).

Traits exist as opposed pairs (e.g. Independent vs Obedient). An MC has only one trait of the pair, the one for which the MC's score is much higher. (E.g. if the MC has 5 Independent and 1 Obedient, then he has the Independent trait). Each trait comes with some small bonus, although some bonus are clearly better than others. Only the MCs will benefit from traits. Companions do not gain them.

The trait pairs in DOS-EE are:

*Altruistic (+2 Rep) / Egotistical (+1 Barter)
*Blunt (Immune to Charm) / Considerate (+1 Charisma)
*Bold (+1 Initiative) / Cautious (+1 Sneak)
*Compassionate (+3% Crit Chance) / Heartless (+20% Backstab Accuracy)
*Forgiving (Immune to Curse) / Vindictive (+20% Opportunity Attack Accuracy)
*Independent (+1 Willpower) / Obedient (+1 Willpower around Leaders)
*Pragmatic (+1 Crafting) / Romantic (+1 Lucky Charm)
*Righteous (+1 Leadership) / Renegade (+1 Pickpocket)
*Spiritual (Immune to Fear) / Materialistic (+1 Loremaster)

Because some traits are clearly better (generally those that provide immunities like Blunt, Forgiving and Spiritual), you MIGHT want to min-max the Trait system. Quick-save the game before any decision, try the various outcomes, and see which one gives you the Trait you want. But you don't HAVE to do this, and it's still possible to complete the game without min-maxed traits.

If you look at the character progression table above, you will realize that you gain more Ability Points per level, as you go higher up. This is because Abilities also become more expensive with higher ranks:


This means that e.g.if you had 30 pts, you could opt to buy
*2 Abilities to Rank 5 or
*3 Abilities to Rank 4 or
*5 Abilities to Rank 3 or
*10 Abilities to Rank 2 or
*30 Abilities to Rank 1!

This cost structure means that dipping around (i.e. buying 1 rank in a several fields) is relatively cheap, and can be done to improve the build's overall power. At the same time you don't want to dip around TOO much. After all, a jack of all trades is a master of none.

Some Abilities are Skill Abilities. These allow you to learn skills, which are the "special attacks" of the game. For example, if you've invested in the Man-At-Arms ability, you can then learn the Battering Ram Skill.

Besides being divided according to a skill tree, Skills are also divided into 3 tiers: Novice, Adept and Master. You can't simply learn all the skills in a tree. Your Skill Ability rank determines how many skills of each tier you can learn:

1 Rank: 3 Novice
2 Rank: 5 Novice, 2 Adept
3 Rank: 6 Novice, 3 Adept
4 Rank: 6 Novice, 4 Adept, 1 Master
5 Rank: 6 Novice, 4 Adept, 2 Master

Skills also have a "recommended" Ability rank. E.g. 1 rank in an Ability lets you learn 3 Novice skills. But some Novice skills recommend that you have 2 Ability Ranks. You can still learn this skill even with just 1 rank. But if you try to use a skill while your Ability Ranks are below the "recommended" rank, then that skill will cost 2 extra AP, per rank difference to use. But it won't affect how effective that skill is when used.

From the above, you can see that going from 4 to 5 ranks only nets you 1 additional Master skill. (It also reduces the AP cost for Master skills which have recommended 5 Ability ranks, but most of the worthwhile Master skills only require 4 ranks).

Considering that the 5th rank also costs 5 Ability points, taking the 5th rank is generally not worth it. (One notable exception being Expert Marksman, because it has 2 killer Master skills: Arrow Spray & Rain of Arrows.)

Skill Abilities only determine what skills you can learn, and how much AP they cost. They do not affect how powerful those skills are. If you're coming from DOS2, this is a major change.

Skills can be learnt from skillbooks. You can also forget a previously learnt skill, to make room for an another skill. In this way skill selection is somewhat flexible, and you can swap your skills out, if you find they are not effective. The default key to see a list of your skills is 'k'.

Note that vendors do not stock all possible skillbooks. Some can only be obtained via loot. Others can and should be crafted. In particular, vendors do not stock skillbooks for the summon skills, other than Spider and Wolf. For all other summons (in particular Undead Warrior, Armored Decapitator and all the Elementals) you have to craft your own skillbooks. (See recipes below)

Here is a brief rundown on the other Abilities (not Skill Abilities) which should be taken by your main party:

Weapon Abilities
All of these are generally important, if you happen to rely on that weapon or fighting style. The Str Warrior will want to buy up either Two Handed or Dual Wield. (Assuming you follow my recommendation above, and take Madora as your Str Warrior, she already has 2 ranks in Two Handed, and you might as well see her through the rest of the way.)

The Ranger will want to buy up Bow, which I recommend over Crossbow. (Skill attacks do not crit, so the Crossbow skill crit bonus is wasted when using skill attacks. As you go up in levels, you get more skills and their cooldown decreases, so you will be using skill attacks heavily by end game.)

Tenebrium: You can get 1 free point in this from a quest or a book, which is all you really need. Beyond that, I do not recommend spending actual points on this skill as end game enemies are immune or healed by Tenebrium.

The pure Mage will mostly be relying on throwing spells, and can get by without any of these.

Bodybuilding and Willpower
These two are Defence Abilities, which protect against CC. Each rank reduces the chance of being affected by 15%. Bodybuilding protects against: Knock Down, Burning, Frozen, Bleeding, Crippled, Blind, Weak, Disease, Infected, & Drunk. Willpower protects against: Fear, Mute, Charm, Stun, Curse, Slow, Petrify, Decaying Touch, Mark of Death, & Remorse.

Armor Specialization
Armor Specialization has 3 uses. Firstly, each rank provides a +3 Armor Penalty. Which is really very little. Secondly, each lowers the movement penalty for Heavy Armor by 20% (so the movement penalty is removed at 5 ranks). This is made redundant by the fact that even with 0 ranks in crafting, you can combine any Heavy Armor with a Bottle of Oil to remove the movement penalty.

Third and most important of all, Armor Specialist is required for some of the end game's heavy armor (but not for cloth armor, dex based leather armor, or int based robes). Some, though not all, heavy armors require between 1-3 ranks of Armor Specialist to don them.

Lore
Found under Crafting Abilities, Lore serves 2 purposes. Firstly, when you right click on an enemy > examine, Lore provides you with more information about the enemy. The higher your Lore ranks, the more info you get:

Level 1: elemental and physical resistances
Level 2: damage and armor
Level 3: bodybuilding and willpower
Level 4: accuracy
Level 5: max AP, start AP, turn AP, and initiative

The first level lets you see resistances, and is VERY IMPORTANT. I recommend that at least 1 person in your main party get 1 Lore rank. In theory you could give it to the person with the highest initiative, have them examine all the enemies at the start of combat, and memorize the information for later use. But if you find this a hassle, (or have problems memorizing enemy stats), then you *could* have all your party members dip 1 Lore.

The third rank is also fairly useful. Knowing enemy saves lets you selectively target their weakness. For example, if they have low willpower, you can hit them with Charm, Stun or Slow. If they have low Bodybuilding, then hit them with Knockdown, Freeze or Cripple.

Lore has a second function, which is to identify magic gear. The more powerful the gear, the more ranks in Lore you need to identify it, up to a maximum of 5. Bonus to Lore can be found in Amulets and Rings, each providing a +1 bonus.

Leadership
Found under Personality Abilities, Leadership provides a bonus to every other party member (i.e. other than the Leader) that is in sight of the Leader. There can be multiple party members with Leadership, in which case, each member gains the benefit of the highest rank of Leadership, OTHER than themselves.

E.g. Lets say Roderick has 1 Leadership, and Scarlet has 3 Leadership, while Madora has no Leadership. If they are all together, Roderick and Madora benefit from 3 Leadership (from Scarlet) while Scarlet benefits from 1 Leadership (from Roderick).

The Leadership bonus is quite strong, and it is worthwhile to make one party member the 'main' leader, with at least 5 ranks, for the immunity to fear. It would also be worthwhile to get a 'secondary' leader with just 1 rank, to give the 'main' leader +5 to init and +5% damage.

Here are all the other abilities which should NOT be taken by your main party. If needed, you can rely on a Downtime Companion to carry them out.

What is a Downtime Companion? The game provides 4 companions, of which only 2 can be in your party at any one point in time (assuming you didn't mod the game). Generally, you will have 2 main companions, with whom you explore the wilderness and dungeons, equipped with the best combat skills and equipment that you can put together.

And what of the other 2 companions who aren't in the main party? You can turn them into downtime companions. Have them buy abilities & talents, and equip them with gear, which you only need during your downtime, when you are safely at home. When needed, you can drop one of your main companions, and add the appropriate downtime companion to your party.

Crafting & Blacksmith
These are 2 separate abilities which are listed together because they are very similar. They let you create and upgrade your weapons and armor, and cheaply produce expensive consumables like potions, grenades & arrows. All this can be done during downtime, so you can delegate them to Downtime Companions.

Both Crafting and Blacksmithing gain a +1 from the Scientist talent. So you should probably have both these skills on the same Downtime Companion, and have that companion buy the Scientist talent. If you followed my suggestion above, and have Wolgraff and Baidotr as your downtime companions, then Baidotr should fill this role, simply because Wolgraff will be dedicated to Lockpicking and Pickpocket.

Blacksmith is also used to repair items, even non-metal items. In the early game, you need at least Blacksmith 1, but certain items require more ranks. So long as a member of the party has enough Blacksmith ranks, and either a Repair Hammer or Repair Tong, ANY party member can right click on their equipment and repair it. Initially, Jahan can fill this role, thanks to his Scientist talent. Just buy or steal a Repair Hammer from the starting city, and give it to Jahan.

Barter
You only barter with Merchants. Merchants are almost always only found in towns. You can use a Downtime Companion for this role. (The Merchants may complain that they only deal with MCs, but you can still click on the button to open the trading window).

Wolgraff is best suited for this role (since he will also be pickpocketing the merchants). Baidotr has a trait which gives her a penalty to Attitude.

Lockpicking
Lockpick is strictly not necessary on you main party of 4. The vast majority of locked doors or chest you come across, will usually have a key somewhere nearby-ish. All you need to do is search carefully. Some have other means of bypass, like the teleport spell. The few that do not, are largely found within towns, and can be taken care of with a downtime companion. Finally, if you can't find the key for a chest, you can pick up the chest and take it with you!

If Wolgraff is one of your downtime companions, he comes with 1 rank in Lockpicking.

Pickpocket
You generally only want to pickpocket Merchants. Merchants are almost always only found in towns. You can use a Downtime Companion for this role. However, the game does provide you enough money for your essential needs from selling loot (and items stolen while invisible). So it isn't necessary to Pickpocket every merchant you come across.

If Wolgraff is one of your downtime companions, he comes with 1 rank in Pickpocket.

Sneak
This Ability used to be much better in DOS-Classic, when each rank would reduce the AP require to sneak in combat. In DOS-EE, it now costs 5 AP regardless of your Sneak ranks.

For most purposes (especially theft and pickpocketing), Sneaking has been made redundant by invisibility, which is easily accessible via the Walk in Shadows skill, the Invisibility spell, and potions (see recipes).

Nonetheless, you will want to hold onto a set of sneak buffing gear (usually helmet and boots). There are 2 segments in the game where you have to sneak past enemies, and a third where you should sneak past. You can succeed using the sneak boost gear, to get to the midpoint, and then switching to invisibility before dashing madly to the finish line.

You can also craft your own sneak boost gear by adding Void Essence to armor.

Skill power is usually determined by your Attributes (I say 'usually', because some skills, notably Summoning, don't rely on Attributes at all). And if you're a weapon user (Warrior/Rangers) your passive Weapon Abilities also determine bonus damage.

Attributes also determine the skill's cooldown. With sufficiently high Attribute (usually 15) some skills can have their cooldown reduced to 1 turn. Which means that they can be used every turn. This is actually pretty important, because some skills are so good you will want to use them repeatedly.

Attributes start at 5, and you can buy another 10 points to hit 15. With magic gear, their value can go higher. By level 20, you will have 15 Attribute points to spend, which is enough to max out 1 Attribute, and spread some points in other areas. A brief rundown of the Attributes:

Strength (Str): Increases the chance-to-hit for Str based weapons (swords, axes, clubs, spears), and determines the effectiveness and cooldown for Man-At-Arms skills. Also gives +20 carrying capacity per point. Important for Warriors.

Dexterity (Dex): Increases the chance-to-hit for Dex based weapons (daggers and bows), and determines the effectiveness and cooldown for Expert Marksman and Scoundrel skills. Important for Rangers and Scoundrels,

Intelligence (Int): Increases the chance-to-hit for Int based weapons (staff), and determines the effectiveness and cooldown for: Hydrosophist, Pyrokinetic, Geomancer, Aerotheurge and Witchcraft skills. Important for Mages,

Constitution (Con):
*+1 Maximum Action Point capacity per point (starts at 7).
*+6.2 Vitality per point and level.

Speed (Spd):
*+0.1 Movement per point
*+0.5 Initiative per point
*+0.5 starting Action Points per point (starts at 2)
*+0.5 Turn Action Points per point (starts at 3.5)

Speed should be an odd number to get its full benefits, since "Turn Action Points" has a base value of 3.5 and the game always rounds down. At 5 Spd you have 6 AP per turn, and every 2 Spd above that grants you an additional 1 AP per turn.

Perception (Per):
*+1.0 Hearing per point
*+0.5 Initiative per point
*+0.5 starting Action Points per point (starts at 2)
*+1% Critical Chance per point above 5
*Improved ability to detect traps
*Accuracy when shooting over long distances

Somewhat important for Rangers, as it decreases the to-hit penalty for Bows/Crossbows at long distances. More importantly, it is used to spot traps and hidden objects. You will want at least 1 party member to have decent perception (but not too much as you have limited attribute points to spend).

The Party Scout should start with the Light Stepper talent and 6 Per, and add 1 point every 8 levels (7 Per @ L8, 8 Per @ L 16). Have the Mage cast Burn My Eyes on the Scout at all times, to provide an additional cheap +2 boost. And wear magic gear that boosts Perception.

For a beginner making a first time run, I recommend making "pure" classes, because they are easier to learn, and harder to screw up.

The main limiting factor in making a hybrid are your Attributes. At level 20, you have 49 Ability Points. So you could e.g. buy 4 Abilities to rank 4, and spend the last 9 points on BodyBuilding/Willpower. That's pretty good for a hybrid. But you only have 15 Attribute points, which is only enough to max out 1 Attribute. Remember, your Attributes determine how effective most of your skills are, and using skills without the Attribute to back them up usually gives poor results.

Most hybrids get around this limitation by splitting their Attribute points across 2 or 3 main stats, and then using Magic Gear to make up for the deficit. When you have the right Magic Gear, the effects can be quite powerful. E.g. If you look at Tihie's guide, you will see that he recommends 5 Str/11 Dex/11 Int/8 Con/5 Spd for Jahan. But after adding Magic Gear, these scores jump to 11 Str/21 Dex/21 Int/10 Con/19 Spd. Effectively, his magic gear is providing a bonus of: +6 Str/+10 Dex/+10 Int/+2 Con/+14 Spd (total +42).

The tricky part is GETTING THE RIGHT MAGIC GEAR. It requires a degree of game mastery, that most beginners won't have. Early on, this means crafting stat buff jewelry ASAP. Later on, this means pickpocketing and for-profit-crafting to get lots of cash. You also need to visit merchants whenever they restock, to buy up the best randomly generated gear.

To understand the difference between what you need and what you might get, consider my own first run: I followed Tihie's shadowblade build for Jahan. But by the end of the game, his gear was not as spectacular, and he was generally playing second fiddle to the 'pure' mage. His gear bonus was: +8 Str/+7Dex/+2 Int/+2 Con/+6 Spd (total +25). Not terrible, but not good enough.

In comparison, a 'pure' build (which focuses on one attribute) doesn't need such high magic gear to be fully functional. Between a build that only works wonderfully with high magic gear (which you may not get) and a build that works reasonably well consistently, I would recommend the latter for a Beginner. But of course the choice is ultimately yours. If you feel confident that you can get all the necessary high magic gear, then by all means, go for a Hybrid.

As mentioned, some skills DO NOT rely on Attributes. Anyone can dip into these Skill Abilities, learn these skills, and benefit from them. Below I list the recommended dips and skills for non-mages.

Because you can learn 3 novice skills for a 1 point dip, I also include recommended skills which do rely on Attributes, but might still be useful without high scores. A lot of these are buffs which have full effect once you hit 8 Int (for magic) or 8 Dex (for Scoundrel). Ideally, you would want magic gear that raises your Attributes to the required level. But if nothing else, you can rely on Attribute buff potions (see the recipes section below).

1 Geomancer:
*Summon Spider: 8 Legged Tank
*Midnight Oil: Large patch of Oil. Combo with Firestorm Grenades
*Boulder Bash: Low Int reduces damage, but can still apply Oiled to opponents.

1 Aerotheurge:
*Wind of Change: Removes Stun, Slow and Petrify.
*Teleport: Low Int reduces damage, but can still move enemies (and allies) around, making it excellent Crowd Control. There are some segments in the game where you have to teleport an ally around to solve puzzles, where dealing less damage is an advantage.
*Blitz Bolt: Low int reduces damage and stun chance, but can still be used to deal Air damage. Good for electrifying puddles.

1 Hydrosophist:
*Rain: Creates puddles. Despite the description, it will make everything Wet all the time, even with low Int.
*Regenerate: Low int reduces amount healed
*Avatar of Frost: Low int reduces the chance of successfully applying this buff, but it is the only skill in your arsenal that can remove the Frozen condition.

1 Witchcraft:
*Summon Undead Warrior: Bony Tank
*Oath of Desecration: Low int reduces the chance of successfully applying this buff.
*Vampiric Touch: Low int reduces the life stolen.

1 Scoundrel
*Walk in Shadows: Invisibility. Low Dex reduces the chance of successfully applying this buff.
*Winged Feet: Ignore Terrain, including lava. Low Dex reduces the chance of successfully applying this buff. Very useful for the Warrior, who might otherwise be hobbled by dangerous terrain.
*Fast Track: Haste. Low Dex reduces the chance of successfully applying this buff.

Getting a Third Summon
In the list above, you will notice there are 2 summoning skills: Spider and Undead Warrior. This will carry you through the start - mid of the game, but by the end of the game, a non-mage will likely want a third summon. There are 2 alternate choices here:

1) Take the 2nd rank of Hydrosophist, learn all the Novice skills (you can learn 5 and there are only 5) along with Summon Ice Elemental and Ice Wall. The Ice Elemental makes a decent tank when the Mage starts throwing out Hail Attack (since they are immune to it). Ice Wall has a chance of freezing enemies which are caught in the wall, and low Int penalizes that chance. However, regardless of Int, Ice Wall can always be used to create a wall and ice patch to block movement.

2) Quest Reward: Without spoiling too much, a certain quest rewards you with a summon skillbook, which can be given to any 1 party member. This Summon skill has no Ability rank requirements, so anybody can learn it. However you only get one book. And if you didn't complete the quest, you won't get the book at all.

Assuming you pick option (1), then you would have spent a total of 7 Ability Points on your dips (4 Abilities at 1 rank, 1 Ability at 2 ranks). For ease of reference, I shall call this the "Common Non-Mage Dip Set", in the "Example Builds" section below.

Once you get 2 summons on a character (probably the Spider and Undead Warrior), you should generally summon immediately at the start of combat, and re-summon whenever your current summon dies, or is about to expire. This is good rule of thumb for all builds, unless a more urgent tactical opportunity presents itself (such as disabling an extremely dangerous enemy with CC, or removing CC from an ally).

(Unfortunately, before you get 2 summons on a character, you will have to strategize when to use your limited number of summons.)

Blocking line of fire: A lot of ranged attacks, including arrows and many spells, are direct line of fire. This means that they hit the first enemy along their path, even if that enemy wasn't the intended target. For example, if there is an archer trying to shoot arrows at your warrior, and you drop a friendly summon between the archer and warrior, then the arrows will hit the summon instead, even if they were intended for the warrior. Use this to your advantage by placing summons directly between a ranged enemy and your party.

Resummoning: Whenever it is a party member's turn (not a summon), check how many turns their summon has left. If it is just one, the creature will usually drop dead at the end of the summoner's turn, without getting to act. Thus, you should take the chance to summon the next creature, even though the current summon technically has not yet expired.

All the builds below have 3 in Bodybuilding and Willpower. I recommend you buy up 1 Bodybuilding/Willpower every 6 levels (e.g. B/W1 @ L6, B/W2 @ L12, B/W3 @ L18).

Most skills - including spells - generally auto-hit, provided you have a clear line of effect. There are exceptions to this general rule, and I will note them where applicable.

You will want to build up a collection of your preferred weapon type (Bows, Staves, Two Handers, etc). For Bows/Staves, you want at least 1 weapon for each elemental damage, so that you can switch elements depending on target weakness. For Melee weapons, in addition to elemental damage, you will also want different physical damage types (Slashing, Piercing, Bludgeoning). For Two Handers, spears have very good reach (6m), and Hammers don't appear till late game.

Attributes
(Starting > End)
Str 5
Dex 8 > 14
Int 5
Con 6
Spd 5 > 7 (*Add +1 Bigger and Better if using Crafted Speed Bow)
Per 6 > 8

*If you manage to get a Crafted Speed Bow with +3 Speed, then to ensure your final speed is an odd number, your base speed should be an Even number.

On L4-L6: Raise Speed to 7, to recover 7 AP per turn. You need more speed fairly early, as Splintered Arrow, and most of your Summons require 7 AP.

On L8 & L16, raise Perception by 1 (i.e. P7 @ L8, P8 @ L16).

Put everything else into Dex.

Abilities
(Number on left are points spent, number on right are ranks)
+10 Bow 4
+15 Expert Marksman 5
+6 Body Building 3
+6 Willpower 3
+6 Lore 3
+7 Common Non-Mage Dip Set
+1 Leadership 1
Total =51 (Need All Skilled Up to reach this)

The Ranger/Scout has a single point dip in Leadership, to act as the 'secondary' leader. This provides the MC Leader Mage with +5 Initiative and +5% Damage.

Priorities
Starting Equipment: Ranger
Starting Abilities: 1 each in Expert Marksman, Scoundrel, Geomancer, Aerotheurge, Hydrosophist
Starting Skills: Summon Spider, Ricochet, Walk in Shadows

1. Lore 1, Witchcraft 1, Bow 1, Leadership 1
2. Expert Marksman 2, Lore 2
3. Expert Marksman 3, Lore 3
4. Expert Marksman 5
5. Hydrosophist 2
6. Bow 4
7. Buy 1 rank in Bodybuilding/Willpower every 6 levels

Talents
1. Light Stepper
1. Arrow Recovery (No Req) Grants +33% chance to recover shot Special Arrows.
3. Bully (No Req) +50% damage against opponents that are Knocked Down. Only works with melee or ranged weapons; not with spells.
7. Avoid Opportunists (Expert Marksman 1) Grants ability to evade attacks of opportunity.
11. All Skilled Up (No Req)
15. Elemental Ranger (Expert Marksman 5) Arrows may inflict bonus elemental damage depending on the surface on which your target is standing.
19. Bigger and Better (No Req, take if using Crafted Spd Bow) OR Sidestep (Expert Marksman 4) Grants players 10% extra chance to evade hits.

Skills
(Listed in order of priority. Where possible, acquire those listed first.)

Expert Marksman 5:
*6 Novice: Ranged Power Stance, Ricochet, Splintered Arrow, Treat Poisoning, First Aid, Doctor
*4 Adept: Farseer, Barrage, Vampiric Arrow, Infect
*2 Master: Arrow Spray, Rain of Arrows

Usage
As always, summon quickly, and resummon whenever necessary.

Before combat starts, while you are some distance away, take the chance to examine the enemy, and use Lore to determine their weak points for Resistances and Bodybuilding/Willpower. However, some enemies may occasionally appear out of nowhere in an ambush. With decent Perception, the Ranger should be able to go first, especially if boosted by Leadership from another party member. Again, take this chance to use Lore and discover the enemy's weaknesses.

With only 3 Lore, keep an eye out for gear which boosts Lore. You want to be able to hit 5 Lore during downtime, so that you can identify everything.

Have the Mage cast Burn My Eyes on you at all times when exploring, to boost Perception.

Levels 1-7: Early on, you won't have a lot of skills, and their cooldowns will be long. Your normal attacks will miss a lot, unless you are targeting enemies which have been CC'ed. Against such CC'ed enemies, you should activate Ranged Power Stance for free damage.

The solution to these early level blues are special arrows. But they cost money, and can be fairly expensive, unless you craft your own (see recipes below). Special Arrows always auto-hit, so you can activate Ranged Power Stance for free damage. Slowdown Arrows should be your mainstay for semi-hard fights, as few enemies are immune to them, and their base ingredients (Arrowhead, Shaft, Oil Barrel) are cheap and abundant. Save your good arrows (Stunning, Knockdown, Freezing) for tough fights.

Splintered Arrow divides the damage across all enemies in an area. If there is just one enemy, then he takes ALL the damage.

Levels 8-11: At this stage, you should unlock access to Farseer. This is a powerful buff which gives a massive 50% to-hit boost for your normal attacks. Consequently, you should now have Ranged Power Stance active at all times. You will first summon, then use up all your skills, then activate farseer and auto-attack while waiting for your skills to cooldown. Add on special arrows and resummon as needed.

Keep an eye out for Infect skillbooks. This skillbook is not consistently stocked by merchants.

Level 12-14: When you hit 4 ranks in Expert Marksman, you can learn your 1st master skill - Arrow Spray. It works best at point blank range, where all the arrows will hit a single target, dealing massive damage. This is generally used in 2 ways. Firstly, you can use it on any enemy that closes in on you. Secondly, you can store up a bunch of AP, then run up to a boss, unleash Arrow Spray to the face, and then retreat behind a summon (Avoid Opportunist comes in handy for this).

Level 15+: You can now learn your 2nd Master skill: Rain of Arrows. This deals solid damage to an area, and has no friendly fire.

Attributes
(Starting > End)
Str 5
Dex 5 (*Add +1 Bigger and Better if using Crafted Speed Daggers)
Int 9 > 15
Con 6
Spd 5 > 9
Per 5

Max Int first, and the put everything else into Speed

Abilities
(Number on left are points spent, number on right are ranks)
+10 Hydrosophists 4
+10 Leadership 4
+6 Body Building 3
+6 Willpower 3
+6 Witchcraft 3
+6 Aerotheurge 3
+1 Geomancer 1
+1 Pyrokinetic 1
+1 Man-At-Arms
+1 Scoundrel
Total =48

You only have Leadership 4, but you need 5 ranks to provide the party Fear Immunity. You have to wear a Helmet which provides +1 Leadership at all times. Additionally, you can get +1 Leadership from the Righteous Trait.

If you have the Spiritual Trait, you will have Fear Immunity for yourself.

Priorities
Starting Equipment: Witch
Starting Abilities: 1 each in Man at Arms, Geomancer, Aerotheurge, Hydrosophist, Pyrokinetic
Starting Skills: Summon Spider, Bitter Cold, Regeneration

1. Witchcraft 1, Scoundrel 1, Leadership 1
2. Hydrosophist 2, Aerotheurge 2, Witchcraft 2
3. Leadership 4
4. Witchcraft 3, Hydrosophist 3
5. Hydrosophist 4
6. Aerotheurge 3
7. Buy 1 rank in Bodybuilding/Willpower every 6 levels

Talents
1. Pet Pal (No Req)
1. Far Out Man (No Req)
3. Elemental Affinity (No Req)
7. All Skilled Up (No Req)
11.
15.
19. Bigger and Better (No Req, take if using Crafted Spd Daggers)

The Mage doesn't need many talents, which is why I recommend the Mage take Pet Pal.

Skills
(Listed in order of priority. Where possible, acquire those listed first.)

Hydrosophists 4
*6 Novice (only 5 available): Regeneration, Slow Current, Freezing Touch, Rain, Avatar of Frost
*4 Adept: Summon Ice Elemental, Ice Wall, Cleansing Water, Ice Shard
*1 Master: Hail Attack

Witchcraft 3
*6 Novice: Summon Undead Warrior, Malediction, Oath of Desecration, Vampiric Touch, Lower Resistance, Decaying Touch
*3 Adept: Destroy Summon, Rapture, Drain Willpower

Aerotheurge 3
*6 Novice: Teleportation, Bitter Cold, Blitz Bolt, Shocking Touch, Avatar of Storms
*3 Adept: Invisibility, Summon Air Elemental, Head Vice

Geomancer 1
*3 Novice: Summon Spider, Boulder Bash, Bless

Pyrokinetic 1
*3 Novice: Flare, Burn My Eyes, Wildfire

Scoundrel 1
*3 Novice: Walk in Shadows, Winged Feet, Fast Track

Man At Arms 1
*3 Novice: Melee Power Stance, Helping Hand, Battering Ram

Some explanation here. Melee Power Stance, despite its name, also applies its bonus damage to all skills, including spells, but also Staff of Magi. And since spells/Staff of Magi never miss, you should have Power Stance active all the time. Melee Power Stance requires you to equip a melee weapon, so Mages can activate it while wielding a Staff, but not wands. (It is for this reason I recommend Staff over Wands.)

Helping Hand can be used to help allies, and works regardless of your attribute score. Battering Ram will have low knockdown chance due to low Str, but can be used to move around and avoid attacks of opportunity - including running AWAY from the enemy.

Usage
As always, summon quickly, and resummon whenever necessary.

Because your spells never miss, you should have melee power stance active at all times for bonus damage. Keep casting Burn My Eyes on the Ranger, to boost Perception while exploring.

Level 1-7: You will want to quickly dip all the schools of magic and build up a large arsenal of novice spells. That way you will always have something to use while waiting for your other skills to cooldown. The mains CCs here are Blitz Bolt & Shocking Touch for stun, and Bitter Cold & Freezing Touch for freezing. Just keep in mind that fire damage can thaw out frozen enemies. The Ranger and Warrior should thus avoid using fire weapons. (Exception: Ice type enemies are generally immune to Frozen and vulnerable to fire).

Among your debuffs: Slow Current applies Slow, useful against any enemy. Boulder Bash applies Oiled, useful against enemy warriors in the back and running up front, as it slows them down. Malediction applies Weak and Cursed, useful against enemy warriors in combat, as both debuffs penalize their to-hit.

You also have a variety of buffs to throw on allies, notably Oath of Desecration and Bless. Avatar of Storms provides immunity to Stunning, and Avatar of Frost provides immunity to Freezing. They also remove these conditions when cast on a target that is already stunned/frozen. Use as appropriate to counter or prevent these conditions.

At this early stage I recommend using an Air staff so you can use the electric puddle trick. Basically, cast Rain to make a puddle (you don't have to cast it yourself, Rain is attribute independent and the Warrior or Ranger can cast it). Then attack the puddle with Air Damage (not an enemy standing in the puddle, but the puddle itself).

If you are far away, use Staff of Magi to fire an air bolt at the puddle. If you are close enough, you can use the Air Staff to make a melee attack on the puddle (hold 'ctrl' to attack the terrain). Either results in an electric puddle that has a 100% chance of stunning enemies that walk or stand in it (although this value can be lowered by the Willpower skill). Additionally, if the enemies are wet (due to Rain), there is an additional 30% stun chance. This will pretty much auto-stun any enemy in the early game, who isn't outright immune to Stunning. While they are locked down, the rest of the party can take potshots at them.

Melee allies (such as the Warrior) can avoid being stunned by electric puddles via either Winged Feet or Avatar of Storms. Or by standing outside the puddle and using a spear, which has 6m reach.

The Staff of Magi skill only uses the staff's base damage. Staff special properties like "10% Stun on hit" are ignored. These properties only apply when you make melee attacks with the staff.

Levels 8-14: By now you should be reaching the key number of 15 Int. This brings the cooldown of Blitz Bolt and Freezing Touch to 1 turn, so you can use them every turn. That's right, you can spam them on one enemy every turn, and keep stunning/freezing them. Boulder Bash and Flare also become spammable at 13 Int.

In terms of new spells, Rapture is the standout, as it lets you charm an enemy. Use the Ranger's Lore to find out which enemy has weak Willpower. If your own party is charmed, you can also use Rapture on the charmed member, to switch them back to your side. (Alternatively, Purifying Fire can remove Charmed.)

Next there is Drain Willpower, which has no save, and works so long as you meet the minimum Int. Use this to soften up a hard enemy before inflicting Willpower based effects (Stun, Charm, Slow, and Soul Sap when you get it).

Finally, Ice Wall lets you drop a wall of ice, that has a good chance to freeze enemies caught inside, and even if that fails, it forces the enemy to go around the wall. It also breaks down into an ice patch which can make enemies slip. (To prevent your own party from slipping, you need Crafting 5 to combine any boots with Nine Inch Nails, or the Winged Feet skill.)

Levels 15+: You can now learn Hail Attack. This spell is a great opener to drop on the enemy before the start of combat. Remember to activate Melee Power Stance and Oath of Desecration to maximize damage.

Level 19: At this stage you can consider transitioning from a Staff to Dual Wield Crafted Speed Daggers. But it isn't absolutely necessary for the build, and you have a fully functional Mage regardless. You lose the benefit of Staff of Magi, but gain a hefty speed boost. All you need is sufficient Dex. At L19, crafted daggers require 12 Dex, and MAY come with +3 speed (you basically have to save the game, craft a dagger, see the result, and reload if it isn't the speed buff). When infused with Tormented Souls, each Dagger provides +2 Dex, so both Daggers give a total of +4. With your base Dex of 5, you need another +3 Dex to hit 12 Dex, which should be easily obtained via Gear at this stage.

I recommend you push your modified Dex to 14. Buy Bigger and Better, and put the point into Dex, so your base Dex is 6. Then wear two pieces of gear which each provide +2 Dex. Together with the Dex bonus from the Daggers, your modified Dex will be 14. The reason for the extra +2 buffer, is that in case you are hit by Soul Sap, your Dex will drop by -2, which leaves you with 12 Dex, and is still enough to hold the Daggers.

Jahan will be pretty much the same as the MC Mage, except that he starts off with Scientist instead of Pet Pal. He also won't take Leadership, which frees up 10 Ability points. I recommend you buy the 4th ranks of Witchcraft and Aerotheurge, to unlock their Master Spells, and buy the 2nd rank of Pyrokinetic.

Aerotheurge 4
*6 Novice: Teleportation, Bitter Cold, Blitz Bolt, Shocking Touch, Avatar of Storms, Wind of Change
*4 Adept: Invisibility, Summon Air Elemental, Head Vice, Tornado
*1 Master: Storm

Witchcraft 4
*6 Novice: Summon Undead Warrior, Malediction, Oath of Desecration, Vampiric Touch, Lower Resistance, Decaying Touch
*4 Adept: Destroy Summon, Rapture, Drain Willpower, Summon Armored Decapitator
*1 Master: Soul Sap

Pyrokinetic 2
*5 Novice: Flare, Burn My Eyes, Wildfire, Burning Touch, Firefly
*2 Adept: Summon Fire Elemental, Purifying Fire

Priorities
Starting Abilities (level 3): 2 Hydrosophist, 2 Aerotheurge, 1 Willpower

1. Geomancer 1 (for Summon Spider)
2. Witchcraft 1 (for Summon Undead Warrior)
3. Pyrokinetic 1
4. Man at Arms 1, Scoundrel 1
5. Witchcraft 2, Pyrokinetic 2
6. Hydrosophist 3, Aerotheurge 3, Witchcraft 3
7. Hydrosophist 4, Aerotheurge 4, Witchcraft 4
8. Buy 1 rank in Bodybuilding/Willpower every 6 levels

Usage
This Jahan Mage comes with 2 additional Master spells: Storm and Soul Sap. Storm is a simple to use spell, that targets random enemies in a large area with lightning. Soul Sap is one of the most powerful debuffs in the game, capable of dropping resistances and Bodybuilding/Willpower. However Soul Sap itself has a Willpower save. Basically, cast Drain Willpower/Soul Sap on a boss before unleashing all your super skills like Hail Attack and Arrow Spray.

Attributes
(Starting > End)
Str 8 > 14 (Add Bigger and Better to Push this to 15)
Dex 5
Int 5
Con 7
Spd 5 > 9
Per 5

On L4-L6: Raise Speed to 7, to recover 7 AP per turn. You need more speed fairly early, as most of your Summons require 7 AP.

Put everything else into Str until it hits 14, and then buy up Spd. Use Bigger and Better to push Str to 15.

Abilities
(Number on left are points spent, number on right are ranks)
+15 Two Handed OR Dual Wield 5
+10 Man-At-Arms 4
+6 Body Building 3
+6 Willpower 3
+7 Common Non-Mage Dip Set
+2* Witchcraft 2
+3** Armor Specialist 2
Total =49

*Because the "Common Non-Mage Dip Set" already comes with Witchcraft 1. The cost listed here is for the additional 2nd rank of Witchcraft.

**Certain heavy armors require 1-3 Armor Specialization for you to wear them. Here, you have enough points for 2 ranks, which is not enough for heavy armors that need 3 ranks. Keep an eye out for Helms which give +1 Armor Specialist, and wear them if you need the extra rank.

Priorities
Starting Equipment: Knight
Starting Abilities: 1 each in Man at Arms, Scoundrel, Geomancer, Aerotheurge, Hydrosophist
Starting Skills: Summon Spider, Battering Ram, Crushing Fist

1. Witchcraft 1, Two Handed 1
2. Man at Arms 3
3. Witchcraft 2, Hydrosophist 2
4. Man at Arms 4
5. Two Handed 5
6. Buy Armor Specialization as needed
7. Buy 1 rank in Bodybuilding/Willpower every 6 levels


Talents
1. Pinpoint (req 1 Scoundrel)
1. Slingshot (req 1 Man at Arms)
3. Picture of Health
7. Bully
11. Opportunist
15. Bigger and Better
19.

Pinpoint and Slingshot are Grenadier talents. Essentially, they provide the Warrior with a ranged option, when it is too dangerous to approach the enemy (either because the Warrior may get surrounded and killed, or the terrain is dangerous).

Skills
(Listed in order of priority. Where possible, acquire those listed first.)

Man-At-Arms 4:
*6 Novice: Melee Power Stance, Battering Ram, Crushing Fist, Encourage, Helping Hand, Divine Light
*4 Adept: Rage, Crippling Blow, Whirlwind
*1 Master: Flurry

Divine Light has an additional function, which is not included in the skill's description: It can clear Terrain, except for Lava.

As mentioned in the Mage section, Melee Power Stance affects Spell damage. It also affects Grenade damage. In fact, Rage also affect Grenade damage. Activate both before you start chucking Grenades.

Unlike most other skills, Whirlwind and Flurry are NOT auto-hit. You want to have a reasonable hit chance before using them, especially Flurry. Ideally, the enemy should be CC'ed and defenceless (stunned, frozen, petrified or knocked down).

Witchcraft 2
*5 Novice: Summon Undead Warrior, Oath of Desecration, Vampiric Touch, Malediction, (one more of choice)
*2 Adept: Destroy Summon, Summon Armored Undead Decapitator

Usage
As always, summon quickly, and resummon whenever necessary.

At Tactician level, you may be the toughest member of the party, but you are still no tank. The tougher enemy warriors can kill you in 4 to 6 hits. Getting surrounded is a quick path to death. Leave the tanking to the summons.

After summoning on your first round, you should use Encourage to boost the whole party including summons. After that, watch out for enemies which are nearby and either alone, or where you can strike them while hiding behind friendly summons, so you can move in for the kill.

If there are none, you still have a couple of ranged options while waiting for an opportunity. Use Crushing Fist (again, rely on the Ranger's Lore info to find enemies with low Bodybuilding). Use Rain to get everyone wet and make puddles, for the electric puddle trick. (Any Air damage will electrify puddles, including a two hander that does bonus Air damage.) Use Midnight Oil or Boulder Bash to oil enemies and slow them down. Combo with Firestorm grenade (provided the Mages are not freezing them). Throw other grenades as necessary.

Or you can create your own opportunity by teleporting enemies around. Drag their archer or mage hiding in the back into the middle of your summon line.

Frequently the enemy will be across dangerous terrain: fire, poison, electrified puddles, etc. The Winged Feet skill can come in handy here, but needs 8 Dex to consistently activate. Later on weapons crafted with Tormented Souls (which provides a Dex bonus) can fill this gap, but early on, get magic gear or Dex boost potions (see recipes).

When your Str hits 15 (including any bonus from gear) the cooldown for Crippling Blow will become 1 round, letting you spam it every turn.

The upside is that Madora comes with the Come Back Kid talent, which normally requires 5 Willpower. The downside is that she doesn't come with Grenadier talents, and it will take 4 levels before she can take her next talent at L7. Grab Pinpoint then.

She also doesn't have enough free talents for all the recommendations above. Slingshot has been dropped, largely because by the time she can get it at level 11, the utility of grenades has started to diminish.

Talents
1. Come Back Kid
1. Opportunist
3. What A Rush
***
7. Pinpoint
11. Picture of Health
15. Bully
19. Bigger and Better

Priorities
Starting Abilities (level 3): 2 Man at Arms, 2 Two Handed, 1 Bodybuilding

1. Geomancer 1 (for Summon Spider)
2. Aerotheurge 1
3. Witchcraft 1 (for Undead Warrior)
4. Hydrophist 1
5. Scoundrel 1
6. Man-At-Arms 3
7. Hydrosophist 2, Witchcraft 2
8. Man-At-Arms 4
9. Two Handed 5
10. Buy Armor Specialization as needed
11. Buy 1 rank in Bodybuilding/Willpower every 6 levels

Here, I list recipes, which a beginner should know at the start of the game. This list is not a complete by any means (i.e. there are other recipes not listed here).

Throughout this section, I prefix each recipe with C or B, indicating whether the recipe requires Crafting or Blacksmithing, and a number indicating the number or ranks required for that skill. Items which are in underline indicate that the item is not consumed by the crafting process.

Some recipes call for 2 ingredients of the same type. E.g. Rope + Rope = Fuse. In order to discover this recipe, you have to take a stack of Rope, right click > split it into 2 stacks, and then you can combine each separate stack in the crafting interface.

For a complete list of recipes, try Seth Dehaan[www.seth-dehaan.com].

Whatever you sell to merchants is stored forever. Buying ingredients, crafting them into valuable items, and selling them back to merchants for profit, causes the number of items in-game to build up over time. However, the game apparently has a limit on the number of items it can handle safely. And if done in sufficiently large amounts, this can destroy your save game. Source: http://larian.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=640048

Destroying items does not help either:

Originally posted by FrauBlake:

All items or more precisely, all stacks of items have a 'handle'. The game uses a handle generator which cannot reuse freed handles because it's implemented as a simple integer counter and there is no bookkeeping of used/freed handles.

If you melt axes/swords back to bars, you use even more handles. Once an item is created, a handle was used - the only exception might be in crafting, when a newly created item can be put on top of an already existing stack. If you split a stack in inventory, a new handle is used, etc. etc.

The handle counter is a 16 bit value (packed into a window of a 32bit integer), limiting the handles to 64k. The majority of people never reach this limit, but if you play very slowly and trade/craft a lot, they might eventually reach this limit. (The worst thing is that the game simply crashes instead of catching the error.)

I've been an 'out-of-handles-crash victim' myself on my first two playthroughs and with my playstyle, I could not finish the game when it came out. Only when the handle size was increased from 15bit (32k) to 16bit (64k) and after some modifications, I could successfully finish it for the first time.
(I have lots of trader inventory respawns because I play so slowly and never shut the game down for my numerous smoking breaks ;-)

I'm not saying don't craft for profit. Just try not to overdo it.

Early on, before you can afford to make or buy fancy potions, Food provides a cheap means of healing, which requires no ranks in Crafting.

C0: Campfire + Cooking Pot = Mobile Kitchen (For certain campfires this will appear in your inventory. For other campfires, this will appear on the ground. If it appears in your inventory, you can haul it around, and cook on the go, and it only weighs 0.40.)

C0: Any Fish or Meat + Mobile Kitchen or Furnace = Dinner (restores 15% health, +1 Str)

C0: Potato + Mobile Kitchen or Furnace = Boiled Potato (restores 10% health, +1 Con)

C0: Wheat + Mortar & Pestle = Flour
C0: Flour + Water = Dough

C0: Dough + Apple = Apple Pie Dough
C0: Apple Pie Dough + Mobile Kitchen or Furnace = Apple Pie (restores 10% health, +1 Con)

C0: Dough + Cheese = Cheese Bread Dough
C0: Cheese Bread Dough + Mobile Kitchen or Furnace = Cheese Bread (restores 10% health, +1 Con)

For the Boiled Potato, Apple Pie and Cheese Bread, the Con bonus acts as temporary hit points. This can help keep you alive... for a while. Be sure to heal up before the Con bonus expires. Note that for food, bonus to the same Attribute does not stack. (E.g. if you eat a Cheese Bread and Apple Pie, you only get +1 Con.) Bonus to different attributes do stack. (E.g. if you eat Dinner and Apple Pie, you get +1 Str and +1 Con).

Healing Potions
C1: Penny Bun Mushroom + Empty Potion Bottle = Minor Healing Potion Potion
C5: Penny Bun Mushroom + Empty Potion Bottle = Medium Healing Potion Potion
C2: Minor Healing Potion + Minor Healing Potion = Medium Healing Potion
C4: Medium Healing Potion + Medium Healing Potion = Large Healing Potion

(Because you can merge Healing Potions to make bigger Healing potions, Augmentors are better spent on potions which can only be obtained through Augmentors, like Resist All Potions)
C3: Minor Healing Potion + Augmentor = Medium Healing Potion
C4: Medium Healing Potion + Augmentor = Large Healing Potion

Resistance Potions
C2: Bluegill Mushroom + Empty Potion Bottle = Water Resist Potion
C2: Earth Tongue Mushroom + Empty Potion Bottle = Earth Resist Potion
C2: Guepinia Mushroom + Empty Potion Bottle = Fire Resist Potion
C2: Jellyroom + Empty Potion Bottle = Air Resist Potion

(You cannot combine resist potions of larger size. You can only combine the 15% potions.)
C3: Fire Resist Potion + Earth Resist Potion = Minor Resist-All Potion
C3: Water Resist Potion + Air Resist Potion = Minor Resist-All Potion
C4: Minor Resist-All Potion + Augmentor = Medium Resist-All Potion
C5: Medium Resist-All Potion + Augmentor = Large Resist-All Potion

Armor Potions
C2: Whisperwood + Empty Potion Bottle = Armor Boost Potion
C3: Armor Boost Potion + augmentor = Medium Armor Boost Potion
C4: Medium Armor Boost Potion + augmentor = Large Armor Boost Potion

Invisibility Potions
C4: Void Essence + Empty Potion Bottle = Invisibility Potion
C4: Armor Boost Potion + Air Resist Potion = Invisibility Potion
C3: Invisibility Potion + Augmentor = Medium Invisibility Potion
C4: Medium Invisibility Potion + Augmentor = Large Invisibility Potion

Attribute Buff Potions
C2: Fanny Blossom + Empty Potion Bottle = Minor Speed Potion
C3: Fanny Blossom + Empty Potion Bottle = Medium Speed Potion
C5: Fanny Blossom + Empty Potion Bottle = Major Speed Potion

C2: Minor Speed Potion + Sinew = Minor Dexterity Potion
C3: Minor Speed Potion + Sinew = Medium Dexterity Potion
C5: Minor Speed Potion + Sinew = Major Dexterity Potion

C2: Farhangite + Empty Potion Bottle = Minor Constitution Potion
C3: Farhangite + Empty Potion Bottle = Medium Constitution Potion
C5: Farhangite + Empty Potion Bottle = Major Constitution Potion

C2: Minor Constitution Potion + Bone Dust = Minor Strength Potion
C3: Minor Constitution Potion + Bone Dust = Medium Strength Potion
C5: Minor Constitution Potion + Bone Dust = Major Strength Potion

C2: Eye + Empty Potion Bottle = Minor Perception Potion
C3: Eye + Empty Potion Bottle = Medium Perception Potion
C5: Eye + Empty Potion Bottle = Major Perception Potion

C2: Minor Perception Potion + Void Essence = Minor Strength Potion
C3: Minor Perception Potion + Void Essence = Medium Strength Potion
C5: Minor Perception Potion + Void Essence = Major Strength Potion

(Because you can get Major Stat Buff Potions from high craft ranks, Augmentors are better spent on potions which can only be obtained via Augmentors, like Resist All Potions)
C4: Minor (Stat Buff) Potion + Augmentor = Medium X potion
C5: Medium (Stat Buff) Potion + Augmentor = Large X potion

C0: Branch (1g) + Knife = 3x Arrow Shaft (1g) Note that you must use Branch. Not Wooden Stick or Wooden Log

C1: Antler (2g) + Knife = Knockdown Arrow (12g)
C1: Knockdown Arrow (12g) + Arrow Shaft (1g) = Knockdown Arrow (24g)

C2: Tooth (2g) + Knife = Stunning Arrowhead (24g)
C1: Stunning Arrowhead (24g) + Arrow Shaft (1g) = Stunning Arrow (48g) Air damage, 100% Stun

C0: Empty Cup + Water Barrel = Cup of Water
C2: Fire Arrowhead (12g) + Cup of Water = Steamcloud Arrowhead (12g) + Empty Cup (you cannot use Water barrels directly for this)
C2: Water Resistance Potion (29g) + Arrowhead (1g) = Steamcloud Arrowhead (12g) (only worthwhile if you craft the Water Resistance potion)
C2: Steamcloud Arrowhead (12g) + Arrow Shaft (1g) = Steamcloud Arrow (24g) Piercing, 50% Blinded

C2: Arrowhead (1g) + Oil Barrel = Slowdown Arrowhead (12g)
C1: Slowdown Arrowhead (12g) + Arrow Shaft (1g) = Slowdown Arrow (24g) Piercing, 100% Slowed

B2: Silver Ore (1g) + Furnace = Silver Bar (72g)
C2: Silver Bar (72g) + Anvil = 4x Silver Arrowhead (24g each)
C2: Silver Arrowhead (24g) + Arrow Shaft (1g) = Silver Arrow (48g), Piercing Damage, 100% Lowered Armor

C0: Empty Cup + Barrel of Oil = Cup of Oil
C2: Fire Arrowhead (12g) + Cup of Oil = Explosive Arrowhead (24g) + Empty Cup (you cannot use oil barrels directly for this)
C3: Fire Resistance Potion (29g) + Arrowhead (1g) = Explosive Arrowhead (24g)
C3: Explosive Arrowhead (24g) + Arrow Shaft (1g) = Explosive Arrow (52g) Fire damage in 2m, 75% burning

C2: Arrowhead (1g) + Ooze Barrel = Poisoned Arrowhead (12g)
C2: Poisoned Arrowhead (12g) + Arrow Shaft (1g) = Poisoned Arrow (24g) Poison damage, 100% Poisoned

C3: Poisoned Arrowhead (12g) + Poisoned Arrowhead (12g) = Poisoncloud Arrowhead (24g)
C3: Poisoncloud Arrowhead (24g) + Arrow Shaft (1g) = Poisoncloud Arrow (48g) Piercing damage, 100% Poisoned

C3: Air Resistance Potion (29g) + Arrowhead (1g) = Static Cloud Arrowhead (24g)
C3: Static Cloud Arrowhead (24g) + Arrow Shaft (1g) = Static Cloud Arrow (42g) Piercing Damage and 50% Blind

C4: Drudanae (2g) + Arrowhead (1g) = Charming Arrowhead (24g)
C4: Charming Arrowhead (24g) + Arrow Shaft (1g) = Charming Arrow (52g) 100% Charm for 2 turns

Non-Craftable Arrowheads:
C1: Fire Arrowhead (12g) + Arrow Shaft (1g) = Fire Arrow (24g) Fire Damage, 100% Burning
C1: Smokescreen Arrowhead (12g) + Arrow Shaft (1g) = Smokescreen Arrow (24g) deals no damage
C3: Freezing Arrowhead (24g) + Arrow Shaft (1g) = Freezing Arrow (52g) Water Damage, 100% Frozen

Water Arrows (24g) deal about half the damage of freezing waters and 100% Wet for 2 turns. The base Arrowhead does not seem to be available for sale, only the complete arrow.

C0: Wool + Wool = Yarn
C0: Yarn + Yarn = Rope
C1: Rope (1g) + Rope (1g) = Fuse (2g)
C0: Empty Bottle (1g) + Oil Barrel = Bottle of Oil
C1: Bottle of Oil + Fuse (2g) = Firestorm Grenade (41)

C0: Empty Potion Bottle + Ooze Barrel = Poison Potion
C2: Poison Potion + Empty Grenade (9g) = Toxic Grenade (54g) + Empty Potion Bottle (Note: cannot combine Empty Grenade directly with ooze barrel, and you cannot put poison in normal bottles)

C2: Rotten Eggs/Intestines (1g) + Empty Canister (9g) = Plague Grenade (68g)

C2: Nine Inch Nails (1g) + Empty Grenade (9g) = Nail Bomb (81g) (while economically viable, Nine Inch Nails are also used with boots, which is by far a more important function. I recommend saving nails for boots, instead of making Nail Bombs.)

C4: Air Resist Potion/Jellyroom (6g) + Empty Canister (9g)= Razzle Dazzle Grenade (162g)

C4: Pixie Dust (92g) + Empty Perfume Bottle (166g) = Love Grenade (336g)

C0: Empty Glass Bottle + Hammer = Broken Bottle
C4: Broken Bottle (1g) + Empty Grenade (9g) = Armor Piercing Grenade (189g)

Not Worth Crafting, ingredients cost more than final product, just buy the finished grenades if you want them:
C2: Earth Essence (250g) + Empty Canister (9g) = Tremor Grenade (108g)
C3: Water Essence (250g) + Empty Grenade (9g) = Frost Grenade (54g)
C3: Tormented Soul (394g) + Empty Canister (9g) = Nightmare Grenade (162g)
C4: Air Essence (250g) + Empty Canister (9g) = Thunderbolt Grenade (162g)
C5: Fire Essence (250g) + Empty Grenade (9g) = Meteor Grenade (230g) not worth the cost, Firestorm grenades are cheaper and just as effective

B2: Edged Weapon + Whetstone Wheel = Improved Damage

C3: Staff/Club + Moonstone = Improved Damage

C2: Bow/Crossbow + Bowstring = Improved Damage
C3: Bow/Crossbow + Scope = Add Perception Bonus

C5: Earth/Air/Fire/Water Essence + Weapon = Add Elemental Damage to that weapon. Each weapon can only hold one additional enchanted damage type.

C4: Cloth Chest Armor (no requirements to wear) + Leather Scraps = Improved Armor
B2: Cloth Chest Armor (no requirements to wear) + Metal Scraps = Improved Armor (better bonus then Leather Scraps, doesn't stack)

C2: Leather Chest Armor (requires Dex to wear) + Mobile Kitchen = Improved Armor
B2: Leather Chest Armor (requires Dex to wear) + Metal Scraps = Improved Armor (same bonus as Mobile Kitchen, doesn't stack)

C0: Metal Chest Armor (requires Str to wear) + Bottle of Oil = Removes Movement Penalty. Also gives you back an Empty Bottle
C5: Metal Chest Armor (requires Str to wear) + Scale Scraps = Improved Armor
C5: Metal Chest Armor (requires Str to wear) + Plate Scraps = Improved Armor (better bonus then Leather Scraps, doesn't stack)

C2: Earth/Air/Fire/Water Essence + Armor (Helmet/Gloves/Chest/Sarong/Belt) = Resistance to that Element (individual elements can be added separately, and they all stack. Also stacks with whatever elemental resistance, the unmodified original armor started with)

C4: Void Essence + Any Armor = Bonus to Sneak

C5 Ruby + Armor (Helmet/Gloves/Chest/Sarong/Belt) =Resistance to all 4 Elements (similar to adding each of the 4 Elemental Essences individually)

C5: Nine Inch Nails + Boots = Immunity to Slipping (this only applies to slipping on Ice. It does not provide immunity to other Knockdown effects)

This section holds the stuff which doesn't quite belong in any of the sections above.

When you are exploring, you can select any character, and they will be at the front of the formation. But when combat starts, your party will scramble to assume the formation as ordered according to portraits, top to bottom, with the top portrait at the front, and the bottom portrait in the rear.

Let's say you have a Ranger, who happens to be your most fragile party member, so you want him at the back when combat starts. But he also has high perception, so you want him in the front while exploring. What you can do is put his portrait at the bottom. When exploring, select him, and he will lead the party. But when combat starts, the party will rearrange itself according to portrait order, and he will run to the back.

You can cancel movement by right clicking. This is useful if you intended to attack an enemy, but accidentally clicked on the ground instead of the enemy (because the beastie can't stay still)

In DOS-EE, merchants permanently retain whatever stuff you sell to them. Over time, this means that the merchant's inventory can become cluttered, and it becomes harder for you to find the stuff you want. You should therefore only sell to merchants whom you won't buy anything from, or whose desired goods can be quickly filtered out. I recommend only selling to the Food and Painting Merchants in the starting city marketplace.

Additionally, if you are only selling to this group of merchants, you can increase long term profits by improving the merchant's attitude. The easy way to do so is through gifts: For every 20 gold you give to the Food/Painting Merchants, their attitude improves by 1 point, up to a max of 100. (Other Merchants may require more than this).

When you reach the first city, you will have a lot of skillbooks to buy, and not a lot of gold. The conventional advice here is grand theft: steal and sell all the valuable loot you can. Paintings are valuable, but golden cutlery, cups and plates can fetch a fair bit as well (golden plates look orange-brown in the game world). Just remember to use Walk-In-Shadows to turn invisible. If you didn't start off with this skill, there is a merchant on the 2nd floor of the King Crab Inn who stocks Scoundrel skillbooks, including Walk-In-Shadows.

In the recipes section above, you will notice a lot of recipes require the use of an Oil, Ooze or Water Barrel, and that these barrels are not used up by the recipe. To make crafting easier, you should setup a "crafting station", an area where you centralize all your crafting tools. (There is one available in the starting city).

With sufficiently high Str, you can pick up these barrels and move them to your crafting station. Alternatively, you can automatically pick up any movable object, as long as you have at least one rank in Telekinesis (which you can obtain through gear).

DOS-EE frequently has you begin combat at a disadvantage. Generally you start off surrounded by enemies, which come out of nowhere in an ambush. Occasionally, you may even be on dangerous terrain (e.g. near ooze or oil barrels). If you are having a tough time with fights like this, perhaps these tricks can give you the edge you need.

Bait and Pull: The simplest kiting tactic. Basically, you send in one party member (the Kiter) to trigger combat, while the rest of the party prepares an ambush. Once combat has begun, the Kiter retreats back to the rest of the party, to draw enemies into the ambush.

Summon Trigger: Certain encounters of the game (hint: including the very first one) are triggered when any friendly unit - including summons - step into an area. In other words, you can start the encounter by standing back, and dropping a summon into that area. The advantage here is that you will be off to the side, rather than in the middle surrounded by enemies, with a summon standing between you and at least some of the enemies.

Companion Trigger: Certain dialogues are triggered when a party member step into the view of the enemy. But sometimes, these enemies also refuse to deal with companions, and only want to deal with MCs (they typically give the "wandering butler" comment). They will then end the dialogue without turning hostile. You can use this to your advantage by sending a companion in first to trigger the dialog with no effect, which also deactivates the script trigger. After that, your party can position itself freely.

Monologue Run Away: In a small handful of encounters, the villain will give a short speech before turning hostile and starting combat. During these precious few seconds, while they are monologuing, your party can still move freely, and run to a more advantageous position. Sometime they can run so far away, that when the villain finishes rambling and turns hostile, the party is already out of combat range! This gives you the opportunity to start combat at a position of your choosing, or to use other tricks like Bait & Pull.

Pincer Alpha Strike: This is mostly an end game tactic. You need to be able to approach the enemy from at least 2 directions, and an Alpha Strike like the Power Stance + Oath of Desecration + Hail Attack combo. Basically you take a party member with the Alpha Strike (aka the Pincer), and you send them off to approach the enemy in a different direction. The Pincer stands back, while the rest of the party initiates combat normally, possibly with an Alpha Strike of their own, or by triggering the dialog that starts hostilities.

Finally, once the rest of the party is in combat, the Pincer should approach, until they are sufficiently close to drop the Alpha Strike on the enemy, but not so close that they enter turn based combat. If you are using the Hail Attack combo, the Far Out Man talent should give it a range of 17m, which is enough for a direct hit on enemies without getting too close.

The advantage here is that an Alpha Strike like the Power Stance + Oath of Desecration + Hail Attack combo usually takes at least 2 turns to build up (unless you have ridiculous Spd). And even AFTER dropping the combo, this Pincer still gets their normal turn in turn based combat.

In certain scenarios, you can approach the enemy from 3 or more directions. This gives you the chance to use two (or more) Pincers.