Part 20: Game Mechanics: Level 10 Skills

Divinity 2 – Level 10 Skills


Warrior Skills

Life Leech
– “With Life Leech, you don’t just wound your enemy as you hit him, but also gradually drain his life energy from his body and perchance add it to your own with each hit you score. ”

Chance of Leech: 10% -> 34%
HP Drained: 7 -> 32%

This passive skill lets your hits in melee replenish your own life. I’m not sure if that damages the enemy as well. The chance for leeching is only 10%, and it doesn’t replenish much at first, but this skill is worth investing in. Leech is the only ability which is an instant heal. During combat, a successful Life Leech will show up as green numbers. I’ll probably max this one out.


Bleed
– “Particularly vicious, bleed attacks have a chance of causing wounds so they keep bleeding: so damaging the victim over time until the bleeding stops or he has leaked to death..”

Duration: 10 -> 4
Bleed Chance: 10 -> 33%
Damage per second: 10% -> 47%

This passive skill adds bleed damage to your attacks. It’s based on a percentage of your total damage, so as your damage goes up this skill gets better. At first level it does 10% of your total damage per second for 10 seconds. With more points, the bleed time decreases and the damage goes up, making it kill faster. At the highest levels the Bleed basically doubles the damage over four seconds. I’ll probably get some points into this.


Ranger Skills

Splitting Arrow
– “The splitting arrow has the magical property that it severs into different arrows after having been fired, so allowing the bowman to hit multiple targets at the same time. The more adept he becomes at the craft, the more separate projectiles the original arrow will split into..”

Mana Cost: 29 -> 89
Cooldown: 5 seconds
Arrows: 2 -> 16

This skill doesn’t auto-target enemies, it shoots multiple normal arrows shots out in a cloud in front of you. In effect, it’s basically a shotgun. Multiple arrows will hurt the same target, so get up close and let this loose for massive damage. The cooldown is low, and you’ll probably end up using this a lot, so it will chew through your mana incredibly quickly. This is one of the better Ranger skills.



Evade
– “You are highly trained in dodging the melee attacks with which your adversaries try to treat your inner organs to an outdoor holiday. It goes without saying that this is a highly useful ability for all who spend much time in the thick of battle.”

Evade Chance: 10% -> 50%

This passive skill gives you a chance to evade melee attacks. At first level it’s a 10% chance, but it goes up at 2% per point after that (except for the 15th point, which increases the evade chance to 50%). It’s only really worthwhile to put in that one point for the 10% evade chance. Maybe later (like level 40+), if I have a lot of free points I’ll max it out.



Mage Skills

Mana Leech
– “With Mana Leech, you don’t just wound your enemy as you hit him, but also gradually drain his magical energies from his body and perchance add them to your own with each hit you score.”

Leech Chance: 80% -> 92%
Mana Drained: 10% -> 34%

This is a very useful skill for melee fighters. It doesn’t work with ranged or magical attacks Even at the first rank, it has an 81% chance to draining 12% of the damage done and adding it to your mana. You only need one point. This only works with melee attacks, but it does work with most special attacks.


Destruction
– “As if the ravaging powers of magic aren’t terrible enough already, this skill, as its name implies, will add to the destruction caused by your fireballs, magic missiles, and other wizard spells.”

Damage Boost: 10% -> 20%

This passive skill increases your magic damage by 10->50%, and is worthwhile for mages. It also increases the damage from some Aura enchantments, but I’ll probably have trouble finding the skill points to spare.


Priest Skills

Curse
– “When you speak this spell, the creatures close to you become cursed, meaning that they become severely weakened and ready to be plucked… or decapitated. Whatever suits your fancy.”

Mana Cost: 11 -> 35
Cooldown: 1 second
Duration: 20 -> 120 seconds
Distance: 20 -> 20
Enemy Level: 13 -> 60
Enemy Damage: -20% -> -70%
Enemy Stats (CB/IW/HR): -20% -> -70%


The low cooldown and damage reduction on the afflicted makes this one of the more useful debuffs. But debuffs aren’t that great, so it’s not saying a lot.


Blind
– “To blind your enemy is to temporarily take away his vision, leaving him stumbling in the dark: in combat, about as effective as a pacifistic sparrow. Just don’t stand around too long, laughing at his bewilderment, because he’s bound to be a tad enraged when he gets you in his sights again.”

Mana Cost: 17 -> 59
Cooldown: 90 seconds
Duration: 60 -> 146 seconds
Enemy Level: 20 -> 47

I’ve never used this. The duration is good, but the cooldown of 90 seconds between uses makes this a once-per battle spell. It’s unlikely to work on bosses, and anything else won’t need 60 seconds to blind someone.