Combat Abilities

Combat abilities are abilities that govern a character's effectiveness in battle in Divinity: Original Sin 2. They are divided into three categories: skill schools, weapon proficiencies, and defensive abilities.

Overview

Combat abilities are levelled using combat ability points, which are gained on each level-up. Each point invested in a skill school increases the damage of that school's spells (or provides a school-specific bonus) and unlocks access to higher-tier skills. Weapon abilities increase damage and secondary statistics when wielding the corresponding weapon type. Defensive abilities provide passive benefits that improve survivability.

Points can be redistributed freely via the magic mirror aboard the Lady Vengeance from Act Two onward, or from Act One with the Fort Joy Magic Mirror gift bag feature enabled.

Skill schools

Skill school abilities determine which skills a character can learn and how effective those skills are. Each school has its own set of learnable skills and a damage or utility bonus per point invested.

Skill school abilities
Ability	Description	Effect per point
Aerotheurge	Increases all air damage dealt.	+5% air damage
Geomancer	Increases all poison and earth damage dealt, and physical armour restoration from skills and potions.	+5% poison and earth damage, +5% physical armour from skills and potions
Huntsman	Increases the damage bonus when attacking from high ground.	+5% damage from high ground
Hydrosophist	Increases all water damage dealt, and vitality healing and magic armour restoration from skills and potions.	+5% water damage, +5% vitality healed, +5% magic armour from skills and potions
Necromancer	Heals the caster whenever they deal damage directly to vitality.	Heal for 10% of damage dealt to vitality
Polymorph	Provides free attribute points.	+1 attribute point
Pyrokinetic	Increases all fire damage dealt.	+5% fire damage
Scoundrel	Increases movement speed and critical multiplier.	+5% critical multiplier, +0.3 movement speed
Summoning	Increases vitality, damage, physical armour, and magic armour of summons and totems.	+10% to all summon statistics
Warfare	Increases all physical damage dealt.	+5% physical damage

Weapon abilities

Weapon abilities improve a character's effectiveness with specific weapon types. They provide passive bonuses to damage and a secondary statistic whenever the corresponding weapon type is equipped.

Weapon abilities
Ability	Description	Effect per point
Dual Wielding	Increases damage and dodging when dual-wielding two one-handed weapons.	+5% damage, +1% dodging
Ranged	Increases damage and critical chance when using bows and crossbows.	+5% damage, +1% critical chance
Single-Handed	Increases damage and accuracy when using a one-handed weapon with a shield or empty off-hand.	+5% damage, +5% accuracy
Two-Handed	Increases damage and critical multiplier when using two-handed melee weapons or staves.	+5% damage, +5% critical multiplier

Defensive abilities

Defensive abilities provide passive bonuses that improve survivability without directly contributing to damage output.

Defensive abilities
Ability	Description	Effect per point
Leadership	Grants dodging and resistance bonuses to all allies within 8 metres. Does not affect the character with the ability.	+2% dodging, +3% to all resistances for nearby allies
Perseverance	Restores armour when recovering from hard crowd control effects.	+5% physical armour restored after Knocked Down or Petrified; +5% magic armour restored after Frozen or Stunned
Retribution	Reflects a portion of received damage back to the attacker.	+5% damage reflected

Notes

Warfare is the most effective ability for increasing physical damage, as it multiplies all physical damage regardless of weapon type.
Polymorph is the only combat ability that grants free attribute points, making it valuable for any build.
Huntsman damage bonus is applied after all other modifiers, making it extremely powerful for characters who consistently maintain high ground.
The  All Skilled Up talent grants 1 bonus combat ability point and 1 civil ability point immediately.