Not many RPGs let you deform your character into a hideous amalgam of monsters so they can break the game. That's why Divinity: Original Sin 2's Polymorph skill school is unique as fantasy magic goes. The Polymorph in the battlefield is a wildcard of abilities and appearances. They're able to reshape themselves and the battlefield as they see fit. To a Polymorph, the whole game world is made out of clay.
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Of course, that also means the Polymorph discipline has a steeper learning curve compared to other skills schools in Original Sin 2. The general consensus is that it's even the most complex out of all the selections. Such as it is, the Polymorph skill school is easy to mess up. So we're here to guide you on the optimal path by pointing out the most powerful Polymorph abilities; from turning your enemies into chickens to ascending to godhood, let's get started.
Heart of Steel
- AP cost: 2
- Cooldown: 5 turns
- Usage: Defense and physical armor regeneration
The thing about Polymorph mages in Original Sin 2 is that they tend to dally around the combat area trying out stuff and can quickly become prime targets for enemies. That's why ensuring they live long enough to ensure their spells do enough damage is mandatory.
For that, the Heart of Steel is a great skill. It gives back some of the physical armor that your character has lost. The spell will also continue regenerating the armor. That makes it better than most skills that do a similar thing. The only downside is the long cooldown.
Chicken Claw
- AP cost: 2
- Cooldown: 6 turns
- Usage: Turning the enemy into a chicken, thus denying them combat turns and making them vulnerable
Perhaps one of the most favorite skills of Polymorph, the Chicken Claw is always a welcome ability in a skill bar. It does many things to an enemy, including the most embarrassing punishment they can take bar none in any Divinity game.
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Chicken Claw turns the target into a chicken as long as they don't have physical armor remaining. Afterward, they become more vulnerable to attacks. Since they're a chicken, however, they tend to run around and panic. Do be a dear and turn them into headless chickens.
Tentacle Lash
- AP cost: 2
- Cooldown: 3 turns
- Usage: For direct damage and disabling certain enemies
Sure, turning your worst enemies into a KFC bucket is hilarious and all, but wouldn't you rather be serious and kill them already? Tentacle Lash caters to that mindset. It's a direct damage skill that contests the enemy's physical armor.
In the event that they don't actually die from this decent damage ability, they get the Atrophy status. This prevents them from using their weapons either for attacking or casting skills. Sadly, that only lasts for a turn but the low cooldown of Tentacle Lash makes it somewhat spammable.
Spread Your Wings
- AP cost: 1
- Cooldown: 6 turns
- Usage: Sprout wings and gain better maneuverability through flight
Environmental surfaces in Divinity: Original Sin 2 is a slow and insidious killer. They cause more harm and deaths than you might notice so avoiding them as much as possible is one key to survival. Spread Your Wings lets you fly past those hazards.
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As the skill's title suggests, the caster gets wings. This lets them fly or float over surfaces and obstacles. With it, they can either get a tactical advantage or a defensive retreat. The low AP cost and long duration make it even more beneficial.
Spider Legs
- AP cost: 1
- Cooldown: 5 turns
- Usage: For gaining movement advantage and disabling enemy movement
Spider Legs works similarly to Spread Your Wings which is why both skills are incompatible with each other. This one gives you some cool spider legs on your back, enough to make Peter Parker drool with envy. The legs also give you the ability to shoot webs because that's totally how it works in nature.
Anyway, the web deals area entanglement to all characters in the target radius. This prevents them from moving regardless of their armour. Meanwhile, your character isn't affected by the web because they have spider legs. In fact, they also gain Haste while standing on it. That makes the skills awesome for Lone Wolf runs.
Medusa Head
- AP cost: 2
- Cooldown: 5 turns
- Usage: For crowd control and incapacitating enemies
Medusa Head looks cool and is actually highly functional in combat. It turns the caster's head into a gorgon's and they get the ability to petrify anyone near them. With the right positioning, this can paralyze enemy frontline teams and their melee combatants.
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Do keep in mind that the Medusa Head skill isn't compatible with the Bull Horns or other skills that reshape the caster's head. In any case, this skill is devastating when cast by a melee combatant since the petrification range is melee.
Equalize
- AP cost: 2
- Cooldown: 5 turns
- Usage: For leveling the playing field by turning the armor and health into the average for all characters
If you like to challenge the hand of fate especially with your low-level party going up against higher-level enemies, then you might need something like Equalise. It's a skill that lets you even out everyone's health and armor levels.
So you can probably see how handy it is when facing enemies like Braccus Rex or even Adramahlihk. Equalize also has other uses such as when you're losing and the enemy team is still at full health or armor.
Forced Exchange
- AP cost: 1
- Cooldown: 1 turn
- SP cost: 2
- Usage: Exchanging health and tactical advantage
Speaking of redistributing health percentages, Forced Exchange is another ability that's wildly powerful. It works simple enough: the caster exchanges health with the target, assuming the target has no physical armour remaining.
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The target can also be anyone, friend or foe. That means the applications are wide and you can use this one as both a healing and damage skill at the same time. It does cost a bit of Source but many players have come up with overpowered tactics using this skill.
Skin Graft
- AP cost: 1
- Cooldown: N/A
- SP cost: 1
- Usage: Resetting cooldowns and tactical advantage
While on the topic of overpowered techniques in Original Sin 2, you can't just talk about that without mentioning Skin Graft. This Source ability is one of the most broken in the game as it allows many weird combos.
Skin Graft resets all ability cooldowns and only costs one Source Point and one Action Point. Thus, Skin Graft pairs well with powerful bomb abilities with long cooldowns. Couple it with skills like Haste from Pyrokinetic and other Source Skills you might just deny the enemy their turn (or their life).
Apotheosis
- AP cost: 2
- Cooldown: N/A
- SP cost: 3
- Usage: Making Source Skills more available and cheaper
So what other Source Skill works perfectly with Skin Graft? That would be Apotheosis. Apotheosis removes the Source cost of all Source abilities by three. Most Source abilities cost two or three points only, meaning they usually become free.
The only cost left is the AP for the said Souce Skills. This makes Apotheosis the most powerful Polymorph ability. With the scroll version, you can even set up some cheese strategies where you can kill Adramahlihk or the final bosses in just one turn.
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