The Warfare skill tree in Divinity: Original Sin 2 is full of physical attacks that will leave enemies crawling back to wherever they came from to nurse their wounds. This skill tree has two key bonuses for any player who decides to take the plunge into being a warrior.
First, each point in Warfare will increase the player's health. This will help them survive the onslaught of attacks they will deal with. Second, each point will increase the attack power of whatever weapon they choose to go with. This can affect wands, staves, swords, etc.
10 Best: Battering Ram
Battering Ram is a skill that players can get from the start if they decide to put at least one point into Warfare. It is also one of the best starting abilities for any melee build.
This ability causes the player to rush at enemies. This will cause enemies to get knocked down as long as they don't have any physical armor protecting them. More importantly than knocking enemies down is the ability to close the gap. Get the melee character at the front lines where they will shine the most.
9 Worst: Deflective Barrier
Deflective Barrier is one skill that is ultimately unnecessary when going up again enemies. It provides physical armor to the player and allows projectiles to be reflected back at the user. The problem with the skill is that it doesn't prevent the original projectile's effects.
Any status effects that would have hit the player will still hit them. Players will find more use out of other skills that will help them deal more damage or reach targets.
8 Best: Phoenix Dive
Battering Ram is great for closing the gap between the player and enemies, but Phoenix Dive is even better. This skill makes the player leap high into the air and slam down in the desired location with extreme force.
Battering Ram has a large area that it can be used in without the need for range increasing talents like Far Out Man. This skill also leaves a nice ring of fire that slightly hurts enemies nearby. As a bonus, Battering Ram also only costs one action point which frees up an opportunity to use other abilities.
7 Worst: Provoke
Provoke is hardly used unless a player decides to play as the tank of the group and defend all of their allies. This skill taunts all the enemies within the immediate vicinity of the player, forcing the enemies to attack them. The main issue with this ability, other than drawing all of the attention, is the small radius of effect.
The area of effect is not large enough to possibly help all of the allies, so more often than not the player will need to choose one ally to protect.
6 Best: Whirlwind
Whirlwind is almost a necessity for any player who wants to invest their time into the Warfare skill tree. This skill makes the player perform a 360° spin that hits every enemy around them.
Whirlwind has a decent area of effect for a melee skill and deals 100% weapon damage to each enemy. Depending on how a player's build is set up, the damage caused by this skill can be a great way to start a battle.
5 Worst: Thick Of The Fight
Thick of the Fight is actually a decent skill if used correctly. The main issue is that it is hard to get enough allies around the player to use its full effect. This skill increases the player's weapon damage by 10% for each ally and summoned totem within range.
If done right, a player can get a massive melee damage bonus. More often than not, the damage increase will not be as amazing as a player will want it to be. To make the most out of it, a summoner is required.
4 Best: Enrage
Enrage doesn't deal damage to enemies, instead, it buffs the character that it is used on. This skill guarantees that the character it is used on will score a critical hit with their next basic attack or weapon skill. This is perfect to use before abilities like Whirlwind that hit multiple enemies.
The downside to this ability is that it causes the character to become muted. They will be unable to use any magical abilities until the buff wears off. Since players will often use this on themselves, melee attacks should always be a guarantee.
3 Worst: Guardian Angel
The Guardian Angel skill has the same downfall as Provoke and doesn't draw the enemy's attention. Guardian Angel creates a circle in which allies can take shelter from damage in. While inside the circle, allies will take fifty percent less damage.
The other fifty percent of the damage gets redirected to the player who used the skill. The area of effect of this skill is a little larger than Provoke and gets used about as often. Characters are often too spread out for this ability to matter.
2 Best: Onslaught
Onslaught is the most damaging ability that Warfare users get access to. This skill causes the player to attack the enemy five times. Each one of these attacks deals only fifty percent weapon damage, but since there are five attacks it ends up dealing far more than just a standard attack.
This ability can easily help take down enemies with large health and armor bars. The downside to this ability is the source point cost of it. It costs three source points to use so it will often only be used once per battle.
1 Worst: Bouncing Shield
Bouncing Shield is another skill that is rarely used once other skills become available. This skill is limited to players who want to bring a shield into combat with them. This helps increase their armor, but it also decreases the amount of attack power they have.
This skill makes the player throw their shield at an enemy. If another enemy is within range it will bounce and hit a second enemy. This skill can easily be replaced by others that will increase mobility.