As a hardcore fan of Divinity Original Sin 2 with over 300 hours played, I‘ve tested the full gamut of skill and class builds possible. And none compare in raw game-breaking power to the infamous Eternal Warrior – blending extreme offense and defense to deliver an unstoppable harbinger of deathless destruction upon the lands of Rivellon.
This definitive guide contains everything needed to craft the perfect Death Knight and unleash its limitless potential across single and multi-player campaigns alike.
Overview of the Legendary Eternal Warrior
The core premise of the Eternal Warrior builds upon the Necromancer‘s life-draining Vitality Vampirism passive. By dealing massive weapon damage via Warfare and boosting life steal with Undead racial bonuses, the resulting health and magic armor restore outpaces any incoming damage.
Backed by crowd control skills to lock down threats, plus defensive trickery when overwhelmed, the playstyle rewards aggressive relentless pressure. The Eternal Warrior rampages freely through endless enemy ranks without fear of defeat.
In the hands of a skilled player, I‘ve literally seen the build solo entire four-player campaigns! Now let‘s break down exactly how to assemble this harbinger of god-like power within your own game.
Constructing the Ultimate Eternal Warrior
Optimizing your Eternal Warrior‘s sheer game-breaking dominance requires careful selection of race, attributes, skills, gear and more. Follow these advanced tips to ensure no enemy faction survives your onslaught!
Choose the Perfect Death Knight Race
When min-maxing any hybrid class that blends magical damage with physical strikes, Undead clearly triumphs. The racial ability Lifegiver removes any healing penalty from your ample life steal – both from attacks and the Healing Ritual skill.
Now add the unique Undead bonus of gaining magical armor when healed instead of vitality. Combined with Necromancer skills that steal health while damaging enemies…well, your magic armor sustain reaches outright absurd levels!
For example, assuming 550 base physical damage on your weapon and 60% life steal from gear, a simple Whirlwind strike hits 5 enemies for 550 damage each. This restores 1650 vitality, 100% of which converts to magic armor. Repeat such AOE blows endlessly against masses and your armor rapidly reaches 10,000+ levels.
Of course, purists may dislike playing the grim skeletal Undead. For more humanoid flair, Elves make great alternatives with their Flesh Sacrifice for +1 AP and self damage to fuel healing. The hungry Corpse Eater talent also magnifies vitality restores by 80% for even more durability.
Attributes and Ability Points Guide
As your Eternal Warrior rampages through victims, raw physical damage to leverage life stealing essential. Raise Strength as highly as possible to increase Warfare‘s destructive potential. I suggest the following allocation table for optimizing attribute growth:
| Level | Strength | Memory | Wits | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 10+ | 2 | 3 | 15 |
| 2 | 12 | 2 | 3 | 1 |
| 3 | 14 | 2 | 3 | 1 |
| 4 | 16 | 3 | 3 | 2 |
| 5 | 18 | 3 | 4 | 2 |
| 6 | 20 | 3 | 4 | 1 |
| … | … | +1 at L9,12 | +1 at L11 | +2 per level |
| Endgame | 40+ | 18+ | 6+ | – |
Adjust Memory as needed to equip skills but avoid overinvesting – rely on gear for most slots. And by endgame, injure yourself before dialogues then heal after for extra hilarity!
Mastering Eternal Warrior Skills
Weaving Warfare strikes with Necromancy siphoning makes the Eternal Warrior nigh unstoppable. Internalize these essential abilities first when advancing:
Warfare – Hit Warfare 10 before all else for +226% damage and crushing strikes. Whirlwind, Battle Stomp and Bouncing Shield dish AOE pain while enhanced regular attacks slice individual targets to ribbons.
Necromancer – Vitality Vampirism is your bread and butter for continuous health/magic armor restoration. Absorb 1,000s of health per battle! Mosquito Swarm and Infect delete magic armor. Grab Bone Cage for emergencies too.
Adrenaline – Forego pointless trinkets like First Aid and invest solely in carnage. Adrenaline‘s 2 bonus AP enables using both attacks and heals in a single turn. Embrace your inner demonic berserker!
Teleportation – Manipulate enemy formations to maximize AOE blows. This tactic remains effective even at Level 40 against the Isle of the Dead‘s onslaught of Voidwoken.
Note the following table analyzing typical healing rates:
| Skill | Hits | Healing |
|---|---|---|
| Whirlwind | 4 enemies | 2,200 health |
| Mosquito Swarm | 3 enemies | 1,650 health |
| Regular Attack | 1 enemy | 550 health |
With Adrenaline active, you often heal 4000+ health a turn – more than enough to withstand any enemy retaliation!
Talent Upgrades
Grab key passive talents upon leveling for extra dominance:
Level 3 – Opportunist (Scoundrel) – Attack enemies trying to flee from your onslaught
Level 8 – Picture of Health (Polymorph) – Gain thick health pool earlier
Level 13 – Savage Sortilege (Scoundrel) – Boost life steal against armor too!
Gear and Weapons Guide
Offense Wins Games
Once again, this build revolves around base weapon damage converted into healing. So sacrifice most defensive gear solely for Damage and Critical Chance. Here are standout options:
– Tormented GreatAxe – Found in Lady Vengeance‘s basement, the Tormented set‘s +5 Strength and +3% Critical delivers incredible burst potential. Its life steal supports early game sustain until our full power unlocks.
– Repentant GreatAxe – Discovered at Level 12+ in Paradise Downs, 65 extra damage and +5% Critical Kick starts the mid game. Serves as a bridge before gaining truly endgame gear.
– Harbinger Two-Handed / Devourer Armor Sets – Simply the best weapons and armor for any Eternal Warrior build. Their innate life steal synergies with item bonuses like +5 Warfare / +25% Critical Damage for literally quadrupling base damage against most foes. Several guides detail locations to hunt for these apocalyptic items across Acts 2 and 3!
Now let‘s enter the arena…where gods themselves will weep tears of blood!
Playstyle Principles for Victory
Equipped with immense power, the Eternal Warrior‘s straightforward offensive style becomes unstoppable:
Embrace Death‘s Sweet Kiss
Don‘t hesitate wading into large mobs – our self healing thrives when striking all enemies simultaneously. Utilize gap closers like Battering Ram or Blitz Attack to instantly reach priority targets no matter their positioning. Your preternatural defenses easily withstand most retaliation.
Focus Fire For Maximum Effect
As physical damage dealers, we lack magical attacks for stripping armor quickly. Hence concentrate strikes against low armored threats first to rapidly trigger health reductions. Once foes start hemorrhaging vitality, quickly distribute remaining attacks to multiply overall Vitality Vampirism healing.
Retain Mobility For Defense
Despite tremendous durability through lifestealing, uncontrolled attacks eventually overpower the Warrior‘s defenses. Always keep 1 AP in reserve for Escape, Cloak and Dagger, Teleportation, or Evasion skills. Reacting to danger overrides offense when truly surrounded.
With practice, these principles enable defeating virtually any adversary in Divinity Original Sin 2‘s sprawling epic. Certain encounters merit specific tactics, however:
Mobs – The Eternal Warrior‘s perfect prey. Embrace your reaver nature and feast away without mercy!
Bosses – Adrenaline before engaging then utilize knockdowns and Cripple. Save defensive skills to escape devastating counters.
Magic Groups – Break through shields quickly with Mosquito Swarm then endless health sustains the day. Carry anti-magic accessories if struggling initially.
Repeatedly hurling yourself against such foes forms the addictive core of this build – heaping mountains of bodies while immortalizing yourself within the Halls of Echoes!
Advanced Build Expansions
The base Eternal Warrior stands supremely mighty already. Those seeking even greater power can enable these optional enhancements:
Install Gift Bag Mods
The incredible Gift Bag mods (accessible via game settings) introduce three new skill schools with fantastic synergy:
Odinblade‘s Warlord – Adds the glorious Break Morale skill for AOE knockdowns plus inspiring War Cry to further boost all damage and healing.
Sanguine Swill – Offers Blood Storm that showers enemies in raining gore for heavy damage. Excellent for softening hordes before our physical attacks and healing trigger.
Forbidden Weapons – Grants powerful sin themed-spells. Agonizing Scream frightens adversaries and opens more victims for the slaughter by reducing their armor.
Dual Lone Wolf Build
Hardcore players can configure a devastating dual Lone Wolf duo – each maxing Strength with Warfare/Necromancer skills. By combining every buff and skill during Adrenaline, such Eternal Warriors gain literally 9000+ effective health per turn while dishing 1000s in damage.
I‘ve seen this build outright one-shot final Act 4 bosses like [REDACTED] on Tactician difficulty! Surely that piques your curiosity for what heights of power await?
Now forge your steel, prepare the sacrificial daggers and set forth conquering like no other! None shall forget the legends written by your hand!
In Closing
Hopefully this guide has fully equipped you to embrace the Eternal Warrior and explore its god-like potential across the many challenges within Divinity Original Sin 2. Indeed, I‘ve only scratched the surface of possibilities with this build. Please share your own tweaks and experiences playing this iconic class!
And as always, remember to subscribe for more weekly guides as we illuminated the deepest intricacies and power spikes across Divinity Original Sin 2‘s incredible breadth of content. Stay legendary my friends!