Divinity: Original Sin 2 – Making Allies Out of Enemies

How to turn potential enemies into potential allies, and some very basic gameplay hints about group fights with allies / neutrals.

Brief Overview

Please note: all credit goes to LowFatMilk!

So I’m reasonably new to Divinity: Original Sin 2, and I never played the first one. I did however play The original 3 Divinities as a young kid, and the Dragon Knight Saga. All incredible games, and I’m glad I picked up this one. I have noticed on my adventures how one’s attitude affects how NPCs react to you in the game. Obviously a higher attitude means they like you more, and are willing to give shop discounts and aid you.

But I have also seen numerous threads and discussions about people asking how to save certain NPCs in fights, and how to make those large fights easier. Aside from “getting gud scrub” you could always try your hand at a bit of unorthodox diplomacy 😉

This guide is nothing complex or ground breaking, it is merely a very simple explanation on how you can turn enemies into allies, and possibly receive bonuses and buffs on your travels that you otherwise would have missed.

How to Check Attitude

So you’re a bit unsure if someone actually likes you. A few easy ways to tell really.

  • Examine them, it will tell you their attitude in the statistics tab.
  • The best way in my opinion is to trade with them, as it shows you directly under their nametag their attitude towards you, and as you click on your party members trade panels, their attitudes towards them too. It’s an easy way to see who they like and how much. Because you might have one character you use for bartering, they will likely have higher attitudes with traders than your other party members. You only need one person in your party to have the right amount of attitude for them to be classed as your friend.

Obviously we just met Trader Bree so she isn’t our beer-skolling chum just yet. But soon, SOON, we will bestow upon her many gifts and trinkets, that she might give us might discounts in return. Because skillbooks are expensive girl!

Her attitude is circled. In red. With arrows.

How to Raise Attitude

Quite simply, attitude can be raised by giving gifts. Everyone and anyone can be traded with, so go into the trade menu with them, give them a whole load of your otherwise worthless trash, and Accept the trade asking for nothing in return! GIFTS!!!

It really is that simple. It should be noted that the better the item the higher their attitude will raise, but I raised a few NPC’s up to a solid attitude giving them nothing but shells, skulls, chipped wood and a rat’s tail. If you’d rather keep these for crafting then find other superfluos crap filling your inventory.

Sometimes they will become your ally through quests or your actions in the game world.

As you can see in the minimap, the dots are mainly green, because I so generously used my sexual healing powers on these injured Seekers, raising their attitude enough so that they loved me.

Divinity: Original Sin 2 - Making Allies Out of Enemies

An NPC must usually be at around 35-50 positive attitude before they become your ally, the green dot on the minimap (they will change from yellow). HOWEVER, as told by some loading screens, NPC’s also have their own alliances with other NPC’s, usually like guards or members of a gang/faction. This will mean you will have to raise their attitude towards you so that is HIGHER than their attitude towards their friends. Otherwise they will still leap to the aid of their comerades as you so aggressively try to murder them for their tasty loot and experience points.

An Example of Making an Enemy into an Ally

Great now that’s out of the way we can continue. If you, like me, came across that little ♥♥♥♥♥ Griff and his stupid little ♥♥♥♥♥ gang and decided the best way to finish this quest is to kill them all (plus loot and exp) then probably you, like me, finished the fight and thought “well that was actually way harder than I anticipated. Unless you’re like a veteran and after you read that you laughed and thought “lol nubs I did that fight in Honour mode with Lone Wolf and didn’t even lose any of my armour learn to play the game” yeah well ok champ well done we all know how good you are enjoy the rest of your killing frenzy. But for some it was definitely a challenge. Seen a few threads giving advice on how to beat this fight. How can a few shirtless gimps wipe your entire party? Or at least make you use too many of those precioussssss resurrection scrolls. You could be a tad weaker, usually I get to level 3 before fighting them. They also have some decent weapons and abilities, and they start in good positions with the high ground (hello there). Also it’s a 4v5…. but wait, it could be a 5v4 in your favour. “But LowFat, that’s impossible, you can only have a party of 4 and nobody likes me” Ok mate spare me your real world problems and let’s focus on the game. I have one word for you.

Butter

No not the thick dairy product you spread on toast and your uncle’s legs when he-

I mean the NPC; Butter. She’s located on the balcony of Griff’s Kitchen and she’s actually a very nice and likeable gal, taken from her family and forced to join a gang to survive, tragic. Talk to her and if you play your cards right, she agrees to meet you if you escape Fort Joy. She writes it in her diary it’s fantastic. Anyway, just because she’s agreed to meet up doesn’t mean she’s willing to fight for you. Yet. Que GIFTS!!!! Collect trash, add to wares, offer all wares, accept for nothing, profit. You need to raise her attitude to at least 50, maybe 55 before she will fight on your side instead of Griff’s. Her high ground (hello there) on the balcony gives her a good angle so she can use her bow to help you, and if you give her any food or potions she will use them too. Clever girl. Obviously bear in mind she is like any other NPC and can be killed, so at least try to keep her alive.

Babe I love you too

Divinity: Original Sin 2 - Making Allies Out of Enemies

A quick note: if you outright murder Griff’s Gimps (what I call them) outside the quest, by that I mean you attack them unprovoked, assault them, strike first whatever you want to call it, remember that they’re still Butters’ friends too. Sometimes even when she actively fights them she will run up to you and enquire about the murder straight afterwards. Unsure if this is a bug or if she’s just really stupid (still love you babe). So it may be best to just initiate the fight through the quest and avoid her sticking her stunning nose where it fkn shouldn’t be. Also on co-op it really varies, sometimes she fights with you sometimes she doesn’t. Again I’m unsure if this is a bug or if she is just confused by the two or more player controlled characters. Definitely works on single player thought 🙂

Final Thoughts

Making someone like you by forcing them to accept shells and empty bottles is just one way you can gain potential allies in large fights. If you find merchants you want discounts for, GIFTS! Someone you want to spare? GIFTS! Just feel like offloading your trash and have so much money you don’t even need their 23 gold? GIFTS! It opens up some interesting dialogues and potential quests too.

Hopefully this has helped you to find your inner Scrooge and give out free stuff to people in the hopes they appreciate your gift of an apple and a short stick enough to begin exploring your otherwise below-average personality. Happy gift-giving!

Volodymyr Azimoff
About Volodymyr Azimoff 15055 Articles
I love games and I live games. Video games are my passion, my hobby and my job. My experience with games started back in 1994 with the Metal Mutant game on ZX Spectrum computer. And since then, I’ve been playing on anything from consoles, to mobile devices.

Be the first to comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.


*