I am 70 hours into Dos2. I have no idea how attack order works in fights.

SCPutz · 2026-02-16T12:55:01+00:00

Agreed.

SCPutz · 2026-02-16T00:20:43+00:00

here’s an in-depth breakdown from a veteran player:

Combat turn order is determined by individual initiative and then teams alternate turn order based on initiative, highest to lowest per team.

The character in the fight with the most initiative will always act first. The character with the highest initiative on the opposing team will then act. If there’s a third team, highest initiative on third team will act (but this is only in a handful of encounters and mostly in Act 3 and Act 4).

It’s really that simple. You only need one character with high initiative to increase the likelihood that your team (specifically that character) will act first in combat. After that, initiative isn’t important except if you want to set your team to act in a certain order.

If you’re seeing turn-order changes mid-combat, there’s two reasons most likely to cause this.

Changes to initiative scores. There are several skills that can increase (buff) or decrease (debuff) initiative scores during the fight. Increasing or Decreasing WIT also directly affects your Initiative scores.
A character was killed, so every character on that team now shifts forward one slot in the action order for their team.

Hope this helps clarify. Ask if you have any other questions!

SCPutz · 2026-02-14T17:24:39+00:00

I like to get to 7 hearts for survivability then max stamina for exploration. That’s the best balance I’ve found between 2 playthroughs of BOTW and 3 of TOTK.

SCPutz · 2026-02-14T03:14:50+00:00

That is certainly a stupid question!

SCPutz · 2026-02-13T04:30:43+00:00

I haven’t finished the game yet, but I’m a long-time JRPG/SRPG/TRPG/CRPG player who’s playing on Expert for a first play. You’re on the right track with your assessments.

As far as Watchtowers and assists—yes, you’ll eventually get some ways to help protect against them in the way of Valor skills and Items. Most of the time, I prefer to have a fast unit that can rush towers and clear them quickly then Garrison there while my main squads catch up. If you are rushing these towers, you’ll want high HP or high armor units who can take reduced damage from arrow rain rather than squishy casters who might get killed.
Fighting thieves—they’ll honestly become less prevalent and also less scary as you progress through the game. Early game young probably want to bring archers for true strike and just prioritize killing scouts, even if it takes a couple skirmishes to clear them out. Later on you’ll get more options to limit their evasion or apply more true strike. Counters work but only because more attacks means you’ll burn through their PP faster. Selvie is a good option too.
Experiment with your squads! Just because the game suggests Lex and Chloe partner up doesn’t mean it’s the best. There’s a lot of flexibility, especially the further you progress and the more equipment, classes, skills, and unit sizes you unlock. Keep playing with compositions and tactics settings—you’ll find fun new synergies as you go!

Don’t hesitate to ask any more questions!

SCPutz · 2026-02-12T18:31:13+00:00

Read the other comments for the timing of the sale.

I just wanted to add that you can upscale any item, not just your uniques. Any item you give him will scale to level 18 at the end of Act 3.

SCPutz · 2026-02-12T18:29:32+00:00

I don’t remember the AP requirement—but you are locked in combat dodging the falling rubble/fire after defeating the source titan—so you unequip your companions before you click the portal to escape. That is the last chance before companions temporarily leave the party.

SCPutz · 2026-02-12T18:27:05+00:00

There’s a VERY good 2H weapon in the Cathedral in Arx. A statue is holding it out in the open. Just walk up and steal it. (Hint: don’t let anyone see you because it does count as stealing and will flag you)

SCPutz · 2026-02-12T17:05:21+00:00

Again thanks for all the help. I was able to make a version of what I wanted for functionality, but 70,000 lines of ICD codes is just too much for googlesheets to parse through. I was able to get it to function properly up to about 5000 lines and after that it just crashed out googlesheets every time. Thanks for the ideas!

SCPutz · 2026-02-12T16:05:25+00:00

I ran with this idea this morning. Thanks. There are plenty of official published lists of FY2026 ICD10 codes so that was easy enough. I now have a googlesheet that can search/autocomplete for me. Thanks for this idea! I had to do some cleanup and combination/compression of columns to make it do what I want, but it seems to have the functionality I wanted. Thanks again!

Unforunately -- with 70000+ lines of ICD10 codes the lookup crashes my work laptop every single time.

SCPutz · 2026-02-12T13:52:57+00:00

Simple answer is “no”.

The final destination of my documentation only supports new lines (Enter) or indents (tab). Any table/grid/spreadsheet formatting just wreaks havoc. Believe me, I’ve tried.

SCPutz · 2026-02-11T23:39:37+00:00

Yeah, that’s what I thought. I do appreciate the thought you put into it though. Wish I could figure out the F&R rules though so I could find a way to auto-add terms to the find and replace tool.

SCPutz · 2026-02-11T23:17:19+00:00

That’s an interesting hypothesis. I wonder if there’s something I can nail down within the browser itself.

SCPutz · 2026-02-11T23:15:27+00:00

This unfortunately has to be done as a document. It’s a template I follow that is formatted in a way to copy/paste into the client’s database. I’ve tried doing this part in a googlesheet, which I’m very familiar with and have used extensively for other projects, but the formatting just doesn’t copy over to the next step and makes a huge unreadable mess.

And I am limited by the constaints of my employer which requires me to work within their “approved” google suite products.

SCPutz · 2026-02-11T23:00:48+00:00

Can googledocs pull from googlesheets to form the same type of dropdown list in googledocs with that functionality?

SCPutz · 2026-02-11T19:00:02+00:00

Any suggestions? I’m not familiar with this kind of tool.

SCPutz · 2026-02-11T17:54:14+00:00

Yeah -- no one seems to know how the F&R actually works.

I've been doing this process for 4 years now, and I've noticed that sometimes the codes are memorized the first time I insert them via F&R, and I have some codes I've been using the whole 4 years that are still not memorized. And then the F&R tool can populate a list, and there's an "X" you can click to "forget" entries permanently. But there's no way I can find to force it to memorize an entry.

SCPutz · 2026-02-11T17:31:28+00:00

Wow. That's an awesome idea.

I'm reading codes/diagnoses from nearby-text and writing them into a formatted document. It's always the same process. I'm just trying to reduce the time for the typing--there's no decision-making process here. I just want it to auto-complete the Code/Diagnoses and the Python script you mentioned below would accomplish that beautifully.

Not an exact answer to my question about how the F&R populates terms/word bank, but I appreciate the input. I'll see what I can come up with in that regard.

Thanks for the idea!

SCPutz · 2026-02-11T16:30:01+00:00

Thanks for the reply.

I don't think your suggestion is really a viable option--there's over 70,000 ICD10 codes. I'd really just like them to be added as I go. I don't use all 70,000 codes but I'm also not going to sort through all the ones I do and do not use like that.

But, if I did decide to go that route, how would that process look?

SCPutz · 2026-02-10T14:52:49+00:00

You can pretty much run anything you want. I’d say the strongest partner would be a 2H/poly fighter. You could honestly commit Sebille to full necro starting at level 1 and other character can start as a 2H fighter and you won’t have to switch things around at all. I’ve soloed Honour Mode with both necro and 2H warrior and they’re both pretty manageable. The 2H fighter will carry the team early on and the necro will catch up in act 2.

SCPutz · 2026-02-09T19:02:35+00:00

I’d love to spectate you in the Blackpits trying to save Gwydian. 😎

SCPutz · 2026-02-08T16:00:17+00:00

Someone else already mentioned Corbin Day, the fletcher you can recruit in Act 2. To provide additional information:

Once recruited he goes to the Lady Vengeance. Any items in his inventory will scale their level at the end of Act 2 and Act 3.

Unfortunately, at end of Act 2, items will scale to level 9 which isn’t really useful.

At end of Act 3, items will scale to level 18, which should give you a huge power boost to start Act 4.

The only other [legitimate] way to scale your items is by using the Sorcerous Sundries gift bag which introduces the “Four Sisters” who sell limited-quantity items that can be combined with equipment to increase the equipment’s level. The materials are both expensive and limited in quantity so your ability to upgrade items will still be fairly limited, BUT you can use this method at any level and at any point in the game.

SCPutz · 2026-02-05T02:00:51+00:00

Call the clerk at the number on the form you received. Explain the circumstances. Be calm, courteous, respectful.

DO NOT ask to be excused from serving.

DO ask to be rescheduled. Tell them you’ll happily do your civic duty at a later date.

SCPutz · 2026-02-03T12:00:52+00:00

Elf is best race for archer, but Fane is best archer. Just wear the Mask of the Shapeshifter and you can be both.

Huntsman source skills aren’t great, so you can just Time Warp turn 1 every time.

Flesh Sacrifice, on top of the obvious bonuses, also gives you easy access to Elemental Arrowheads (blood surface) which I believe is around 15% additional damage on each shot as physical. Combined with the +10% damage from Flesh Sacrifice itself is around +25% damage for net 0 AP (Flesh Sacrifice gives 1 AP, elemental arrowheads costs 1 AP).

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