Divinity: Original Sin 2 is one of my favourite RPGs, a sprawling world full of intricate questlines and mind-bending combat. But that doesn’t mean it can’t be even better with a few clever tweaks. With that in mind, I’ve picked out some of the best Divinity: Original Sin 2 mods out there, ready and waiting to enhance your adventures – read on for blood-spewing vampires, bright blue dwarves, magic cheating elves, and more.
How to install Divinity: Original Sin 2 mods
It’s incredibly easy to install and try out Divinity: Original Sin 2 mods for yourself. If you own the game on Steam, just head into the Steam Workshop (opens in new tab) from the game’s page in your library, and click ‘Subscribe’ on the mods you want.
If you purchased the game from GOG, or you’re on Steam but want to use a mod that’s not available on the Workshop, it’s a slightly more fiddly process, but still shouldn’t prove too much of a challenge. You’ll want to head to Nexus Mods (opens in new tab), download the ones you want, and extract them using a RAR or ZIP extraction tool. You’ll then need to drag the ‘Data’ folder to the right location – the mod’s description should tell you where it needs to go.
Once your mods are downloaded and installed, load up the game and click on ‘Mods’ in the menu. Here you can select which mods you want active, and choose which order they load up in – important if, for example, one of your mods needs another to be running in order to function.
And that’s it – you’re ready to go! So without further ado, here are the best of the best Divinity: Original Sin 2 mods.
Look fabulous
Mods: Character Creation Plus (opens in new tab), More Character Colours (opens in new tab)
By default, the character creator doesn’t have a huge amount of options – especially if you decide to make a non-human character – which is why one of our favourite Divinity: Original Sin 2 mods is Character Creation Plus. It adds a huge selection of new faces, hairstyles, masks, and accessories to customise your look, allowing you to craft a far more distinctive character. You’ll also want to grab More Character Colours, which… well, it does exactly what it says on the tin, providing a host of new hues for your hair and skin. Want to play through the game as a bright blue, demonic dwarf wearing a wolf’s head as a hat? With these two handy Divinity: Original Sin 2 mods, you can.
Unleash new abilities
Mods: Spectre Class (opens in new tab), Vampire Class (opens in new tab)
One of the coolest things mods can add to the game is whole new classes. These can really make your latest playthrough feel fresh, by introducing a suite of custom spells, abilities, and mechanics to either dedicate your character to, or mix and match with other builds.
One of our favourites is the Spectre, a soul-draining wizard who cripples foes with dark curses and damage-over-time effects. If you fancy a walk on the dark side, it’s the perfect pick – when your main source of damage is stacking ‘Agony’ on foes, you know you’re not one of the goodies. And it even introduces a new weapon type to the game, scythes, for the complete Grim Reaper experience. Just make sure you grab OdinCore – Mod Services (opens in new tab) too and set it to load first – this package is required to run the Spectre, as well as creator Odinblade’s many other excellent class mods.
And if that’s not sinister enough for you, why not try the Vampire? This class’s gorily creative spells will turn you into a walking horror movie, letting you summon swarms of bats, hypnotise foes, vomit up torrents of cursed blood, and more. Weirdly, you can even impale your enemies with wooden stakes, which must feel pretty cathartic for your average bloodsucker. Again, for this one to work, you’ll need to install another mod too – in this case, Helaene – Shared Library (opens in new tab), which is required to run all of creator Helaene’s class mods.
Add atmosphere
Mod: Sim’s Day & Night Cycle (opens in new tab)
There’s loads to find in Divinity: Original Sin 2’s world, but at times it does feel a little static. That’s where Sim’s Day & Night Cycle comes in – as you’d expect, it adds a dynamic day/night cycle, but it also includes random weather effects, allowing spontaneous rain and fog to add life to your adventures. You’ll even find fireflies buzzing around on dark nights. The changes may seem subtle, but it’s amazing how much more atmospheric they make the game feel.
Expand your crafting
Mod: Crafting Overhaul (opens in new tab)
The base game’s crafting system, though versatile, more often than not feels like a bit too much effort for too little reward. If you’re keen to have more reasons to get your blacksmith on, Crafting Overhaul is the mod for you, both refining the existing mechanics and hugely expanding on them. With extra recipes across every category, armour dyeing for the fashion-conscious, unique new gear, and more unusual additions such as skillbooks that allow you to befriend animal companions, and a shrine that levels up your favourite items in exchange for gold bars, you’ll find yourself spending hours at your crafting stations tweaking your inventory. This is one of those Divinity: Original Sin 2 mods that isn’t for everybody, but if you love a bit of DIY in your RPGs, it’s essential.
Boost your talents
Mods: Enhanced Talents (opens in new tab), Free Pet Pal (opens in new tab)
The Enhanced Talents mod is great for giving some of the game’s weedier talents a much needed boost. While some are simply number tweaks, buffing the talent’s existing effects, others add whole new bonuses to give your combats more variety. Leech, for example, now grants a chance to steal buffs from your enemies, while Parry Master makes you immune to being flanked.
I’d recommend pairing this one with Free Pet Pal. Any series fan will know Pet Pal is practically an essential talent, opening up loads of hilarious dialogues and side-quests by allowing you to talk to animals. This mod unlocks it automatically on all of your characters, freeing up precious points for more combat-oriented perks.
Cheat your way to victory
Mod: The Cheat Commander (opens in new tab)
While cheat codes in games may be a thing of the past these days, mods can help fill the void. The Cheat Commander is a brilliant all-purpose tool, allowing you to give your character pretty much whatever you want at the click of a mouse. It works by dropping a magical elf into your game who’s happy to bend reality to your whim whenever you chat to him. Whether you’re after more gold, high level items, bonus XP, skill books, attribute points, or really anything else you can think of, your new best friend has got it, making this the perfect mod for anyone who wants to try out new builds, tweak the game’s difficulty, or, y’know, just enjoy beating the final boss in one punch. No judgement here.
Skip ahead
Mods: Skip Tutorial (opens in new tab), Joyless Beginnings – Skip Act 1 (opens in new tab)
A lot of these Divinity: Original Sin 2 mods are going to require you to start a new save, and chances are you don’t want to have to play through the tutorial every time. The straightforwardly-named Skip Tutorial is your friend, allowing you to start your game on the beach after the shipwreck, with all the XP, recipes, and gold you would’ve gotten. With Joyless Beginnings you can jump even further, skipping the entire first act – perfect for if you’ve had enough of prison escapes and Source-suppressing collars.
Get around faster
Mod: Toggle Sprint (opens in new tab)
With how big the game world is, and how much backtracking you’re likely to do through it looking for quests and treasures you might have missed, the default walking speed can feel a little slow. Toggle Sprint adds some much needed pep to your step with a toggleable speed boost. Thanks to its customisable options, it’s up to you how quick you want to be, and you can also choose how fast enemies move too – crank their speed up, and you’ll find there’s far less waiting around in battles, saving you even more time. Time you can spend downloading even more Divinity: Original Sin 2 mods…
Hungry for more mods? Check out the best No Man’s Sky mods for making the game look, and play, even better (opens in new tab) or the 36 best Skyrim mods you should download on Xbox One, PS4 and PC (opens in new tab)