Your character build in Disco Elysium dictates how you’ll play through the game. These beginning stats will determine which actions you can take early on, and the max cap for your skills. There are three pre-builds you can select from before you start the game: thinker, sensitive, or physical. However, you can also begin Disco Elysium with a custom build of your own construction.With how much influence your stats have over the way the game plays out, you’ll probably want to get the best build for Disco Elysium to get the most out of your experience. However, there are some caveats to creating your character that you’ll want to keep in mind.
What’s the best character build for Disco Elysium?
If you choose to make a custom build in Disco Elysium, you’ll be taken to a screen where you can adjust your starting ability scores. Each of the four abilities, Intellect, Psyche, Physique, and Motorics, max out at six points. You’re given 12 points to spread between the 4 abilities in any way you choose.
The ability points you spend aren’t important in and of themselves. How they influence your skills is. So, if you spend three points in Intellect, for example, each of the six Intellect skills, Logic, Encyclopedia, Rhetoric, Drama, Conceptualization, and Visual Calculus, will all start at three.
Ability points also influence the max learning cap for each skill. So, with the same example as above, you could potentially add a max of three points to each skill during the course of the game as you level up. Additionally, you can choose a Signature Skill that adds a +1 to both the skill level and its learning cap.
There’s no one skill that stands out in Disco Elysium as being checked more often than the others. The game will put all 24 to the test, so you can’t just dump your points in one or two abilities and coast through. If you want to have the most options available to you, go with a completely average build:
- Intellect: 3
- Psyche: 3
- Physique: 3
- Motorics: 3
This build gives you a solid foundation in every skill, and you can augment those you find most important by equipping items or internalizing thoughts. You should have a decent chance at passing most early checks, and if they’re too hard, you can easily raise them.
What’s the real best build for Disco Elysium?
Disco Elysium is all about role-playing, so even though the build above will give you the best chance to pass the most checks, it’s not necessarily the best way to play. To enjoy this game to the fullest you should choose stats which you think will make for the most entertaining playthrough. Here’s a few Disco Elysium build ideas that make the game fun without concentrating on simply passing checks.
Use stats that represent yourself
While The Cop is his own character and not just a reflection of the player’s will, you can personalize him a bit by giving him stats that reflect yourself. By doing this, you can select choices that you would make if you were in The Cop’s shoes. This is entertaining because you can see how you would fair in the seedy environment of Martinaise.
Sherlock Holmes Disco Elysium build
So, you want to channel some Benedict Cumberbatch into The Cop? Try out the following stats:
- Intellect: 5
- Psyche: 2
- Physique: 4
- Motorics: 1
- Signature Skill: Perception
With this build you’ll have high logic and conceptualisation, but low empathy and interaction skills. This, coupled with a high Electrochemistry (Sherlock does love his drugs), should let you be a cold but effective detective.
What builds have you tried? Let us know below in the comments.
