A lot of really good tips here but I'll emphasize the ones I found most useful:
The ranger build @justin258outlined is insanely OP. It starts peaking around Act 2 (a lot of OP builds take a little longer than that) and scales well into the endgame from there. It is the supreme physical damage dealer in the game and can even support with magical damage of any type via clever use of elemtal arrows. For more info I highly recommend these guides - though they might be a tad confusing / overwhelming depending on how familiar you already are with the game.
Every character needs a mobility spell (Tactical Retreat, Phoenix Dive) or ideally 2 or 3. These are easy to "splash" into any build as their skill requirements are typically low.
(Almost) every character needs Skin Graft - it is single-handedly the best spell in the game. The value drops slightly for characters using their default attacks more than spells. Every character needs the easy to "splash" spell Adrenaline. You'll be surprised how useful it is.
One character needs Thievery especially to steal all those precious skill tomes (except if you're against it RP-wise). One character should have Persuasion for dialogue options, though it is not strictly neccessary. One character should have the perk Pet Pal for additional dialogues and quests.
For relative newcomers I recommend a split magic / physical damage party to be most flexible. Raw physical is generally a little more universally powerful but I find it a little boring and it will struggle in a few fights with high physical resistance enemies. Especially with a "flex" character that can output both types of damage (e.g. the ranger build or a Hydrosophy / Necromancy cleric-type build) splitting damage types this is a pretty safe way to build your party.
Fane and Sebille are the most powerful companions simply due to Fane's unqiue source skill (Time Warp) and Sebille's racial ability (Flesh Sacrifice). Both their questlines are also pretty cool. My favorite companion is Lohse for her personal quest. Her source skill is niche but powerful. It is worth considering taking one character of the starting two without an origin story. That way you get the unique source skill Dome of Protection. It's a great "get out of jail free" card when you're still learning the game. Once you know what you're doing however, it becomes relatively useless. Beginning during Act 2 the game is all about raw alpha strike damage, followed by high-powered CC - rinse and repeat. Talking about Tactician difficulty since I don't play the permadeath "Honour mode" (technically the highest difficulty).
With that wall of text: hope you enjoy. DOS2 is a fantastic coop tactical combat game. Not an amazing CRPG in the traditional sense but awesome at what it does.
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