Our top 10 Dragon's Dogma 2 tips for getting started

GamesRPGDragon’s Dogma 2Our top 10 Dragon’s Dogma 2 tips for getting startedWhen you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.

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(Image credit: Capcom)

Dragon�s Dogma 2 tips

Dragon’s Dogma 2is a dense, complex game. And it’s absolutely massive. While tutorial messages provide a lot of important information, and can be read whenever you want from the History section found in the main menu, it can still be tough to keep track of everything you’re meant to know. And there’s a lot more than you’re never really told.

To make the early moments a bit less baffling, we’ve put together a series of tips that should help get you started—things we wished we knew when we were novice Arisen. And you’ll be able to find plenty more guides from us across the coming days.

Recruit new pawns frequently

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Dragon’s Dogma 2 tips - Pawns

This will cost you extra RC if you do it through a Riftstone, but if you locate one of the Forgotten Riftstones that grants you a higher level unique pawn, you’ll get a free recruit.

Fraser Brown, Online Editor:Don’t forget to favourite any pawns you really dig. And if you’ve had a lovely time with a pawn, it’s good manners to send them away with a nice gift to thank their owner for raising such a wonderful companion. I personally like golden trove beetles. I always need more carrying capacity!

Look out for golden trove beetles

(Image credit: Capcom)

Dragon’s Dogma 2 tips - Golden Trove Beetle

Use the “Go!” command to turn pawns into guides

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Dragon’s Dogma 2 tips - Running down a path

Fraser:Pawns will often tell you about cave entrances, riftstones and treasure in the vicinity, because they love to help. They’ll both mark these points of interest on your map and point you in the general direction, but you can also make them take you directly to these locations using pawn commands.

Telling a pawn to “Go!” after they’ve just informed you about something worth checking out will make them jog off in that direction—don’t worry, they’ll wait for you if you get too far behind. And also get a bit snooty if you decide to stop following them.

Beginner tips: Arise ArisenDragon’s Dogma 2 fast travel: Take an ox cartHow to start a new game:Start againDragon’s Dogma 2 pawns:Build your partyHow to change appearance: Makeover

Beginner tips
Dragon’s Dogma 2 fast travel
How to start a new game
Dragon’s Dogma 2 pawns
How to change appearance

Beginner tips: Arise ArisenDragon’s Dogma 2 fast travel: Take an ox cartHow to start a new game:Start againDragon’s Dogma 2 pawns:Build your partyHow to change appearance: Makeover

(Image credit: Capcom)

Dragon’s Dogma 2 tips - Quest guide

Morgan Park, Staff Writer:When shopping for pawns in the rift, keep an eye on the box called “Quest Guide”. This’ll tell you if the pawn is capable of guiding you to the destination of your current priority quest. Early in the story, this’ll probably be most of the pawns you meet. Issuing a “Go” command outside of combat gives the guiding pawn the green light to take the lead. Having an experienced Warrior in my party came in handy when I had tofind Ulrika.

Fraser:When you start a quest, pawns already in your party will also chime in with quest advice if they know what to do. Or they’ll have some thoughts on who to recruit. When I was looking for grimoires, one of my pawns advised me to recruit a Mage to help out, and that worked out nicely.

Try throwing your pawns where you can’t go

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Dragon’s Dogma 2 tips - Throwing a pawn

Morgan:Travelling the road, you’ll occasionally find treasure chests and would-up ladders at the top of cliffs you can’t reach.Youcan’t reach them, but one of your pawns might be able with the proper motivation. Grab your most throwable companion, get as high up as possible, take aim, and see if you can arc the throw up the ledge. Edges are often good enough—pawns can hoist themselves up if necessary. Alternatively, there’s a Fighter ability, Launchboard, that sends pawns higher and farther.

Fraser:Launchboard is handy, especially when you can’t quite reach a ledge with a pawn toss, but sometimes it can be hard to get your aim just right. Tossing a pawn has a bigger arc, but Launchboard is more vertical. Another option is using the Mage and Sorcerer core skill, Levitate. Obviously this doesn’t help non-spellcasters, but changing your vocation is a doddle.

Don’t be afraid to switch up your vocation

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Dragon’s Dogma 2 tips - Changing vocation

Switching vocations is a great way to try out different playstyles and better understand what each one brings to a fight. There’s a more direct benefit, too: gaining ranks in a vocation unlocks new augments, which are passive buffs you can equip no matter what vocation you’re currently using. That means that your Fighter build can, for example, benefit from a strength boost augment gained from playing as a Thief.

And remember you can do the same with your main pawn too—it’s just as easy and beneficial to let them try different vocations, and you can always recruit new pawns at a riftstone to keep your party’s mix of classes balanced.

Fraser:If you decide to go for the Warfarer vocation, which you probably won’t unlock until you’re pretty far into the game, having experience in lots of different vocations is key. This Arisen-specific class effectively combines all of them, letting you equip every weapon and piece of gear, as well as giving you access to every weapon skill and core skill that you’ve unlocked.

Get a Dragon’s Gaze ASAP

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Dragon’s Dogma 2 - Captain Brant in the tavern

Fraser:Wakestones are among Dragon’s Dogma 2’s most precious items. You’re going to die a bunch, but these little rocks ensure that you’ll be back up and fighting fit in a split second. When you resurrect, you come back with a full health bar and all of your stamina, and you’ll have lost any negative effects you had previously.

You’ll usually find fragments of these stones, and once you have three you can combine them and finally take advantage of their restorative powers. They can be hidden anywhere, though. In dungeons, hidden under beds, in chests. A device that points you to their location would be handy, right? Good news: such a device exists.

There are various ways to get a Dragon’s Gaze, which can be used to reveal fragments on the map, but the simplest way is to do quests for Captain Brant, who you meet the moment you arrive in Vernworth. This is one of the handiest rewards in the game, and getting it early on makes your life so much easier.

Rest often

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Dragon’s Dogma 2 tips - Camping

Tyler Colp, Associate Editor:The early hours of Dragon’s Dogma 2 can be painful if you aren’t prepared. Trips outside the capital city can go from calm to perilous in seconds, and the penalty for dying is the long trek back to where you were. Prioritize looting anything you find—even if it means having to go back and stuff items into your storage—so that you have enough gold to rest at inns regularly.

Your maximum health will drop as you take severe damage, and it can’t be healed back without resting. Make sure you rest before chasing down your next quest objective or you might find yourself fighting a cyclops with only half of your total health available. Inns are also where you can manage your storage.

Fraser:Resting frequently is essential, but I actually avoidedinnsmost of the time. The cost of using them is high, especially when you’re just starting out, and aside from being able to access your storage they don’t have many benefits over camping out in the wilderness. You can also change your skills at a camp, which you can’t do in most inns, unless the inn doubles as a Vocation Guild.

You can still use magic even if you’re not a Mage or Sorcerer

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Dragon’s Dogma 2 tips - Magic

Fraser:There’s nothing more fun than jumping onto a monster and repeatedly stabbing it, but Mages and Sorcerers are the vocations with truly godlike powers. If you want a taste of magical shenanigans, but aren’t quite ready to change your vocations, there’s a solution.

Grimoires can be found all over the place that let you cast magic (though only once) even if you’re not using the correct vocation. They’re great for getting out of a pickle or taking advantage of an enemy’s weakness if you don’t have a spellcaster in your party.

Some of these grimoires are connected to a couple of quests relating to extra-powerful Sorcerer and Mage spells, but you’ll know which ones these are because they’ll show up in the Valuables tab of your inventory, while the rest can be found in the Implements section.

Dry your food before it rots

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Dragon’s Dogma 2 tips - Drying food

Sean:That fancy beast steak you just picked up is going to rot before long—unless you turn it into a tasty meal for your camp pawns. Combining fruit, meat, and fish in your inventory lets you create dried versions of those items that won’t degrade. When you combine those with herbs you can also craft many of the powerfulroboranthealing items you sometimes need to rely on when you’re getting kicked about. Even if your meat and vegetables do rot, you can always combine them to create spare lantern oil.

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Recruit new pawns frequently#

Look out for golden trove beetles#

Use the “Go!” command to turn pawns into guides#

Try throwing your pawns where you can’t go#

Don’t be afraid to switch up your vocation#

Get a Dragon’s Gaze ASAP#

Rest often#

You can still use magic even if you’re not a Mage or Sorcerer#

Dry your food before it rots#

The biggest gaming news, reviews and hardware deals#

Recruit new pawns frequently

Look out for golden trove beetles

Use the “Go!” command to turn pawns into guides

Try throwing your pawns where you can’t go

Don’t be afraid to switch up your vocation

Get a Dragon’s Gaze ASAP

Rest often

You can still use magic even if you’re not a Mage or Sorcerer

Dry your food before it rots

The biggest gaming news, reviews and hardware deals