Dragon’s Dogma 2: 13 Things I Wish I’d Known Before Starting

Dragon’s Dogma 2 is an overwhelmingly massive RPG filled with places to explore and characters to meet. Despite some tutorials sprinkled throughout the Capcom title, the game doesn’t hold your hand. We discovered some useful tips and tricks during our Dragon’s Dogma 2 playthrough that all new Arisen should know.

Carry Weight Is the Most Important Thing

As you explore the world, you’ll come across tons of useful items. Foodstuffs, equipment, weapons, treasure, and more await you. If you don’t want to miss out on helpful goodies, you’ll need to ensure that you have the space and strength to carry them. Your Pawns can also carry anything you may not have room for, but they can also become easily encumbered by too much weight.

Note

Your character’s starting carry weight capacity depends on their build. The bulkier the character, the more they can carry. Making the largest character you can and selecting the Fighter vocation will give you the largest capacity at the start of the game.

Find Gold Trove Beetles around the world and use them to permanently increase your carry weight. In the starting town of Melve, you can also purchase the Ring of Accrual from Runne’s Apothecary for 6,500G to boost your max carry weight limit. For every fifth level your character reaches, they will increase their carry capacity by a small amount as well.

Don’t Throw Away Rotten Food

This is one of the tips that may sound strange after remarking on the importance of carry weight and keeping your inventory clear of anything unnecessary in Dragon’s Dogma 2. However, rotten food isn’t as useless as it seems. Combining two rotten food items will reward you with free Lantern Oil. 

Exploring the world at night is impossible without Lantern Oil for your portable light source. Terrible beasts lurk in the wilderness after the sun falls, so don’t just toss those moldy turnips.

It’s Okay to Run Away

Unlike tons of other RPGs, Dragon’s Dogma 2‘s map isn’t delineated into specific level-friendly areas. After fighting some laughably weak Goblins, you might be ambushed by a Griffin or chased by a high-level Ogre.

Standing your ground may seem like a heroic and admirable thing to do. Unfortunately, the game reduces your maximum health when you get knocked out or take a large amount of damage. Being stuck in the wilderness without a place to camp and with a smidgeon of health is the last thing you want, so learn when to fight and when to flee.

Unlocking Vocations Also Unlocks Free Gear

When starting Dragon’s Dogma 2, you’ll be asked to select a Vocation—or class. However, this choice isn’t permanent. You’re free to change your Vocation at any time by visiting a Vocation Guild in either an Inn or a major city.

It only costs 100 Discipline to unlock a new Vocation. Discipline is earned by completing quests and defeating enemies. Upon unlocking the Vocation of your choice, you’ll instantly find new gear in your inventory. Keep this in mind before spending your hard-earned gold!

Save Your Game at Inns Often

Often, you’ll find yourself far away from a settlement and in desperate need of rest and relaxation. While camping is a free way to regain your health, you’ll want to stay at a proper Inn whenever you have the chance.

The game only allows you to have two save files per account: one auto-save file and one Inn rest file. Spending the night at an Inn creates an alternate save file that you can reload at any time. If you’re about to take on a tough quest or fight a dangerous enemy, be sure to save at an Inn to ensure that you can resume from your last Inn save if things go sideways.

Keep On Top of Your Pawns’ Inventories

As you explore, you can pop items into your Pawns’ inventories. You can also take things out at will. This can be incredibly useful when you find yourself over-encumbered or if you’d like to keep things more organized. Your followers will also pick up interesting trinkets on their own, so you may find some surprises in their packs from time to time.

However, as you level up and become stronger, you’ll start swapping out your weaker Pawns for stronger ones. When preparing to swap out a Pawn, don’t forget to remove anything you need from their inventory. Once you bid farewell to a Pawn, you can also say goodbye to all the good stuff they were carrying.

You Need a Mage

While you’re free to hire any Pawns you’d like and change your own Vocation at any time, one thing cannot be overstated: having a magic user in your party is absolutely necessary at all times. 

Not only can mages heal you and your other party members, but they can also imbue your weapons with a particular element. Here’s another of our hot tips: many enemies in Dragon’s Dogma 2 can only be wounded by elemental attacks. As such, without a bit of spellcasting, you won’t make a dent.

Get to Vernworth ASAP

When greeted with such a huge open world to explore, it’s tempting to ignore the main questline and start unpacking what the wilds have to offer. However, visiting the city of Vernworth early in the game is a good idea if you want to free up as much space in your inventory as possible.

In this sweeping city, you’re able to unlock item storage at the Inn. Items in storage don’t rot over time and are shared across all storage containers. Additionally, when upgrading items at the Smithy, materials can be pulled straight from your storage. (Feel free to keep exploring and picking up as much loot as you can carry after unlocking this handy service!)

The Diviner Can Help You Solve Quests

It’s easy to get bogged down with side quests and exploration. So much so that the game’s main quest may fall by the wayside. If you’re unsure of where to go or what to do next, the Diviner can help you.

Between the Merchant Quarter, the Noble Quarter, and the Slums in the main city of Vernworth, you’ll find the Diviner’s Salon. Here, you can pay 50G to discover where you need to go next to progress your current main quest. No matter the time of day, Ursula will be there. She’s always ready to use her powers to lead you on the correct path.

Do Timed Quests First

In many games, quests are available permanently until you take the time to complete them. This isn’t the case in Dragon’s Dogma 2, as some quests are only available for an extremely limited time, so the tip here is to do them first! You’ll fail them if they aren’t completed quickly, which can lead to unexpected lore consequences.

To figure out whether a new quest is timed or not, check the quest menu and look for an hourglass symbol to the right of the quest title. If you find one, you had better move quickly!

You Can Unlock a Free Home Almost Immediately

As mentioned above, staying at an Inn is important if you want to create a save before running headfirst into danger. But did you know that you can buy a house to avoid the hefty nightly fee?

Once in Vernworth, head behind the Stardrop Inn to trigger a quest called ‘A Place to Call Home.’ You’ll meet a woman named Mildred, who will offer her house to you for a week while she travels. If you accept her proposal, check your map and head to the house icon. After one week, Mildred will return and state her intentions to become a permanent traveler.

You can purchase the home outright for 20,000G. Don’t worry if you don’t have the funds just yet. The deal stays on the table if you return to Mildred later.

You Can Earn Rift Crystals Offline

Hiring a new Pawn of equal or lower level to yourself is free, but if you want to add someone more powerful to your party, you need to use Rift Crystals. This rare currency is also used to change your appearance, as well as the appearance of your main Pawn if you wish to do so.

While the most well-known way to earn Rift Crystals is by completing Pawn Quests from other players online, there are some easy ways to earn even more on your own. Resting at an official Inn will reward you with Rift Crystals when you awaken. Killing Phantom-type enemies at night can also line your pockets with RC. Furthermore, some treasure chests contain large amounts of the stuff. Keep your eyes open while exploring!

It’s Possible to Heal Yourself Mid-Death

Usually, taking critical damage results in an instant game over. In Dragon’s Dogma 2, you can dodge death’s door at the last minute through some quick menu navigation—how’s that for a life-saving tip?

After taking fatal damage, pause the game immediately and use as many health items as possible. As long as you heal yourself before the dreaded death screen appears, you’ll survive. You can also pause and heal mid-attack, which saved our lives more times than we can count. (That’s probably not something the Arisen should admit.)

Much like real life, many aspects of Dragon’s Dogma 2 are obscure and can only be uncovered by exploration and trial and error—unless you have some tips! Spending enough time as the Arisen is key to discovering how to solve problems and find your way forward, but we hope we saved you a few headaches. The open world isn’t so daunting when you know how best to approach it.