Dragon’s Dogma 2 beginner’s guide: The best tips for getting started

Dragon’s Dogma 2, one of the most important gaming highlights of 2024, will be released on March 22. The unconventional action RPG has already impressed us in our review. However, there are a few things to bear in mind when entering the dangerous fantasy world for the first time. Our Dragon’s Dogma 2 beginner’s guide provides useful tips and tricks.

The choice of class is not final

At the beginning of the game, as in any good role-playing game, you will be faced with the choice of a class. Fighter, archer, mage and thief are initially available to choose from, with six more professions added later.

Which of these you choose depends primarily on your playing preferences. However, it is important to note that this choice is not fixed. You can change class at any time in Dragon’s Dogma 2. Simply visit a career guild in the game to choose other careers.

Tip: You can also level up additional career paths. This is worthwhile as it unlocks useful passive talents. And these can also be used in other classes. The fighter’s “muscle power”, for example, is useful for all classes, as you can carry more items with you.

• Read more: Dragon’s Dogma 2 Class Guide – All vocations in detail

Choose a suitable minion

Every character in Dragon’s Dogma 2 also has a main minion. The minions in the game are companion characters that are controlled by the CPU and support you in and out of battle. Your main minion accompanies you throughout the game, also increases in level and can be improved with new abilities.

Make sure that the minion’s vocation matches yours. For example, it makes little sense if you both roam the countryside as fighters. If you are playing a ranged combat class such as a mage or archer, it is advisable to train the minion as a fighter who attacks enemies in close combat and takes damage.

Conversely, mages and archers are suitable as minions if you play the fighter or thief yourself. Mages are particularly useful as they can also heal you.

Unlock new skills and improvements

As you play Dragon’s Dogma 2, you will receive experience points (for example, for defeating enemies and completing quests). These automatically improve your attributes. But wait: you have to buy new skills and abilities manually. This is done at the career guild.

These cost a certain amount of DP and are permanently unlocked for the rest of the game. So if you’re wondering why you still only have one attack after 5-10 hours of play and even harmless mobs are knocking you off your feet… you should pay the guild a visit. This applies not only to you, but also to your main minion.

Swap minions regularly

While your main minion rises in level and becomes stronger, this does not apply to the two additional minions that you can recruit and invite into your party. These remain at the level at which you recruited them. So if you don’t want to run around with a level 3 companion at level 20 (I really can’t recommend that), you should release the little helpers from time to time and provide high-level replacements.

This not only increases your chances of success in battle, but also proves useful because other players’ minions sometimes bring secrets, treasure chests and much more from their world to yours. So always mix up your party.

Weight, payload and gold beetles

In Dragon’s Dogma 2, your weight has a huge impact on your stamina and mobility, which can often make the difference between victory and defeat in battles. If you are heavily laden, you will run out of breath after just a few attacks, while evasive maneuvers become almost impossible.

So don’t just make sure you regularly store items you don’t need in the inn, but simply increase your load capacity. There are three ways to do this: Firstly, you can find rings with which you can increase your load. Then there is the aforementioned “muscle power” ability of the fighter.

And, most importantly, the gold beetles that you can find all over the game world. These can be used in the inventory and increase the load capacity by 150 grams per beetle. It doesn’t sound like much, but it has a huge impact when used in bulk.

Use the inn and plan your journey

If you suddenly go out into the world and hope to complete mission after mission, you won’t get far in Dragon’s Dogma 2. If you lose life energy in battle, you can heal some of it with potions and food. However, the bar will only fill up completely if you spend the night in an inn or set up camp in the countryside (the latter is rarely possible at the beginning due to the high weight costs of the camp kit).

And since it makes no sense to go on a dangerous mission with half a life bar, you should return to the towns regularly and recover at the inn.

You should also always plan your journeys well. As there is only a limited fast travel system, you sometimes have to cover long distances to get from mission A to mission B. So the same applies here: Always take a break in between.

Combine your items

Time is an important system in Dragon’s Dogma 2. It can block or clear paths, spawn huge bosses or… destroy your valuable healing items. Fruit and meat in particular, which you can use for healing, spoil very quickly and can therefore no longer be used.

However, you can combine these items and produce dried fruit or meat, for example, which is non-perishable and cannot break. Use this as early as possible if you don’t want to run around with useless rotten apples in your inventory.

Reach high places: Here’s how

Very early on in the game, you will discover treasure chests and the like that are located so high up on rocks that you simply cannot reach them by jumping. This is where your minions can help you:

Fighters and warriors have an ability that allows them to catapult you into the air. This allows you to reach particularly high places that you wouldn’t be able to reach on your own. Simply select the “Go!” command at the appropriate point and your helpers will get into position to catapult you upwards.

Defeat boss monsters: Pay attention to the weak points

Normal goblins, harpies or highwaymen that get in your way are quickly dispatched. But Dragon’s Dogma 2 is characterized by the huge boss monsters, which are sometimes three to four times your size and roam freely through the open game world.

Whether griffin, ogre, dragon or golem: all boss monsters have one or more weak points that make them particularly vulnerable. Of course, you have to find these first. If you succeed, these epic battles – despite lasting a good 10-15 minutes – become child’s play.

Tip: During encounters, also pay attention to whether there are any NPCs and other minions in the vicinity. They will intervene in the fight if it takes place in their vicinity. This significantly reduces the level of difficulty.

Keep your eyes peeled for Seeker Medallions

Seeker Medallions are a very special collector’s item in Dragon’s Dogma 2. 240 of them are scattered throughout the game world and can often be found in remote locations. You can hand them in to the career guild and receive a powerful reward for doing so when you reach a certain number – including armor, rings and much more.

Tip: The “Illusionist” vocation has an ability that makes it easier to track down nearby seeker medallions.