Dragon's Dogma Thread

[Dwlr]

I honestly think that Warrior is a pure BS class be it for a PC or a pawn, it's slow, only three skill, all are bad.

Sorcerer is awesome, but not really as pawn. Seriously, they only spam the wrong spell ! So I feel like a it's more like a PC class, but I don't like using it so.

Ranger is my mind, he best class of the game, it has everything the Strider had, but even better, and those delicious explosive arrows !

Hybrid class were all interesting, Assassin was my favorite class, love the skills, Assassinate, Sword, the style, everything, though objectively, Ranger is still better imo..

Magic Knight keep the slowness of a Fighter, but bring massive advantage, such as freaking Holy Cannon. Magic Archer is the same, but even better as it have only good things, imo.

Warriors are playable as Arisen and they're growths are good for early game even if their HP pool is of little to no help in the end it's a nice beginner class next to the Fighter.

Sorcerer pawns tend to only spam the wrong skill if they have the high versions of skills and can't cast the right one in time they eventually settle for casting what they can get off which is usually Ingle or Comestion since even high relative to the other skills their cast time is short. They enjoy Brontide if you keep it as normal, but that's one of the better skills even if it puts them in a bit of danger. Sorcerers have a higher level of skills with Maelstrom and Seism, but Seism is useful only against large enemies, but immortality > higher damage IMO so Mage > Sorcerer.

Ranger better than Strider? That's honestly a joke. Ranger stat gains are prolly better, but nothing can beat the damage of the Strider's Dagger skills, you were using Biting Wind instead of Helm Splitter it sounds like, if you had used Helm Splitter then you'd see no other skill from any other class can compete with it's damage especially if you jump and use it for the additional 30% damage from their augment. The Ranger is my favorite class, but they by far they're the 'worst' bow class, they don't gain survivability for early game and for late game they pale compared to the Assassin's stats gain. Strider has the skill advantages and about analogous stat gains. The in terms of bow skills nothing beats 10-fold arrow at a distance for damage, but the Strider and Assassin are equivalent considering their 5-fold can do the exact same thing and they aren't relegated to harassing dagger attacks and thousand kisses. (or taking a huge loss in close range combat by using skills such as Biting Wind)

Objectively the Assassin. Much higher DPS, better survivability (Assassins have survivability skills), short bow over long bow when most enemies stay in shortbow range, better dagger skills. Ranger doesn't have anything 'objectively' better than the Assassin not even knock back consider that's decreased out of the sweet spot range, you can argue 10-fold is objectively better than 5-fold maybe, but 5-fold takes half the arrows and does more or less the same thing. Fighter's and Magick Knights aren't slow they have better standard DPS even if they swing their sword (slower) than the daggers and their running speed is the same based on the character not the class. Blink Strike is just as fast as cutting wind, but concentrated into a single attack instead of needing to do numerous to do any real damage. In terms of Magick Knights having an advantage over fighters, their stat gains are 'worse', Fighters don't get range sure, but they have the 'highest' overall stat gains. Fighters get 'better' counter shield skills that fit the close combat playstyle so that's down to preference. Magick archer pales in damage compared to the Magick Knight, Mage, Sorcerer, Strider, Ranger, and Assassin both at Range and Melee, they're a defensive geared class that is mostly balanced like the Strider, but they don't have any damaging skills, what they offer is ease of use and nothing else really. Their bolts home in on targets making it easier to hit, but they are weaker than any of the physical bow users, there are enemies that are immune to magic there are none that are immune to physical (ghosts can be damaged at certain times with unenchanted weapons). Having Daggers to deal with golems offers them a way to do so, but it is risky still better than the Sorcerer's or Mage's options so they have that advantage, but they can't compete with any class in terms of DPS including the Fighter thanks to the Sword > Dagger advantage. They also have no real knock back options which makes their defense pretty weak really, a stunned enemy is a harmless one. With Dark Arisen they get one saving grace Bitterblack giving them the Magick Bowman's Band and turning 6-fold bolt into 9-fold bolt that helps keep them at least competitive with the BASE skills of the other classes.

[Tryhard]

Holy crap, you guys talk about complicated stuffs like stats calculation, I never bothered with it... mostly because it was too late for me, eh. :p

A lot of the information wasn't available when the game came out, so it's not like people really understood it either. I kinda wish that at least partly stats were based on the current vocations and would shift instead of being solely based on past level gains, but oh well. This time though, I'm a little more interested in doing lategame runs with this character and my pawn, so I'm inclined to spend a little bit of time thinking about it. If I mess some stuff up I'll probably play the game again at some point since I kind of neglected the first time I bought it on PS3, honestly. I actually thoroughly enjoy playing as the Assassin so remaining that just to be glass cannon is fine with me.

Oh yeah, good thing that in the Dark Arised Edition, the warp stone only costed 1000 G, huh ?

I got the Eternal Ferrystone on the Steam version in my storage at some point and didn't even notice until I trekked between Gran Soren and the starting town three times or so. It's made travelling a lot more convenient. Edited January 17, 2016 by Tryhard

[Dwlr]

A lot of the information wasn't available when the game came out, so it's not like people really understood it either. I kinda wish that at least partly stats were based on the current vocations and would shift instead of being solely based on past level gains, but oh well. This time though, I'm a little more interested in doing lategame runs with this character and my pawn, so I'm inclined to spend a little bit of time thinking about it. If I mess some stuff up I'll probably play the game again at some point since I kind of neglected the first time I bought it on PS3, honestly. I actually thoroughly enjoy playing as the Assassin so remaining that just to be glass cannon is fine with me.

I got the Eternal Ferrystone on the Steam version in my storage at some point and didn't even notice until I trekked between Gran Soren and the starting town three times or so. It's made travelling a lot more convenient.

My Arisen has never needed a Wake Stone and if you look up my armor, it's quite low level pieces, been the Assassin the whole time and have beaten the game. You're only a 'glass cannon' until level 40, but I've been using the same armor pretty much the entire game it's not even gold rarified considering I never took the time to get everything dragonforged to have access to rarifying so if you use better armor you'll be able to cut the level down from 40 as well. You shouldn't be really be taking damage even as a fighter you have a shield for a reason. Assassin is a nice class having access to most styles of play Swords, Shields, Bows, Daggers.

Assassins have Gale Harness for traversal combined with a liquid vim it gets you where you want to go pretty quickly without a Ferrystone. Dark Arisen has all around different Ferry Stone mechanics though, you used to be limited to how many Port Crystals you had and a limited amount of static Port Crystals to warp to and with their increased cost, but there was a free one pretty frequently in Gran Soren. So one basically one for Blue Moon, Shadow Fort, Great Wall, Witchwood, and Bloodwater Beach.

[B.Leu]

Assassin is a freaking nerdgasm to play. This' all I have to say.

...Though I never found an utility in using a shield, I prefer the bow.

Heh, I dunno man, I remember that Ranger was simply better in my mind, I was mostly a bow-user, and that this game was kinda like Dark Souls, in the sense that armor is crap and that you simply should avoid damage, always. Glass canon by default.
Huh, I remember that I liked using Commotion and using it on trolls... Commotion is the meteor spell right ? In the french version of the game, the name of the skills are quite different.

Honestly, even at level 200, I was getting two/threeshot by most things in Bittersweet, there must be something wrong with me.
Eh, if I remember correctly, the fights in bittersweet isle were quite simple. Except the dragons, they can all go to hell.

I'm not really the most dedicated DD player, not even back then, since my stats must sucks so much.

I got the Eternal Ferrystone on the Steam version in my storage at some point and didn't even notice until I trekked between Gran Soren and the starting town three times or so. It's made travelling a lot more convenient.

Lucky you ! I clearly remember that it was a huge mess have the money to buy those stones. :p

Oh gosh, the feels man, the feels !

[Dwlr]

Assassin is a freaking nerdgasm to play. This' all I have to say.

...Though I never found an utility in using a shield, I prefer the bow.

Heh, I dunno man, I remember that Ranger was simply better in my mind, I was mostly a bow-user, and that this game was kinda like Dark Souls, in the sense that armor is crap and that you simply should avoid damage, always. Glass canon by default.

Huh, I remember that I liked using Commotion and using it on trolls... Commotion is the meteor spell right ? In the french version of the game, the name of the skills are quite different.

Honestly, even at level 200, I was getting two/threeshot by most things in Bittersweet, there must be something wrong with me.

Eh, if I remember correctly, the fights in bittersweet isle were quite simple. Except the dragons, they can all go to hell.

I'm not really the most dedicated DD player, not even back then, since my stats must sucks so much.

Lucky you ! I clearly remember that it was a huge mess have the money to buy those stones. :p

Oh gosh, the feels man, the feels !

You're saying the game is like Dark Souls because you can't take damage yet you're saying the strongest damage dealer isn't as good as a much weaker character? Pretty contradictory.

A shield perfectly timed blocks 100% damage with no stamina drain, that's your utility right there, the only issue is it can't block every attack and it's largely dependent on your stagger and knockback resist to balance it.

Personal opinion is all fine and well, but when you try to use "subjective" opinion and say something is "objectively" better then you're going to get called on it. Certain areas of Bitterblack focus on evasion sure, but that was the point, the main game even the frailest of characters can hardly be called a "glass cannon" and even most of Bitterblack tbh, you can actually enter Bitterblack as a level 1 character if you so choose as long as you use Rusted weapons you can even deal damage. Daimon is perfectly beatable around level 50 if you know what you're doing and in fact most of Bitterblack's equipment have usage caps lower than 50 to reflect this. Equipment trumps stats in all cases if your equipment is good then you'll be fine if your equipment is bad then you're going to feel like "glass" until you overcome the issue in sheer levels. I've played Dark Souls and the scaling in damage is more akin to Skyrim as is the basic gameplay considering you're not countering anything, Fighters and Warriors can certainly take abuse from most creatures for quite some time and Sorcerers can laugh at Magic Damage they're built to resist (if you actually get hit by any magic), Bitterblack is an expansion meant for skill, it doesn't follow the same scaling as the rest of the game so of course it's focused around avoiding or blocking damage respectively that's why you have those tools though and both are quite adequate in surviving if you master them, but that said the lower levels are meant to negate defenses ergo the advice that only damage and knock back matter in the most difficult sections of the game.

You were getting hit by heavy attacks that were meant to be avoided if "most" things in Bitterblack were 2-3 shotting you and then those instant kills not all of them are actually instant kills there are technically only 2 or 3 in the game, at the end of Bitterblack certain attacks simply do so much damage that all but the stoutest of fighters go down in one shot and they pay dearly for it in damages.

Any class can fight. Magick Archers and Mystic Knights fall woefully behind not gaining Health like Fighters or Warriors and having split defenses so they really can't actually survive either spectrum well. That and they split their attack, but really can't use both attacks with their 'sub-weapon'. Since they're both purely magic which makes them significantly weaker getting 3 each in Magic and then ontop of that they only get 2 Str for a total of 5 Damage on their enchanted physical weapons. The other classes are pretty balanced Mages get 4 Damage for their magic, but 6 total Damage if they reclass. Sorcerers get 5 Damage for their magic, but 7 total Damage if they reclass. Fighters and Striders get 6 Damage, Rangers and Warriors get 7 Damage, and Assassins get 8 Damage. Warriors and Fighters can easily tank the physical side of the main game, but as I mentioned Bitterblack is meant for skill so even their HP/Physical Defense combo nets them about the same amount of attacks before they die there which is why objectively the Assassin who gains useful stats is the closest to being "objectively" the best since you can always use damage and 7/9 classes can make use of enchanted weapons for at least their main weapons. Sorcerers and Mages can use their robes to build up resistances to elements coupled with their high Magic Defense they can shrug off even the strongest of actual magic attacks that includes Bitterblack however before Magic Attacks are used you're given ample time to evade and clues to how they're going to attack so you shouldn't need to survive magic attacks. (Status effects are different)

It's more about correct skill usage than raw stats, you were using Biting Wind while it did make it easier to evade attacks in scenarios it's not a good skill unless you're fighting non-threats to begin with, it will stun a Geo Saurian if the first strike hits the tail and all manner of goblins, but non of them are issues. Hundred Kisses can be used ontop of large enemies and deal decent damage, a full execution of thousand kisses from an the Sapfire Daggers will kill the Lion of a Gore Chimera for instance Biting Wind won't come close.

Walking wasn't THAT bad, I was too cheap to buy stones just have a few Liquid Vims and stay Very Light and you can run at a good speed anywhere you want to go, Liquid Vims were cheaper than ferry stones too in the original.

Edited January 17, 2016 by Dwlr

[Tryhard]

My Arisen has never needed a Wake Stone and if you look up my armor, it's quite low level pieces, been the Assassin the whole time and have beaten the game. You're only a 'glass cannon' until level 40, but I've been using the same armor pretty much the entire game it's not even gold rarified considering I never took the time to get everything dragonforged to have access to rarifying so if you use better armor you'll be able to cut the level down from 40 as well. You shouldn't be really be taking damage even as a fighter you have a shield for a reason. Assassin is a nice class having access to most styles of play Swords, Shields, Bows, Daggers.

Well, I meant in regards to say someone focusing on HP and defense (so a Warrior, I assume). I'm already around level 36 currently, and it's not really so bad. I grabbed the Signs of Valor and a Hunter's Bow from Heavenspeak, not sure if there's anything better currently. When you said your current character and pawn you meant 1-10 Fighter -> 11-200 Assassin -> Strider and 1-10 Mage -> 11-200 Sorcerer -> Mage right? Or did you take some other levels in another vocation in between (if you're even max level to begin with)

You're saying the game is like Dark Souls because you can't take damage yet you're saying the strongest damage dealer isn't as good as a much weaker character? Pretty contradictory.

From what I've played so far it's kinda like Dark Souls in the fact that you're gonna take a lot of damage should you get hit, and the easiest way to play in those games was going like hypermage (it did help that magic has always been really good in Souls) and killing everything before it got to you. So in that regard I think it's kind of similar that damage is more important unless you are inexperienced at dodging.

Can I use magic damage daggers like the Heaven's Key effectively without any levels in a Magick class? Or is it just more effective to use pure strength daggers? I'm unsure if it scales based on your stat or if the damage is simply added onto the attack.

[Dwlr]

Well, I meant in regards to say someone focusing on HP and defense (so a Warrior, I assume). I'm already around level 36 currently, and it's not really so bad. I grabbed the Signs of Valor and a Hunter's Bow from Heavenspeak, not sure if there's anything better currently. When you said your current character and pawn you meant 1-10 Fighter -> 11-200 Assassin -> Strider and 1-10 Mage -> 11-200 Sorcerer -> Mage right? Or did you take some other levels in another vocation in between (if you're even max level to begin with)

From what I've played so far it's kinda like Dark Souls in the fact that you're gonna take a lot of damage should you get hit, and the easiest way to play in those games was going like hypermage (it did help that magic has always been really good in Souls) and killing everything before it got to you. So in that regard I think it's kind of similar that damage is more important unless you are inexperienced at dodging.

Can I use magic damage daggers like the Heaven's Key effectively without any levels in a Magick class? Or is it just more effective to use pure strength daggers? I'm unsure if it scales based on your stat or if the damage is simply added onto the attack.

So it doesn't get lost in a wall of text I'll answer your question here:

Enchanted Weapons > Pure Strength Weapons no matter your build

The components of an Enchanted Weapon are measured separately against the applicable defenses (and resistances in the case of the magic component) and then added together for the final damage. So your Str + Physical Damage on the weapon = Your Physical Component then in a separate calculation your Mag + Magical Damage on the weapon = You Magical Component when each are finalized against the monsters correct defenses it adds the two together.

Signs of Valor are probably not the best weapon you could be using right now though you can get them before you're supposed to I imagine you have access to the Scalding Razors.

Signs of Valor Damage = 272 + Str

Scalding Razors = 203 + 364 + Str + Mag = 567 + Str + Mag

Even without adding your stats you can see that the Scalding Razors are better than the Signs of Valor, however the Signs of Valor do offer better knockback, so that's something to way for yourself. The damage added is pretty significant and the Knockback loss is not.

Yeah my current character is a Pure Assassin that started as a Fighter and a Pure Sorcerer leveled Mage. My current pairing isn't 200 no, I meant that as a leveling route than an implication that my current is 200. Scalding Razors are better than the Signs of Valor and you get access to them quite early, plus Fire is very effective early on. In terms of bows there is only 1 enchanted bow from Bitterblack so you're just taking the 'best' one you can whether it having higher base or be better because it's easier to enhance the only thing that matters is the stats for them until you go down Bitterblack.

You don't take nearly the damage Dark Souls gave out and as time progresses and if you don't use junk equipment like I do you'll notice that the main game poses no less and less threat.

Even for the Assassin's pure Str build enchanted weapons are better unless the physical daggers are much much better. Now your actual damage is going to vary so against some things using weaker physical component daggers will do less for instance if the enemy is immune to magic only the physical side of thing is going to apply the damage, now the same can be said the other way. If an enemy has extremely high Physical Defense you're going to do much more damage even as a Physical Based character such as the Assassin using enchanted weapons thanks to the Magical element so for consistencies sake Enchanted Weapons are nearly ALWAYS the better choice since no matter the type of enemy you're facing (unless it's an enemy with high physical defense that resists the element the enchantment is) you're going to deal noticeable damage, the reason Enchanted Weapons are so strong is that the combined power is pretty much always higher than the 'stronger' weapons that only have a physical component. Long story short, you should be skipping from Enchanted Weapon to Enchanted Weapon for your entire party.

Example:

Your stats 1000 Str 100 Magic

Weapon 1 200 Str 100 Magic

Weapon 2 300 Str

Weapon 1 will deal 1200 Str + 200 Mag = 1400 in every attack, the attacks are counted together but the damage for each is separate meaning the Physical component (1200) is measured against Def and the Magic component (200) is measured against M.Def.

Weapon 2 will deal 1300 Str which is all you get your Magic isn't factored in so you deal what you see that 1300 in every attack now you're only measuring against Defense for damage calculations

Rarely do enemies have high Def and M.Def they're usually weak to one or the other, but every enemy resists an element so unless you want to carry around multiple weapons and switch every time you encounter an enemy to be ideal the best is to mix your damages so you're always doing something. So basically it's why I say you can think of the Assassin as gaining 8 Damage instead of 6 Physical and 2 Magic and why the Assassin is the strongest. Physical tends to be more useful since no enemy is immune to physical attack and they can't have physical resistance like they can have Magic resistance, but the Sorcerer is better than the Archer even though they both give 7 because it's going to save you augments.

If you know an enemy is weak to an element such as UR Dragon is weak to Holy then a Pure Magic build using Heaven's Keys will do more damage than the Pure Str Assassin, but the best weapon is still Heaven's Keys in both cases against UR Dragon, now if the enemy resists Holy then a stronger Physical Weapon will be best however the Heaven's Keys Physical component applies in full only the Magic side is resisted.

------

Now if you don't like variables I'll use your actual stats to calculate

Signs of Valor does 1694 (pure physical)

Scalding Razors does 1625 (resisted by Def) + 494 (resisted by M.Def and Fire Resistance) or 2119 (before defenses) which is 425 more (before defenses)

All this is before any augments taking the augment that boosts Magic by 20% is perfectly valid on a pure Assassin as it still adds damage when using Enchanted Weapons and that's why the Trophy Armor Set is pretty much the best armor in the game as it gives +70 Magic and only takes 3 parts which lets you still use your choice of gloves that tend to increase Str so you can get added Str and Mag from a full set of armor.

Do note that Sorcerer gives +3 Magic and Assassin gives +3 Str there is very little difference between the two, +3 is more or less +3, I still prefer Assassin because of focusing everything into Str is better for augments

Edited January 17, 2016 by Dwlr

[B.Leu]

Eh, like I said, my memory is pretty foggy, from what I remember- I swear this is going to be my catchphrase-, shield weren't good in my hands, I prefered bows and daggers, that's all I'm saying. And I compared it to Dark Souls, because, from what I remember, I firmly applied the 'you should never get touched ever' rule.

I said 'objectively' that Ranger is better, it's true that I put my foot in my mouth there, my bad. By that I meant that, from what I remember, Great Bow dealt more damage than normal Bows, and were much more pratical in my hands.

I got the feeling of sounding like an ass, but please, keep in mind that this is all, you guessed it, from what I remember. Heck, I had to come go back to the wikia to even write in this topic, and it doesn't help that the english-french translation was weird, and half of what you guys are writing confuse the heck out of me.

On another note, I remember that I was never fond of the grabbing mechanic, I would use it if I could direclty jumb on a weak point, but beside that ? Bows. Bows everyday.

Edited January 17, 2016 by B.Leu

[Dwlr]

Eh, like I said, my memory is pretty foggy, from what I remember- I swear this is going to be my catchphrase-, shield weren't good in my hands, I prefered bows and daggers, that's all I'm saying. And I compared it to Dark Souls, because, from what I remember, I firmly applied the 'you should never get touched ever' rule.

I said 'objectively' that Ranger is better, it's true that I put my foot in my mouth there, my bad. By that I meant that, from what I remember, Great Bow dealt more damage than normal Bows, and were much more pratical in my hands.

I got the feeling of sounding like an ass, but please, keep in mind that this is all, you guessed it, from what I remember. Heck, I had to come go back to the wikia to even write in this topic, and it doesn't help that the english-french translation was weird, and half of what you guys are writing confuse the heck out of me.

On another note, I remember that I was never fond of the grabbing mechanic, I would use it if I could direclty jumb on a weak point, but beside that ? Bows. Bows everyday.

Shields aren't good in a lot of hands you have about 5 frames to get a perfect block more with the augment, but they're quite effective when you use them well, giving to the advantage as it staggers the enemy automatically on a successful perfect block, you can knock them down flat out with Shield Bash.

Long Bows have a higher Damage Stat and Knockback Stat, but the sweet spot for damage is farther away, most of the time Shortbows deal more damage at the common ranges the enemies linger at.

Nah just having a healthy discussion I'm certainly not offended and I doubt Tryhard is.

Hundred Kisses and Dire Gouge can be used from the back of enemies to deal quite a bit of damage and with the right Size and Weight it's rather effective. Most people that have A LOT of trouble are too small of a character either Weight or Height since every physical class can deal quite a bit on an enemy and be relatively safe when done correctly. Bows make a good substitute though for sure, but either certainly work when utilized properly.

[Tryhard]

I'm fine, lol. Since I haven't played the game very much I'm interested in whatever information is given. The wikia helps a lot too. Dragon's Dogma combat has a lot of variables going into it, it's like an MMO in that respect and there is a lot of information that I've been looking out there in respect to skill, augments and actual equipment to use.

I'm a little sad because the shortbows I've been using haven't yet been as effective as just using my daggers but I suppose they will become more so.

[Dwlr]

I'm a little sad because the shortbows I've been using haven't yet been as effective as just using my daggers but I suppose they will become more so.

Yeah, the bows don't get as strong as the daggers, they're supposed to be sub-weapons. The Assassin is quite bad with the bow compared to the Strider or the Ranger the main advantage is Lyncean Sight which is a derivation of a Ranger skill that is 'better'. Lyncean Sight is basically a zoom for your bow it also extends the effective range of shots though it still does more damage in the sweet spot for the short bow, it's pretty cheap on stamina if you fire it right away for the power it can deliver, you might try using it. Skewer Dart is pretty useful for stun and applying arrow effects like poison, Rangers get a version of it, but the Assassin's has better piercing for groups so that's something.

Strider's get the powerful AoE bow skills, they're cumbersome to aim, but quite strong especially with Blast Arrows

Rangers get the most powerful single target bow skills, but come with their own issues which I've already mentioned. Rangers actually get a version of all the Bow Skills from Assassin and Strider with the exception of the Strider's Area of Effect skill. (Fearful Din has Area of Effect on impact like Fracture Dart however unlike Fracture Dart it won't explode and rain projectiles so think of it as a vastly weaker Blast Arrow that's free)

Assassin Bow Skills

5-Fold Flurry

Lyncean Sight

Skewer Dart

(If you want Torpor you're better off using a Rusted Bow so Blunting Arrow is pointless)

Strider Bow Skills

5-Fold Flurry

Cloudburst Volley

Shriek Dart (Good for small enemies as a quick means of disposal Fracture Dart is good for large enemies if you hit them with the Explosive Arrow and not the rain of arrows from it. Cloudburst Volley is stronger if you use Fracture Dart as intended)

Ranger Bow Skills

10-Fold Flurry

Body Binder (Just plain fun, not particularly good unless you're in a narrow passage)

Comet Shot (Ranger's much stronger Lyncean Sight)

Spiral Arrow (can stun lock large enemies, but only good if your pawns are decent since it doesn't do a lot of damage)

[peener weener]

this game is consuming my life

[Dwlr]

this game is consuming my life

Skyrim consumed mine around this time, but until then I enjoyed Dragon's Dogma, recently went back to it myself. Once you get strong enough to handle some of the early larger creatures with impunity then the game consumes less of your life IMO. There's a low level Dragon south of the encampment on the way to the Shadow Fort that can give you an early advantage if you're about level 25 you should be able to kill it just fine with the right party, you can continue further south after that and there's a Chimera which should be pretty easy for level 20s and then yet further south and to the west a little there are 2 extremely easy Cyclops (you can use the ballistae) if you need some help and there's a chest in the rocks that can give you a frame plate fairly early (it can have weaker items in it depending when you open it, but chests refill so you might as well check it out when you get down there.) follow by the cliff there is a wealth of Grandgrapes which you can let go sour for ample coin early on and towards the end of the near the pillars of stone there is a weapon in a stone that usually has decent early enchanted weapons as well as the opportunity to fight a Golem. Circling back around (heading towards the Witchwood) will net you an encounter with about 10 Saurians following the small stream up and if you keep along the cliff there is yet another Chimera in the densely wooded area to the West of the group of Male Bandits. All in all it's a good route for quick exp, good early gear, as well as good money if you let the Grandgrapes sour (make sure you hold onto them or pawns will use them and cut deeply into your profit margin) You can repeat this route about every 3 in-game days for full rewards again so you can do it as many times as needed early on. I say it's easy exp since the large creatures are pretty easy to fight one on one despite being stronger than the other enemies that may be weaker, but are encountered in groups and if you go towards the Great Wall too early the Female archers can kill a weak party fairly quickly and they're a bit harder to dodge. (There's also some cyclops and 2 Chimeras on that route too)

[Tryhard]

this game is consuming my life

i thought you would like it

though to the above, dwlr i'm pretty sure fuccboi is the type to not want much guidance in games like this because i think they yell at people for looking at guides first time playing dark souls :^)

me I don't care that much

I finished Bitterblack Isle for the first time at least. definitely a lot more difficult than anything else. I actually had to run from the cursed dragon though that's before I got the dragon's ire bow I think it's called and sapfire daggers.

Edited January 25, 2016 by Tryhard

[Dwlr]

though to the above, dwlr i'm pretty sure fuccboi is the type to not want much guidance in games like this because i think they yell at people for looking at guides first time playing dark souls :^)

I finished Bitterblack Isle for the first time at least. definitely a lot more difficult than anything else. I actually had to run from the cursed dragon though that's before I got the dragon's ire bow I think it's called and sapfire daggers.

It's not as if they have to listen, but it's not much of a discussion if nobody posts any information.

Bitterblack is supposed to be harder than everything else. Dragon's Ire is the only Enchanted Shortbow in the game and as a result is the best shortbow by far. Sapfire's added effect further exaggerates simply how good they are, not only are they the best weapons in the game specs-wise they get a unique debilitation that further increases their damage, the problem is that it doubles up the Fire Element on your weapons.

[peener weener]

i thought you would like it

though to the above, dwlr i'm pretty sure fuccboi is the type to not want much guidance in games like this because i think they yell at people for looking at guides first time playing dark souls :^)

me I don't care that much

I finished Bitterblack Isle for the first time at least. definitely a lot more difficult than anything else. I actually had to run from the cursed dragon though that's before I got the dragon's ire bow I think it's called and sapfire daggers.

nah dark souls is a lot different to this game

i've been playing dragon's dogma with the wiki open for the most part, a lot of shit in this game is just cryptic as fuck and a lot goes unexplained and it's not like there's any crazy experience to be had other than having fun imo. the plot and writing are shit for the most part, anyway. i doubt i would've enjoyed it more or even at all had i not had a resource.

i'm around lvl 40 with 30+ hours into it right now so thanks for the help but i'm pretty set

Edited January 26, 2016 by fuccboi

[Dwlr]

nah dark souls is a lot different to this game

i've been playing dragon's dogma with the wiki open for the most part, a lot of shit in this game is just cryptic as fuck and a lot goes unexplained and it's not like there's any crazy experience to be had other than having fun imo. the plot and writing are shit for the most part, anyway. i doubt i would've enjoyed it more or even at all had i not had a resource.

i'm around lvl 40 with 30+ hours into it right now so thanks for the help but i'm pretty set

You could always do the Bitterblack challenge, start a new character and at level 1 play Bitterblack Isle, it's entirely possible to beat it with a fresh character you end about level 50 if you beat it.

[peener weener]

i haven't even started bitterblack yet, i thought i'd leave it for post-game, but i guess it might be too easy then

[Dwlr]

Bitterblack is the hardest part of the game by far, but to make it artificially harder just unequip your armor and use the starting weapons. (rusted weapos are ctually good so don't use them)

[Tryhard]

nah dark souls is a lot different to this game

i've been playing dragon's dogma with the wiki open for the most part, a lot of shit in this game is just cryptic as fuck and a lot goes unexplained and it's not like there's any crazy experience to be had other than having fun imo. the plot and writing are shit for the most part, anyway. i doubt i would've enjoyed it more or even at all had i not had a resource.

that's pretty true

I can't find Reynard in the post game to actually get the rusted weapons rip me

Bitterblack can still be a challenge in post-game and you can still get one-shot (though I wasn't exactly decked out with good hp or much armor)

[Dwlr]

that's pretty true

I can't find Reynard in the post game to actually get the rusted weapons rip me

Bitterblack can still be a challenge in post-game and you can still get one-shot (though I wasn't exactly decked out with good hp or much armor)

Reynard CAN and will leave the game after certain events, but rusted weapons can be found on the road to Grand Soren where you have to deal with the Ox Cart.

It's not nearly the same. Starting a fresh character means you don't have the weapons to deal damage either making you rely on throwblasts to kill the certain enemies inside it, even minor enemies will kill you such as hobs. As for not using good armor I refer you back to my current apparel most of it can be found around Cassardis. As for getting killed in a single attack you can use Easy Kill (not Masterful Kill since it waits ad infinitum to counter) or Clairvoyance to mimic Dark Souls' counter mechanic, every physical attack can be countered by Easy Kill if timed correctly and you can use a Shield or Bow with either Sword or Daggers, though using a Bow with a Sword leave you defenseless aside from Clairvoyance countering.

[Parrhesia]

I am in love with this game, and my useless pawn.

[Eldritch Abomination]

Wait, what, a Dragon's Dogma thread? I'm obsessed with this game.

Can we get some Gamertag/Pawn names? Because I'm all about renting out my pawns. Plus, I've gone through the entire game so many damn times, I have 5-10 copies of every weapon and item, so I'd be more than happy to share a few, including some Bitterblack Isle stuff.

Gamertag is AGodDangMoose, if anyone wants to borrow my pawn.

[Dwlr]

I am in love with this game, and my useless pawn.

If a pawn is useless it's how you raised it. Either personality doesn't line up with how you play, you have poor abilities on them, and/or your pawn lacks proper knowledge. They're not going to beat the game for you, but the right match between both will do something. Certain skills can even take down large enemies for you. Mage skills are usually best left un-upgraded, but there are some exceptions depending on what you need them for. For instance a knowledgeable pawn with High Levin will strip the helmet off Gore Cyclops if they can find the time to cast it. Certain decent personality traits don't work for some pawns. A Scather Mage tends to get to close to cast some skills so if you go that route equip more aura's than long range skills for instance, If you primarily fight from range then a Guardian trait on pawns you want to also fight from range works well conversely hiring Guardian pawns that are ranged while you're a close range fighter is going to make them much worse.

Wait, what, a Dragon's Dogma thread? I'm obsessed with this game.

Can we get some Gamertag/Pawn names? Because I'm all about renting out my pawns. Plus, I've gone through the entire game so many damn times, I have 5-10 copies of every weapon and item, so I'd be more than happy to share a few, including some Bitterblack Isle stuff.

Gamertag is AGodDangMoose, if anyone wants to borrow my pawn.

A gamertag doesn't help much if you don't say on what system and it doesn't help much if you don't give details about our pawn. You can't gift Bitterblack Isle items to rented pawns. Renting pawns isn't very important with Dark Arisen, you get a decent rift crystal income without it so being "all about renting out your pawns" doesn't really do anything at all especially if you beat everything multiple times.

[Tryhard]

Do pawns ever get a clue about hitting weak spots like hearts of wyverns to actually do damage? Seems like most pawns are ineffective, especially spellcasters who I can't tell even if they are doing damage with their spells sometimes. I assume it's linked to bestiary knowledge. I've got Utilitarian/Challenger/Mitigator on my sorcerer especially Utilitarian which I've heard is pretty good for at least using weaknesses.

Edited January 29, 2016 by Tryhard