Dragon's Dogma Thread

[Dwlr]

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.

Yes, the more knowledge they gain the more useful they become. There are 3 spots considered weak on a dragon, the wings, the head, and the heart. If the pawns has the maximum knowledge about the type of dragon they're fighting they will target the heart.

You were told wrong, Utilitarian isn't a combat trait. It increases the likelihood of using group curatives, group casting (entirely useless if you don't have 2 sorcerers with similar skills), enchantments, and support skills like Spellscreen. In Fighters and Striders a pawn with the Utilitarian trait attempt to grapple more.

The knowledge of the enemy affects what spell they use and affects what they target on them. A pawn with no cyclops knowledge will randomly just start fighting, with basic knowledge they gain the knowledge to try to knock the weapon out of their hand, with 2 star they tend to use ice (which does solid damage) with 3 star knowledge they'll use Levin more often than not which has a high likelihood to stun.

Keep in mind some of the requirements for full knowledge are quite taxing and require you pawn to get hit by and perform a myriad of sometimes unorthodox techniques. One of the well known odd ones is throwing a flask of water at a wolf, it's a requirement to get up 3 star knowledge, but it's not all that useful to know. (A wet wolf will shake itself dry, you can get this star pretty easily in the Witchwood where there is already a pre-wet wold that will dry itself in front of your pawn of the knowledge)

The large problem you're seeming to have is a poorly created pawn. Comestion is good for fighting Wyverns, Wyverns have low burn resistance and Comestion has a high chance to burn, so make sure you're taking skills that work on what you want to kill first and foremost and then change your pawn's inclination to something more useful. If you're playing as a long range attack using bows of any sort then a Guardian inclination will help keep you pawn close and out of danger helping with DPS safely. I'd suggest getting a Scather, Guardian, Mitigator for a Sorcerer if you just looking to kill Wyverns. Scather tends to be the most important to encourage fighting which Guardian will override some of the tendency for the Sorcerer to move close finally the Mitigator inclination will encourage AoE. Personally I'm fond of a Prime Mitigator with Guardian and Scather sub tendencies, this way you can use the Sorcerer/Mage's Area of Effect eliminating the weak enemies first so you can focus on the strong later, when the strong enemy is the only one left then the Mitigator personality doesn't have an effect so you get to keep the range tendency from Guardian and Scather gives increased aggression. Double check your Pawn's knowledge though and keep in mind that pawns cannot kill dragonkin except for the UR Dragon and maybe Curse Dragons, I've not paid much attention the latter and the final blow must be to the heart.

For those curious about which inclination combination is best details of what inclinations actually do.

Scather - Target strongest enemies, encourages close combat, and climbing

*Conflicts with a Ranger if you're looking to have them use the bow, conflicts with long range Mage skills such Ignis, but synergizes with auras like Frazil or Fulmination*

Medicant - Focuses on healing particularly the Arisen and removing status effects.

*Conflicts with all combat, the Medicant inclination causes pawns to avoid direct combat, a Mage with a primary Medicant inclination will frequently stop casting offensive spells to heal or remove status effects.*

Mitigator - Target weak enemies, encourages Area of Effect attacks.

*Most useful for the range classes, Spellcasters will gravitate to those with the largest Area of Effect which can really help clear some of the field, with spells like Comestion the large knockback component can catch large enemies. If you're one to upgrade your sorcerer skills which I don't recommend High Levin can target multiple enemies by the AI. Striders benefit from this inclination with their Downpour Volley which is really their strongest bow skill and it covers a decent area. Ranger don't seem to use their bows more often with this inclination.*

Challenger - Target range users.

*Spellcasters tend to use more Area of Effect skills with this inclination, but it doesn't appear to have any effect on the Strider or Ranger outside of their priority target.

Utilitarian - Encourages support skills and group actions, however the latter only effects other pawns with their main inclination of Utilitarian.

*In a group with multiple prime Utilitarians the most knowledgeable pawn will call out a tactic and the others following, so it heavily depends on the bestiary knowledge. With a single pawn of this inclination they focus on supports primarily the Spellcasters focusing on Enchantment skills. A prime Utilitarian Spellcaster will try to sync casting with other Spellcasters, they don't need to have Utilitarian inclination, but it helps. Physical pawns will favor grappling more with this inclination. All pawns with this inclination will favor group curatives over singular curatives.*

Guardian - Encourages protection of the Arisen and close proximity., slightly reduces aggression and attempt to draw aggro away from the Arisen when applicable.

*Pawns with this inclination will come to the aid of the whenever they are in distress such as out of breath more quickly than other inclinations, the inclination slightly affects combat rates making pawns a tad more passive. Due to how the AI works Guardian inclination pawns actually tend to draw more attacks towards the Arisen since there are two targets close together. Encourages the use of Shield Drum if applicable. Spellcaster and Ranged pawns that you wish to use longer range pawns can benefit from the inclination if you use Ranged attacks yourself conversely if you are a close range fighter using this inclination can encourage other pawns to stay in the middle of combat as well.*

Nexus - Encourages Pawns to bring other Pawns to the Arisen when they are dying.

*In combat the AI can get confuse and the Pawn can run back and forth between the Arisen effectively doing nothing, Has no bearing on combat or positioning.*

Pioneer - Encourages distance between the Pawn and the Arisen.

*Pioneer pawns keep a wider berth from the Arisen usually paired with Acquisitor for gathering items, but the effects apply in combat. A ranged pawn can benefit from a pawn they wish to fight close by using it and staying back, the opposite is true about a close range fighter using it on a long range pawn. Can unintentionally aggro enemies you weren't planning on engaging.*

Acquisitor - Pawns will focus on gathering items.

*Only affects the inclination to gather items during battle in which they will ignore enemies to loot the battlefield.*

Edited January 29, 2016 by Dwlr