Pawns are both an integral part of the Dragon’s Dogma 2 experience and its most unique feature. However, from adventuring to getting your Pawn hired by other players, it can be a little daunting to know the best vocations and skills to equip your Pawn with.
Dragon’s Dogma 2 Best Pawn Builds
The best Pawn vocations are quite simple to deduce for Pawns – Fighter and Mage. While a Pawn can also become an Archer, Thief, Warrior, and Sorcerer, the Fighter and Mage vocations have by far the most support utility. Of course, you’ll likely have your Pawn assume multiple classes in order to unlock Augments. Choosing which of these two vocations to prioritize comes down to the role your own Arisen plays. Melee-oriented Arisen? Go with a Mage Pawn. Magic/Range-oriented Arisen? Opt for a Fighter.
Best Fighter Pawn Builds in Dragon’s Dogma 2
Fighter Pawns are great at drawing enemy attention away from your Arisen while soaking up a ton of damage from Griffons and Ogres. You’re going to want to equip the following four Weapon Skills to make the most of its supportive features:
- Burst Strike
- Launchboard
- Shield Drum
- Divine Defense
While all defense and little offense, this group of Fighter skills ensures your Arisen and other Pawns can focus on dishing out damage or healing during tough fights. Burst Strike provides some mobility to close in on enemies, while Launchboard helps you and your Pawns get on top of large monsters. Shield Drum draws enemy aggression and Divine Defense ensures the Fighter can take big hits. Consider swapping out Divine Defense for Full Moon Slash or Cloudward Slash if you don’t plan on taking on massive enemies any time soon.
For Augments, you’re going to want to equip the following six:
- Provocation (Fighter)
- Mettle (Fighter)
- Pertinacity (Warrior)
- Dominance (Warrior)
- Vigor (Thief)
- Exaltation (Mage)
Provocation and Mettle draw aggression and increase defense, respectively. Pertinacity and Dominance from the Warrior vocation help the Fighter break defenses and knock down large foes, while the Thief’s Vigor helps the Fighter grab on to or pin down foes for longer. Finally, the Mage’s Exaltation is one of the best Augments in the game as it speeds up stamina recovery.
Best Mage Pawn Build in Dragon’s Dogma 2
If your Arisen is melee-focused or you want your Pawn to get hired by other players often, consider making your Pawn a Mage as pretty much every party makeup needs one due to its powerful Anodyne healing skill. Furthermore, pretty much every enemy has an elemental weakness, meaning if you switch out Weapon Skills to suit your current need at campfires and inns, a Mage Pawn will provide the best utility in the game. Consider these Weapon Skills:
- One of High Flagration/High Levin/High Frigor/High Empyrean
- One of Fire Affinity/Ice Affinity/Lightning Affinity
- High Celerity
- High Halidom
Swapping out the main damage skill to suit the kind of monsters you’ll face (ice for regular Saurians, fire for beasts, etc.) will ensure you get the most out of your Pawn. The same goes for the Affinity skills, which will have your Pawn buffing up your party’s weapons continually. High Celerity is great as it speeds up movement as you’ll be walking a ton while exploring Vermund and Battahl; furthermore, High Halidom can cure debilitations which you’ll see a lot of later in the game. These latter two skills are also the most sought after when other players hire Mages from the rift.
For Augments, consider the following six choices:
- Exaltation (Mage)
- Perpetuation (Mage)
- Intervention (Mage)
- Catalysis (Sorcerer)
- Sagacity (Sorcerer)
- Subtlety (Thief)
Mages need a lot of stamina, so Exaltation will help them recover fast enough to keep casting supportive spells. Perpetuation and Intervention help keep your Affinity skills up longer and ensure your Mage Pawn won’t be debilitated long enough for your party to wipe. Taking Catalysis and Sagacity from the Sorcerer Augments will greatly boost damage output, while Subtlety from the Thief goes a long way toward making your Mage less likely to be attacked.
While it’s entirely possible to build great Pawns from other classes, these two builds will go a long way in ensuring that other players hire your Pawns and your own Pawn will keep you alive long enough to take down some of the most fearsome foes in Dragon’s Dogma 2.
