Dragon’s Dogma 2 beginner’s tips and tricks

Here’s everything you need to know for delving into Dragon’s Dogma 2

Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Capcom

Looking for Dragon’s Dogma 2 tips for beginners? With so many dungeons to explore and so many monsters to defeat in Dragon’s Dogma 2 , it’s fair to feel slightly overwhelmed at the onset of Capcom’s expansive action RPG.

Luckily, we’re here to help your first hours as a resurrected Arisen feel a little smoother. Read on to learn ten pivotal tips and tricks that’ll help you in a wide variety of areas, from making the most of your trusty pawn companions to fighting oversized beasts on the many roads of Dragon’s Dogma 2 .

This highlight reel shows off all the incredible adventure awaiting the new Arisen of Dragon’s Dogma 2.Watch on YouTube

• You can switch your vocation easily
• Recruit pawns at Riftstones to find favourites
• Your main pawn carries out Pawn Quests during inn visits
• Make use of pawn commands regularly
• Cast magick faster with pawn assistance
• Regain full health by sleeping at an inn or making camp
• Use Ferrystones or oxcarts for fast travel
• Always try combining inventory items
• Learn enemy weaknesses and resistances
• Remember, bosses have multiple health bars

You can switch your vocation easily

This fellow runs the vocation guild in Vernworth and will be a regular face when it comes time to swap vocations. |Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Capcom

Unlike some other RPGs, you aren’t stuck in your starting vocation in Dragon’s Dogma 2. In fact, swapping vocations is as easy as visiting your nearest vocation guild in a big city. (In a smaller town, the vocation guild is often combined with the local inn). There, you can change both your Arisen and your main pawn’s vocation as long as you have enough Discipline Points, abbreviated in-game as DCP. Four basic vocations - Fighter, Archer, Mage, and Thief - are available at the start of the game, and six more - Warrior, Sorcerer, Magick Archer, Mystic Spearhand, Trickster, and Spearhand - open up as you progress the story.

We’ve got an extensive guide on the best vocations in Dragon’s Dogma 2 , but in a nutshell, don’t feel afraid to experiment and switch to whatever class you prefer. I myself started with a Mage before finding that I enjoyed the Fighter’s skillset more. It’s also important to note that Magick Archer, Mystic Spearhand, Trickster, and Spearhand are Arisen-exclusive vocations unavailable for pawns.

Recruit pawns at Riftstones to find favourites

So many pawns to choose, so little time… |Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Capcom

Dragon’s Dogma 2 is focused on the single player experience, but emulates the feel of working alongside others by allowing your Arisen to recruit AI companions dubbed pawns. Aside from your main pawn, recruitable pawns are either NPCs created by Capcom or by other players using the game’s online functionality.

You should take advantage of this unique system and always be recruiting pawns from your nearest Riftstone , or when you randomly encounter them in the wilderness. Many pawns created by other players might be a few levels higher than your current party, making them vital allies in monster battles, and some who have the Quest Guide ability will literally be able to lead you to your priority quest’s final destination.

Keep in mind that pawns will not level when they’re in your party, so it’s good practice to recruit pawns who are roughly your level to two levels higher, dismissing them when you surpass them. That said, you can favourite a pawn you like at any time by speaking with them. This will allow you to specifically search for that pawn in the future the next time you’re at a Riftstone - meaning that as long as their Arisen has leveled them up recently, you can recruit their leveled up form to your side!

Your main pawn carries out Pawn Quests during inn visits

A screenshot of my main pawn’s status screen and one of her Pawn Quests back when she was still at a relatively low level. Maybe she’ll pop up in your world! |Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Capcom

Your main pawn is just as capable of venturing into worlds beyond - AKA the games of other players - as any of the other pawns you might have recruited to your cause. They only do so when you rest at an inn, however.

To take full advantage of your pawn’s otherworldly adventures, set a Pawn Quest by interacting with a Riftstone. This is a special mission that will appear alongside your main pawn when they pop up in another player’s game, and the default option is “Travel together for a day and night,” with a Wakestone Shard as a reward. As you progress through Dragon’s Dogma 2, you’ll be able to choose other Pawn Quests, with most typically revolving around killing monsters. You can choose what sort of reward you’d like to obtain from the successful completion of these quests, as long as those rewards already exist within your inventory.

Essentially, you should think of Pawn Quests as the bartering system of Dragon’s Dogma 2, with your main pawn serving as a handy delivery person who carries out tasks while you snooze. Don’t overlook these Pawn Quests, as they’re a great way to get items ranging from extra gold to hard-to-find Ferrystones.

Make use of pawn commands regularly

Notice the commands in the bottom left. Presumably, I’ll need to yell out “To Me” for my pawns to rescue my butt after I fall from this massive height. |Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Capcom

In the bottom left corner of your screen, you’ll see a few vital commands - “Go”, “Help”, “To Me”, and “Wait”. These are orders that you can issue to pawns during your adventures to have them take particular actions.

“Go” should be used when one of your pawns suggests a course of action - for instance, denoting the location of a nearby treasure chest or explaining that they’re able to lead you to your quest objective. If you don’t select “Go,” your pawn will assume you didn’t like their idea, so be sure not to inadvertently shoot them down. Meanwhile, “Help” and “To Me” are useful commands in combat and when traversing the wild to call for your pawns to heal you or rush to your side. Last but not least, “Wait” keeps your pawns put, kind of like unruly children who need to be told to sit still. Remember, you’re their Arisen! Don’t be afraid to order ’em around!

Cast magick faster with pawn assistance

A pawn assists me in bringing hot flaming death down upon some harpies. |Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Capcom

Playing as a Mage or Sorcerer in Dragon’s Dogma 2 means that you’ll have to sit through some lengthy casting animations before you can pop off with your big spells, and it’s sometimes a drag. Luckily, pawns can help with this if they also have the same spell skill in their arsenal. This process is called Auxiliary Incanting , and when combined with the Quickspell skill, works wonders in lessening those length incantation times.

You can perform Auxiliary Incanting just like a pawn, by the way. If you see them casting a spell that you know, go up beside them and cast the same thing. With both of your magickal powers combined, all challenges can be conquered.

Regain your full health by sleeping at an inn or making camp

There’s nothing like resting at a campsite after a long day spent dungeon crawling. |Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Capcom

In Dragon’s Dogma 2, when you take repeated amounts of damage over and over again without healing in between, your remaining health is not only reduced, but so is the maximum health you can recover. This temporary reduction in health, represented by a grey area on your health bar, is known as the Loss Gauge , and when you’re travelling a long distance and encountering multiple cyclopes and ogres along the way, you’re bound to start feeling its terrible effects sooner rather than later.

To remove the Loss Gauge and get back to full health, sleep at an inn or pitch camp by a campsite fire. Do not attempt to tackle tough foes if your Loss Gauge is too immense. It’ll only result in your remaining health bar becoming smaller and smaller.

Use Ferrystones or oxcarts for fast travel

The world’s a big place, but oxcarts are one way to lessen the load and travel in medieval style. |Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Capcom

Fast travel as it exists in other open world titles isn’t really a thing in Dragon’s Dogma 2, and the game’s director even went so far as to point out that fast travel is " only an issue because your game is boring. " Bold words, for sure! That said, while teleporting from point A to point B isn’t really possible, you can move about the expansive map a little quicker than usual by using a Ferrystone or an oxcart.

Ferrystones are very pricey commodities (usually sold for around 10,000 gold per stone) that are available from vendors. Using one will teleport you to a Portcrystal, which are large crystal markers that can be found in cities.

Your cheaper alternative, if you can’t afford a Ferrystone, is to hop on an oxcart . These oxcarts travel specific routes - for instance, from the city of Vernworth to the village Melve - for affordable prices, such as 200 gold. Travelling them is an amusing experience, since your Arisen can either doze off in the cart or walk alongside it. It’s entirely possible for monsters to attack the cart along the road, leading to dramatic confrontations where you’ll be shaken out of sleep only to contend with a small invasion. It’s all about the journey, not the destination!

Always try combining inventory items

Whipping up a quick healing remedy is a snap thanks to the item system of Dragon’s Dogma 2. |Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Capcom

Dragon’s Dogma 2 has a fairly forgiving item combination system where you’re able to mix and match all of the stuff in your inventory simply by selecting the Combine action. Once you’ve successfully created something - for instance, a Salubrious Drought from a Greenwarish and an Apple - that combination will be added to your recipe list, allowing for easy reference at any time.

You’re likely to accumulate a vast supply of odds and ends simply by running through the wilds of Dragon’s Dogma 2 and picking up materials here and there. This means that your Arisen will be weighed down in due time, which leads to slower movement and faster depletion of Stamina. Always be combining excess items, both to create handy healing potions and similar curatives, but also to decrease the weight of all of the things in your pack.

Learn enemy weaknesses and resistances

Knowing elemental strengths and weaknesses goes a long way towards making epic battles like this one a lot more managable. |Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Capcom

All enemies in Dragon’s Dogma 2 have elemental weaknesses that you can exploit. For instance, ogres tend to be a bit susceptible to fire, and if you lay into them with a sword enhanced with the Mage skills Fire Boon or Fire Affinity, that ogre is going to fall a lot faster than he would otherwise. Other enemies will be resistant or even immune to certain elements, and it’s a matter of trial and error to figure out which enchantments work best.

Pawns can ease the burden of keeping track of enemy weaknesses and resistances, and if they’ve faced a foe in the past and won, they’ll shout “the enemy is weak to fire” or similar odes when battle commences. As we already mentioned, you should always be recruiting more and more pawns whenever possible, and taking advantage of their collective encyclopedic knowledge of the world’s monsters is only one more reason to do so.

Remember, bosses have multiple health bars

Getting close to a victory! I’ve only got to drill through another health bar to get there! |Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Capcom

In the early hours of Dragon’s Dogma 2, you’ll probably run into tonnes of huge enemies, ranging from ogres to cyclopes to minotaurs. It’s a rush to battle these massive foes whether you hack away at their feet, climb their backs, or stand to the side to deliver spells. But it might also be an exercise in frustration when their health bar at the top of the screen decreases, only to reveal that there’s yet another health bar waiting in the wings!

The fact is, major enemies in the game have multiple health bars, and you can tell if you have more bars to go through if you can see small dots below their current health bar . In fact, I personally don’t pay attention so much to the health bar as I do the music of the fight, as well as my pawns’ exclamations. When the foe is on its final bar, the music will change to a triumphant medley, similar to Capcom’s Monster Hunter franchise. Your pawns will also shout that the enemy is on its last legs, or that it looks as exhausted as they feel. That’s when it’s time to deliver your biggest strike and bring your quarry to its knees!

With these tips at your disposal, your Arisen should be able to rise up and defeat the dragon with great gusto. For more detailed information on all the nuances of Dragon’s Dogma 2, get started by choosing the class that’s right for you with our best vocations guide .

Dragon’s Dogma 2

PS5 , Xbox Series X/S , PC

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All 75 Arc Raiders Blueprints and where to get them

These areas have the highest chance of giving you Blueprints

Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Embark Studios

Looking for more Arc Raiders Blueprints? It’s a special day when you find a Blueprint, as they’re among the most valuable items in Arc Raiders. If you find a Blueprint that you haven’t already found, then you must make sure you hold onto it at all costs, because Blueprints are the key to one of the most important and powerful systems of meta-progression in the game.

This guide aims to be the very best guide on Blueprints you can find, starting with a primer on what exactly they are and how they work in Arc Raiders, before delving into exactly where to get Blueprints and the very best farming spots for you to take in your search.

We’ll also go over how to get Blueprints from other unlikely activities, such as destroying Surveyors and completing specific quests. And you’ll also find the full list of all 75 Blueprints in Arc Raiders on this page (including the newest Blueprints added with the Cold Snap update , such as the Deadline Blueprint and Firework Box Blueprint), giving you all the information you need to expand your own crafting repertoire.

In this guide:

• What are Blueprints in Arc Raiders?
• Full Blueprint list: All crafting recipes
• Where to find Blueprints in Arc Raiders Blueprints obtained from quests Blueprints obtained from Trials Best Blueprint farming locations

What are Blueprints in Arc Raiders?

Blueprints in Arc Raiders are special items which, if you manage to extract with them, you can expend to permanently unlock a new crafting recipe in your Workshop. If you manage to extract from a raid with an Anvil Blueprint, for example, you can unlock the ability to craft your very own Anvil Pistol, as many times as you like (as long as you have the crafting materials).

To use a Blueprint, simply open your Inventory while in the lobby, then right-click on the Blueprint and click “Learn And Consume” . This will permanently unlock the recipe for that item in your Workshop. As of the Stella Montis update, there are allegedly 75 different Blueprints to unlock - although only 68 are confirmed to be in the game so far. You can see all the Blueprints you’ve found and unlocked by going to the Workshop menu, and hitting “R” to bring up the Blueprint screen.

It’s possible to find duplicates of past Blueprints you’ve already unlocked. If you find these, then you can either sell them, or - if you like to play with friends - you can take it into a match and gift it to your friend so they can unlock that recipe for themselves. Another option is to keep hold of them until the time comes to donate them to the Expedition.

Full Blueprint list: All crafting recipes

Below is the full list of all the Blueprints that are currently available to find in Arc Raiders, and the crafting recipe required for each item:

Note: The missing Blueprints in this list likely have not actually been added to the game at the time of writing, because none of the playerbase has managed to find any of them. As they are added to the game, I will update this page with the most relevant information so you know exactly how to get all 75 Arc Raiders Blueprints.

Where to find Blueprints in Arc Raiders

Below is a list of all containers, modifiers, and events which maximise your chances of finding Blueprints:

• Certain quests reward you with specific Blueprints .
• Completing Trials has a high chance of offering Blueprints as rewards.
• Surveyors have a decent chance of dropping Blueprints on death.
• High loot value areas tend to have a greater chance of spawning Blueprints.
• Night Raids and Storms may increase rare Blueprint spawn chances in containers.
• Containers with higher numbers of items may have a higher tendency to spawn Blueprints. As a result, Blue Gate (which has many “large” containers containing multiple items) may give you a higher chance of spawning Blueprints.
• Raider containers (Raider Caches, Weapon Boxes, Medical Bags, Grenade Tubes) have increased Blueprint drop rates. As a result, the Uncovered Caches event gives you a high chance of finding Blueprints.
• Security Lockers have a higher than average chance of containing Blueprints.
• Certain Blueprints only seem to spawn under specific circumstances: Tempest Blueprint only spawns during Night Raid events. Vulcano Blueprint only spawns during Hidden Bunker events. Jupiter and Equaliser Blueprints only spawn during Harvester events.

Raider Caches, Weapon Boxes, and other raider-oriented container types have a good chance of offering Blueprints. |Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Embark Studios

Blueprints have a very low chance of spawning in any container in Arc Raiders, around 1-2% on average. However, there is a higher chance of finding Blueprints in particular container types. Specifically, you can find more Blueprints in Raider containers and security lockers.

Beyond this, if you’re looking for Blueprints you should focus on regions of the map which are marked as having particularly high-value loot. Areas such as the Control Tower in Dam Battlegrounds, the Arrival and Departure Buildings in Spaceport, and Pilgrim’s Peak in Blue Gate all have a better-than-average chance of spawning Blueprints somewhere amongst all their containers. Night Raids and Electromagnetic Storm events also increase the drop chances of certain Blueprints .

In addition to these containers, you can often loot Blueprints from destroyed Surveyors - the largest of the rolling ball ARC. Surveyors are more commonly found on the later maps - Spaceport and Blue Gate - and if one spawns in your match, you’ll likely see it by the blue laser beam that it casts into the sky while “surveying”.

Surveyors are quite well-armoured and will very speedily run away from you once it notices you, but if you can take one down then make sure you loot all its parts for a chance of obtaining certain unusual Blueprints.

Blueprints obtained from quests

One way in which you can get Blueprints is by completing certain quests for the vendors in Speranza. Some quests will reward you with a specific item Blueprint upon completion, so as long as you work through all the quests in Arc Raiders, you are guaranteed those Blueprints.

Here is the full list of all Blueprints you can get from quest rewards:

• Trigger Nade Blueprint: Rewarded after completing “Sparks Fly”.
• Lure Grenade Blueprint: Rewarded after completing “Greasing Her Palms”.
• Burletta Blueprint: Rewarded after completing “Industrial Espionage”.
• Hullcracker Blueprint (and Launcher Ammo Blueprint): Rewarded after completing “The Major’s Footlocker”.

Alas, that’s only 4 Blueprints out of a total of 75 to unlock, so for the vast majority you will need to find them yourself during a raid. If you’re intent on farming Blueprints, then it’s best to equip yourself with cheap gear in case you lose it, but don’t use a free loadout because then you won’t get a safe pocket to stash any new Blueprint you find. No pain in Arc Raiders is sharper than failing to extract with a new Blueprint you’ve been after for a dozen hours already.

One of the best ways to get Blueprints is by hitting three stars on all five Trials every week. |Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Embark Studios

Blueprints obtained from Trials

One of the very best ways to get Blueprints is as rewards for completing Trials in Arc Raiders. Trials are unlocked from Level 15 onwards, and allow you to earn rewards by focusing on certain tasks over the course of several raids. For example, one Trial might task you with dealing damage to Hornets, while another might challenge you to loot Supply Drops.

Trials refresh on a weekly basis, with a new week bringing five new Trials. Each Trial can offer up to three rewards after passing certain score milestones, and it’s possible to receive very high level loot from these reward crates - including Blueprints. So if you want to unlock as many Blueprints as possible, you should make a point of completing as many Trials as possible each week.

Best Blueprint farming locations

The very best way to get Blueprints is to frequent specific areas of the maps which combine high-tier loot pools with the right types of containers to search. Here are my recommendations for where to find Blueprints on every map, so you can always keep the search going for new crafting recipes to unlock.

Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Embark Studios

Dam Battlegrounds

The best places to farm Blueprints on Dam Battlegrounds are the Control Tower, Power Generation Complex, Ruby Residence, and Pale Apartments . The first two regions, despite only being marked on the map as mid-tier loot, contain a phenomenal number of containers to loot. The Control Tower can also contain a couple of high-tier Security Lockers - though of course, you’ll need to have unlocked the Security Breach skill at the end of the Survival tree.

There’s also a lot of reporting amongst the playerbase that the Residential areas in the top-left of the map - Pale Apartments and Ruby Residence - give you a comparatively strong chance of finding Blueprints. Considering their size, there’s a high density of containers to loot in both locations, and they also have the benefit of being fairly out of the way. So you’re more likely to have all the containers to yourself.

Buried City

The best Blueprint farming locations on Buried City are the Santa Maria Houses, Grandioso Apartments, Town Hall, and the various buildings of the New District . Grandioso Apartments has a lower number of containers than the rest, but a high chance of spawning weapon cases - which have good Blueprint drop rates. The others are high-tier loot areas, with plenty of lootable containers - including Security Lockers.

Spaceport

The best places to find Blueprints on Spaceport are the Arrival and Departure Buildings, as well as Control Tower A6 and the Launch Towers . All these areas are labelled as high-value loot regions, and many of them are also very handily connected to one another by the Spaceport wall, which you can use to quickly run from one area to the next. At the tops of most of these buildings you’ll find at least one Security Locker, so this is an excellent farming route for players looking to find Blueprints.

The downside to looting Blueprints on Spaceport is that all these areas are hotly contested, particularly in Duos and Squads. You’ll need to be very focused and fast in order to complete the full farming route.

Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Embark Studios

Blue Gate

Blue Gate tends to have a good chance of dropping Blueprints, potentially because it generally has a high number of containers which can hold lots of items; so there’s a higher chance of a Blueprint spawning in each container. In my experience, the best Blueprint farming spots on Blue Gate are Pilgrim’s Peak, Raider’s Refuge, the Ancient Fort, and the Underground Complex beneath the Warehouse .

All of these areas contain a wealth of containers to loot. Raider’s Refuge has less to loot, but the majority of the containers in and around the Refuge are raider containers, which have a high chance of containing Blueprints - particularly during major events.

Stella Montis

On the whole, Stella Montis seems to have a very low drop rate for Blueprints (though a high chance of dropping other high-tier loot). If you do want to try farming Blueprints on this map, the best places to find Blueprints in Stella Montis are Medical Research, Assembly Workshop, and the Business Center . These areas have the highest density of containers to loot on the map.

In addition to this, the Western Tunnel has a few different Security Lockers to loot, so while there’s very little to loot elsewhere in this area of the map, it’s worth hitting those Security Lockers if you spawn there at the start of a match.

That wraps up this primer on how to get all the Blueprints in Arc Raiders as quickly as possible. With the Expedition system constantly resetting a large number of players’ Blueprints, it’s more important than ever to have the most up-to-date information on where to find all these Blueprints.

While you’re here, be sure to check out our Arc Raiders best guns tier list , as well as our primers on the best skills to unlock and all the different Field Depot locations on every map.

ARC Raiders

PS5 , Xbox Series X/S , PC

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