Dragon’s Dogma 2 Fighter Build – Basic Vocation (Class)

This build guide focuses on the key aspects of a Basic Vocation (Class) Fighter in Dragon’s Dogma 2, including skills, augmentations, and tips.

Best Fighter Build – Basic Vocation (Class)

In Dragon’s Dogma 2, the Fighter vocation is best for your Arisen or Pawn due to its high defensive capabilities, protection, and crowd control. This vocation (class) serves as a tank and protects you and your group. Nearly every party wants a Fighter due to their ability to taunt, crowd control, and harass enemies. This is also a good choice for players due to your high survivability.

We’ve crafted this Fighter Build to focus on defensive support with lower damage but high crowd control and survivability. You can set up an Arisen player-controllable character or a pawn to perform as a tank and allow damage dealers to excel in combat.

Fighter Build Features

The following list presents all the essential Fighter Build Mechanics and Features in Dragon’s Dogma 2:

• Skills: Blink Strike, Shield Bash, Airward Slash, Shield Summon
• Augmentations: Mettle, Dominance
• Best Pawns: Mage (main pawn), Thief, Archer
• Primary Stat: Strength
• Weapons: Sword and Shield
• Armor: Plate (heavy)
• Rings: Momentum, Quickening
• Race: Human

Weapon Skills

The best skills for the Fighter are Blink Strike, Airward Slash, Shield Bash, and Shield Summons. This gives your Fighter build a well-rounded approach to combat. While your damage will be low, your crowd control, survivability, and group utility will be high.

The Following List presents the best Dragon’s Dogma 2 Fighter Build – Basic Vocation (Class) Weapon Skills:

• Blink Strike (Burst Strike): your mobility tool and gap closer to charge into the fight.
• Airward Slash (Cloudward Slash): attack for flying and large creatures.
• Shield Bash (Shield Pummel): primary skill to stun enemies.
• Shield Summons (Shield Drum): draws aggro and keeps squishy friendlies safe.

Blink Strike (Burst Strike)

The skill Blink Strike (Burst Strike advanced version) acts as your mobility tool and gap closer. You rush forward, doing damage, and it sets up your combo for another attack. This attack will travel a considerable distance, so practice using it to reach a target exactly when needed. Your Fighters should be first to initiate combat and draw enemies’ attention.

Airward Slash (Cloudward Slash)

Airward Slash (Clouldward Slash advanced version) helps take on large enemies and fly creatures like Harpies. Without this skill, you will have limited ability to attack creatures in the skill or larger than you. Consider this a “flex” skill that you swap out if you don’t find it being used. An alternative skill is the Compass Slash, which acts as 360-degree damage and a great attention grabber.

Shield Bash (Shield Pummel)

We suggest the Shield Bash skill (Shield Pummel advanced version) for crowd control because it stuns enemies. You can combine this skill with Blink Strike, charge in, and immediately follow up with a stun on more challenging enemies or ones with swords and shields, attack from the rear. This can stun or send them flying off, which you should follow up with an Impale heavy attack.

Shield Summons (Shield Drum)

The skill Shield Summons (Shield Drum advance version) draws enemies’ attention, offloading pressure from damage and support characters. Your goal is to draw attention and reduce damage to your party. This skill will not do any damage and isn’t 100% guaranteed to grab attention. However, use a combination of opening attacks and aggressive play with Shield Summons to help support your party.

Core Skills

In Dragon’s Dogma 2, Core Skills act as passive perks or basic attacks for your Fighter Class. The Onslaught skill is your “light attack,” while Empale is your “heavy attack.” These don’t cost stamina and can be used repeatedly without running out of stamina. Empale is excellent to use after crowd control or vulnerable targets because it dramatically increases the damage.

The Following List presents Core Skills for Fighter Build:

• Onslaught: Unleashes a flurry of swift slashes with the sword. This is your light attack spammable that is quick with little damage.
• Empale: Thrusts blade forward in a forceful jab. It follows up with a powerful successive strike if it connects with a foe who has been knocked off balance. This is your heavy attack that does big damage if enemies are stunned.
• Defend: Guards against attacks from the front with the shield. Some Stamina is consumed when an attack connects with the shield. Allows you to block without regenerating stamina and consuming stamina when blocking.
• Deflect: Deflects attacks back toward the target. While active, counterattacking consumes less Stamina. Using Deflect/True Deflect you can time a block rather than holding to stun enemies.
• True Deflect: Deflects attacks back toward the target with impressive might. While active, counterattacking consumes no Stamina. Press R1/RB the instant before the enemy’s attack makes contact.
• Tusk Toss: Traces a grand skyward arc with the blade, sending lightweight targets flying into the air. Simply hold down attack, then let go a second or more later to shot an attack up and possibly stunning small targets.

Maister Skills

In Dragon’s Dogma 2 you can learn an ultimate ability for your vocation from Maisters. Each of these teachers have mastered their chosen vocation and once you have gained their approval you can unlock these powerful skills. Acquiring these abilities can often change the way you play your class, and are worth taking the time to earn.

Additionally, there is no set Vocation Rank you are required to have before you can unlock ultimate abilities. However, you must have unlocked the Vocation itself. With Fighter, this is a non-issue as this vocation is immediately available at the start of the game.

The Following Lists presents the Fighter Ultimate Ability and How to Unlock:

• Maister: Lennart
• Location: Melve
• Required Quest: ‘Readvent of Calamity’. This will send you back to Melve to fight a dragon. Help out Ulrika and Lennart will reward you with the Soldier’s Code scroll.
• Quest Timer: If you progress too far in the game you risk loosing access to this ultimate ability. This quest will no longer be available after you complete ‘Feast of Deception’ in Vernworth.
• Ultimate Ability – Riotous Fury: Rains a flurry of powerful blows on the target, dealing massive damage at great cost to stamina. Leaves the user vulnerable if the first strike misses.

Augmentations

In Dragon’s Dogma 2, Augmentations function as passive boosts to your character’s overall power and build. These bonuses are acquired through leveling vocations, and you can equip up to 6 of them. Additionally, you can equip augmentations from other vocations if you have Ranked up that class high enough to unlock them. Therefore, it’s crucial to strategize your leveling process to acquire the most effective Augments early on in DD2. For this Fighter build, we recommend focusing on leveling the Warrior and Archer to unlock four specific Augments. These are the recommended mix of augmentations which will give you the most power and efficiency out of your Fighter.

The Following List presents Augmentations for the Fighter Build:

• Mettle (Fighter): Augments your physical defense. Requires Fighter at Vocation Rank 2 to unlock with 300 Discipline.
• Impact (Warrior): Increases the ability to push and pull targets when grabbing hold. Requires Warrior at Vocation Rank 4 to unlock with 900 Discipline.
• Dominance (Warrior Vocation): Increases your Knockdown Power. Requires Warrior at Vocation Rank 8 to unlock with 3,000 Discipline.
• Endurance (Archer Vocation): Increases your maximum stamina. Requires Archer at Vocation Rank 4 to unlock with 900 Discipline.
• Lethality (Archer Vocation): Increases damage dealt when striking a target’s vitals. Requires Archer at Vocation Rank 8 to unlock with 3,000 Discipline.
• Exaltation (Mage Vocation): Increases your stamina speed recovery. Requires Mage at Vocation Rank 9 to unlock with 5,000 Discipline.

Best Pawns for Fighter Build

The best Pawns that can aid your Fighter in combat will be Mage for support, Thief for burst damage, and Archer for ranged attacks. In Dragon’s Dogma 2, Pawns act as companion allies. Each Arisen (player) will have one main pawn who can pick vocation and skills and two additional support basic vocations. Below are the best pawns for the Fighter vocation in Dragon’s Dogma 2:

• Mage —your support healer can also do damage. You’ll want the Mage to apply speed and healing and remove harmful effects with the Ice spell for damage.
• Thief – the Thief excels at climbing on large enemies and doing burst damage. The Thief will do great without dying if you are protecting, taunting and focusing on the tank role.
• Archer – your Archer is best for range damage and is helpful against large enemies for consistent damage. Make sure to craft and provide arrows to enhance their damage.

Fighter Gameplay Tips and Tricks

Survivability is the most critical aspect of playing a Fighter in Dragon’s Dogma 2. This is done by maintaining your stamina, having consumables on hand in combat, and supporting allies. Below are additional tips and tricks for Fighter Gameplay.

Taunt

Before an encounter, you should either charge in with Blink Strike or use Shield Drums to get the enemy’s attention. Skills and attacks generate aggro, and initially, attacking is critical to get enemies’ attention. This will allow your damage-dealing pawns to free-cast without fear of retaliation.

Stuns & Crowd Control

After you’ve initiated combat, your next priority is to focus on crowd control and stuns. You can do this by, ideally, timing blocks or using Shield Bash. You want to continually rotate or sprint behind enemies to guarantee that Shield Bash will stun them. Once stunned, use Empale for huge damage and move to the next target.

Stamina Sustain

The easiest way to maintain stamina is to time block rather than constantly holding the block button down. Moreover, sprint only in a burst without constantly sprinting on in combat. You will only want to use two abilities consecutively in combat to avoid stamina drain. Additionally, ensure you are not encumbered or carrying excessive materials to increase regeneration. Lastly, always keep consumables on you for a burst of resources.

Survivability

The best tip for survivability on a Fighter is to use a block to mitigate damage and avoid being stunned yourself. To do this, strafe and constantly rotate during fights so opponents attack you. Try to learn block timing rather than holding it down. Moreover, equip your Mage Pawn with powerful healing spells and use the command “Help Me” when overwhelmed. Lastly, stockpile food and potions to burst yourself to full when stunned.

Buffing

Before setting out on an advancer, you must stock up on consumables, camps, and materials needed. When you rest at a camp, you can cook food and get multiple buffs for a limited time. Moreover, some consumables give you a defensive or offensive boost for a limited time. Other potions immediately give you stamina and health and can be drunk while stunned. These are essential if you get overwhelmed in combat without a healer.

Large Monsters

During significant monster encounters, the Fighter should focus on climbing the beast and doing damage via weak points. You can use ledges, cliffs, rocks, etc., to gain the high ground. Otherwise, wait for your stamina to be 75% or higher, jump, and grab a large monster. Spend stamina to reach the head or a colored weak point and attack. Pay attention to your stamina, and jump off around 20% to avoid being completely drained.

Equipment for Dragon’s Dogma 2 Fighter Build

Not all equipment is known for Dragon’s Dogma 2, but the best equipment increases your defensive and parry power. For Rings, look to increase health. While you progress, upgrade gear with raw materials to gain additional stat increases. Even one level that only costs gold can increase your survivability.

Additionally, prioritize armor purchases over weapons for the Fighter Build. You want higher defensive capabilities rather than damage, except the shield when using the Dragon’s Dogma 2 Fighter Build – Basic Vocation (Class).

Best Fighter Beginner Gear

Gear Slot	Gear Item	Effect
Head	Wanderer’s Hood	Slight Defense and Knockdown Resistance
Body	Foot Soldier Armor	Minor Defense and Knockdown Resistance
Leg	Worker’s Greaves	Slight Defense and Knockdown Resistance
Cloak	None
Weapon	Trusty Sword	Basic starting weapon
Shield	Round Shield	No Slash Resistance
Ring	Ring of Exultation	Increases maximum health
Ring	Ring of Acclamation	Increases maximum health

Below is the location for the best Fighter Beginner Gear:

• Wanderer’s Hood: Purchase at Borderwatch Outpost for 160 gold.
• Foot Soldier Armor: Purchase at Borderwatch Outpost or Runne’s Apothecary (Melve) for 820 gold.
• Worker’s Greaves: Purchase at Borderwatch Outpost for 420 gold.
• Trusty Sword: Given to you at start of game. Can also be purchased at Borderwatch Outpost for 850 gold.
• Round Shield: Given to you at start of game.
• Ring of Exultation: Reward for completing the quest ‘Medicament Predicament’ in Melve.
• Ring of Acclamation: Purchase at Philbert’s Sundries in Vernworth for 8,000 gold. Also rare drop from Minotaur.

Best Fighter Advanced Gear

In general, the best advanced gear in the game comes from the vendors rather than from monster drops.

Note that the Charming Corset is the best advanced piece of body armor for any vocation, but you can only acquire it once by turning in 150 Seeker’s Tokens at the Vocation Guild. Also, the stat difference on Cloaks is negligible, so you can feel free to choose whatever you think looks best on your character.

Finally, don’t forget to upgrade and enhance your items in order to improve their damage dealing abilities and levels of protection.

Gear Slot	Gear Item	Effect
Head	Fiendish Armet	Defense 80/Magick Defense 34/KD Res 24
Body	Thrasher’s Surcoat	Defense 176/Magick Defense 70/KD Res 57
Leg	Vigilant Greaves	Defense 116/Magick Defense 42/KD Res 36
Cloak	Commander’s Mantle	Cold Resist and Debilitation Resist
Weapon	Molten Fury	Strength 275/Strike St 100/KD Power 265
Shield	Dragon’s Faith	Strength 130/Strike St 100/KD Power 278
Ring	Ring of Momentum	Greatly increases stamina
Ring	Ring of Quickening	Increases stamina recovery

Below is the location for the best Fighter Advanced Gear:

• Fiendish Armet: Purchase at Volcanic Island Armory (Volcanic Island Camp) for 34,600 gold.
• Thrasher’s Surcoat: Purchase at Volcanic Island Armory (Volcanic Island Camp) for 34,600 gold.
• Vigilant Greaves: Purchase at Volcanic Island Armory (Volcanic Island Camp) for 35,800 gold.
• Commander’s Mantle: Purchase at Celeste’s Smithy (Checkpoint Rest Town) for 12,000.
• Molten Fury: Looted from a chest inside Mountain Base Cave (Southwest of Volcanic Island Camp).
• Dragon’s Faith: Looted from a chest inside Dragonsbreath Tower (Far southwest of Bakbattahl).
• Ring of Momentum: Looted from a chest near the waterfall north of Thunderclap Cave. Also a reward for completing The Phantom Oxcart quest.
• Ring of Quickening: Purchase at Volcanic Island Armory (Volcanic Island Camp) for 10,000 gold.

Dragon’s Dogma 2 Fighter Build Summary Guide

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