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

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

Best Mage Build – Basic Vocation (Class)

The Mage is the basic vocation (class) to select in Dragon’s Dogma 2 because it can heal and support the party. While the Mage can cast damage-dealing spells, it is best played as Arisen or a main Pawn to support the party. Mages’ ability to enchant allies’ weapons with elemental buffs adds versatility to the party’s offense, enabling them to exploit enemy weaknesses effectively. Additionally, Mages possess a unique skill that increases the party’s speed, granting a tactical advantage in maneuvering and positioning during combat, further enhancing their utility on the battlefield.

However, despite their indispensable support capabilities, Mages face significant challenges that demand careful consideration. One glaring weakness is their frail survivability; Mages typically lack the physical defenses and robust health pools of other vocations, leaving them susceptible to swift defeat if caught off guard. Furthermore, the inherent vulnerability while casting spells poses a constant risk; the lengthy casting times make Mages prime targets for enemy attacks, exposing them to damage and potential interruptions. Mastering the intricacies of positioning and timing is paramount for Mages, presenting a steep learning curve that may prove daunting for novice Arisen players seeking to harness the full potential of this vocation.

Mage Build Features

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

• Skills: Levin, Fire Boon, Halidom, Argent Tonic
• Augmentations: Apotropaism, Exaltation
• Best Pawns: Fighter (main pawn), Thief, Archer
• Primary Stat: Magick
• Weapons: Staff
• Armor: Robe
• Rings: Quickening, Recitation
• Race: Human

Weapon Skills

The best skills for the Mage Class Vocation in Dragon’s Dogma 2 are Levin, Fire Boon, Halidom, and Argent Tonic. These skills buff your party, allow you to do damage as a Mage, and heal when needed. The Mage support classes have access to various spells and buffs, and you should have a variety to accommodate any situation.

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

• Levin (High Levin): Lighting damage can be cast at range.
• Fire Boon (Fire Affinity): buffs your party weapons with fire damage.
• Halidom (High Halidom): removes negative effects from party members.
• Argent Tonic (Argent Succor): burst heal in combat.

Levin (High Levin)

The skill Levin is a powerful damage spell that can be used at range. Early on, you gain access to a fire-based spell called flagration. The downside of the fire spell is the range forcing you in close to the action. Without a blink or way to quickly exit, the Mage is vulnerable, thus we recommend Levin or High Levin. This spell gives you some damage and is area-based but not mobile. At the start of the game, use Flagration and swap once you unlock Levin.

Levin strikes an enemy from above with tongues of lightning. He can summon additional lightning bolts by consuming Stamina.

Fire Boon (Fire Affinity)

The Mage can buff allies’ weapons with Fire Boon, which adds massive damage to your team. This skill is purely support, and depending on how you’re playing, the Mage can flex out. Another good skill to use is Celerity. This buffs your party’s speed and can be used prior to combat. Fire Boon and the advanced version of Fire Affinity are some of the best mage spells. You can also use Ice and Lighting Boon, depending on the type of monsters you face throughout Dragon’s Dogma 2.

Fire Boon – Enchants the caster’s weapon or that of a single ally with fire.

Halidom (High Halidom)

The skill High Halidom removes negative effects from your party members. These negative effects, like sleep or unconsciousness, can prevent you from defending yourself and get you killed. High Halidom is best when facing more advanced enemies with various status effects. A good alternative for a more damage-dealing focus is Mage Frigor. While this brings you close to the action, the ice damage is substantial, and so is the stun.

Halidom – Conjures a magickal sigil that cures the caster and their allies of certain debilitations (caught fire, frostbite, unconscious, sleep, silence, drenched, and tarred) while within range.

Argent Tonic (Argent Succor)

For the best healing spell in the game, select Argent Tonic. This gives a party member a huge burst of health, and the advanced version (Argent Succor) does healing over time. Argent Tonic is perfect to combine with a front-line tank soaking up damage and getting chunked due to a boss attack. We highly recommend this skill later in the game because it’s impactful in bringing your party to full health.

Argent Tonic – provides a burst heal when party member is low.

Core Skills

In Dragon’s Dogma 2, Core Skills act as passive perks or basic attacks for your Mage Class. You have two spells that do not consume resources. Anodyne acts as a heal in an area using your heavy attack button. Magick Bolt is your simple light attack that can be used when spell-casting isn’t possible. Your main goal with the Mage is to maintain stamina to cast powerful spells rather than light, heavy, or basic attacks. However, feel free to use the heal and Magick Bolt when under pressure or lacking stamina.

The Following List presents Core Skills for Mage Build:

• Anodyne: Conjures a magickal curative sigil that recovers the health of the caster and their allies when in contact with it.
• Magick Bolt: Fires a magickal burst that differs based on active enchantment. It can be cast while moving.
• Quickspell: Greatly hastens incantation speed. Consumes Stamina while active.
• Focused Bolt: Fires a condensed magickal burst that differs based on active enchantment.
• Levitate: Manipulates the caster’s weight through magickal means, allowing them to float temporarily.
• Enchanted Counter: When using defend while enchanted, automatically counters with an elemental attack corresponding to the enchantment.

Maister Skills

In Dragon’s Dogma 2 you can learn ultimate abilities from vocation 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 Mage, this is a non-issue as this vocation is immediately available at the start of the game.

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

• Maister: Eini
• Location: Eini’s House; a solitary location north of Melve and northwest of the Borderwatch Outpost.
• Required Quest: ‘Spellbound’. This quest will send you out to find 5 grimoires for Eini’s granddaughter Trysha. Later on you’ll need to return to save Trysha from her magic, and earn an ultimate ability for Sorcerer, too.
• Quest Timer: One of the grimoires can be found during the Caged Magistrate quest, so it’s best to pick up Spellbound before starting that one. Overall, however, it’s unknown if there is a quest timer beyond which you can fail the quest.
• Ultimate Ability – Celestial Paean: Summons a wave of holy light that hastens stamina recovery and the speed of allies who touch it, while reducing damage taken. Consumes all of the caster’s stamina and knocks them off their feet.

Finally, the Spellbound quest and all of the work you do to unlock the Mage ultimate ability will also gain you access to the Sorcerer ultimate ability. This will be granted to you by Trysha after successfully helping her.

Augmentations

In Dragon’s Dogma 2, Augments are passive bonuses to your character and builds overall power. You obtain these by leveling classes or vocations, and can equip up to 6 of them. However, you want to level in a particular way to gain the most effective ones at the start of DD2. This Mage build will use three augments from it’s vocation, as well as two from the Sorcerer. Beyond that, if you can also level up high enough in the Archer vocation, the Endurance augmentation is also very helpful.

The Following List presents Augmentations for Mage Build:

• Beatitude (Mage Vocation): Increases the amount of Health recovered by curatives and curative magicks. Requires Mage at Vocation Rank 4 to unlock with 900 Discipline.
• Perpetuation (Mage Vocation): Extends the duration of enchantments and invigorations. Requires Mage 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.
• Sagacity (Sorcerer Vocation): Increases the Magick Stat. Requires Sorcerer at Vocation Rank 9 to unlock with 5,000 Discipline.
• Catalysis (Sorcerer Vocation): Increases the amount of damage dealt when exploiting Enemies elemental weaknesses. Requires Sorcerer 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.

Best Pawns for Mage Build

The best Pawns for your Mage Build are a Fighter for crowd control, a Thief for burst damage, and an 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 Mage vocation in Dragon’s Dogma 2:

• Fighter – the Fighter’s role is to taunt and crowd control enemies off of your Mage. This frees you up to attack from the rear and do more damage.
• Thief – this vocation focuses on burst damage and mobility. Thiefs are great to bring as a pawn because they are effective against large enemies.
• 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.

Mage Gameplay Tips and Tricks

The best way to play a Mage vocation in Dragon’s Dogma 2 is by keeping your range and supporting your party with buffs and heels. The most critical resource to monitor is your stamina; you want to keep weaving in and out of max range to avoid damage. Unlike other vocations classes, the Mage has limited mobility and no way to dodge or blink away. Thus, your positioning and stamina management are critical to survival.

Spell Casting

When spell casting with a Mage, expect long cast times and vulnerability. Ideally, you position the Mage near the rear of the fight but close enough to land a spell. Your skills and spell loadout will determine the range; thus, look for the longest-range damage spells to maintain distance. Moreover, some spells can be held down or pressed repeatedly for additional effects.

Quickspell allows you, Mage, to use stamina in exchange for speeding up a spell. This is a good idea if you know your stamina and how long the spell will take to cast. Moreover, Auxilary Incanting allows you to cast exact spells faster when near another caster. This is rare, but something to be aware of if running two or more Mages in your party.

Stamina Management

The key to managing your stamina on the Mage is leaving enough in your overall pool to be still able to sprint out of trouble. Your carrying weight and character size will also determine your stamina recovery. Thus, make smaller characters, and don’t use your Mage as the mule character to haul all your gear.

Carry potions that refill stamina on you so you don’t run out during tough fights. Moreover, keep sprinting to a minimum and let your stamina fully recover before jumping into combat. You can pre-buff with Celerity and Fire Boon and charge in with two buff spells.

Large Monsters

During boss encounters, the Mage is responsible for keeping the party alive rather than doing damage. Use Anodyne on party members in melee fighting and pre-buff with Fire Boon. You can use the Levin on a weak point like the legs to add damage. However, your main goal will be burst healing, removing negative effects, and keeping your distance.

Many times, bosses will target the spell caster and charge you. To avoid damage, constantly strafe even if you don’t expect any damage. Strafing can help prevent a knockdown and a sudden death from a large boss.

Equipment for Dragon’s Dogma 2 Mage Build

The best equipment for Mage increases your Magick and stamina. For Rings, look to increase health early on than anything to help with stamina for better spell casting. 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, weapon purchases should be prioritized over armor for the Mage Build. When using the Dragon’s Dogma 2 Mage Build Basic Vocation (Class), you want higher offensive capabilities rather than defensive.

Best Mage Beginner Gear

Gear Slot	Gear Item	Effect
Head	Beseecher’s Hood	Defense 4/Magick Defense 4/KD Resist 2
Body	Missionary’s Robe	Defense 12/Magick Defense 15/KD Resist 2
Leg	Pilgrim’s Tights	Defense 5/Magick Defense 9/KD Resist 2
Cloak	None
Weapon	Wooden Staff	Basic starting weapon
Ring	Ring of Exultation	Increases maximum health
Ring	Ring of Acclamation	Increases maximum health

Below is the location for the best Mage Beginner Gear:

• Beseecher’s Hood: Purchase at Borderwatch Outpost or Runne’s Apothecary (Melve) for 295 gold.
• Missionary’s Robe: Purchase at Borderwatch Outpost for 780 gold.
• Pilgrim’s Tights: Purchase at Borderwatch Outpost for 410 gold.
• Wooden Staff: Given to you at start of game. Can also be purchased at Borderwatch Outpost for 790 gold.
• 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 Mage Advanced Gear

You should know 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.

Finally, don’t forget to upgrade and enhance your items in order to improve their damage dealing abilities and levels of protection. The following is a table of the best advanced gear for our Dragon’s Dogma 2 Mage Build – Basic Vocation (Class) guide.

Gear Slot	Gear Item	Effect
Head	Twilight Star	Defense 60/Magick Defense 60/KD Resist 8
Body	Ares Morpho Robe	Defense 115/Magick Defense 162/KD Resist 14
Leg	Braided Boots	Defense 85/Magick Defense 75/KD Resist 12
Cloak	Commander’s Mantle	Cold Resist and Debilitation Resist
Weapon	Volant White	Strength 85/ Magick 345/KD Power 99
Ring	Ring of Quickening	Increases stamina recovery
Ring	Ring of Recitation	Greatly reduces time taken to incant spells

Below is the location for the best Mage Advanced Gear:

• Twilight Star: Collect and turn in 50 Seeker’s Tokens at the Vocation Guild.
• Ares Morpho Robe: Purchase at Volcanic Island Armory (Volcanic Island Camp) for 42,800 gold.
• Braided Boots: Purchase from Zachary at the Excavation Site for 16,800 gold.
• Commander’s Mantle: Purchase at Celeste’s Smithy (Checkpoint Rest Town) for 12,000.
• Volant White: Purchase at Volcanic Island Armory (Volcanic Island Camp) for 45,600 gold.
  • Legion’s Might is the more powerful staff, but you’ll have to find 180 Seeker’s Tokens to claim it.
• Ring of Quickening: Purchase at Volcanic Island Armory (Volcanic Island Camp) for 10,000 gold.
• Ring of Recitation: Loot from a chest inside Tomb of Ja’Nuwa behind a breakable wall.
  • An alternative would be Ring of Articulacy, which you can purchase at Grisha’s Armory (Sacred Arbor) for 10,000 gold.

Dragon’s Dogma 2 Mage Build Summary Guide

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