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Dragon’s Dogma 2: Best Archer skills and augmentsBest Archer skills and augments in Dragon’s Dogma 2
Best Archer skills and augments in Dragon’s Dogma 2
Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Capcom
Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Capcom
Interested in the best Archer skills and augments in Dragon’s Dogma 2?Archers inDragon’s Dogma 2fire arrows at the speed of light, turning enemies into pin cushions from a comfortable distance. With a wide variety of trick shots at their disposal, along with a few nimble moves that involve kicking baddies in the face right before blasting an arrow into their jaws, Archers are nimble and quite a lot of fun, especially if you like dealing heavy damage while keeping yourself relatively free of harm.
There are a few things to watch out for if you take up the bow and arrow, especially as Archers are one of the few vocations inDragon’s Dogma 2to juggle some inventory management. In this guide, we’ve delved into the best Archer skills and augments, giving you the rundown on what you need to know to make your arrows fly fast and powerful.
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Dragon’s Dogma 2 Archer best weapon skills
Barrage Shot
Barrage Shotunleashes a swift array of shots in rapid succession. It looks cool, feels good, and really evokes the vibe of a swift-firing Robin Hood who never needs to waste a second fiddling with his quiver before sending off another missile.
Barrage Shot is best for keeping up the attack on a single target, and you’ll end up using this quite a bit on boss monsters. The more advanced form of this skill,Manifold Shot, ups the ante even further with a greater number of arrows fired each time.
Sweep Shot
While Barrage Shot is good for a single target,Sweep Shotsends arrows out in an arc that hits multiple foes. This technique comes in infinitely handy when you have an array of smaller enemies rushing you and need to send them scattering.
Cascade Shot, the higher level version of Sweep Shot, sends even more projectiles erupting outwards into your arrow arc. If you’ve ever played the arcade classicContra, this is basically the Spread Gun… except pointier.
Dire Arrow
Unlike the other skills here,Dire Arrowcannot be used while moving, as it requires the Archer to position themselves closer to the ground and ready their bow. The windup time is long, but this shot will send smaller enemies flying while also taking out a nice chunk of a boss' health bar. It’s nicely versatile, but since you’ll be vulnerable when you use Dire Arrow, be sure that your pawns are protecting you and keeping would-be attackers at bay.
Dire Arrow takes some time to set up, but when that bowstring goes twang, the impact is something fierce. |Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Capcom
While it’s not a necessity, you can combine Dire Arrow with the core skillSteady Shotto make your final shot even more powerful.
Keen Sight
Dragon’s Dogma 2 features a good auto-targeting system, and you don’t need to worry about missing when you take up the Archer vocation. For a tad more accuracy, however,Keen Sightwill give you a first-person zoomed-in view at a target that’ll come in really handy for piercing them in vulnerable spots like the head. Be wary of your Stamina meter, which will go down as long as your bow is drawn in the zoomed-in view.
Exploding Shot
Unlike most other vocations, several of the Archer’s skills rely on trick arrows and are limited to however many of these items you have.Exploding Shotis the one I tend to use the most. It relies on Explosive Arrows, which are some of the earliest trick arrows you’ll come across, and does exactly what you think. Loose one in a minotaur’s back, and a few seconds later, that minotaur will go boom.
This saurian is about to feel the fierce heat from an Exploding Shot. |Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Capcom
That said, you may want to look intoTarring Shot,Drenching Shot, andBlighting Shot, each of which requires its associated arrow to use. Tarring Shot covers a foe in tar (making them more susceptible to fire), Drenching Shot covers them in water (making them more susceptible to ice and thunder attacks), and Blighting Shot hits them with the equivalent of poison (draining their health slowly).
Dragon’s Dogma 2 Archer best core skills
Leaping Punt
Propel yourself forward like a torpedo, kick a bad guy in the face, knock them off-balance while you catapault yourself backwards as well. That’sLeaping Puntin a nutshell. This is like a flashier version ofFront Kick, which is another Archer core skill that’s perfectly fine but not as neat-looking. Ultimately, this is a great skill for mobility purposes and navigating your Archer out of a crowd.
Parting Shot
Parting Shotis the cherry atop the Leaping Punt sundae. This lets the Archer loose an arrow while performing Leaping Punt (or Front Kick), and is a beautiful little punctuation mark atop the deadly dance of combat.
Swift Nock
Swift Nocklets the Archer nock arrows with even more blazing speed. This skill works in tandem with Loose or Steady Shot, which I haven’t listed here as one of my favourites, but is still a great, viable option, especially if you’ve taken Dire Arrow, as described above.
Dragon’s Dogma 2 Archer best augments
All Vocations in Dragon’s Dogma 2 can pick from augments to passively boost their stats. Since playing as the Archer requires more pinpoint accuracy than other vocations, it’s not a bad idea to take advantage of the following:
Ambuscade
Thanks to two archers with Ambuscade and Lethality (as well as backup assistance from a mage), this big lad doesn’t stand a chance. |Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Capcom
Lethality
Lethalitydeals increased damage whenever you hit a target’s vitals. Combine this with Keen Sight above to get headshots, lower body shots, and all the other shots in the places where it hurts most.
That concludes our study of the bow techniques that define the Archer’s best skills and augments. For more on tackling the wild world of Dragon’s Dogma 2 and becoming the legendary Arisen that all your pawns praise you as, keep your eyes on Rock Paper Shotgun as we delve into all the other Vocations of this epic adventure. You can start with our deep dive into the magickal ways of theMage, the sword and shield tactics of theFighter, or the shifty dagger action of theThief. For more advanced vocations, check out our guide to the greatsword swings of theWarrior, the extreme magick of theSorcerer, the Duospear slices of theMystic Spearhand, the crafty illusions of theTrickster, the bow spell combos of theMagick Archer, or the many weapon skills of theWarfarer.
