Like the first game in the series, Dragon’s Dogma 2 features a variety of class choices called ‘Vocations’. In this article, we are going to explore all currently known vocations—from the starting vocations to the advanced and hybrid ones.
Starting Vocations
The starting vocations will be available at the start of the game for both you and your pawn.
Fighter
The Fighter vocation is exactly what you think it might be. As a Fighter, you will have access to a sword ‘n’ board style of gameplay, alongside heavier armor. This effectively makes you a tank with the appropriate skills to match. As a front-line tank, you will be defending yourself and your pawn allies with your shield and abilities.
Such abilities will likely encompass various shield skills like bashing and even taunting enemies. But, as a Fighter, you’ll be able to do some damage as well with one-handed weapon skills that can be devastating once leveled.
Mage
The Mage is a somewhat unique casting class. What makes the Mage stand out isn’t just their magical and elemental offensive spells, but also their defensive and utility spells. Unlike some of the other vocations, the Mage is capable of being just as supportive through the use of damage buffing spells. Where the Mage can really shine though is in its use of healing spells, which makes the Mage a great early addition to any player’s roster.
Here is hoping that the more advanced artificial intelligence in Dragon’s Dogma 2 will help keep Mages further from the front line, because they are quite susceptible to dying easily.
Thief
The Thief vocation is much like your average Rogue in other RPGs. You’re going to be typically wielding two one handed weapons and delivering bursts of high physical damage as you dodge, duck, dip, dive, and dodge in and out of combat. While you’re quick and can do high damage, you won’t be great at area of effect attacks. Because of that, Thieves in Dragon’s Dogma 2 may be good boss killers by default.
Beyond that, you will likely be able to steal items from enemies.
Archer
Archers use bows in Dragon’s Dogma, so they’ll definitely use them the same way in the sequel. Like the Thief, you will act swiftly upon the battlefield, and like the Thief, you’ll use multiple quick hits to pepper enemies decisively. As the Archer vocation levels, you’re likely to gain various new abilities tied to firing arrows more quickly, or over a broader range, or even multiple at once.
Other skills may allow you to easily disengage with new evasive maneuvers or run up enemies before leaping off their face to pepper them from above with many arrows.
Advanced Vocations
In the first Dragon’s Dogma, advanced vocations became available after reaching a certain level. These Vocations, like the others, may also be available to your pawn to equip.
Warrior
The Warrior is similar to the Fighter in that you use skills with a physical weapon. The difference lies in the fact the Warrior vocation doesn’t use a shield. Instead, Warriors rely on the use of heavy armor and large two-handed weapons. The Warrior vocation is the closest thing available to living out your potential fantasy of playing as Guts from the Berserk manga/anime series. Warriors will be able to use a multitude of two-handed weapons and will likely be able to charge their attacks to devastating effect.
The Warrior is the kind of vocation that excels at melee area of effect attacks, making them quite good at clearing many enemies all at once. Crowd control with stuns and knockdowns will also likely be an effective tool in the Warrior’s ability kit.
Sorcerer
Sorcerers are the spell casters of Dragon’s Dogma 2 that you’ve likely already seen in the trailers. Their spells are slow to charge due to their overwhelming strength, with some examples being shown to be as bombastic as summoning a meteorite from the sky to blast apart entire swaths of enemies.
Regardless of whether you or your pawn plays as a Sorcerer, proper positioning will be key since a couple stray hits may make casting such powerful spells hard if not impossible. It would be advisable to have a Fighter or Warrior in the party to help distract those that you wish to be blown sky high with wild elemental spells.
Hybrid Vocations
Hybrid vocations are specialized vocations that only you yourself will have access to in Dragon’s Dogma 2. If they are like the first game’s hybrid vocations, then you’ll have access to them after some leveling.
Trickster
The Trickster is one of Dragon Dogma 2’s brand-new hybrid vocations. The vocation allows for the use of illusions that are created through a special kind of smoke emitted from your weapon. The Trickster’s smoke can be used to taunt enemies into attacking smokey illusions, while a spectral illusion can be used to help you attack and deal damage. Environmental effects seem to play a bigger part of the overall gameplay while using the Trickster, as you’ll be able to create false surfaces that enemies may fall for and end up walking off an edge.
The Trickster also seems to play as a support class in its own right with the ability to buff pawns in a myriad of ways.
Magick Archer
Like the Mystic Spearhand, the Magick Archer is a hybrid vocation that blends the physicality of a vocation like Archer with that of a Mage. The difference here is that the Magick Archer’s arrows are magical in nature, allowing for some pretty outlandish magical arrow abilities. The arrows themselves will likely be able to have their own chosen element.
Additionally, each arrow is essentially guaranteed to hit the opponent with its magical homing properties. Some of the coolest spells seen in the trailers for Dragon’s Dogma 2 shows a Magick Archer firing off several of these homing arrows and also firing a handful of arrows that ricochet on the ground and in the air multiple times to hit the same target many times.
Mystic Spearhand
This final new hybrid magical vocation is one that harkens back to the first game’s Mystic Knight vocation. With the duospear in hand, you’ll be able to deal physical and magical damage to multiple enemies with grace. The magic at play within this vocation reminds me of the use of force powers from the Star Wars universe. Especially when trailers have already shown players picking up enemies with their ‘magick’ and firing them off into the distance.
A Mystic Spearhand’s magic will also allow for short-distance teleportation, while additionally hindering an enemies movements. Which will then be followed up by by the duospear’s rapid spinning AoE attacks.
All in all, Dragon’s Dogma 2 already has a nice selection of vocations for players to experiment with across their characters and pawns. We’re excited to see if Capcom has even more vocations in store for us when the game releases on March 22, 2024. Dragon’s Dogma is certainly shaping up to be the sequel I and many others have been wanting for quite some time.
