Summary
Stats inDragon’s Dogma 2can be pretty confusing for people who are more familiar with the ‘standard’ RPG format for stat growth. InDD2, the player’s Vocation does determine how much of each stat they’ll gain leveling up, and there are also minor stat bonuses depending on their current Vocation as well.
When it comes to strength, this is a stat that any Vocation who deals primarily physical damage will benefit from, such as a Fighter, Thief, Warrior, Archer, Warfarer, Mystic Spearhand (sort of), and yes even Trickster. So, let’s go over some of the best weapons players can find pretty early on inDragon’s Dogma 2that’ll dish out a ton of damage on any Arisen with high strength.
Disclaimer:Stats have a very minor bearing on overall power inDD2, it mostly comes down to Augments & Equipment, and stats even out to the same amount at level 200 anyway.
Slash or Strike?
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Slash (100)
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First off let’s start with Fighter. This is one of the four ‘starter’ Vocations in Dragon’s Dogma 2 and it’s arguably the one most commonly regarded as the ‘default’ Vocation. Obviously, this isn’t entirely true as Fighter has some of the best late-game damage and tools at their disposal out of any Vocation.
Regardless,there are a lot of Fighter Weaponsthat cleave through enemies like butter in the early game. But, most of these weapons tend to have some innate magical enchantment, which is more targeted towards a Strength/Magick build rather than a pure Strength one. For a great early-game pure Strength option, players can simply climb on top of the Pawn Guild in Vernworth and there should be three chests up there, one of which holds the Silver Rapier. It’s not the strongest sword by a long shot, but it’s absolutely the best one players will have access to when they enter Vernworth.
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Strike (100)
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For the other Fighter weapons, and yes they can use two weapon types,let’s take a look at their mace options. There aren’t a ton of maces for players to gather, at least compared to swords, but Labyrinthus is a mace that most players would kill to have in the early game.
There is a way to get this weapon guaranteed in the mid to late game (by killing the Sealed Mine Shaft Minotaur) but the earliest method involves relying on the low drop chance by killing Minotaurs. So, if players really want it but don’t want to wait until getting to Battahl, just rest for about 7 daysafter killing a Minotaurand then go back to the same spot to see if it respawned.
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Next up is a weapon for the Thief Vocation, which honestly doesn’t even really need it much as the Thief Vocation is already incredibly strong by default. As soon as players finish the Nameless Village questline (and get the Meister Skill that can be found there) the Thief also becomes exponentially easier to play.
There are some decent daggers to be found during this quest called the Peltflayers, but in all honesty, the Helmbarte Daggers are better. While players can find these daggers for free in Derelict Mine, to get them as early as possible they can simply buy them from Celeste’s Smithy in the Checkpoint Rest Town for about 10,000 Gold.
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When it comes to bows, magick bows, staves, and archstaves, the Sacred Arbor is the place to go. This hidden village of elves has a weapon vendor in it that has some of the best weapons for these Vocations overall, or at the very least a lot of fantastic weapon options that’ll carry players through to the endgame.
However, while there are great options in this shop for the Archer Vocation,players can get a much better Bowfor free as long as they follow the Gift of the Bow and its associated quests all the way through to the end. After saving a certain someone from the clutches of a vicious Ogre, players will get the Repeller Bow as a reward, which is a weapon with fantastic physical damage, great knockdown power, and a very unique visual appearance as well.
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Warriors are a semi-unique Vocation in the sense that they technically have two different weapon types they use, just like the Fighter. These two weapon types are greatswords and hammers, with greatswords dealing primarily slash damage and hammers dealing primarily strike Damage. And, players might be surprised to find out that strike is typically the way to go in the early to mid-game to deal with hard-shelled Saurians, dish out high knockdown power, and deal with enemies that are guarding.
To get a fantastic strike weapon for the Warrior early on (or at leasta non-elemental strike weapon), simply head to the Ancient Battleground and head into the dilapidated castle at the top of the hill on the right. Go all the way through this castle until the Arisen reaches an upper area at the top with a Cyclops sleeping and a couple of harpies circling (will need to take a couple of ladders to reach this area). Defeat these enemies and in the chest directly behind the Cyclops should be the Black Matter Hammer, a fantastic weapon with a knockdown power stat that’ll cause almost any enemy to stagger in a single hit or so.
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For the slash-type Warrior weapon, the best early-game choice has to be the Flamberge. This weapon is available for purchase as soon as players reach the Checkpoint Rest Town, as they can get it from Celeste’s Smithy.
These same players will probably have to save up for this weapon, as it costs quite a bit compared to anything else in the early game at about 24,800 Gold, but the cost is absolutely worth it. The damage this Greatsword puts out is pretty staggering, and players likelywon’t find another Greatsword as gooduntil they come across the Ogresbane or even the Dragon’s Flight/Dragon’s Bite Greatswords.
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Now typically, players won’t even have the Mystic Spearhand unlocked until they’re about at the mid-game point ofDragon’s Dogma 2, but that’s not every player. Some players absolutely rushed the main story quest forward and ended up fighting the Red Drake in Melve pretty early into their playthrough. Then, if they talked to Sigurd after the fight,they’d have unlocked the Mystic Spearhandin a pretty short amount of time.
And for those people, head to the Sacred Arbor next. The shop here should now be selling a few Duospears, with the Wings Asunder being the best available option. Keep in mind that the Mystic Spearhand is a Vocation designed to deal half physical and half elemental damagethrough its Skills, but for players who had a primarily Strength build before switching to Mystic Spearhand, the Wings Asunder should still serve them quite well.
