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platypotamus

Member
Oct 25, 2017
7,347
Remind me about he metal golem in witchwood... if I have a strider pawn to shoot the one piece in the air, will the pawn do it? Or do I need to be the one with the bow? I am near there, but I'm a magic archer right now, and I'm not sure if that means I should come back later
 

HBK

Member
Oct 30, 2017
7,968
They become even more powerful when you use 4 demon's periapts(+20% magick each), ontop of all the magick boosting augments (ferocity, acuity, attunement, autonomy for solo, and bloodlust for outside of bbi)

Can take down daimon2 in under a minute or two
Holy fuckin shit.

Thank you sir, wise word of advice.

Remind me about he metal golem in witchwood... if I have a strider pawn to shoot the one piece in the air, will the pawn do it? Or do I need to be the one with the bow? I am near there, but I'm a magic archer right now, and I'm not sure if that means I should come back later
There's a chance the golem will hit it (friendly fire).

If you're a warrior, you can climb on the golem and jump from there.

If you're a sorcerer, bolides have a physical component and may hit them randomly.

Good luck!
 

saboar

Member
Oct 25, 2017
83


Here's my mystic knight (which spent levels 11-100 as a warrior) staggerlocking stage 2 daimon. Periapts(along with several other items) are unbalanced in this game.
 

Mejilan

Member
Oct 27, 2017
1,836
Yeah you're (almost) right. They mitigate more damage on Hard, but also have specific values for BBI.

According to the wiki:
Normal = 50
Hard = 225
BBI = 112.5 (regardless of difficulty)

Edit: Thanks to all who replied. I know all the perks of Focused Bolt. It's just in my experience it does jack shit damage.

I'll try again tonight to see if stacking demons periapts can make a difference.

Ah yes, I had forgotten that BBI has different values than Normal or Hard Modes. Thanks for the reminder. They're great for the early hours, and aren't too bad to acquire during those hours. But once you have dozens of levels and decent gear, they're augments that are easily replaced for ones that boost your damage instead. Damage always trumps defense in DD, IMO.

And yeah, I'm pretty sure Focus Bolt is buffed by periapts, since they should calc straight off your overall Magickal Strength (natural stat + weapon stat + any relevant bonuses). Properly utilized, Focused Holy Bolts are absolutely ruinous. It's hilarious to see Awakened Daimon or the offline Ur-Dragon get stunlocked to death. And in the case of the Ur-Dragon, stunlocked to a one-cycle death!

You don't even need to min-max your way to the highest possible Magickal Attack values. As long as you have end-game gear that's gold dragonforged and your level isn't TOO low, you should be good to lol.
 
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HBK

Member
Oct 30, 2017
7,968
Ah yes, I had forgotten that BBI has different values than Normal or Hard Modes. Thanks for the reminder. They're great for the early hours, and aren't too bad to acquire during those hours. But once you have dozens of levels and decent gear, they're augments that are easily replaced for ones that boost your damage instead. Damage always trumps defense in DD, IMO.

And yeah, I'm pretty sure Focus Bolt is buffed by periapts, since they should calc straight off your overall Magickal Strength (natural stat + weapon stat + any relevant bonuses). Properly utilized, Focused Holy Bolts are absolutely ruinous. It's hilarious to see Awakened Daimon or the offline Ur-Dragon get stunlocked to death. And in the case of the Ur-Dragon, stunlocked to a one-cycle death!

You don't even need to min-max your way to the highest possible Magickal Attack values. As long as you have end-game gear that's gold dragonforged and your level isn't TOO low, you should be good to lol.
At ~2600 magick, I literally murdered him. It wasn't even funny.

Each HFB basically took one of his healthbars.

(I believe hitting his "head" is paramount)

Edit: Getting Death to spawn is a PITA :|
 

Mejilan

Member
Oct 27, 2017
1,836
Edit: Getting Death to spawn is a PITA :|

It is in BBI 2.0. But he can spawn as early as the very first location. I think it's called the Gardens of Ignominy. Just off Bitterblack Isle harbor.
I made sure to collect the 30 Macabre Sculptures, collect the 10 Epitaph Memories, and kill Death in his pre-Daimon guaranteed spawn location, all before transitioning to BBI 2.0 (which I'm now struggling with). But more drakes, wyrms, and wyverns means more opportunities to dragonforge shit. And damn, my XP gains have gone through the roof! Both my toons are level 120 now (and still haven't met the Duke)! lol

Edit - Now that there's more variance to locations' potential encounter spawns, I think you need to look for specific groupings of baddies in a location before dropping the necrophage bait. I'm not 100% sure, but I do believe the necrophage that can spawn depends on what encounter you get in a zone. A wiki should be able to help you with that.

Edit 2 - Just stumbled into Death in that first location. I was backtracking from the Rotunda of Dread (where I killed two wyrms and some phantoms), and Duskmoon Tower (where I killed a thunder wyvern and cursed dragon necrophage that appeared mid-fight). Running back to dump loot and maybe rarefy a slew of now dragonforged gear I'm using. I had a Gorechimera and sulfur saurians in the bottom area that leads to Duskmoon Tower. If it helps. Didn't even drop bait. It just appeared after a few saurians died. Fucker dropped the Gorechimera before I could, which robbed me of its loot and XP.

I kept telling myself not to double dip not to double dip not to double dip...

This just made me purchase the game again.

I'm sorry! The game has loads of issues, but combat gameplay and layers upon layers of fun systems to tinker with are amongst the game's greatest strengths! Aaaaahhh, what a game a sequel could be. Imagine DD:DA was DMC1 and DD2 is it's DMC3SE! I get chills just thinking about it. The foundation, the bones of the game, are just so goooooooood!
 
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Mejilan

Member
Oct 27, 2017
1,836
Sucks when you stagger Death while he's flying over a pit and he insta-dies. You lose out on his loot.
 

Mejilan

Member
Oct 27, 2017
1,836
Bad enough when it happens to a dragonling or a strigoi with a glowing tail (when you're trying to get bloodred crystals). But Death!? Blargh. Happened to me a few times on PS4 last year.
 

HBK

Member
Oct 30, 2017
7,968
Well, looks like I'm done with this game. Did all quests on my first playthrough, battled all BBI bosses on NG+, and completed all "doable" BBI quests (no 30 sculptures for me lol). In the end about level 139 if I'm not mistaken. Almost 3k magick. Not bad heh.

't'was a fun ride Arisen!
 
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Mejilan

Member
Oct 27, 2017
1,836
The 30 Sculptures aren't too bad, and can even be cheesed. You can grab half of them in one run, and that same half in NG+ (or when the world state resets if you switch over to Hard Mode). They can't be duped by the Black Cat (like most BBI goodies), but the game doesn't care which 30 you get. They're all basically identical.
 

Hey Please

Avenger
Oct 31, 2017
22,824
Not America
With that, I'm off to bed too! Good night! I've edited that post a bit to clarify/correct some things.

Finally finished reading all of the information. My reactions ranged from mhmm to aha to Oh to Wow! I sort of feel bad not discovering the hurdles on my own and asking for preemptive solutions not to mention thank you for meticulously reproducing some of the wiki stuff with added context. All this effort makes me publicly recommend you to for a "Salient Info" Threadmark from the OP, vestan

Finally talking about Augments, I have not seen any show up at the encampment trader/shop keeper unlike primary, secondary and core skills for me and my pawn. I take it this might show up in Gran Soren.

Anyway, you have provided plenty of aid and it is deeply appreciated.
 

Mejilan

Member
Oct 27, 2017
1,836
Finally finished reading all of the information. My reactions ranged from mhmm to aha to Oh to Wow! I sort of feel bad not discovering the hurdles on my own and asking for preemptive solutions not to mention thank you for meticulously reproducing some of the wiki stuff with added context. All this effort makes me publicly recommend you to for a "Salient Info" Threadmark from the OP, vestan

Finally talking about Augments, I have not seen any show up at the encampment trader/shop keeper unlike primary, secondary and core skills for me and my pawn. I take it this might show up in Gran Soren.

Anyway, you have provided plenty of aid and it is deeply appreciated.

Thank you! Not sure if the OP's really around anymore, though. Never accepted my friend request (so I can keep his/her Pawn info updated in our Google Sheet), and stopped threadmarking folks' friend code posts quite a while ago. Nevermind, though.

I think the Basic Vocations (Fighter, Strider, Mage) have no Augments available at Vocation rank 1. But you should start seeing them from rank 2 onwards. Some of the other Vocations DO offer up augments at rank 1 (such as Clout and Awareness, like I posted before). Any vendor that lets you learn or set skills lets you do so for all available skills at your current Vocation and rank. It MAY be that Augments don't show up until you find a vendor that lets you change your Vocation for the first time, either the innkeeper in Gran Soren or Olra in the BBI hub. But I don't think this is the case. I'm fairly sure that any vendor that lets you learn/set skills will let you learn Augments if you have any available to learn. There are no skills that are exclusive to this vendor or that innkeeper.

The only sort-of exception to this rule are the Secret Augments introduced in Dark Arisen and the accompanying Bitterblack Isle expansion. In order to make these Secret Augments available for learning, you must find their corresponding scrolls (and these are only found as BBI loot). Once the right scrolls are found, both your Arisen and Pawn may learn the Augment via the usual means (they are not locked to specific Vocations).

The Augments category is listed directly below the Core Skills category in pretty much every relevant menu (learning skills, setting skills, or merely browsing skills when you pause and select Status from the game's menu. If you pause your game right now and hit up the Status screen, then scroll down to Skills, you'll see in the window on the right the categories called Enabled, Core Skills below that, and Augments below that. Etc.
 
Oct 25, 2017
5,872
Las Vegas
So I played and finished DD:Dark Arisen when it originally came out.

Starting a new game. Thinking of hard mode.

Casual google search tells me hard mode is full of one hit kills and it's just not that fun. But can anyone here comment on their experiences with it.

I do remember my playthrough of DD back on the xbox 360 was easy as hell.
 

Mejilan

Member
Oct 27, 2017
1,836
So I played and finished DD:Dark Arisen when it originally came out.

Starting a new game. Thinking of hard mode.

Casual google search tells me hard mode is full of one hit kills and it's just not that fun. But can anyone here comment on their experiences with it.

I do remember my playthrough of DD back on the xbox 360 was easy as hell.

My PS3 run was originally a Normal Mode run, and it was too easy. I revisited the game on PS4 and did a fresh Hard Mode run instead. Loved it. Doing it again on Switch! The Cyclops you have to kill before you can create your Pawn can one-shot you, yes. But once you get some levels and decent gear, it becomes more manageable. Certain early game Augments can help a lot too. Bastion and Awareness.
 

saboar

Member
Oct 25, 2017
83
So I played and finished DD:Dark Arisen when it originally came out.

Starting a new game. Thinking of hard mode.

Casual google search tells me hard mode is full of one hit kills and it's just not that fun. But can anyone here comment on their experiences with it.

I do remember my playthrough of DD back on the xbox 360 was easy as hell.
I like hard mode, although you have to be patient. I'd enjoy it more if they didn't decrease the stagger/knockdown on the player's attacks, since I like playing as warrior/fighter. Pawns are unaffected by this, so they still stagger/knockdown enemies as on normal.
 

Mejilan

Member
Oct 27, 2017
1,836
Question for some of the other experts out there.
I'm building my first Magick Archer and while she won't be a 100% min-maxed Magick glass cannon, she will end up with 517 Attack and 607 Magick by the time she hits level 200.

I'm used to playing as mostly Physical Attack-specced builds.

Should I go for Gold Dragonforged Framae Blades like I usually do, or Gold Dragonforged Sapfire Daggers? Assuming generalized use cases, i.e., facing off against neutral grunts not weak or resistant to the fire element.

I'm not actually too sure how weapons that have physical/magickal splits to their stats work.
 

Cornbread78

Member
Oct 25, 2017
9,850
Northeast USA
That whole opening segment was something else. I turned it on to at least get to the character creator the other day and spent over an hour just getting to the first save area in-game, lol
 

Kirbivore

One Winged Slayer
Member
Oct 25, 2017
4,925
Question for some of the other experts out there.
I'm building my first Magick Archer and while she won't be a 100% min-maxed Magick glass cannon, she will end up with 517 Attack and 607 Magick by the time she hits level 200.

I'm used to playing as mostly Physical Attack-specced builds.

Should I go for Gold Dragonforged Framae Blades like I usually do, or Gold Dragonforged Sapfire Daggers? Assuming generalized use cases, i.e., facing off against neutral grunts not weak or resistant to the fire element.

I'm not actually too sure how weapons that have physical/magickal splits to their stats work.

I believe from my recollection that Sapfire does bring benefits over a physical knife for its capabilities... although it doesn't hurt to carry both.
 

Mejilan

Member
Oct 27, 2017
1,836
I believe from my recollection that Sapfire does bring benefits over a physical knife for its capabilities... although it doesn't hurt to carry both.

Did some independent research and the Framae Blades outpace the Sapfires handily in pretty much all situations. Especially mine, where I've actually invested a bit in the Physical side of things. It also makes sense to keep the Framaes for those enemies that are highly resistant to magickal attacks. And for those that aren't, well, the magickal bows are there. So the Sapfires are not just generally weaker, but redundant. Thank you for taking the time, though.
 

Kirbivore

One Winged Slayer
Member
Oct 25, 2017
4,925
Did some independent research and the Framae Blades outpace the Sapfires handily in pretty much all situations. Especially mine, where I've actually invested a bit in the Physical side of things. It also makes sense to keep the Framaes for those enemies that are highly resistant to magickal attacks. And for those that aren't, well, the magickal bows are there. So the Sapfires are not just generally weaker, but redundant. Thank you for taking the time, though.

No. I'm disappointed I didnt get the Framae Daggers from my second run. I've just been running Sapfire and the Dragon dagger from Grigori the entire time.
 

Bob Beat

Member
Oct 25, 2017
3,916
BBI is 50+, probably recommended for level 70(ish) but you can go there whenever you want to.

I think Ranger has the highest stamina growth when leveling up. I would recommend going Strider/Ranger for a while anyway, they're fun.
You also unlock some of the dagger core skills that will be used as a Magick Archer anyway.

Do NOT go when you just started playing for the first time, on easy, after you finished 2 missions.

I was like, 'these dogs are fucking harder then I remember from a few hours ago.' Looked at the wiki, like WTF. Had to keep reviving my pawns. 😂

So I should consider changing vocations when I hit the final rank for not previous vocation? Or I could just keep the same vocation thru the entire time and it won't make a difference on BBI? It helps round out your player and main pawn and/or it's just fun playing different styles?
 

Kirbivore

One Winged Slayer
Member
Oct 25, 2017
4,925
Do NOT go when you just started playing for the first time, on easy, after you finished 2 missions.

I was like, 'these dogs are fucking harder then I remember from a few hours ago.' Looked at the wiki, like WTF. Had to keep reviving my pawns. 😂

So I should consider changing vocations when I hit the final rank for not previous vocation? Or I could just keep the same vocation thru the entire time and it won't make a difference on BBI? It helps round out your player and main pawn and/or it's just fun playing different styles?

Well it is fun messing with different styles. For the most part, for first playthroughs, messing around seems like a good idea since the Gear can make up for deficiencies.

That being said the perk of switching vocations not only let you shape your characters as you want, it also unlocks augments that you can apply to your character regardless of their current vocation to make you stronger. You will still gain DP even if you lax out a rank, but it won't level up your current vocation.
 

Deleted member 11976

User requested account closure
Banned
Oct 27, 2017
7,585
Finished the main game last night without realizing it was coming (though you are warned of the point of no return, to be fair) and I didn't take a trip to BBI at all. How long does it take to complete BBI? I've started NG+, sitting at L47, but haven't gotten my Main Pawn back yet.
 

Mejilan

Member
Oct 27, 2017
1,836
BBI can take a while, and you can access it right away when starting a new run (NG+ or otherwise). Though I highly suggest you get your Pawn back first.
Level 47 might be a bit low. But if you pick up some higher level Pawns (which you can hire for free if they're Switch friends of yours), you should be able to start tackling the first stratum and gain some levels pretty quickly.

"How long" is very subjective because there's a lot of content to unpack depending on how far you want to take it. First, getting to the deepest stratum and beating the final boss there unlocks a 2.0 version of Bitterblack Isle with new loot tables, new, harder, and more varied enemy encounters, bosses that respawn (they don't in your initial run), and a new "final form" of the prior last boss (which is also repeatable). The very best gear in the game is found pretty much only within BBI 2.0. The best gear in the game is highly RNG dependent, RNG not just determining what piece of gear you get (this you can massage a bit), but also which special enchantments that gear comes with. So some people don't consider themselves done until they've cleared BBI enough times to deck out their Arisen and Pawn with the absolute best gear available containing their preferred enchantments. It's RNG upon RNG.
 

Deleted member 11976

User requested account closure
Banned
Oct 27, 2017
7,585
Thanks for the response Mejilan. To be honest it doesn't sound like it'll appeal to me, so I'm going to consider putting it down for good. Loved my time with the main game however!

I'm not someone who's interested in chasing better gear, especially if it involves RNG. (This is why Monster Hunter games tend to lose me once I've reached the highest difficulty ranks, by comparison.) I am mainly driven by quest content, exploration, and boss fights. It might be worth doing the first go of BBI but 2.0 doesn't seem like it'd be my thing because of my aforementioned reasoning.
 

Mejilan

Member
Oct 27, 2017
1,836
Thanks for the response Mejilan. To be honest it doesn't sound like it'll appeal to me, so I'm going to consider putting it down for good. Loved my time with the main game however!

I'm not someone who's interested in chasing better gear, especially if it involves RNG. I am mainly driven by quest content, exploration, and boss fights. It might be worth doing the first go of BBI but 2.0 doesn't seem like it'd be my thing because of my aforementioned reasoning.

I'd give BBI 1.0 a whirl at least. It's by FAR the best content in the game, IMO. It's a fun dungeon that circles back upon itself with shortcuts leading back to the hub, almost like a Dark Souls zone (just one with multiple bosses and a shortcut after each one). It's densely packed with treasure chests to loot and loads of fantastic critters to kill. For me, combat and looting are the highlights of Dragon's Dogma, not so much the half-baked story or the open world. And there's no other location in DD that's nearly as packed with loot and fights. The fights can become quite tense when you're fighting giant fuckers in cramped quarters.

I wouldn't skip BBI just because of the Level 3 weapon and armor RNG shenanigans. You can still enjoy most of what BBI has to offer just by doing the 1.0 version of the island and settling for the level 1 (and very occasionally level 2) weapons and armors, which at first match and then eclipse the stuff you can get from the base game's Ur-Dragon. BBI is a WAY better end-game activity than the Everfall and the Ur-Dragon.
 

Kirbivore

One Winged Slayer
Member
Oct 25, 2017
4,925
Alrighty. Getitng back into the swing of things. Just trying to farm BBIW lv 3s to get my dang knife. Only decided to get another Sanguine Stalk and a Mage Wand.
 

Mejilan

Member
Oct 27, 2017
1,836
And I'm still plugging away at BBI 2.0 in my pre-Duke meeting Hard Mode run. Coming up to the level 130s, so I'm running out of relevantly powerful Era friends to hire, sadly.

Still feeling underpowered since I don't yet have the materials to silver or gold dragonforge my weapons. So it's slow going. But the Gazer is down and I'm closing in on the Dark Bishop. I doubt I'll be able to tackle Awakened Daimon for a good long while, though. So the slog for good level 3 gear will be a long one.

At this point, I expect to hit level 200 before I return to the vanilla campaign. Which suits me just fine, since at that point I'll be done with my 101-200 Sorcerer leveling and finally be able to permanently switch my Arisen to a powerfully-specced Magick Archer, as originally intended. I'll be able to play the bulk of the campaign with my intended Vocation, finally.

Does anyone know if the arrow range boosting Augment (Trajectory, I think?) works with a MA? What about Blast Arrows?
 

Mejilan

Member
Oct 27, 2017
1,836
I was afraid of that. The specialty arrows are only for the Strider, Ranger, and Assassin, then?
Oh well, Magick Rebalancer x4 will have to do!
 

Skittzo

Member
Oct 25, 2017
41,037
I was afraid of that. The specialty arrows are only for the Strider, Ranger, and Assassin, then?
Oh well, Magick Rebalancer x4 will have to do!

It makes sense since magick bows don't fire real arrows, they "generate" magick arrows. At least that's what it looks like. So you can't really substitute blast arrows there.
 

Mejilan

Member
Oct 27, 2017
1,836
It makes sense since magick bows don't fire real arrows, they "generate" magick arrows. At least that's what it looks like. So you can't really substitute blast arrows there.

I know, and I could have easily tested it myself. But my MA is currently going through the 101-200 as a Sorcerer phase of her build (and is only at 129), and I'm working from home at the moment so I can't play. Figured I'd ask instead of waiting until tonight! :D
 

Skittzo

Member
Oct 25, 2017
41,037
I know, and I could have easily tested it myself. But my MA is currently going through the 101-200 as a Sorcerer phase of her build (and is only at 129), and I'm working from home at the moment so I can't play. Figured I'd ask instead of waiting until tonight! :D

Yep, fair enough! I tried it out a while back and realized it (contextually) makes sense that you can't use those arrows but it is certainly a bit disappointing.
 

Mejilan

Member
Oct 27, 2017
1,836
This is my first time building a MA, so it's a bit of a learning experience for me. I've of course used one before to unlock augments and whatnot, but I've never properly specced a viable MA. Can't wait to wrap up these 100 Sorcerer levels and switch over for good. Do you know if the Trajectory (I think) Augment boosts the MA's magickal arrow range? Or is that only for short and long bows? Pretty Damping and Quick Loose wouldn't, but I figure Trajectory should...
 
Oct 27, 2017
399
This is my first time building a MA, so it's a bit of a learning experience for me. I've of course used one before to unlock augments and whatnot, but I've never properly specced a viable MA. Can't wait to wrap up these 100 Sorcerer levels and switch over for good. Do you know if the Trajectory (I think) Augment boosts the MA's magickal arrow range? Or is that only for short and long bows? Pretty Damping and Quick Loose wouldn't, but I figure Trajectory should...

Wiki seems to indicate yes, but the reticle won't show it's locked. More detailed breakdown. https://dragonsdogma.fandom.com/wiki/Trajectory
 

Tailzo

Member
Oct 27, 2017
7,912
I've hit level 45. Leveling up is starting to slow down. I wonder if I should try to progress further in the main story, start over or go to the dlc area.
 

HBK

Member
Oct 30, 2017
7,968
Quick question: Am I robbing myself of the Dragon's Dogma Experience™ by using the Eternal Ferrystone a lot?
Hmmm. A bit.

A fair part of the charm of the original game was that ferrystones were relatively expensive, and carrying multiple ones weighted a non negligible amount. So you had to be careful about always having a few ones, without being able to carry a ton. And of course not chewing them like candy.

That being said, portcrystals were basically non-existent until new game plus (and there was no permanent one in Cassardis). So to have the Original Dragon's Dogma Experience™, you'd have to skip on most of them too.

Long story short, ferrystones weren't so much about fast traveling than about being able to "withdraw" to the capital. Like those old "home teleport spells" in MMOs (I believe it was a stone in WoW? That shit's old lol)

Aaaand, that's about it for a little bit of context. The game is still great by abusing the Eternal Ferrystone and additional portcrystals.
 

Rakuyo

Unshakable Resolve
Member
Oct 27, 2017
370
Hamburg, Germany
I need a lot of rift crystals really bad for all this v3 purification. Would be nice if somebody would rent my sorcerer pawn and/or send me some crystals.
SW-3050-6766-1719
Thanks in advance.
 

Mejilan

Member
Oct 27, 2017
1,836
Just sent you a friend request and added you to our Google Sheet.
docs.google.com

ResetEra Pawn List (Dragon's Dogma Switch Version)

ResetEra Pawn List (Dragon's Dogma Switch Version) ResetEra User,Nintendo ID,Friend Code,Vocation,Pawn Name,Pawn level,Notes: (PLEASE DO NOT CHANGE THE ORDER OF THE LIST OF USERS. THANK YOU!),Last Updated Hana-Bi,Hana-Bi,5204-9572-7518,Mage,Shiruke,49,Utilitarian / Medicant / Mitigator support ...