Dragon's Dogma 2: Best Archer skills and augments
Best Archer skills and augments in Dragon's Dogma 2
Interested in the best Archer skills and augments in Dragon's Dogma 2? Archers in Dragon's Dogma 2 fire 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 in Dragon's Dogma 2 to 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.
In this guide:- Dragon's Dogma 2 Archer weapon skills
- Dragon's Dogma 2 Archer core skills
- Dragon's Dogma 2 Archer augments
Dragon's Dogma 2 Archer best weapon skills
Archers live and die by their bows. Unlike some other vocations, however, many of their weapon skills look fairly similar if you aren't paying attention, and largely differ in the radius or number of arrows that are fired. There are also several skills that rely upon special projectiles filled with substances like fire or water which can adversely affect enemies.
Barrage Shot
Barrage Shot unleashes 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 Shot sends 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 classic Contra, this is basically the Spread Gun... except pointier.
Dire Arrow
Unlike the other skills here, Dire Arrow cannot 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.
While it's not a necessity, you can combine Dire Arrow with the core skill Steady Shot to 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 Sight will 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 Shot is 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.
That said, you may want to look into Tarring Shot, Drenching Shot, and Blighting 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
Core skills in Dragon's Dogma 2 are defining abilities possessed by each vocation. The Archer's core skills emphasis their dexterity, and let them set up even cooler shots by kicking off of enemies or upping the speed at which they draw their bow. Loose is the no-brainer core skill that you'll start with, which lets you quickly let off an arrow as a light attack. Build off of Loose with the following options:
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's Leaping Punt in a nutshell. This is like a flashier version of Front 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 Shot is 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 Nock lets 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
Catch your targets off guard with Ambuscade, which increases damage dealt by your arrows when enemies aren't in a battle stance. Ever stuck a goblin in the back when it wasn't looking? It's satisfying.
Lethality
Lethality deals 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 the Mage, the sword and shield tactics of the Fighter, or the shifty dagger action of the Thief. For more advanced vocations, check out our guide to the greatsword swings of the Warrior, the extreme magick of the Sorcerer, the Duospear slices of the Mystic Spearhand, the crafty illusions of the Trickster, the bow spell combos of the Magick Archer, or the many weapon skills of the Warfarer.