Dragon's Dogma 2: Best Trickster skills and augments
Best Trickster skills and augments in Dragon's Dogma 2
Interested in the best Trickster skills and augments in Dragon's Dogma 2? Of all the vocations in Dragon's Dogma 2, the Trickster is the trickiest, pardon the pun. Instead of attacking with a weapon, the Trickster is all about baffling opponents with trails of smoke from the Censer, a special tool exclusive to the class. This is perhaps the hardest vocation to use well in Dragon's Dogma 2, but those who enjoy playing support roles and watching confused enemies fight amongst themselves may find that the payoff to studying the Censer's smoke is worth it.
Whether you're looking for info on unlocking the Trickster or are simply curious about this vocation's unorthodox style, we're here to help. In this guide, we've delved into the best Trickster skills and augments, giving you the rundown on what you need to let the smoke fly.
Before we begin, it's worth noting that the Trickster is an advanced vocation, and not accessible at the start of Dragon's Dogma 2. See our guide on how to unlock the Trickster for more information.
In this guide:
- Dragon's Dogma 2 Trickster weapon skills
- Dragon's Dogma 2 Trickster core skills
- Dragon's Dogma 2 Trickster augments
Dragon's Dogma 2 Trickster best weapon skills
The Censer technically can be swung about like a flail to deal damage, but when used in this fashion it is incredibly weak. Its strength lies in mastering the AoE, buffing, and debuffing techniques that arise from its depths.
That said, unlike most other vocations in Dragon's Dogma 2, you absolutely need a decent party of pawns to take advantage of the Censer's weapon skills. Honestly, two melee attacking pawns are a requirement. (Take a peek at our Dragon's Dogma 2 best vocations guide for some hints on which vocations are best for pawns.)
Sweeping Shroud
The only weapon skill immediately available, Sweeping Shroud makes your Trickster diffuse smoke across the playing field in a wide arc. The smoke will attract the attention of any enemy it touches, and Sweeping Shroud should almost always be used in tandem with Effigial Incense, a core skill described below that creates a smoky decoy of you. When used together, Sweeping Shroud brings in the enemies, who then attack your Effigial Incense simulacrum, ideally throwing them off guard to strikes from your pawns.
It's an unusual first skill, especially compared to other vocations who get easier-to-understand attacks. But if you play around with Sweeping Shroud a bit, you should get the hang of it before upgrading to Suffocating Shroud, a more advanced version that diffuses smoke over a wider area.
Delusory Screen
Delusory Screen is a crowd control ability that conjures an illusory wall, blocking foes and hindering their field of vision. Use this to segment tougher enemies away from you and your weaker pawns. It's especially useful to keep enemies from running off and inadvertently attracting more allies to an already crowded battle.
Ranking up the Trickster vocation gives you access to Illusive Divider, a more advanced form of Delusory Screen that allows for up to two walls to be manifested at once.
Aromatic Rally
Aromatic Rally and its stronger cousin, Aromatic Resurgence, send out smoke that buffs the offensive power of all allies in the vicinity in exchange for sapping their health at a steady rate. It's especially useful when you need your Fighter and Warrior pawns to go into berserker mode, in other words. The health sap is annoying, but if you've got a Mage in your party, you can have them spam Anodyne to heal everyone.
Latching Effigy
True Tricksters don't need to fight - they get their opponents to fight amongst themselves. Latching Effigy is just the ticket, letting you temporarily possess an enemy with one of your smoky simulacrums created via Effigial Incense, a core skill described below. It's pretty amusing to watch a saurian bonk another saurian on the head after using this skill, but you'll also want to upgrade it to Binding Effigy as soon as you can to send your simulacrum out at farther ranges and with an increased speed.
Fickle Floor
Fickle Floor is used perfectly in the trailer that first introduced the Trickster vocation. In it, a Trickster uses their smoke to create a horizontal platform across a gap. The Trickster then removes that bridge, making a bunch of goblins fall to their early demise.
As you can surmise, when used well, this skill is hilariously devilish. When used poorly, it's a bit useless. But that's just how the Trickster vocation goes! At the very least, be sure to upgrade Fickle Floor to Tricky Terrace for the ability to conjure two platforms at once.
Dragon's Dogma 2 Trickster best core skills
In Dragon's Dogma 2, core skills represent the essential foundations of each vocation. While other vocations offer varied core skills, most of the Trickster's revolve around one basic building block - Effigial incense.
Effigial Incense
We mentioned this skill earlier when discussing Sweeping Shroud and Latching Effigy, but if you've forgotten, Effigial Incense is used to create a decoy of yourself. This manifestation will come in tremendously handy when you need to fool enemies, and is possibly the most important skill in the Trickster's entire arsenal, since so many other abilities are dependent on it.
Be aware that your Effigial Incense clone will dissipate if it's attacked too much, or if you wander too far from it. You can dispel your simulacrum with the core skill Effigial Snuff, if you so desire.
Invoking Essence
Invoking Essence is used to bring your Effigial Incense simulacrum to your location. It's handy to invoke this skill in a jiffy when you're jogging across the battlefield and need your decoy (and all of the enemies attacking it) to travel with you. It can also be used when clinging onto or pinning an enemy, though to be honest, I don't do too much of either when I'm playing as a Trickster!
Mending Vapor
Your Effigial Incense simulacrum will take a lot of punishment as it soaks up damage for you, and to keep it standing strong in its incorporeal form, Mending Vapor is the ticket. This core skill slowly repairs any damage incurred by the simulacrum, while also beckoning it to your side.
Dragon's Dogma 2 Trickster best augments
Augments are passive boons that unlock as you rank up your Dragon's Dogma 2 vocations. The Trickster's augments focus largely on non-combat capabilities, and I like the following two the most.
Enlightenment
Enlightenment gives you a chance to create more than one result whenever you combine items together. Don't ask me how the Trickster does this, but it's nice to end up with two curatives when I only expected one.
Obfuscation
Obfuscation decreases the likelihood that hostile targets will detect you when you're not in a battle stance. It's handy for staying in the shadows, which is exactly where the Trickster belongs.
That concludes our look at the Censer shenanigans that make up the Trickster's 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 magical ways of the Mage, the smooth firing of the Archer, 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 bow spell combos of the Magick Archer, or the many weapon skills of the Warfarer.