Dragon’s Dogma 2: Archer Build Guide

Inflict the strongest debilitations in Dragon’s Dogma 2 with these Archer builds.

There are many ranged Vocations to choose from in Dragon's Dogma 2. From magick casters to more traditional archers, there is no shortage of good ranged options. The Archer seems to be the weakest of the bunch at first glance, lacking the utility or raw damage of its competition, yet its unique toolkit more than makes up for this.

A skilled Archer can stunlock larger enemies, light targets aflame, or inflict the strongest poison debuff in the game. Archers reward game knowledge and strategy with potent damage-over-time effects and powerful group synergies. Today, we'll show you two builds for the Archer that make it one of the strongest Vocations in Dragon's Dogma 2.

Build Overview

Inflict powerful debilitations from the safety of your party's backline with this powerful Archer build. You will be able to inflict the strongest damage-over-time effects in the game without any assistance from your party, igniting targets with Torch or debuffing foes with Fulminate Poison. Throw in an Ice Mage into the mix, and you can stunlock bosses with the Drenched debuff and ice attacks.

While the Archer might not have the raw DPS of the Magick Archer or certain Warfarer combos, this Vocation is well-suited for players who want to inject a little strategy into combat. Learn of your enemy's greatest weakness, exploit it, and you'll come out on top every time.

Skills And Augments

The Archer's main job is to inflict advanced debilitations. They are the only class in the game that can inflict Torched and Fulminated Poison without the assistance of other Vocations. Damage-over-time skills are what the Archer specializes in, so be sure that you're stocked up on debilitation arrows before you leave town.

Pawns don't require ammunition to use any Archer skill, including debilitation skills like Erupting Shot.

Since the Archer's role remains the same between the Arisen and Pawns, we will recommend two skill configurations that work well with both characters. Torched is ideal for the earlier portions of your journey, while the Fulminated Poison setup becomes much more appealing when you reach the endgame and have a good Mage in your party.

Torched Archer Build

This build uses Manifold Shot and Tempest Shot to take care of smaller enemies. Aim for the head, and most enemies will become staggered or die outright. For larger enemies like Griffons, we use Incendiary Shot to inflict Tarred, making them more susceptible to flame. Fire an Erupting Shot right after, and you'll set the target ablaze with the potent Torched debilitation.

Large monsters weak to fire, notably Griffons, will take immense damage from this combo. You can't inflict Tar on Dragons , so this combo is ill-suited for the endgame, but it's quite effective for defeating larger monsters throughout Vernmund and Bakbattahl. If you end up fighting a tough Drake, you can always rely on Tempest Shot to get the job done. Just keep an eye on your stamina.

As for Augments, there's nothing too surprising here. Dynamism and Zeal are S-tier passives from the Warfarer Vocation, reducing your character's equip load by one tier while lowering the stamina cost of all skills. We then use Subtlety to lower our chances of getting targeted by enemies, Athleticism to sprint for longer, Thew to carry more weight, and Lethality to increase our damage against critical weakpoints on targets.

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Fulminant Poison Archer Build

Similar to the Torched setup, this skill configuration is meant to inflict Fulminate Poison on the target. Hitting a target with Nocuous Shot will inflict a single stack of Poison, dealing a small amount of damage over time (DoT for short). Hit them with a second Nocuous Shot, and they'll be debuffed with Fulminate Poison, which deals significantly more damage. Dragons will lose an entire health bar before the poison goes away.

Since you don't need a primer arrow for this to work, we use the fourth slot to socket Deluging Shot. This inflicts Drenched on the target, a powerful debuff that makes the target far more susceptible to ice and lightning ailments. If your mage is using Ice Affinity, your default attack can freeze the target in seconds , effectively stunlocking the enemy. Dragon, Griffon, it doesn't matter. They'll freeze all the same.

Our Augment selection remains the same as before, although you might consider swapping Lethality for Asperity (R2 Sorcerer) to make your arrows more likely to freeze Drenched targets. Once again, you'll need a Mage with Ice Affinity for this to work, but the free crowd control this gives you cannot be understated.

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Equipment

Most of the items above can be obtained from the Volcanic Island vendor. The Ring of Triumph is tied to collecting Seeker's Tokens, and the Ring of Proximity can be found in the Mountain Ruins dungeon. Once you unlock Bakbattahl, we recommend you book it southwest towards the Caliginous Depths dungeon. This is the only dungeon in the game that spawns the Medusa enemy. Kill it, and you have a small chance of earning the Medusan Spellbow.

Item Upgrades

This build should ideally use Dwarven Upgrades for weapons and armor. This will increase your bow's damage and knockdown power, making it easier to knock bosses off-balance. Your armor will gain knockdown resistance. Throw on the Constancy Augment, and your character will seldom get staggered.

Unlike most weapons, the Medusan Spellbow quadruples your XP gains from kills. This makes it much easier to level past Level 50. If you can't get the bow to drop, purchase Revenant's Wail from the Volcanic Island vendor. This will serve you until the endgame, at which point you'll want to upgrade all of your gear to prepare for NG+.

Once you unlock the Unmoored World , you'll want to purchase the Hydra Husk from any weapon vendor as soon as possible. For some strange reason, it deals more damage than the Dragon's Rancor bow, which costs WLC.

As for armor, the entire Archer set that costs WLC is ideal here. Cavalier Hat, Heroic Coat, and the Ealge-Eye Cuisses will greatly improve your Archer's survivability. Throw on some Dwarven upgrades, and you'll be nigh-immune to knockdowns as well.

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Archer Tips

• Aim for the head. Precision hits deal massive posture damage to the target, causing most smaller foes to stumble.
• Inflict debilitations. Archer is the only Vocation that can inflict Torch, Drenched, Dazed, and Fulminate Poison by itself.
• Craft stamina consumables. The Archer burns through stamina during combat. Pair the Archer with stamina consumables to get back in the fight faster.
• Alternatively, hire a Mage Pawn with the Celestial Paean skill. This gives your party infinite stamina for a short time.
• Pawns do not require ammunition to use debilitation skills like Erupting Shot. Only the Arisen requires ammo.
• Press the heavy attack button while moving to perform acrobatic actions.
• A running jump will make your character kick the target st to them.
• Sprinting will cause you to slide before firing.