Dragon’s Dogma 2: Trickster Build Guide

Control the battlefield with the Trickster’s illusive magicks.

Dragon's Dogma 2 introduced the Trickster Vocation to the Arisen, an advanced class that uses illusions to tank damage and buff nearby allies. It's one of the game's harder classes to play, as it has no damage-dealing skills in its base kit. But if you can get used to the strange playstyle, you'll be rewarded with one of the tankiest, most versatile Vocations in the game.

In this guide, we will cover the best build you can use for the Trickster. Use your Censer to create illusions of yourself, create phantasmal bridges to trick larger foes, or buff your allies with powerful magick.

Build Overview

The Trickster disorients their foes with various illusions created from their Censer, a weapon type that doesn't deal any damage. You serve as an evasive tank that can use decoys to distract your foes. This gives your Pawns free rein to use powerful Maister skills or similar abilities with long windups.

This build makes the Trickster the ultimate utility class by giving your Arisen access to powerful taunts, group buffs, and enemy debuffs. You won't be able to deal damage directly, but through the power of simulacrums, you can damage enemies through well-placed decoys and devious traps.

Skills And Augments

Since the Trickster has no damage skills, we'll be focusing on utility and buff skills. You'll want to create a simulacrum before you cast any of these skills, as the cast animation will leave you quite vulnerable. You're a tank, but you don't want to get hit either.

Suffocating Shroud is a spammable skill that draws enemy attention towards you. If you spawn a simulacrum, they'll fight your decoy instead, giving your Pawns a moment to prep a powerful Maister skill. You can follow this up with Aromatic Resurgence to give your Pawns a massive damage increase. This will slowly drain their HP, but a Mage can easily outheal the degen.

While we can't do damage directly, we can use Binding Effigy to conjure a simulacrum that sticks to a target. This will cause all enemies to strike the afflicted target. For larger monsters, cast Tricky Terrace over a ledge and watch them fall off the map.

Augments for this Vocation are almost entirely down to preference since damage scaling isn't neccessary. Provocation is our only hard recommendation, as it makes enemies far more likely to strike you or your simulacrum during combat. We recommend using Dynamism, Zeal, and Athleticism to enhance your stamina management. Since your Pawns will be the damage dealers, run Ascendancy and Sustainment from Magick Archer to improve their stats.

Equipment

As with most builds in Dragon's Dogma 2, your main goal should be finding armor with high defensive stats and a stronger weapon. Since the Trickster doesn't deal any damage, your best weapon is actually the Whimsical Daydream, a Censer that generates Gold whenever you strike enemies. It can spawn 10, 100, or even 50,000 Gold when you hit a foe. The weapon is a reward for completing the Sphinx's Riddle of Differentiation.

Item Upgrades

No specific upgrades are needed for this build, but we do suggest Dwarven Upgrades for your armor to mitigate incoming knockdown damage. Your weapon doesn't need any upgrades since you don't deal damage as a Trickster.

The armor we use can be obtained in Bakbattahl and Volcanic Island. The Ring of Triumph comes from turning in Seeker's Tokens, and the Ring of Resolution can be purchased from Dudley's store in Melve. Feel free to swap the rings for anything that better suits your playstyle.

After you complete the true ending and reach the Unmoored World, you can obtain a better set of Trickster armor from the WLC vendor in Seafloor Shrine. The Totemic Shroud is the best chest armor available. Better legs can be obtained than the Arena Breeches, but they have excellent knockdown resistance and can be used across multiple classes.

The Summoner's Crown is located next to the Vernworth red beam , one of three Brine bosses you must slay to start NG+. While you're in the circular arena, look to the east and you should see a small alcove. Inside will be a chest containing the helmet. As before, upgrade the items with Dwarven smithing to enhance your knockdown resistance.

We still recommend the Whimsical Daydream, as it's the best way to farm Gold in Dragon's Dogma 2. You don't need a stronger Censer for this build; your simulacrums are plenty strong already. Hit enemies that are stunned to earn some easy Gold.

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Trickster Tips

• Invoking Essence heals your simulacrum. Use it to reposition and repair your decoy.
• Deploy your simulacrum atop an illusory platform to distract larger foes. Place it over a body of water for an easy kill.
• Use Binding Effigy to cast simulacrum from a safe distance. Enemies will also strike the target currently bound by a simulacrum.
• Enemies will never attack your character so long as a simulacrum is active. They'll always attack your decoy first.