There are five smithing styles in Dragon’s Dogma 2 for enhancing your gear and each one provides a different bonus. Two are available quite easily just by progressing the game while the other three are hidden behind side quests. Here are all enhancement style bonuses in Dragon’s Dogma 2.
All Enhancement Styles in Dragon’s Dogma 2
The five smithing or enhancing styles in Dragon’s Dogma 2 are Vermundian, Batthali, Dwarven, Elvish, and Wyrmfire. I’ll show you how to unlock all of them as well as what bonuses each smithing style provides. All except Wyrmfire can upgrade a weapon or armor three times in any combination.
This means you can mix and match them to enhance a weapon, for example, twice with the Batthali style and then once with Dwarven. That said, the final Wyrmfire style can only enhance a weapon once it has three upgrades of any kind already. Let’s see how each one works.
Vermundian Smithing Bonuses in Dragon’s Dogma 2
This is the first smithing style you’ll come across in Dragon’s Dogma 2 and it’s available as soon as you reach Vernworth. Speak to either Bjorn or Roderick in the town square to enhance your gear in the Vermundian style. This style is also available through any other gear merchant in Vermund like the one in Checkpoint Rest Town.
The Vermundian style bonus is a balanced one offering a decent mix of Strength, Magick, Defense, and Magick Defense. If you want armor that’s equally good against any monster in the game, I recommend upgrading it with the Vermundian style. That said, I wouldn’t upgrade weapons with this style in the late game since there are better styles for pure Strength or pure Magick weapons.
Batthali Smithing Bonuses in Dragon’s Dogma 2
The Batthali style is unlocked as soon as you reach Bakbatthal and interact with either the Weapon or Armor merchant in the square. This is also the style you’ll have access to throughout both the desert area and the Volcano Island.
The Batthali style boosts Strength and physical Defense the most while providing a lesser increase to Magick and Magick Defense. I highly recommend this style for vocations focusing on physical damage through Strength, like Thief and Warrior. Fighters and Archers also fall into this category if you’re not using elemental weapons. I would never enhance Mage Staves and Sorcerer Archistaves in this style, as you’re essentially nerfing your spell damage.
How to Unlock Dwarven Smithing in Dragon’s Dogma 2
To unlock Dwarven smithing, you have to do a quest for Gautstafr and Cliodhna at the Windwalker’s Home, which is on the Volcanic Island. You’ll meet Gautstafr in front of the path toward the Windwalker’s Home, and you need to give him any three plants to help with his back pain. Then you need to carry him to the Windwalker’s Home to Cliodhna. Finally, speak to him again there and accept the quest to escort him to Volcanic Island Camp’s Geyser Hamlet.
Once you escort him there and the quest ends, you can return at any time to the Windwalker’s Home and speak to Gautstafr. He’ll now enhance your gear in the Dwarven smithing style. This secret style increases the Knockdown power of your weapons and Knockdown resistance for armor. Essentially, you’ll knock bosses down more easily, and they’ll knock you down less frequently. You’ll also get a decent boost to gear stats, but I wouldn’t call this the most effective smithing style for pure damage.
How to Unlock Elven Smithing in Dragon’s Dogma 2
Elven smithing is available in the Sacred Arbor in the north of Vermund by interacting with Grisha. You can go there by yourself, but I reached it by giving a bow to Glyndwr, who’s in Vernworth next to Roderick’s Smithy and finishing his Gift of the Bow and A Trial of Archery quests.
You’ll need to learn Elvish to buy and enhance gear with Grisha, which you can do by getting the Woodland Wordsmith’s Tome. I got it by giving Grisha or any elf in the Sacred Arbor the Bunch of Flowers item once every day for three days.
Alternatively, you can also hire Elvish-speaking official or non-official pawns from Grand and regular Rift Stones in larger cities. Look for Woodland Wordsmith in their Specialization, and if you talk to Grisha with them in your party, they’ll translate for you.
Elven smithing is the opposite of Batthali smithing since it greatly increases Magick and Magick Defense while providing lesser buffs to Strength and Defense. While I found this to be an excellent enhancement style for Staves and Archistaves, I wouldn’t upgrade other weapons in the Elven style. The only way it can be somewhat worth it is if you’re a Mystic Spearhand or have a high-damage elemental weapon.
How to Unlock Wyrmfire Smithing in Dragon’s Dogma 2
Check out our Wyrmfire smithing guide to learn how to reach the Dragonforged in the Batthali Coast and unlock this style. Essentially, this is a late-game style requiring Wyrmslife Crystals from dragon-themed bosses. Your gear needs to have three upgrades of any kind before the final fourth Wyrmfire upgrade can be purchased.
Wyrmfire gear gets a hefty Strength, Magick, or Defense/Magick Defense boost depending on which type of gear it is and the styles you used for the three upgrades. For example, Strength weapons like Greatswords get a large bonus to Strength and this boost is increased if all three upgrades are in the Strength-focused Batthali style. I recommend thinking about what stat you want most for your build, getting three upgrades in the appropriate style for that stat, and then getting a Wyrmfire upgrade.
Wyrmslife Crystals can get scarce, so choose your weapon or armor piece wisely. Besides farming Drakes, I assume there’s going to be a lot of Wyrmslife Crystal trade going on via Pawn Quests.
That concludes my guide on all enhancement style bonuses in Dragon’s Dogma 2. Check out our Dragon’s Dogma 2 hub for guides on how to find all maisters and ultimate skills, as well as the best hybrid vocations for each playstyle.
