Best Early Game Pawn Loadout in Dragon’s Dogma 2

Who doesn’t love an infinite supply of blindly loyal servants to go on adventures with? Well, if you have the best early-game pawn loadout in Dragon’s Dogma 2, you not only have that party of servants, but they’ll also trivialize most of the content in the first several hours.

The Best Pawns You Should Use Early in Dragon’s Dogma 2

You can have three pawns in your party: Your main, who’s always with you, and two you summon from The Rift. In my experience, your loadout will always consist of either three or four Vocation types across two playstyles. There is, however, one pawn vocation I use in every setup, whether the rest of my party — myself included — specialize in melee or ranged combat.

For the purposes of this guide, I won’t assume which party member is which. Rather, I’ll go over the party makeup regardless of the vocation of your Arisen, main pawn, or summoned pawns. It’s up to you to build the party with the right composition.

First Vocation: Mage

Mages in Dragon’s Dogma 2 automatically improve any party. They have a solid amount of heals, can buff the rest of their party’s damage, and can also provide both crowd control and burst damage, depending on their equipped skills. If you don’t have a Mage in your party, other pawns will make a point of mentioning it, and the first thing they’ll say is that you don’t have a free and consistent healer.

Healing in Dragon’s Dogma 2, especially early on, is an incredibly valuable and scarce resource. And while a Mage’s innate healing isn’t as useful in the late game, if you’re only a few hours in, putting up a healing circle in the middle of a tough fight can save the entire thing. That minotaur I found way too fast would have flattened my whole party if there wasn’t a mage providing heals. That doesn’t even mention a Mage’s ability to apply elemental weaknesses to the rest of their party’s weapons, including their own, turning otherwise impossible fights into something much more manageable.

Second Vocation: Fighter

A well-built Fighter in Dragon’s Dogma 2 is both tank and DPS, able to knock enemies down and climb atop them for even more damage. With the right skills, they can fight foes on the ground or in the air and, with well-timed blocking, withstand most hard-hitting attacks. They can also advance into the Warrior Tier 2 vocation, trading attack speed for raw damage and knockdown potential.

Fighters are also great as pack mules, with most of the Fighter pawns I’ve found having quite a bit more carrying capacity than my Arisen Mage. As long as you don’t overburden them, a solid Fighter can move around the battlefield efficiently and deal more up-front damage than almost any other vocation in Dragon’s Dogma 2 (in the early game, at least). They’re a fantastic workhorse choice that won’t disappoint.

Third Vocation: Thief

Thief is probably the best overall DPS class in Dragon’s Dogma 2, though they’re also one of the squishiest. Dual daggers have long been a favorite in Capcom action RPGs, and that remains true in this new title as well. I got lucky and managed to find a powerful Thief pawn from a broken Riftstone, and that dude carried my sorry behind for a good six or seven hours.

Theives are also very good at staying alive and mobile, able to move around any downed party members, grapple larger monsters quickly and easily, and generally be a nuisance on the battlefield. They aren’t the best pack mules by any stretch, and if you’re playing one yourself, you’ll need to stay quick on your feet to not get instantly smashed by a larger monster. Thieves can’t use shields, you see. Still, if you want to deal tons of damage across lots of little attacks, or want to supplement your party’s damage output, invest in Thief today.

Fourth Vocation: Another Mage or a Sorcerer

I’m sorry. I know I’m cheating a little bit here, but having two Mages or one Mage and one Sorcerer in your party makes you quite nearly unkillable, provided the Mage or Sorcerer has the right skills and spells equipped. Sadly, if two Mages use a healing field, the healing itself doesn’t stack, but with two Mages, you can cover most encounter areas in a healing zone, so your party’s health is always replenishing.

If you choose to add a sorcerer to your party, you give up the extra heals for more crowd control and damage. You’ll want to be sure your Sorcerer has damage reduction spells handy, but if you can keep your Fighter and Thief in the fray and your casters at a safer distance, you can clear entire groups of enemies in no time flat. You’d be surprised how quickly you can melt a boss’ health bar as well. Two casters with good gear and spells have some immense single-target damage potential as well.

Those are my options for the best pawn party set up in Dragon’s Dogma 2‘s early game. These choices might change as you progress, unlock additional vocations, and acquire higher-level skills and equipment, but for the first dozen or so hours, a party makeup like the one presented here trivializes most of the game’s content.

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