Dragon’s Dogma: Complete class guide

Dragon’s Dogma: Dark Arisen for PC is the same great game, which was released on PS3 in 2013, but now with a number of visual enhancements. Those who haven’t played Dark Arisen before will be able to experience one of the best action RPG games in the recent years.

In the very beginning, the game offers you to create a character. You can choose one of the three basic classes, or vocations as they are called in the game, and then learn new, more exciting and challenging classes. After you learn the basics of the gameplay, you will be able to switch between classes at any time.

The game has three Basic vocations: Fighter, Strider, and Mage. These can be changed or improved to Advanced vocations: Warrior, Ranger, and Sorcerer. The last tier of classes is called Hybrid vocations, which includes Mystic Knight, Magick Archer, and Assassin.

As you accomplish quests and various tasks, you will earn discipline points (DCP) that will allow you to upgrade your characters to Advanced classes. However, Hybrid classes are only available to your main hero Arisen.

You can learn all the most important features of each vocation in the following class tier list.

Basic vocations

Fighter

Primary weapon: Sword
Secondary weapon: Shield
Primary stat: Strength
Primary type of armor: Heavy

Fighters are excellent defenders for the whole party due to their heavy armor and shield. Use this character to protect your Mages and Rangers.

Best skills

If you want to have an effective Fighter in your party, then be sure to invest in his Sheltered Assault skill. This ability allows your character to protect himself using a shield and at the same time deal a series of super strong attacks.

Additionally, you need to learn how to use Perfect Block with your shield that also deals damage while protecting you.

Strengths

• Fighters can be sent right into the battle with their heavy sword that can deal a lot of physical damage.

• They can also effectively deal with flying enemies by luring them with their shield.

• Their defense stats can be upgraded very quickly, thus making them extremely resistant against all sorts of melee damage.

Weaknesses

• Fighters are very vulnerable to Magick attacks, thus it’s important to have a healing-focused character in your party.

• This type of character has absolutely no way to deal a ranged type of damage.

• Heavy armor and weaponry make them very slow, so dodging won’t be too effective with Fighters.

Strider

Primary weapon: Daggers
Secondary weapon: Shortbow
Primary stat: Strength
Primary type of armor: Light

Striders are extremely fast, dangerous and versatile characters. Their weapons are very light and can quickly deal a lot of physical damage.

Best skills

Sometimes it’s very important to distract your enemies from damaging your party, so it is highly important to upgrade Strider’s Dazzle Blast skill.

Another great skill to have is Ensnare and its upgraded version called Implicate – they will allow your character to reflect multiple attackers simultaneously.

The last most important skill is Master Thief, which makes item stealing quick and easy.

Strengths

• This class is very agile and has plenty of dodging tricks up his sleeve.

• Striders, unlike other characters, can climb up giant enemies and hit them in their weakest spots.

• They can move quickly and shoot arrows at the same time, which makes them both a hard target and a dangerous foe.

Weaknesses

• Unlike Fighters, Striders are vulnerable to both Magick and Melee damage.

• Striders are not very strong against powerful enemies; however they can effectively deal with a whole group of smaller enemies.

• Because this is a basic class, the ranged abilities of their Shortbow are still quite limited in comparison to other classes.

Mage

Primary Weapon: Staff
Primary stat: Magick
Primary type of armor: Spellcaster

Mage is a perfect choice if you wish to control the battlefield with powerful Magick abilities.

Best skills

One of the most important skills for Mage class is Levitate that allows you character to freely ascend and descend from greater heights. This will become very useful, as you will find yourselves in places that are hard to reach, but not when you have Levitate.

Another one is Anodyne –  it’s a health recovery spell that will come in handy during battles.

Strengths

• Mages specialize in healing abilities, which may be of great benefit to your other party members that absorb most of the damage.

• Their healing ability also deals damage to undead enemies.

• They can enchant the weapons of other party members and make them deal more damage.

Weaknesses

• Physically, Mages are extremely weak and can be killed with a few strikes.

• They also have a very low health and the lowest stamina of all other classes.

• Mages become super vulnerable when they get enchanted with the Silence spells or weapons, and as a result, they will not be able to cast spells of their own anymore.

Advanced vocations

Warrior

Primary weapons: Longswords, Warhammers
Primary stat: Strength
Primary type of armor: Very Heavy

If you want to deal damage… a lot of damage, then you should pick up a Warrior vocation.

Best skills

One of Warrior’s main skills is War Cry – a wave of energy that attracts enemies from afar. This should be used to distract enemies from other, more vulnerable party members and instead make them attack your Warrior that can easily withstand most of the threats.

Strengths

• Warriors can wield massive two-handed swords that inflict excruciating damage to a number of foes simultaneously.

• Their armor is so strong that even the hardest of the hits won’t be able to knock them down.

• This class has the highest level of health of all other classes.

Weaknesses

• Just like Fighters, Warriors are very slow due to their heavy armor and weapons.

• They also can’t utilize any sorts of shields, which makes their defense abilities arguable and they have to solely rely on their health points.

• Warriors have a very low reach and can’t deal with flying enemies unless they decide to float down.

Ranger

Primary weapon: Daggers
Secondary weapon: Longbow
Primary stat: Strength
Primary type of armor: Light

Rangers mainly use longbows that can hit hard and far away. They can also effectively use their daggers against a group of melee enemies, just like Strider.

Best skills

This class has a lot of really valuable skills, so it’s important to upgrade Ranger’s abilities as much as you can. For example, Comet Shot is his most essential skill, as it allows the character to zoom in and hit the target with maximum precision.

Another one is Great Gamble, which lets you perform one super shot that basically consumes all your stamina, but may result in a complete defeat of a strong enemy.

Tenfold Flurry is also worth investing in, as it allows your Ranger to simultaneously shoot 10 arrows, thus dealing tons of damage.

Strengths

• They can equip a wide variety of arrows, such as Oil, Poison, Blast, Sleeper or Petrifying – all these have different effects and can be used in different situations for the best effect.

• Warriors have the highest level of health, but Rangers have the highest stamina growth of all other classes.

Weaknesses

• Due to their relatively light armor and inability to protect themselves, Rangers tend to be vulnerable to heavy physical attacks.

• Surprisingly, this class is not very fast and cannot properly evade both melee and ranged attacks, unlike Strider.

• At times this class consumes too many stamina points.

Sorcerer

Primary weapon: Archistaves
Primary stat: Magick
Primary type of armor: Spellcaster

Sorcerers are highly skilled and powerful mages with a wide set of abilities and tricks.

Best skills

The skill that is most worth investing in is Focused Bolt – a powerful charge of Magick that can deal huge amounts of damage.

One of their most powerful skills is Maelstrom that casts a dark whirlwind.

The other two worth mentioning are Gicel, which casts a spike of ice from the ground, and Bolide that makes meteors fall from the sky.

Strengths

• Just like Mages, Sorcerers can empower other characters’ weapons and debuff those of their enemies.

• They have a high resistance to any kinds of Magick damage inflicted on them.

• If you have more than one Sorcerer in your party, they can use an ability called Spell Synching, which allows them to synchronize their spells for a bigger impact.

Weaknesses

• Sorcerers can’t heal or use any kinds of recovery abilities, which is unfortunate.

• All their other stats except Magick, such as Health, Stamina, and Defense are very low.

• All their spells take a lot of time to cast, so take this into account.

Hybrid vocations

Mystic Knight

Primary weapons: Sword, Mace, Staff
Secondary weapon: Magick Shield
Primary stat: Magick
Primary type of armor: Medium

Mystic Knight is a combo of Warrior and Sorcerer, meaning he can both cast powerful spells and deal a lot of physical damage.

Best skills

His most useful skill is Reflect that allows Mystic Knight to counter spell damage and use it against the opponent.

Other great skills for Mystic Knight include Perilous Sigil that hits multiple enemies with a powerful wave of energy; Magick Cannon that casts a huge ball of energy; and Holy Furor that deals damage to all enemies within its range.

Strengths

• Notice that other Magick based characters in the game cannot wear shields, unlike Mystic Knight. His shield protects both from Magick and Physical damage.

• Just like Mages and Sorcerers, Knight can enchant the weapons of other party members.

• This class is very versatile and can be used in almost any kinds of situations due to its wide range of abilities.

Weaknesses

• Despite his great power, Mystic Knight’s Magick powers can be silenced.

• Even though his armor is not considered heavy, his movements are still quite limited in comparison to the classes wearing light types of armor.

• Spell casting is just as slow as that of the Sorcerer class.

Magick Archer

Primary weapon: Daggers, Staff
Secondary weapon: Magick Bow
Primary stat: Magick
Primary type of armor: Any

Magick Archer does what the name of his class suggests – he shoots Magick arrows. On top of that, Magick Archer can equip almost any type of armor in the game, which is very convenient.

Best skills

For an impactful damage use Ninefold Bolt skill that allows you to shoot nine Magick arrows at a single target.

Scension is another great skill to have – it casts a wave of energy, which saps the enemy’s health.

Ricochet Seeker increases the power of an arrow as it ricochets off of a number of targets.

Strengths

• If there is a need to use daggers in close combat, then Magick Archer can wield them like no one else. Plus, his daggers are always enchanted.

• This class can be very agile and fast on the battlefield, effectively utilizing double jumps or levitate ability.

• Magick Archer is the best class for dealing with Living Armor – a huge enemy that most other classes will have trouble with.

Weaknesses

• Unlike Ranger, Magick Archers can’t use any special types of arrows available in the game.

• Due to Magick based abilities of their Longbow and Daggers, they deal Magick damage instead of Physical, which makes their effect quite limited.

• The fire rate of arrows is also slower in comparison to other ranged classes.

• The arrows shot from the Magick Longbow have the ability to track the target, but it is still less accurate than the precise aiming of the Ranger class.

Assassin

Primary weapons: Sword, Daggers
Secondary weapons: Shield, Bow
Primary stat: Strength
Primary type of armor: Light

Assassin is the most versatile Hybrid vocation. This class can wield swords, daggers, shoot arrows and protect himself with a shield.

Best skills

Invisibility is Assassin’s most useful skill. In addition to a full invisibility mode, your character will be completely immune to all types of damage.

Wind Harness allows Assassin to achieve a high speed of movement providing a massive advantage during attacks.

This in combination with Showdown skill makes the character both super fast and strong.

Strengths

• Assassin has a rich set of tools, such as toxins, explosives, poisons, etc.

• Their main stat is Strength, and it has the highest Strength growth in the game making it a truly powerful class as you progress.

• This class can effectively utilize Strength-based augments that can increase its power up to 80%.

Weaknesses

• Due to a wide range of abilities this class sometimes can be the hardest to play with.

• Just like most Strength-based classes, Assassin is weak to Magick damage.

The combat in the game is action-oriented, and every battle is very dynamic, which requires the use of different approaches against your opponents. Thus, choose your character class wisely and always be well-prepared.

Tell us about your favorite class in Dragon’s Dogma: Dark Arisen in the comments section below!