Dragon’s Dogma 2 is a big game and a long game, even if you try to bullrush your way through it. The early game is fairly straightforward, but by the time you reach the midgame, you’ll want to invest in solid gear, especially if you’re playing a Mage. There are two places you’ll want to reach for the best midgame Mage gear to survive the wilds.
The Best Midgame Gear for a Mage in Dragon’s Dogma 2
Mages are support masters in Dragon’s Dogma 2, leaving raw offensive potential in the better-fit hands of Sorcerers. And as casters, their defenses are limited at first. By the midgame, you’ll be facing griffons, armored cyclopses, more powerful Ogres, and other powerful beasts who will easily one-shot an underequipped Mage. Thankfully, getting to vendors that sell quality gear or (mostly) reasonable prices is easy.
The Elf Village of Sacred Arbor in Northern Vermund
Even though it’s one of the most out-of-the-way locations in Vermund, if you’re a Mage in Dragon’s Dogma 2, there are few places you can get better midgame gear than in the village of Sacred Arbor.
Situated north of Vermund, west of the village of Melve, Sacred Arbor is home to the elves. As such, you’ll probably want to have a pawn with the Woodland Wordsmith Specialization translate Elvish for you. Once you do make it there, the weapons and armor shop there has some of the best midgame Mage gear, especially if you want to focus on specific types of elemental magic. The two on offer, Tintreach and Cardinal Blaze, offer buffs to Lightning and Fire damage, respectively.
Both of the Mage staves available in Sacred Arbor are also primarily for pure casters. They lack almost any Strength scaling to speak of. Instead, they provide a massive buff to Magick to make up for it. Each staff costs 27,800 gold, so they aren’t small investments, but you’ll find that few things worth having in Dragon’s Dogma 2 are cheap. If you use the game’s pawn system to make tons of money, it’s not the worst expenditure in the world. You’d need to do a lot of exploring by the time you can reach Sacred Arbor. If you want much, that’s better.
The Capital City of Bakbattahl
The other set of vendors with a fantastic selection of midgame Mage gear is in the capital city of the southern region of Battahl, easily remembered as Bakbattahl.
The merchants in Bakbattahl have gear for several vocations, including several hidden ones, but their selection of Mage gear is high-quality. The staff you’ll want to shoot for is the Solar Numen, a powerful option with better stats than the offerings you found in Sacred Arbor. It is, however, almost 10,000 gold, more expensive than the other option available, the Battahli Scepter.
Which staff you equip as a Mage or give to your Mage pawn will depend on the enemies you expect to be fighting. The ones you buy in Sacred Arbor are elemental, meaning they’re great against specific monsters and enemies. Should you fight something resistant to that element, you’ll do marginally less damage. The Solar Numen lacks any elemental affinity, but that detriment is offset by higher raw stats.
All that said, you can often find even better gear out in the wild, free of charge. The only price is blood. Blood and time. One such item is the Battahli Turban, a headpiece for Mages, Sorcerers, and a host of other vocations, and it has better stats than either of the headpiece options in Sacred Arbor or Bakbattahl.
You get the Battahli Turban from a treasure chest in Guerco Cavern, a cave accessible west of the village of Harve, on the side of the sea shared by Battahl.
The same is true of the Frost Edges daggers for Thief you get as part of the Mercy Among Thieves quest, and many other gear items for most vocations. Dragon’s Dogma 2 is all about exploration, so it makes sense that the best stuff exists outside of a vendor’s inventory. Still, for the easiest access to solid midgame gear, the two shops mentioned in this guide are where you want to go.
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