There are 10 Vocations in Dragon's Dogma 2, each one offering a totally unique playstyle compared to all the others. The Mage vocation, for example, is what a lot of people assume to be the 'starter' caster Vocation compared to Sorcerer, but that's not entirely true.
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As it turns out, the Sorcerer Vocation is an entirely separate Vocation that isn't a direct upgrade or improvement on the Mage Vocation, just a different path. While Sorcerers are very offense-focused in their magic usage, Mages are split pretty evenly between offense and support options. With that in mind, let's go over how exactly to create a pretty strong Mage Arisen early on in Dragon's Dogma 2.
Because the term 'early-game' is a bit vague, we'll be restricting this build to Skills you can get from, at most, level 6 in any Vocation as well as equipment you get in either Vernworth or the Sacred Arbor.
Spell Reccomendations
A Nice 50/50 Split Between Offense & Defense
First up, let's take a look at the core of any 'caster' Vocation build in this game, the Spells. You can have 4 Spells equipped at any one time, not including your default Magick Bolt or Anodyne Healing Spell that are a part of your Light and Heavy Attacks. And, while just about every Spell the Mage has access to has plenty of reason why it's worth using, there are some clear standout options. For the early game, in particular, these are the Spells we felt cover the most ground and are the most worth using:
Name | Vocation Rank Unlock | Reasoning |
|---|---|---|
High Levin | 4 | This is the Spell most Mage Vocation users end up relying on as their default damage Spell even into the late game. While there are plenty of enemies that aren't weak to Lightning Damage (or even resist it entirely), most enemies still take decent damage from it and the fact that you can just keep pressing the button to call down additional bolts makes it great for stacking up consistent damage against enemies who are on the ground or that don't move much. |
High Flagration | 4 | Another pure damage Spell, both Flagration and High Flagration are a way for you to inflict Fire Damage to enemies pretty early on where the only other avenue would be using Boon Enhancements. While this does require players to be rather close and the damage does start to fall off pretty hard against more difficult enemies, High Flagration is just a very reliable DPS tool to use in clearing small rooms with many enemies, dealing tons of damage to downed large monsters, or burning down a target that's getting a bit too close for comfort. |
High Palladium | 4 | The common assumption with caster-type Vocations in Dragon's Dogma 2 is that, in exchange for being able to summon lightning and float through the air, they're basically glass cannons. But, with expert usage of High Palladium, Mages can sort of become unstoppable or they can even buff their Fighter/Warrior Pawn into a completely unkillable menace. The fact that High Palladium grants its effect to nearby allies when cast is reason enough for it to be on here, but the fact that the actual 'damage' of the attack doesn't seem to matter and Palladium will always block it means that this Spell can make it possible to fight much tougher enemies a whole lot earlier than some other Vocations can. |
Celerity | 4 | This last recommendation slot is sort of a 'fill slot' where the choice of spell you use here has a lot less impact than if you didn't have Levin, Flagration, or Palladium equipped. However, we prefer Celerity for a couple of key reasons. One, you're constantly running around in Dragon's Dogma given that the game tries to limit your fast travel tools as often as possible. Two, this is a party-wide buff (if used with Pawns nearby) that speeds up the actions of everyone all at once, leading to more damage output overall. And three, Celerity makes it a lot easier for Mage players to maintain proper spacing between themselves and their enemies. Honorable mentions that could also fill this slot include any of the Elemental Boon Spells, Frigor, or Halidom |
If we're talking about what Spells are best for a Pawn using the Mage Vocation, the recommendations are totally different, so keep in mind that these are recommendations meant for an Arisen playing the Vocation who likely doesn't want to spend all their time buffing their AI companions.
Augment Recommendations
Augments That Don't Require a Ton of Time Investment to Unlock
Now let's move on to Augments. You can have up to 6 Augments active at a time in Dragon's Dogma 2, and as long as you purchased said Augment with your hard-earned Discipline Points, you can equip it regardless of what Vocation you currently have active. So, with that in mind, what Vocations should players level up a bit first before they fully commit to their Mage Vocation? Here are our 6 recommendations:
Augment Name | Vocation | Vocation Level | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
Asperity | Sorcerer | 2 | Increases the likelihood of inflicting debilitations with your attacks. |
Constancy | Sorcerer | 6 | Augments your Knockdown Resistance. |
Subtlety | Thief | 2 | Decreases the likelihood of being targeted by foes. |
Endurance | Archer | 4 | Increases your maximum Stamina. |
Apotropaism | Mage | 2 | Augments your Magick Defense. |
Beatitude | Mage | 4 | Increases the amount of Health recovered by curatives and curative magicks. |
As you can tell in the table above, not a ton of the early-game recommendations for a Mage build use the actual Mage's Augment options. This is because, while the Mage's Augment options are great, the best ones like Perpetuation and Exaltation are only available at the highest ranks of the Vocation, which doesn't make sense to recommend for an 'early-game' build.
Even getting Constancy from the Sorcerer's Augments requires getting Sorcerer up to Vocation Level 6, so if you find that's a bit too much of a commitment for now, simply replace it withFighter's Mettle Augment or Archer's Ambuscade Augment. Otherwise, for the most part, getting the 'perfect' early-game Mage build just requires playing the Sorcerer, Thief, and Archer Vocations for about an hour or so each to get them to Vocation Level 2-4 and then switching over to the Mage Vocation for the rest of the game if you so choose.
Equipment Recommendations
Look For The Biggest Numbers Possible
Funnily enough, when it comes to Equipment recommendations for an early-game Mage, there's not a ton that's all 'that' much better than everything else. Early-game, it really just comes down to buying the wand or armor with the highest numbers in any shop, as elemental resistances or weapons with specific elemental benefits really don't appear much or matter much in the earlier areas of Dragon's Dogma 2 outside maybe Cardinal Blaze for the Flagration buff.
In general, if you want good gear on your Mage early on, get into Vernworth as fast as possible and buy from the weapons and armor shops there. If you want to go the extra mile, find Sacred Arbor either on your own or by following the Gift of the Bow Questline that starts in front of the weapons shop in Vernworth to get to Sacred Arbor.
The magical gear sold in Sacred Arbor (as well as the blacksmithing style of the upgrades there) is entirely focused on both the Sorcerer, Mage, and even Warfarer Vocations due to it buffing the Magick Defense and Magick Damage of weapons and armor. Lastly, when it comes to Rings, the best early-game Rings to use are probably ones you can easily find or purchase from Merchants such as Rings of Tenacity (for more Stamina), Rings of Exultation (for more HP), or Rings of Accrual (for more Encumbrance which means faster Stamina Regen). To summarize all these recommendations in one easy-to-read table:
Armor Recommendations | Weapon Recommendations | Ring Recommendations |
|---|---|---|
Magician's Coat, Verger's Gown, Devotee's Hood, Serpentine Circlet, Savant's Boots, Blessed Waistcloth |
Dragon's Dogma 2
- Platform(s)
- PC , PS5 , Xbox Series X , Xbox Series S
- Released
- March 22, 2024
- Developer(s)
- Capcom
- Genre(s)
- Action RPG
