Highlights

  • Dragon's Dogma 2 is highly anticipated tailor-made to satisfy the community with its complex mechanics and exciting new features.
  • The vocation system is a key element that ties together the monsters, quests, and other attractions in Dragon's Dogma 2.
  • The game offers a variety of Basic, Advanced, Hybrid, and Unclassified vocations that players can choose from, each with its own unique abilities and playstyles.

The Dragon's Dogma fanbase is anticipating the upcoming launch of Dragon's Dogma 2. What once seemed like a pipe dream for the cult classic Capcom title is now a reality, and this sequel is tailor-made to satisfy its community all over again. Players will take control of Dragon's Dogma 2's Arisen as they set out across a vast world, joined by an AI party of Pawns. Adventures will organically unfold once more thanks to Dragon's Dogma’s complex mechanics, and plenty of new features are expected to make the sequel even more exciting.

Monsters, quests, and other attractions are among them, but it's Dragon's Dogma's vocation system that ties them all together. Vocations served as the classes of Dragon's Dogma, and DD2 brought them back with plenty of shake-ups. There are already 10 revealed vocations in Dragon's Dogma 2 compared to DD1's nine, and there have been hints that more are to come, such as one locked behind the once-per-playthrough Sphinx encounter. Vocations determine so much about an Arisen and their Pawns that players should start familiarizing themselves with Dragon's Dogma 2's offering early.

Gameplay Trailer
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Basic Vocations in Dragon's Dogma 2

Fighter

The classic Fighter is among the initial Basic vocations, and while it seems plain even by the standards of Dragon's Dogma 2’s traditional fantasy setting, there's more to it than meets the eye. Currently, the Fighter is the only DD2 vocation that natively wields a shield, allowing for a complex mixture of offensive and defensive play. Said shield was actually a key reason why Dragon's Dogma 1 players often preferred Fighter over its Advanced equivalent Warrior, so close-quarters combatants shouldn't sleep on it.

Archer

Fans of more indirect approaches will want to try Archer instead. This vocation is based on the Advanced Ranger vocation from Dragon's Dogma 1, but these ranged specialists may not have emergency melee options anymore. Ranger, and its Basic counterpart Strider, feature in Dragon's Dogma 2 as the Archer and Thief, with each inheriting either all their ranged or all their melee abilities. Fortunately, targeting weak spots on the fly and grounding aerial enemies should more than justify an Archer's presence, even before it starts sniping with special arrows.

Arisen
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Thief

The nimble Thief has inherited the Strider's twin daggers, which should still be threatening enough even without a bow. It sounds like Thieves have lost little else from their Strider days, during which they were among the best vocations in Dragon's Dogma. Acrobatic attacks that will please those who love Monster Hunter’s Dual Blades, potent bonuses to climbing on large monsters, and the ability to steal from monsters and NPCs make the Thief an easy recommendation for new Dragon's Dogma 2 players.

Mage

Currently, the last known Basic vocation in Dragon's Dogma 2 is the humble Mage. Like in DD1, the Mage specializes in a wide variety of offensive, buffing, and healing magicks that can be cast quickly at lower tiers. Dragon's Dogma 1 Mages suffered more than any other vocation from being replaced by their Advanced Sorcerer counterpart, but Dragon's Dogma 2 should remedy this by emphasizing the Mage’s speed and varied spell list.

Advanced Vocations in Dragon's Dogma 2

Warrior

Anyone seeking the highest melee damage in Dragon's Dogma 2 can look no further than the Warrior. This straightforward vocation apes the Greatsword and Hammer’s charged abilities from Monster Hunter and fittingly has both weapon types in its repertoire. Warriors were infamously over-specialized in DD1, lacking the versatility of every other class, but DD2 Warriors should benefit from new skills on top of emphasized super armor during animations.

Sorcerer

The magical powerhouse of Dragon's Dogma 2 is the Sorcerer, a heavy caster specialized in the higher tiers of offensive magicks. Sorcerers are the best demonstration of how Dragon's Dogma's magic system tops most action-RPGs in sheer destructive scale, and in DD1 that was ample reason to field one. DD2 Sorcerers sound less versatile than their old selves, but some implied synergy with other casting vocations means they are more than slow magical artillery.

Hybrid Vocations in Dragon's Dogma 2

Magick Archer

Hybrid vocations remain exclusive to Arisen player characters, often due to sporting functions too complex or risky for even Dragon's Dogma 2's Pawn AI to safely handle. Magick Archers are currently the only returning Hybrid vocation, and their Pawn-unfriendly features likely include sacrificing maximum HP, and potentially allied Pawns, for big attacks. Like their past selves, Magick Archers wield magical arrows to paint targets for homing shots, set traps, heal allies, and do plenty more, though their useful magic comes at the cost of some of an Archer's niche strengths.

Mystic Spearhand

The first new vocation revealed in Dragon's Dogma 2 was the Mystic Spearhand, a Fighter/Mage combination that seems to have replaced the first game's Mystic Knight. It's likely that the Mystic Knight had too much overlap with other classes, so this more distinct vocation was developed in its place.

Using their twin-headed Duospear, Mystic Spearhands have a huge bag of tricks like teleporting similar to Final Fantasy 15’s Warp Strike, and magically picking up and throwing foes. Players desiring a unique play style will definitely want to try this vocation.

Unclassified Vocations in Dragon's Dogma 2

Trickster

However, when it comes to uniqueness, nothing comes close to the Trickster. Dragon's Dogma 2's Trickster is novel for fantasy RPGs, able to exploit enemy AI and terrain in lethal ways. Complete with various other tools like powerful Pawn buffs and scouting abilities, nothing else compares to playing a Trickster. Notably, its vocation icon shares an ornate border and split color scheme with confirmed Hybrid vocations, but no Basic vocations with pink or purple icons have been revealed.

Warfarer

Speaking of special icons, the Warfarer's crest is completely distinct, suggesting it belongs to a new vocation category. Acting like a custom vocation, it trades lowered base stats for the chance to equip multiple weapons and learn skills from any vocation.

In this way, the ambitious Warfarer does its best to stay true to the original Dragon's Dogma's mechanical scale while making DD2's proportionately larger. Certain Dragon's Dogma 1 vocations did support multiple weapon types, but they had to pause to swap them, and skills needed their corresponding weapon to work. Expert Dragon's Dogma 2 players may happily ignore those limitations and could spend multiple playthroughs crafting potential Warfarer builds.