Players who always wanted to hunt down a dragon will enjoy Dragon’s Dogma, where they’re tasked to defend the world as the Arisen against the evil dragon Grigori. However, as players grow into noteworthy warriors, their Dragon’s Dogma journey eventually makes them realize there’s a bigger conspiracy afoot. And players may notice they are rather underleveled to take on the tougher foes the game has to offer.
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However, players shouldn’t give up on the game immediately. In fact, Dragon’s Dogma offers various methods to help them capitalize on their progression. Not only that, the right leveling approach can help players become rather overpowered much quicker than they’ve anticipated.
Optimize Hard Mode To Maximize Gains
Players who begin a Dragon’s Dogma playthrough will have the opportunity to jump into Hard Mode straight away, transforming the RPG into an experience similar to Dark Souls. However, the rewards here may just be well worth the challenge, considering that this setting immediately grants double experience and more gold dropped.
On top of this setting, players may want to spam buffs or invigorations that grant Weal, or double Experience, Discipline Points, and Rift Crystals for every encounter. A great source of Weal is Blessed Flower, so the buff lasts the whole day, and players can duplicate said item via the Black Cat. Ideally, players store an extra Blessed Flower inside the Storage, so it won’t wilt. Another useful item would be the Pilgrim’s Charm, which also grants Weal and Prosperity (double gold earned) for five minutes.
Less Is More, At Least With Pawns
Players who experience Dragon’s Dogma for the first time will delight in the fact that while multiplayer allows teams of four to embark on adventures, the game also offers players the opportunity to recruit up to three Pawns to complete a full party. Given its RPG nature, being able to take on bosses with a party of four can give players an edge against tougher enemies. Sadly, this also comes with a classic MMORPG caveat - the more people in a party, the more EXP will be shared.
In turn, players who want to get ahead in the leveling game may want to use as few Pawns as possible in their journey, leaving only the main Pawn. Since one less Pawn provides 25 percent more EXP to the player, having only one Pawn around gives a 75-percent bonus on the get-go. Of course, since the game won’t lower its difficulty based on the number of party members, a player rocking a duo setup may need to stay sharper against multiple foes.
Kill Everything That Won’t Get Jail Time
Being a hero in Dragon’s Dogma means killing an innocent human will merit some jail time, which can become a huge waste of time. In the lower levels, where enemies like bandits can become a toughie, leveling up can be a pain if players haven’t mastered the game’s controls yet. Thankfully, they can bypass this early-level handicap with a rather useful tip: kill anything that moves. Rather, kill anything that moves that won’t get players to jail.
These include everything beyond the usual bandit or goblin, which means griffins, harpies, cyclopes, and even bunnies are on the table. While some of them don’t merit as much experience, what little they give after a few seconds of combat is still more useful compared to seconds wasted finding other foes. Not only that, but resources collected from these creatures can also contribute towards upgrades.
Farm Colossal Creatures For Optimal EXP
The open world of Dragon’s Dogma is ripe with various threats, and colossal behemoths aren’t an exception. Players unfortunate enough to Fast Travel in specific areas in Dragon’s Dogma may encounter dragons, chimeras, and cyclopes - all of which seem as tough as bosses that can ruin a player’s day if they don’t know how to defeat them. However, players who got their hang in fighting these larger creatures may want to remember where they’ve killed them, as this spot has just become a prime farming territory.
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When players kill a colossal creature, they’re confident they can defeat it a second time; all they need to do is remember the area and rest in an inn. Staying at an inn for four days after an encounter will be enough time for the beast to respawn, giving players yet another chance to defeat them.
Quest Boards Give An Extra EXP Source
Other RPGs similar to Dragon’s Dogma likely have major player hubs for resupplies and healing, and especially accepting quests. In these farming-oriented quests, players often have to gather certain materials or slay a certain number of creatures, which in themselves already provide players with EXP depending on the enemies they kill. However, more importantly, the fact that these killings contribute towards quests means players also have another source of EXP that will contribute to their level-up experience, as well as Vocation experience.
Players on the grind for EXP will want to start as many quests in their leveling journey as possible, with areas such as Gran Soren and Cassardis having quite a ton to choose from. It’s ideal for players to choose quests in areas they want to explore anyway, allowing them to farm stronger monsters while raking up EXP from both the creatures and the objectives.
The Wraith Exploit (Pre-Grigori, Level 10+)
By the time players access Greatwall, facing a Wraith in the nearby area is considered one of the most popular level-up exploits in Dragon’s Dogma. At its core, this involves placing a Portcrystal to Greatwall and going to the north-westernmost part of the map. Being a type of ghost, the Wraith heavily relies on possessing others to fight the players and, in the case of this particular Wraith, summoning skeleton warriors to fight them. This should easily take players from Level 10 to the mid-60s or 70s.
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They can become a great source of experience for as long as the players don’t kill the Wraith outright. To do this, players can fight the skeleton warriors the entire night while dodging the Dragon’s Dogma Wraith, that way, it would disappear by morning. The Portcrystal becomes useful once players need a quick exit, and players can simply sleep for four to five days to force the Wraith to respawn should they kill it.
Spamming Ur-Dragon (Post-Grigori, Level 80+)
When players finally defeat the Red Dragon Grigori, they can still explore much of Dragon’s Dogma but this time in its post-game format. In Post, players can access much tougher foes and more of Dragon’s Dogma’s farmable content. Players should get into the Everfall in Gran Soren to level up further and head to Floor 8 - Lament. In here, they’ll face the much tougher Ur-Dragon, an undead dragon that looks like Grigori with a different look and deadlier moveset.
At its core, defeating Ur-Dragon doesn’t just provide plenty of experience but also neat perks such as gold, Wakestones, and enchanted weapons alongside useful materials. It’s ideal to start farming Ur-Dragon in Post, as Cassardis will have a Riftstone on Starfall Bay that leads directly to the chamber. Moreover, it’s important to fight Ur-Dragon offline to get the extra EXP benefit.
Rushing Daimon (Post-Grigori, Level 150+)
When players can access Bitterblack Isle, they will contend with some of the toughest foes in the game, especially since this is the final stage of the core Dragon’s Dogma experience. In here, players will fight with Death across various appearances, as well as fight Daimon, the final boss of the story. Killing him will net the largest EXP reward in the game so far, so it helps to be under the Weal effect even when fighting him for the first time. However, players should avoid Prosperity here as this will transform Daimon’s drops into gold instead.
With that in mind, players should kill Daimon a second time and unlock the shortcut after the Cursed Dragon/Bishop. Doing these allows shortcuts to stay active in subsequent runs. By the time players have a strategy to kill Daimon, what helps is to ensure they have the necessary Augments for rushing him - practically skipping many of the dungeon’s paths. These include Grace which removes fall damage, Athleticism which reduces sprint-based stamina consumption, Sinew, which boosts encumbrance and Dexterity for faster climbing.
Spawncamping Death (Post-Daimon, Level 100+)
Near the end of the story of Dragon’s Dogma, players can access Bitterblack Isle, where Death usually roams around and fights players in various encounters. Aside from his large HP pool, his one-hit-KO scythe is a force to reckon with, making encounters rather ridiculous even for endgame players. However, killing Death is also a prime way of farming for EXP - at least, for players brave enough to take on the challenge.
At its core, Death already gives a base reward of 420K EXP on Easy/Normal mode and 840K EXP on Hard Mode. Players can spam Death by making him “respawn” either in the Garden of Ignominy or the Bloodless Stockade, with the latter usually happening before defeating Daimon. In the Garden, players should keep on returning to the area to “refresh” until lizards appear as the main enemies. After slaying them and offering Rancid Bait Meat, Death will usually spawn nearby. Once players defeat Death, they can rest for four to five in-game days and repeat this process.
Dragon’s Dogma celebrates its 10th Anniversary this 2022. The game was released in 2012 and is available for Nintendo Switch, PS4, Xbox One, PS3, Xbox 360, and PC.
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