Dragon's Dogma 2 Archer best build, skills, and augmentations

How to play Archer in Dragon's Dogma 2

Archer is a mixed class that emphasizes dealing ranged damage and targeting weakpoints with ease, though it also gets a handful of support skills that help debilitate foes and enhance allies' attacks. It's a basic class with no magical affinity, unlike the Archer in the original Dragon's Dogma, so you don't have to worry about splitting stats or specializing in specific skill types.

You start with two basic attack forms. One aims automatically, but deals less damage. The other makes you aim manually, so you can try targeting enemy weak points, and it dishes out heavier damage in general, even if you don't land a vital shot.

Use unaimed shots for quick enemies you have trouble tracking or weak foes that take little effort to defeat. Aimed shots should be your choice for every other encounter, especially against bosses.

Dragon's Dogma 2 tells you that Archers should seek high ground, and there's a good reason for that. The advice won't work in every situation - some of the early forests, for example, are notably lacking in high ground - but the general idea is that archers function best when they're removed from the action. That's partly due to their lack of defensive abilities, though staying a few steps behind everyone else also makes finding and targeting enemies easier. Let your stronger or more defensive Pawns charge ahead, and focus on picking off individual targets with aimed shots or aiming for the vital points of larger enemies.

You do get a kick move that deals a little damage and pushes enemies back, but it's meant as a getaway attack - something that opens an escape route for you to retreat. Once you unlock more skills, you can add a few debuffing and support options to your arsenal, including skills that inflict debilitations on some enemies.

The downside to all this is that you can't target most of your special shots. Make sure to face the enemy you want to hit, so you have a better chance of landing the shot without wasting valuable arrows on weaker enemies.

Dragon's Dogma 2 best Archer skills

Your Archer's weapon skills are the main abilities you use in battle and often the difference between a successful encounter and a trip back to the 'reload from last save' screen. You unlock quite a few weapon skills as your Vocation rank increases, but not all of them are worth your hard-won discipline points. We’ve picked out some of the best below:

• Exploding Shot: Exploding Shot is the best skill in the Archer's kit, though it takes a bit of planning to use well. Exploding Shot fires a flaming arrow that lodges itself into the target enemy, and the arrow stays there until either you fire another arrow of any kind at it or a Pawn lands an attack on the arrow. The resulting explosion takes out a big chunk of the enemy's HP, but it can also catch any ally in the blast area. In most cases against larger enemies, such as ogres or cyclopes, the targeting AI fires an arrow high enough where melee Pawns won't get caught. For smaller enemies, try detonating the arrow yourself, when Pawns aren't around. Make sure to purchase Exploding Arrows every chance you get. You can't use Exploding Shot without them.
• Blighting Shot: Tarring Arrow and Drenching Arrow work well - theoretically. They make enemies susceptible to fire and ice, respectively, but since you can't control which attacks your Pawns use, it's hit-and-miss whether you actually get the full benefits these skills provide. Blighting Shot is the only debilitating skill that works on its own. Like other Blighting attacks, it inflicts poison damage that slowly eats away at enemies afflicted with blight, and it deals more damage, more quickly the longer they stay blighted.

• Sweep Shot and Cascading Shot: Sweep Shot and its upgrade, Cascading Shot, fire arrows in a wedge pattern, perfect for handling enemy mobs. That sounds helpful, because it is - but there's a catch. You'll often find yourself in situations where NPCs join fights against your foes, and it's easy to accidentally shoot them with Sweep or Cascading Shot. They won't take kindly to that and might even die, which could block you from completing certain quests or lower your affinity with some characters. Make sure to think carefully before using this one.
• Barrage Shot and Manifold Shot: Barrage Shot fires two arrows in quick succession, and the Manifold Shot upgrade adds an extra arrow to the mix. Both are perfect for dealing with pesky foes who can cause trouble quickly if you don't take care of them, such as harpies or wolves. You're almost guaranteed to hit every time, since the skill aims automatically and you can move around while using it.
• Torrent Shot: Torrent Shot turns your Archer into a turret. You fire consecutive shots for as long as you keep pressing the skill button, and the rate of fire increases the longer you keep pressing the button. It's particularly useful against sturdy single targets and bosses when you have a Pawn who can distract them or defend you. The drawback is that you can't move around or aim. The shots are unlikely to hit vital points as a result, and you're vulnerable to other enemy attacks.

Dragon's Dogma 2 best Archer core skills

Core skills are a mix of your Archer's passive abilities and basic skills that aren't tied to your weapon. Core skills are fewer in number compared to your weapon skills, but they tend to provide valuable buffs or movement skills that make battles easier.

• Swift Nock: Swift Nock pretty much does what it says on the label. You draw your bow faster when using aimed and normal shots, which you'll be using most of the time anyway. This is an essential core skill and one you should purchase first.
• Leaping Punt: This one takes a bit of getting used to, and it doesn't function quite the way you might think. The kick helps get you back away from danger, and even though it won't knock enemies off balance or push them back, it often makes them lower their defenses. Leaping Punt is a smart choice when dealing with armed foes or enemies wielding shields, since you or one of your Pawns can follow up with a strong attack that keeps them from raising their defenses again. If you add the Parting Shot skill, your Archer fires a shot after jumping back that deals damage roughly on par with an aimed shot.

Dragon's Dogma 2 best Archer augmentations

Augmentations are the passives that you can take with you to other vocations. They're a motley mix of battle buffs and exploration boons, though not all of them are worth filling your slots with.

• Ambuscade: Ambuscade is a situational augmentation, but it can make certain encounters much easier. It increases the damage you deal to foes not in battle stance, which is Dragon's Dogma 2-speak for enemies who aren't fighting you yet. Ambushing bosses and dealing hefty damage with your first shot is the obvious use for this augmentation, but it's helpful against powerful regular enemies as well, such as armed goblins, saurians, and skeletons.
• Endurance: Leveling Archer is worth it if only to get the Endurance augmentation. This one increases your stamina, which means you can use more skills, more often. It's also handy outside of battle, since it lets you run faster without becoming fatigued.

• Lethality: Lethality increases the damage dealt when you hit an enemy's vital points. It won't do much for the skills that you can't aim, but it's essential for aimed shots and helps wear tough foes down quickly.
• Radiance: Dragon's Dogma 2 encourages you to play it safe at night, but you'll inevitably have to head out after dark. That's where Radiance comes in. It extends the life of your lamp oil by making it burn less quickly. Sure, you can craft lamp oil, but it's heavy and weighs you down. That said, Radiance isn't an essential Augmentation, so don't spend your discipline points on it until later.

Good luck building the best Archer possible in Dragon's Dogma 2!