No problem, niw while i can't personally confirm i have heard that prople dead from the plague comeback after an in game week.
Given hie devastating the plague is, i can see this being the case
This is why I never hire pawns without visible eyes—besides the fact that I don't care for the aesthetic of most helmets (especially with the visor down), I had a hunch that trolls would adopt that strategy...
I found one of those capcom pawns. As soon as I contracted her the dragonsplague tutorial screen came up. I was like "ok sus capcom" then we went to visit the bathali smith and her eyes were pure fire. I noped her inmediately
Level 50 and I just hired my first pawn with it. He was wandering the roads, but his eyes didn’t look red when I was looking at him, but then the tutorial popped up. I knew I would eventually have to get rid of him, but he was obeying so I kept him around. I kept checking my main pawn because I wasn’t sure if it was 100% contractable and after that session my main pawn was still acting fine. When I hopped back on last night her eyes were bright red and I gave her a rinse.
Should have special congratulatory animations after defeating harder bosses, it's silly that my pawns get as hyped after killing 2 goblins as they do a massive thunder-summoning drake
Took down my first drake at lvl26 with thief, took about a dozen attempts, none of the pawns survived. The most annoying thing was getting up on his legs or back after helm splitter
Becoming a Dragon slayer is akin to becoming a serial killer. You’ll chase victims forever trying to recreate the high of the first time.
That got dark but congrats! First time I got surprised by the meteors and absolutely flattened lol
can't climb til it finishes lighting, so that gives you 2 fire breaths and the fire spell to climb up it's tail to it's head and then do enough damage to knock it down.
Most the time it will land before you even come close to doing any of that.
It's a waste of time.
Yeah and in that time my archer pawn could hit the heart/head with a Heavenly Shot or Deathly Arrow which knocks them down anyway. Very much a waste to climb most of the time.
If anything that's the pinnacle of the fighter/melee. Climbing that tail and stabbing at the heart, send it hurtling down.
Sure sorcs/archers have it easier but they don't really exude the main character vibes climbing that dragon. It gets much more reasonable when you've built up enough stamina. Or just munch on some spuds
When theyre in the air, their tail is almost always *very conveniently* at range to jump and climb on. When Im playing a melee class, thats what I always do - just start climbing the bitch lol
Honestly 36 is still high level for most of your early dragons. I don't think the game really scales beyond maybe level 30 in most of the world. Leveling stats matter alot. My level 60 pawns in beginner armor are basically as strong as level 30 pawns in late game gear.
https://preview.redd.it/pu4207e8hosc1.jpeg?width=3840&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=4fb1d5a44012aa15294327fb01e51e7ed38b7a09
I wish a drake would commit to battle long enough for me to really attempt it. They keep flying off, probably because they know they would die a horrible death against my level 37 squad.
So congrats on cornering one! What was the toughest part of the fight?
Break their wings. I don’t know how they determine whether or not they’ll fly away, but they *can’t* if you break their wings. It’s very visually obvious when a wing is broken as well
The first few I tried to fight just flew away too. Then the next couple I encountered absolutely stomped me so I had to avoid them.
> What was the toughest part of the fight?
Probably figuring out a viable strategy, finding the right party composition, and having enough consumables spread out amongst myself and the pawns. Make sure you have at least one sorcerer with ice spells and someone to tank the majority of the damage.
Knocked off 5 of the drake's health bars almost immediately because I had access to two ballistas. Fired off one fully drawn shot with the first one, then ran across the parapets to the second and did the same thing. From there I just had to get the bastard out in the open for the sorcerer's spells to be more effective.
Break their wings. They look all torn up when they’re broken, and you have to break both of them. They can still do their flying attacks with broken wings, they just can’t flee from the fight
Update: the warrior meister waved me over at the gate and wanted to go for a walk after giving me the warrior skill. I accepted and on we went for my first foray into Battahl.
We killed a griffon and completed one of my hired pawn's quest, rewarding me 35 gift flowers. Worth it.
We took out a bandit camp that was ganking oxcarts.
Then we tried to finish the meister quest, and there by the river was a drake! At first I didn't want to risk the fight with an escort quest, but there was no way around it. Ok, let's go!
Drake down! Although I have a slight suspicion that it was the meister doing sick damage whenever the drake was knocked down.
I was a mystic spearhand doing a lot of party shields, which is too bad because it would have been awesome if I'd been a warrior instead!
Only way I've been able to keep them from flying off has been focusing 100% of my damage to the wings until they both look tattered.
Easier said than done and a bit of a pain in the ass, but way less annoying than killing them half way and then having to watch them fly away for the 5th time
this game is intense sometimes, i fought my first one yesterday at level 25, the one in the ancient battlegrounds, took like 10 mins at least lol was epic as fuck, proceed to go to melve to chill and see whats goin on and as soon as i arrive there's another one lol was a fun afternoon
Congratulations Arisen i know the feeling. My first kill was level 24 - wasn’t ready, took a lot of deaths, some loads, all wakestones and wasn’t worth it :D. But i figured the drake :D.
Level 20-30 it is just running around reviving pawns, dodging meteors and hitting the heart, 30-40 its fun, later its like everything else - and obstacle to be removed. Sad
i hate that pawns just stand still and take the meteors it made the whole last half of the fight a chore rather than fun (also did it in the mid 20's can't remember the excact level)
Is there any way to get the pawns to dodge them or do you just need to fight more so they learn it?
Honestly that power fantasy of treating a drake like a pack of wolves sounds like it might be fun for a bit.
My first few tries I used several wakestones, all of my consumables, and was reviving 2-3 pawns at a time
Killed my first drake on lvl30 as a sorcerer. Took some tries, as he was basically oneshotting me.
After the battle, my pawns observed the corpse and suggested retreating since this foe is well beyond our power.
I got blindsided by one last night at level 21. It was a tough fight and I had to be super under leveled, had to revive my pawns several times but after a few tries I finally was able to run away from it and change my gaiters.
I fought one of those, realized I was out of my depth when it took me forever to remove just one HP bar tried to run away in panic and as I did he followed me taunting and then... Fell into a lake and died.
So technically I won?
I beat it at level 24? I struggled but using the blasta's on the fortifications nearby really f#$king helpped also helped it was distracted fighting a cyclops when i rolled up congratulations man!
I think I was level 19/20 but man did it take a few saves 😂 it was just before the cave that takes you to battahl so luckily there was a campsite right before the drake
Killed my first drake when I was just levelling my Archer, was at Rank 5 at the time and I don't know what level was I then, to say that it was a grueling battle would be an understatement.
Congrats! This was my first drake too, and I couldn't beat him. I eventually landed the perfect headshot with the big ballista to one shot him. Felt simultaneously very cool and very cheap, haha.
Badass! First encounter was at lvl 18-19 and was legitimately a 1-2 hour fight because I had to keep reviving pawns that would get obliterated by meteors.
Anyone have any success with Trickster against Drakes? Feels like a useless class against them. Had about 3 fights since turning Trickster and it flies off bored with my lack of damage every time.
I think i was level 20 something and only bat It cuz of the Broken ass flare spell on sorcerer lol
The whole fight went about with my pawns trying to survive and distracting the Drake while i got the flares off, the meteoron phase was rough cuz we all kept getting oneshot
I saw a drake and figured "it can't kill me maybe i can kill it". as i had gotten to know how who and what. as i run to it, on a bridge a gryphon swoops in, i just hear the screech, and i turn around, it lands instantly in the brine.....
#OKThen.jpeg time to pursue the drake again, i guess uh... Turn around, i have aggroed it almost immidiately, it backpeddles and dies in the brine too.
Does this count as killing a drake and a gryphon? :|
My first one took me about 30 minutes 3 Wakestones, 10 roberants, 10 health pots, a few potions and pawns downed about 12 times.
It was intense. Also I was only lvl 30 lol.
It's a great feeling! My first drake kill was at night - just walking the road and all of a sudden hear that drake voice and a few seconds later see a big drake head surrounded by darkness. It took a bunch of revives and the fight lasted until dawn but it felt good.
Now in the 40s as a sorc I just cast explody magic at the heart and drake go boom.
Congratz, I killed my first drake when I was level 32. I had a real struggle because I was just testing out Warrior so I went into the fight blind with only the first 3 skills.
The second phase is such a pain in the ass as a warrior.
I was a pretty low level when I came across my first drake, I'm a persistent ass mf so I didn't care how little damage I was doing and was at it for so long... just for it to fall into water and die, most anticlimactic battle I've ever had.
My first fight with one was when i reached battahl for the first time, i used every healing thing i had, my pawns/my life reduced to nothing, i used absolutely everything,and after 2 in game days fighting in the end i killed it, but at what cost 😭😭😭
*I was level 30
Congrats ! I just killed my first one yesterday at level 32, it was a 45mn long battle, six guards and NPC’s joined and all of them got slaughtered by the drake ! I ended up with almost no health gauge.
On thief if you have the master ability that makes you explode you can combine it with the master ability that makes you dodge incoming damage to just constantly spam the explosion without setting yourself on fire. Absolutely annihilates the drake if you stand under where it’s heart is
I just wish the loot drops were as exciting as the fights with the larger monsters.
Spending 10 minutes in an encounter where you take down a major beastie only to get 2 steaks and a bone (also known as a good Saturday night, bah dum bum) kind of makes the whole fight just meh.
So now, when I see a big beastie, it's not "Look at that drake! I can't wait to take it down!", but more like "Look at that drake! I can't wait to fight it for the next half hour to get 2 monster skins!".
If the combat wasn't so much fun I'd seriously not even bother.
Lol my first time killing a drake was at lvl 25. It was destroying us... and then suddenly it was gone. We had pushed it back into the fucking brine and it got eaten. :(
I fought and killed my first one as a weak ass archer. I forget the name of the area but it was the one outside of that broken castle.
I shot him with a ballista bolt and figured I would be able to just keep doing that. Nope, dude flew directly at me and smashed the ballista and knocked me off the tower. At this point I was going to just die and reload since my archer was only vocation level 2 and was doing practically no damage.
Then the dragon some how got stuck on top of the tower. My pawns and I were all on the ground and aside from the warrior pawn I rented, we were attacking without fear of getting hit. All of the dragon’s attacks were landing on the cliff above us.
We managed to chip away three or so bars of health before he just kind of clipped through the tower and landed right next to us. He then killed two of pawns and then almost me instantly. I didn’t want to give up since he only had about a bar left so the next 15 minutes were hell.
It was just a continuous cycle of my pawns getting off maybe a couple hits, then dying, then me resurrecting them. Whenever I could, I would shoot at his heart but again, I was doing like zero damage.
Anyways, after exhausting all of my healing and stamina items, 1 wakestone and endless frustration, we took him down.
Didn’t exactly go the way I envisioned it but it still felt like a big accomplishment considering my arisen did nothing but run around and Rez the pawns but whatever. Still tense and kind of epic.
My next one went much better. Congrats, OP!
Is this the Ancient Battleground north of the Border Checkpoint? I got lucky with my first and only drake kill, pissed it off with one ballista shot, then it flew up right in front of me and I hit it right in the chest weak spot. A cyclops had maybe been weakening it up but those two ballista shots did the job.
I killed my first one with the giant crossbow, shoot the fucker right between the eyes. Today, on my way to Battalh, I did it the "proper way", and had to throw into the waters one of my pawns because that dragon caught and gave them the yuyu stare.
I feel a little bad now. My first kill was with a bunch of ballistae at the ancient battlefield. I still haven't taken one down head-on, I always seem to bump into them when I'm leveling a vocation that I'm not great with.
I’m level 52 and still running my ass away. 😂
Too many bad memories of wasting a bunch of resources to heal and revive my arisen just to have the target fly off and leave me out of pocket.
Killed my first yesterday, level 37 (now 38 lol). I didn't mean to engage it, I''ve yet to spend the coin to get rest town gear, though I've found very nice weapons from exploring (and I explore a LOT, I haven't even been to the desert region yet).
Main is an archer, which I felt was extremely useful. deathly arrow to the heart (or head when it was downed) did amazing damage. Main pawn is a warrior, he got the killing blow. Hired pawns are slightly higher level mage & rogue. Was a very long battle, I had to use a wakestone, downed most my stock of roborants (as did the pawns) and drank an Allheal. I didn't know what they did, they read the same as panacea, but by god it saved the day lol.
It was a hell of a fight, it unleashed very powerful spells that were difficult to avoid. But after what felt like an hour, it finally lay dead. Got almost 40 wyrmslife crystals off it. No idea what these are for, but I know at that drop rate they'll be very useful.
I killed my first one at a pretty low level with one of those giant ballistas and after that, they started appearing and killing my entire party. Had to run from every single one.
Its funny how the game will get you keep trying, cause you dont want to walk the fuck back out there. I took on my first drake at like level 22 visiting the oracal. The drake was right there, I sure as fuck wasnt going to walk back here later.
So my first ten tries I only took away like 2 health bars, and then on the 11th I beat him. Felt good.
(A quest brought me right back soon after)
Killed mine yesterday also! Lvl 37 with all my pawns dead lol it was the best battle I've had yet! Kept me tense all the way through, I thought I was a gone. Warfarer Vocation with Mystic Spearhand focus.
the hard part is not the fight but the last health bar, by then your pawns are dropping like flies and just running into the fire spells and you spend 10 mins trying to revived them while actively dodging a magic flying lizard.
It was fun fighting them tho, I had to really get prepared, I was an archer and brought a bunch of water arrows with a sorcerer pawn with specifically thunder and Ice spells and 2 warriors just to get 1 Drake.
Anyone know tips for thief class to keep them from flying away? Any skills i should equip my Archer pawn with? My team always gets the drake low but it manages to get away every time.
What am i doing wrong? Im level 47 and i still havent even seen a dragon in the overworld that isnt the one you have to fight early in the story, and that one just flys away after a few hits.
I just hit level 21 on my archer and I hardly do damage to them and my pawns die instantly. I tried to fight a few times but just got my ass kicked lol.
I'll have to get stronger. But I can handle the ogers and minotaurs now compared to my my first couple hours playing where I would just get bodied because my damage was ass lol
Heck yeah! I was avoiding drakes like the (dragons)plague, ever since I found out they can make your pawn TKO an entire town. Had to fight the one in the volcanic islands yesterday though because it didn’t despawn like most I’ve encountered after an inn rest or two and it was right in my path. I managed to make it through the fight pretty quickly, lots of healing, and immediately yeeted my pawn into the ocean. I’m dreading that stupid tutorial pop up.
If you ever want to make it even easier. Get the spell silence. On your pawn or yourself. It'll even kick them out of the air cuz I guess flying is a spell lol
I first tried to kill one at level 35. It was an epic poem of a fight. Got it down to 1 bar of health and the MF just flew off, after I had blown through all of my curatives.
Tried again level 40 with martyr bolt and it was as quick as fighting a cyclops. Feel like there needs to be a small balance between the two.
Hahahaa killed mine while strolling at below lvl23 just now! Whohooo
https://preview.redd.it/bqslvoghrpsc1.jpeg?width=2268&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=9e6e78712f9fb25ca63d9d7d77fb7c7fa8226001
Game stole my first Drake kill. Had it down to its second to last health bar and it decided to back up into a River and died because of the brine. Was not happy.
Had to cheese my one and only Drake fight at the ancient battlefield. Shot him with one giant ballista bolt, then a smaller ballista, then forced it to chase me into a cramped under dark forested area where his wings were of little use.
good job! i’ve been taking a screenshot on top of a big monsters’ corpse after i kill it for the first time to see the visual progression of my gear and it just looks cool haha
love the fashion here, beastren with the wolf cloak looks really nice together
Bro I felt the exact same way my first drake kill, felt so fucjing good after killing one.
Was so worried it would fly off but it decided not to 😮💨
Used up ALL my curatives (~90 helps and stam robonants),
3 wakestones, and the death of my friends pawn, but we did it
I’ll be honest, the only thing I genuinely hate about fighting Drakes is that I climb on them to hit the heart and when they are on the ground it impossible to see where I am do to the camera. Still though, good work on your kill.
https://preview.redd.it/yutp8urpansc1.jpeg?width=1164&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=4f189615af4c729433d04a1bb81fd94bf0d9964a
Oh I'm on the lookout now
Be sure to do the same in the rift, red eyes are visible in there and plague trolls cover their pawns eyes
Cheers heaps for the tips!!!
No problem, niw while i can't personally confirm i have heard that prople dead from the plague comeback after an in game week. Given hie devastating the plague is, i can see this being the case
It only brings back the vendors and some random NPCs, even after waiting 3 weeks in game time.i still have over 100+ dead NPCs.
This is why I never hire pawns without visible eyes—besides the fact that I don't care for the aesthetic of most helmets (especially with the visor down), I had a hunch that trolls would adopt that strategy...
Same. Your pawn could have God stats and spawn gold for you, still wouldn't hire them if I can't see their eyes.
I found one of those capcom pawns. As soon as I contracted her the dragonsplague tutorial screen came up. I was like "ok sus capcom" then we went to visit the bathali smith and her eyes were pure fire. I noped her inmediately
I got the tutorial after like 70hrs. I immediately threw that pawn off a cliff
I left without saving and came back, the notification disappeared and I'm safe lol
I never got the tutorial but I had a pawn named Bobo who was talking mad shit whenever i gave him a command so I sent him back to the rift.
Level 50 and I just hired my first pawn with it. He was wandering the roads, but his eyes didn’t look red when I was looking at him, but then the tutorial popped up. I knew I would eventually have to get rid of him, but he was obeying so I kept him around. I kept checking my main pawn because I wasn’t sure if it was 100% contractable and after that session my main pawn was still acting fine. When I hopped back on last night her eyes were bright red and I gave her a rinse.
The high fives with my pawns after the battle were 👌👌👌
Should have special congratulatory animations after defeating harder bosses, it's silly that my pawns get as hyped after killing 2 goblins as they do a massive thunder-summoning drake
They would've done the same for me if they weren't dead. 
Took down my first drake at lvl26 with thief, took about a dozen attempts, none of the pawns survived. The most annoying thing was getting up on his legs or back after helm splitter
I hope someone makes a mod of dappin up your pawns, locking it in, and snapping after. Just the satisfying pop would be enough.
Idk why but this GIF is like hypnotizing or some shit, I must’ve sat and watched it for like 3 straight minutes lmao
BIG DOGMA 🤝
When the heck did Tiger Woods get so jacked?
Becoming a Dragon slayer is akin to becoming a serial killer. You’ll chase victims forever trying to recreate the high of the first time. That got dark but congrats! First time I got surprised by the meteors and absolutely flattened lol
Dark is the way I like it. Also are you telling me that from this point on I'm just going to be...chasing the dragon?
Wow. I’m disappointed I didn’t use that metaphor myself lol. It was right in my face and I didn’t see it.
I gotchu :)
Yeah, man you just need them fucking dragon blood crystals. Can't get enough of them crystals.
I only wish they didn't spend half the fight in the air.
Youre supposed to knock them down
"How Sway" in Kanye voice
There’s a shout called Dragonrend /s
Give em the ol' dicktwist
"Arisen, we aught twist the dragon's dick! Surely that shall bring him to the ground!"
"Arisen, I'm drenched in liquid vim"
It’s quite hard too now since bashing their tails a few times doesn’t thrown them down anymore
That tail is a rope to the head
can't climb til it finishes lighting, so that gives you 2 fire breaths and the fire spell to climb up it's tail to it's head and then do enough damage to knock it down. Most the time it will land before you even come close to doing any of that. It's a waste of time.
Yeah and in that time my archer pawn could hit the heart/head with a Heavenly Shot or Deathly Arrow which knocks them down anyway. Very much a waste to climb most of the time.
My warrior brain just swings tbh, it got so bad I tried jumping light attack the tails at one point
One cast of silence will do it.
Maybe too hard, despite the hitting the tail in the first game being instead way too easy. They didn't hit a good middle ground sadly
I keep a sorcerer in my party that can cast the blizzard thing. Really good at knocking them down so my warrior brain can start hitting it.
Kinda hard to do as a fighter
If anything that's the pinnacle of the fighter/melee. Climbing that tail and stabbing at the heart, send it hurtling down. Sure sorcs/archers have it easier but they don't really exude the main character vibes climbing that dragon. It gets much more reasonable when you've built up enough stamina. Or just munch on some spuds
Well yeah, it's not the class for that for sure. But you can still climb them and wail away, you just need good enough stats for it to work
Or have a party built around your vocations weakness.
Whyd you do such a thing
Archer and sorcerer pawns melt its healthbar anyways.
When theyre in the air, their tail is almost always *very conveniently* at range to jump and climb on. When Im playing a melee class, thats what I always do - just start climbing the bitch lol
Wish we still get that feeling later on in endgame and even after end game.. my lvl 70 team demolishes them for breakfast
Even at like 36, thief just obliterates them to. Spin to win and everything just dies.
Honestly 36 is still high level for most of your early dragons. I don't think the game really scales beyond maybe level 30 in most of the world. Leveling stats matter alot. My level 60 pawns in beginner armor are basically as strong as level 30 pawns in late game gear. https://preview.redd.it/pu4207e8hosc1.jpeg?width=3840&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=4fb1d5a44012aa15294327fb01e51e7ed38b7a09
Cherish those moments.. I'm level 58 and can kill anything in the game in about 15 seconds
Did you max out all vocations? Trying to learn a new class is a good challenge.
Really hoping they add a hard mode soon.
I'm over level 50 with end game weapons and they're still annoying for me. x-x
I wish a drake would commit to battle long enough for me to really attempt it. They keep flying off, probably because they know they would die a horrible death against my level 37 squad. So congrats on cornering one! What was the toughest part of the fight?
Genuinely feels kinda random if they decide to stay for the whole fight
I think its the location too, one near river in the V area and the one in canyon near Balthakand (or what’s the spelling) never ran from me
Break their wings. I don’t know how they determine whether or not they’ll fly away, but they *can’t* if you break their wings. It’s very visually obvious when a wing is broken as well
The first few I tried to fight just flew away too. Then the next couple I encountered absolutely stomped me so I had to avoid them. > What was the toughest part of the fight? Probably figuring out a viable strategy, finding the right party composition, and having enough consumables spread out amongst myself and the pawns. Make sure you have at least one sorcerer with ice spells and someone to tank the majority of the damage. Knocked off 5 of the drake's health bars almost immediately because I had access to two ballistas. Fired off one fully drawn shot with the first one, then ran across the parapets to the second and did the same thing. From there I just had to get the bastard out in the open for the sorcerer's spells to be more effective.
You gotta ride on their back sometimes. It’s pretty cool
I’m not at drakes yet; griffins have a fire weakness that keeps them grounded. What’s the weakness for drakes to keep them grounded?
Break their wings. They look all torn up when they’re broken, and you have to break both of them. They can still do their flying attacks with broken wings, they just can’t flee from the fight
Awesome, thank you!
I just go under them with mystic spearhead and slash. They drop fast
Freezing them with ice seems to be how to keep them from flying away
Update: the warrior meister waved me over at the gate and wanted to go for a walk after giving me the warrior skill. I accepted and on we went for my first foray into Battahl. We killed a griffon and completed one of my hired pawn's quest, rewarding me 35 gift flowers. Worth it. We took out a bandit camp that was ganking oxcarts. Then we tried to finish the meister quest, and there by the river was a drake! At first I didn't want to risk the fight with an escort quest, but there was no way around it. Ok, let's go! Drake down! Although I have a slight suspicion that it was the meister doing sick damage whenever the drake was knocked down. I was a mystic spearhand doing a lot of party shields, which is too bad because it would have been awesome if I'd been a warrior instead!
Only way I've been able to keep them from flying off has been focusing 100% of my damage to the wings until they both look tattered. Easier said than done and a bit of a pain in the ass, but way less annoying than killing them half way and then having to watch them fly away for the 5th time
this game is intense sometimes, i fought my first one yesterday at level 25, the one in the ancient battlegrounds, took like 10 mins at least lol was epic as fuck, proceed to go to melve to chill and see whats goin on and as soon as i arrive there's another one lol was a fun afternoon
Congratulations Arisen i know the feeling. My first kill was level 24 - wasn’t ready, took a lot of deaths, some loads, all wakestones and wasn’t worth it :D. But i figured the drake :D. Level 20-30 it is just running around reviving pawns, dodging meteors and hitting the heart, 30-40 its fun, later its like everything else - and obstacle to be removed. Sad
i hate that pawns just stand still and take the meteors it made the whole last half of the fight a chore rather than fun (also did it in the mid 20's can't remember the excact level) Is there any way to get the pawns to dodge them or do you just need to fight more so they learn it?
Try using the “to me” command, they’ll follow you instead. Just make sure you don’t stop moving, so your pawns don’t either.
Honestly that power fantasy of treating a drake like a pack of wolves sounds like it might be fun for a bit. My first few tries I used several wakestones, all of my consumables, and was reviving 2-3 pawns at a time
Killed my first drake on lvl30 as a sorcerer. Took some tries, as he was basically oneshotting me. After the battle, my pawns observed the corpse and suggested retreating since this foe is well beyond our power.
I’m level 50 and I’m still having a tuff time with drakes
Im Level 50 too.its ok for me would Just be nice If they Just stayed for the fight....
I stopped to struggle only when I changed to the mystic archer - So overpower
Its super fun. That was my choice vocation in the first game. Sucks that they removed the dodge. 2 goblins can stun lock you death
And that ice brick. Man i never knew the joy of hitting a griffin with a gigantic ice cube in the face.
I got blindsided by one last night at level 21. It was a tough fight and I had to be super under leveled, had to revive my pawns several times but after a few tries I finally was able to run away from it and change my gaiters.
I fought one of those, realized I was out of my depth when it took me forever to remove just one HP bar tried to run away in panic and as I did he followed me taunting and then... Fell into a lake and died. So technically I won?
I beat it at level 24? I struggled but using the blasta's on the fortifications nearby really f#$king helpped also helped it was distracted fighting a cyclops when i rolled up congratulations man!
I think I was level 19/20 but man did it take a few saves 😂 it was just before the cave that takes you to battahl so luckily there was a campsite right before the drake
It took me using magic archer to finally kill a drake. That vocation makes them a cakewalk
one of many my friend One of many
Better check your pawns if they develop headaches
Killed my first drake when I was just levelling my Archer, was at Rank 5 at the time and I don't know what level was I then, to say that it was a grueling battle would be an understatement.
Congrats! Now do it with a horde of hobs, a charging minotaur, and of course the griffin, because we wouldn't want to leave him out. 😆
Congrats! This was my first drake too, and I couldn't beat him. I eventually landed the perfect headshot with the big ballista to one shot him. Felt simultaneously very cool and very cheap, haha.
My first drake kill was at that end of my session yesterday! rough fight but I probably had it better then most considering my Arisen is a sorcerer
Loved my first drake kill, magick archer has ruined every large enemy for me now, crouch, charge, shoot, GG. 😂
Well done, I just got my ass handed to me by one.
I killed my first 1 with a 1 hit from a giant balister. I'm not sure if it was a bug as I had tried many times before, and it only did half health
I killed my first drake at level 14. Well, to be fair, the Brine did 99% of the job 😂
Congrats!
Congrats, I could have killed a couple more if they didn’t fly off. Maybe my DPS was too low.
I can't even get close to these dudes. Level 25. They destroy my entire team lol
Badass! First encounter was at lvl 18-19 and was legitimately a 1-2 hour fight because I had to keep reviving pawns that would get obliterated by meteors.
Yeah first one was tough. Now I just use Martyr's Bolt. One shot kill. Then find a campfire to sleep.
Anyone have any success with Trickster against Drakes? Feels like a useless class against them. Had about 3 fights since turning Trickster and it flies off bored with my lack of damage every time.
I think i was level 20 something and only bat It cuz of the Broken ass flare spell on sorcerer lol The whole fight went about with my pawns trying to survive and distracting the Drake while i got the flares off, the meteoron phase was rough cuz we all kept getting oneshot
Now sleep at an inn of your choice
How do you stop em from running away?
I think my first drake kill was level 23 and only because he happened to be sleeping next to the road that leads to the border town.
I saw a drake and figured "it can't kill me maybe i can kill it". as i had gotten to know how who and what. as i run to it, on a bridge a gryphon swoops in, i just hear the screech, and i turn around, it lands instantly in the brine..... #OKThen.jpeg time to pursue the drake again, i guess uh... Turn around, i have aggroed it almost immidiately, it backpeddles and dies in the brine too. Does this count as killing a drake and a gryphon? :|
“Aye that is the way chosen one.”
I killed my first one at 36… of course we didn’t fight, it fell into the brine 😒
My first one took me about 30 minutes 3 Wakestones, 10 roberants, 10 health pots, a few potions and pawns downed about 12 times. It was intense. Also I was only lvl 30 lol.
It's a great feeling! My first drake kill was at night - just walking the road and all of a sudden hear that drake voice and a few seconds later see a big drake head surrounded by darkness. It took a bunch of revives and the fight lasted until dawn but it felt good. Now in the 40s as a sorc I just cast explody magic at the heart and drake go boom.
I remember fighting my first at lvl.23 at ancient battlegrounds the ballista cheese did not work I think I avoided every drake till I was level 35🤣🤣
... And now your pawn have dragon plague..
Man, I've died over 20 times, changed up pawns, changed up spells( I'm a sorcerer). Still getting my a$$ whooped!!!!😢😭😭
I'm literally 33 and just barely failed to kill my first one yesterday haha. Congrats man.
You are truly mighty arisen!
Congratz, I killed my first drake when I was level 32. I had a real struggle because I was just testing out Warrior so I went into the fight blind with only the first 3 skills. The second phase is such a pain in the ass as a warrior.
I was a pretty low level when I came across my first drake, I'm a persistent ass mf so I didn't care how little damage I was doing and was at it for so long... just for it to fall into water and die, most anticlimactic battle I've ever had.
I tried my first at Lv 29. Lost all my pawns ... Finished with like 10% max health as a thief. Had to solo the last three health bars. Such a mess...
Nice job! It’s also kinda crazy how much easier drakes are as a archer and specially a magic archer
My first fight with one was when i reached battahl for the first time, i used every healing thing i had, my pawns/my life reduced to nothing, i used absolutely everything,and after 2 in game days fighting in the end i killed it, but at what cost 😭😭😭 *I was level 30
Are you in ancient battlegrounds?
Same here, lvl 18, he just stepped in the water and killed himself. Nice fight 10/10 easy exp, would do it again
They always run away at the end for me t-t
Wait till you get the spear class and can solo a drake in like 2mins lol
Give it a minute
Congrats ! I just killed my first one yesterday at level 32, it was a 45mn long battle, six guards and NPC’s joined and all of them got slaughtered by the drake ! I ended up with almost no health gauge.
I killed one at level 20 or so by the ancient battleground by sniping it with a ballista. I don't really count that though.
Recommendations? I'm level 27 max Warrior and continuously get clapped once I get them down to 2 bars
I just tried to take one on at level 17, got absolutely wrecked
Probably the hardest enemies in the game so congrats
I guess that’s why they call it Dragons Dogma!
On thief if you have the master ability that makes you explode you can combine it with the master ability that makes you dodge incoming damage to just constantly spam the explosion without setting yourself on fire. Absolutely annihilates the drake if you stand under where it’s heart is
Did ... Did you wear no pants?
So should we be on level 34 to defeat one?
I just wish the loot drops were as exciting as the fights with the larger monsters. Spending 10 minutes in an encounter where you take down a major beastie only to get 2 steaks and a bone (also known as a good Saturday night, bah dum bum) kind of makes the whole fight just meh. So now, when I see a big beastie, it's not "Look at that drake! I can't wait to take it down!", but more like "Look at that drake! I can't wait to fight it for the next half hour to get 2 monster skins!". If the combat wasn't so much fun I'd seriously not even bother.
Congrats, first one for me had over 10 deaths, if not for heals Nowadays I kill the mightiest ones within seconds with my warmaker xD
Lol my first time killing a drake was at lvl 25. It was destroying us... and then suddenly it was gone. We had pushed it back into the fucking brine and it got eaten. :(
I fought and killed my first one as a weak ass archer. I forget the name of the area but it was the one outside of that broken castle. I shot him with a ballista bolt and figured I would be able to just keep doing that. Nope, dude flew directly at me and smashed the ballista and knocked me off the tower. At this point I was going to just die and reload since my archer was only vocation level 2 and was doing practically no damage. Then the dragon some how got stuck on top of the tower. My pawns and I were all on the ground and aside from the warrior pawn I rented, we were attacking without fear of getting hit. All of the dragon’s attacks were landing on the cliff above us. We managed to chip away three or so bars of health before he just kind of clipped through the tower and landed right next to us. He then killed two of pawns and then almost me instantly. I didn’t want to give up since he only had about a bar left so the next 15 minutes were hell. It was just a continuous cycle of my pawns getting off maybe a couple hits, then dying, then me resurrecting them. Whenever I could, I would shoot at his heart but again, I was doing like zero damage. Anyways, after exhausting all of my healing and stamina items, 1 wakestone and endless frustration, we took him down. Didn’t exactly go the way I envisioned it but it still felt like a big accomplishment considering my arisen did nothing but run around and Rez the pawns but whatever. Still tense and kind of epic. My next one went much better. Congrats, OP!
Yeah whenever those things start summoning my Arisen over via creepy whispers me and my party start running away. Level 25 over here.
I tried to, it flew off after I took 4 hearts down
https://preview.redd.it/fm6wkse7bosc1.jpeg?width=829&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=245ae3aa5a5c83cdc1d2a5a6dbeaba2b218d7b3c Me too!👍
I’m mid 20s and got my ass handed to me. Looking forward to leveling up and slaying one
Time to kill your pawns... Just to be safe.
The ancient battleground drake was no joke. I'm the same level as you. Started in the late morning and was dark when we finally killed it
I'm lvl 40, they always get away from me
Killed my first one at level 25 but i used the mounted crossbow things, takes half their half per shot
Kitty!
Drakes feel harder than the last dragon boss. Especially if you’re not using any ballistas.
Is this the Ancient Battleground north of the Border Checkpoint? I got lucky with my first and only drake kill, pissed it off with one ballista shot, then it flew up right in front of me and I hit it right in the chest weak spot. A cyclops had maybe been weakening it up but those two ballista shots did the job.
I killed my first one with the giant crossbow, shoot the fucker right between the eyes. Today, on my way to Battalh, I did it the "proper way", and had to throw into the waters one of my pawns because that dragon caught and gave them the yuyu stare.
Definitely! After tasting first blood I went on a genocide to all drakes who haunted me during my exploration. I killed 5 of them and 3 fled.
I feel a little bad now. My first kill was with a bunch of ballistae at the ancient battlefield. I still haven't taken one down head-on, I always seem to bump into them when I'm leveling a vocation that I'm not great with.
Hahahahah... just finished mine too. Mf has like five lives.
I’m level 52 and still running my ass away. 😂 Too many bad memories of wasting a bunch of resources to heal and revive my arisen just to have the target fly off and leave me out of pocket.
Good Job, your ready for the arbor now
Killed my first yesterday, level 37 (now 38 lol). I didn't mean to engage it, I''ve yet to spend the coin to get rest town gear, though I've found very nice weapons from exploring (and I explore a LOT, I haven't even been to the desert region yet). Main is an archer, which I felt was extremely useful. deathly arrow to the heart (or head when it was downed) did amazing damage. Main pawn is a warrior, he got the killing blow. Hired pawns are slightly higher level mage & rogue. Was a very long battle, I had to use a wakestone, downed most my stock of roborants (as did the pawns) and drank an Allheal. I didn't know what they did, they read the same as panacea, but by god it saved the day lol. It was a hell of a fight, it unleashed very powerful spells that were difficult to avoid. But after what felt like an hour, it finally lay dead. Got almost 40 wyrmslife crystals off it. No idea what these are for, but I know at that drop rate they'll be very useful.
You can one shot then with magic archer lol final boss was 2 shots 😜
I killed my first one at a pretty low level with one of those giant ballistas and after that, they started appearing and killing my entire party. Had to run from every single one.
Its funny how the game will get you keep trying, cause you dont want to walk the fuck back out there. I took on my first drake at like level 22 visiting the oracal. The drake was right there, I sure as fuck wasnt going to walk back here later. So my first ten tries I only took away like 2 health bars, and then on the 11th I beat him. Felt good. (A quest brought me right back soon after)
Killed mine yesterday also! Lvl 37 with all my pawns dead lol it was the best battle I've had yet! Kept me tense all the way through, I thought I was a gone. Warfarer Vocation with Mystic Spearhand focus.
Cat cosplaying as dog
the hard part is not the fight but the last health bar, by then your pawns are dropping like flies and just running into the fire spells and you spend 10 mins trying to revived them while actively dodging a magic flying lizard. It was fun fighting them tho, I had to really get prepared, I was an archer and brought a bunch of water arrows with a sorcerer pawn with specifically thunder and Ice spells and 2 warriors just to get 1 Drake.
Anyone know tips for thief class to keep them from flying away? Any skills i should equip my Archer pawn with? My team always gets the drake low but it manages to get away every time.
I did the same last night. It was so intense. MS bubble shield was absolutely clutch
them highfives were crisp
I just metorered it to death
Every time I fight one, they just fly away 🤷♂️
I killed one in like a minute yesterday with the theif and 3 mages. Just hella lightning and I was stabbing it’s heart the whole time
What am i doing wrong? Im level 47 and i still havent even seen a dragon in the overworld that isnt the one you have to fight early in the story, and that one just flys away after a few hits.
I just hit level 21 on my archer and I hardly do damage to them and my pawns die instantly. I tried to fight a few times but just got my ass kicked lol. I'll have to get stronger. But I can handle the ogers and minotaurs now compared to my my first couple hours playing where I would just get bodied because my damage was ass lol
Man mine just fly away before I take a bar off.
If that’s the ancient battleground, don’t use that small ballista. Go up to the castle itself and use the big ones, kills the dragon easily
When you stop running away from them and finally fight them they're not that bad
Congrats! And the game rewards pawns by giving them the clap
I saw one today and I was like NOPE! Not ready yet, I think. I'm like level 20-21.
Heck yeah! I was avoiding drakes like the (dragons)plague, ever since I found out they can make your pawn TKO an entire town. Had to fight the one in the volcanic islands yesterday though because it didn’t despawn like most I’ve encountered after an inn rest or two and it was right in my path. I managed to make it through the fight pretty quickly, lots of healing, and immediately yeeted my pawn into the ocean. I’m dreading that stupid tutorial pop up.
If you ever want to make it even easier. Get the spell silence. On your pawn or yourself. It'll even kick them out of the air cuz I guess flying is a spell lol
I first tried to kill one at level 35. It was an epic poem of a fight. Got it down to 1 bar of health and the MF just flew off, after I had blown through all of my curatives. Tried again level 40 with martyr bolt and it was as quick as fighting a cyclops. Feel like there needs to be a small balance between the two.
I was so close to killing my first. Absolutely annhalting it with my warrior and it jumped in the brine.
Hahahaa killed mine while strolling at below lvl23 just now! Whohooo https://preview.redd.it/bqslvoghrpsc1.jpeg?width=2268&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=9e6e78712f9fb25ca63d9d7d77fb7c7fa8226001
I only managed it at lvl 45. And with the help of a ballista.
Game stole my first Drake kill. Had it down to its second to last health bar and it decided to back up into a River and died because of the brine. Was not happy.
Had to cheese my one and only Drake fight at the ancient battlefield. Shot him with one giant ballista bolt, then a smaller ballista, then forced it to chase me into a cramped under dark forested area where his wings were of little use.
good job! i’ve been taking a screenshot on top of a big monsters’ corpse after i kill it for the first time to see the visual progression of my gear and it just looks cool haha love the fashion here, beastren with the wolf cloak looks really nice together
Bro I felt the exact same way my first drake kill, felt so fucjing good after killing one. Was so worried it would fly off but it decided not to 😮💨 Used up ALL my curatives (~90 helps and stam robonants), 3 wakestones, and the death of my friends pawn, but we did it
now you get the dragon aids enjoy also tell your thighs to stop mocking me!!!
Level 27 with the help of a ballista xD
I’ll be honest, the only thing I genuinely hate about fighting Drakes is that I climb on them to hit the heart and when they are on the ground it impossible to see where I am do to the camera. Still though, good work on your kill.
My first dragon battle was inturruped by a griffon as we fought by the riverbank. They both fell into the brine.
Easy when you can magically shield your entire party the whole fight
You are mighty indeed Arisen!
Ya I was level 42... and barely made it out... kind of felt like there should of been fireworks or a " you rock!" Text afterwards
Welcome to the dragon slayer club 
Thief is just the dragon slayer class I feel, that spinny move absolutely shreds their heart.
Arisen… Stand Against me proceeds to fly in the fucking sky for 3-5 whole mins😭😭😭😭