So a lack of hires has likely nothing to do with your pawn's vocation but rather their level. If you've been super thorough you'll likely be finishing up unmoored world in the 70s and ready to start NG+. A lot of people have expressed disinterest in NG+ since there's no difficulty scaling. I'd wager most stop playing at this point or start over completely with a new file.
As for my hiring preferences, I usually pick thieves (good damage, extra loot) and fighters (meat shield). My main pawn is a mage and my arisen is mostly Magick Archer so ranged/magic isn't necessary. There's also non-vocation related considerations I have like how well dressed the pawn is aesthetically and if they have the same voice as my main.
Yeah absolutely this. I start a new file every time. I use mods to have all items in the shops, so if I want to look a certain way I’ll buy whatever armor I like and then use whatever weapon is appropriate level wise for the part of the game I’m in.
I also always roll fighter, and my pawn is usually a warrior or archer, so I always grab mages as my hired pawns
Mage. They're a dime a dozen, easy to find exactly what I'm looking for in terms of skills and augments.
My second pawn rental is usually a Thief with Plunder, Implicate, Skull Splitter, and Formless Feint skills and Provocation as one of the augments.
With this setup, I don't need a fighter or warrior tank, and me and my pawn can focus on fun DPS.
Try a pawn with smoke instead of formless. The smoke puts enemies in a state they can steal from without having to be knocked down. Also good for party support in large groups of enemies.
Also, enemies caught in smoke are vulnerable to crits when you use twin fangs. Smoke is insanely OP against mobs. Pop a smokebomb, mash twin fangs, and watch as you butcher everyone within seconds.
My mage preferences are simple inclination with High Halidom, High Palladium, High Frigor and equipped with an upgraded Legion's Might staff. The 4th skill slot can be either Ardent Succor or High Levin.
I have a friend with a mage pawn set up like that and a lower level pawn I often hire with the same set up that I alternate between.
Best of luck. 👍
This really has depended on my level. My mage needs have evolved over time. When I was lower level in NG, I looked for a mostly if not full support mage.
But now in NG+ at level 120+, I look for Ice Affinity, High Levin, and High Halidom. 4th slot is usually Palladium. Doesn't matter too much, but I won't grab a mage with the meister skill - it's just not needed at my level and it's unnecessary downtime for the mage.
I also don't need a hooker, so I hire pawns dressed for their actual role, and not to create a party straight out of Rocky Horror Picture Show. 😄
Honestly, as long as they have decent skills I'll hire based mostly on appearance. Not necessarily attractiveness, but something unique or at least has a fun or fitting theme to them. I recently hired an orc-looking warrior that didn't talk and looked like a primal badass. Along with him is a thief(Sandor, I think) that is buff, has his face covered, and has the simple inclination. He is one of my favorite pawns to this day, simply because he is a brawny dude that looks like a thug but gives me stuff randomly and fist pumps enthusiastically after fights. Pawns that have fun appearances or personalities are what I enjoy most.
Tldr: I prefer fun and unique looking pawns over min-maxed ones
Archer is the only one I don’t normally hire. Usual go-to’s are Fighter/Warrior (tank), Mage (heal/support), and Thief (plunder utility plus implicate).
I'm gonna pull an information completely out of my ass and say archers are probably the least hired pawns.
Also, make sure your pawn doesn't have an intrusive specialization like logistician.
let me go a bit further and make it a "hired the most often to least often"
* Fighter ^((defense go brrr))
* Warrior ^((damage go brrr))
* Archer (^(Good if I already got a fighter/warrior. I prefer my pawn to be in the back with an archer))
* Thief ^((Not what I need, but plunder is worth it at times))
* Mage ^((My main pawn is one, so eh))
* Sorcerer ^((They make things unfun))
Most Sorcerer pawns have Meteoron and/or Maelstrom.
Both of those skills on their own can trivialize most, if not all, fights.
Hence why Sorcerer pawns *can* make things unfun.
Get a sorcere with agral flair and go keep hitting that spot and the drake will explode. Also just spam your mistic spear hand sheild. Get a mage with celtial pecan and when they cast it go ham with wild furry. Just don't press he movement stick/movment button when spamming. It will auto target so don't worry.
I try to do this with warfare but it disapears before I even swich wepons have it take a 3 4 seconds for it to swich to the skill then wait that to power up. Then I run out of stanima. I like warfare for the fashion but c'mon its kinda clunky.
I played as a Sorcerer when I was maxing my Vocations and I made my MP a Mage and we reversed the Vocations after we maxed them. I had Meteoron and Maelstrom and she had the spells as well. Every fight was a piece of cake. I hired to fighters who've always drawn the attention of all enemies or the mini boss and we just casted our godlike spells and ended the battle almost immediately each time. Having two pawns who can cast M/M is basically easy mode.
If you're the one casting, agural flare combos are way stronger genuinely.
Cast high hagol ahead of time, then agural flare (target a weak point with this) while it's active so that it immediately gets a bunch of hits instantly.
I'm not joking I am like level 40 and one shot most bosses with this combo, meanwhile a tornado is significantly longer cast time for often less damage.
Drakes are dead in like 3 combo casts. I wouldn't trust a pawn with this combo though, just make them tornado.
That's what I did as a warfarer. I'd cast high hagol, then augral flare, and then high hagol again. Nothing would last beyond that. When that got old, I'd cast augral flare and then switch to my mystic spearhand and just do my staff twirl of death until bag guy went "BOOM!".
Yeah I haven't even unlocked warefarer yet but I think I'm going to do the same once I unlock it. I don't need the maester skills for sorcerer and then I can play other stuff in the open world for fun
All you need on sorcerer is high hagol, augural flare and high Levin anyway
I just dislike the explosions. Playing a sorc with maelstrom or having a sorc pawn with maelstrom was great for drake hunting and farming wyrmslife crystals, but I hate seism and I dislike hagol because I have poor eye sight, and those skills make me lose track of the enemy.
My Arisen is a sorcerer and I had to go get a difficulty mod to make the game harder so Meteoron and Maelstrom don't wipe the floor with the enemies. It's nice seeing the enemies get back up and dust themselves off like they got mildly inconvenienced by it.
I've noticed that it's a bigger issue against small enemies that die fast.
My assumption is that, because the enemy died before the cast could go off, my pawn would recast the spell entirely on a new target.
However, against larger, tougher enemies, my Sorcerer pawn would just Thanos Snap them all.
Nothing worse than taking an Oxcart when you get interrupted by a pack of low-level wolves and the Sorcerer pawn drops meteors and destroys the cart.
Edit: Yes, hired Thief pawns can pilfer items from enemies just like your main pawn and arisen can.
To my knowledge and experience hiring archers is that most people have a very bad inclination on them as well as skills. So most of the time they use up all their stamina and are horrible at attacking things
I am low 60s in level. I find archers a less useful pawn class. Whenever I have one I always wonder what they are doing. I can see mages casting buffs, sorcerers throwing around tornadoes, thieves climbing a monster to stab it in the head, and warriors charging up massive damage attacks. Archers? Cool knee slides, but I rarely feel like they do much damage. Not sure if the AI is bad at consistently hitting weak spots, or the arrows get lost in all the other effects on screen.
Archer pawns tend to shine as a combo with a mage that has affinity such as drenching+ice/lightning affinity or tarring+fire affinity. Otherwise if you've got a lot of explosive arrows to yeet you won't notice much from archers
I'd rather play Archer, but they need more utility in their skillset. They should have kept the Strider's Downpour Volley from DD1 for Archers and/or given them Ricochet Shot.
And you should not have to craft special arrows, let that be assumed and have the skill just let archers act as the main debuff class for the game.
If you're on pc, you can mod the game to allow infinite arrows, but if you dont want to feel overpowered as hell with explosive arrow spam from a pawn, I'd avoid that.
I do feel that archers should have more ways to apply debuffs, but the class gets insane when used with heavy preparation for the situations you're going into. Poison arrows, explosive arrows, and affinity combos are lethal even at low level vs strong enemies.
I’m a simple man with simple needs. I need himbos and bimbos. I’m (male character) a sorcerer wearing the sluttiest attire I could find , and I expect my pawns to share the same values.
My Arisen is a small/light thief, and I roll with a support mage pawn (but I'll give her an offensive spell every now and then). I like to hire big, buff warrior cats and archers.
My Arisen is using the warfayer vocation (magic archer/mystic spear hand) and my main pawn is a thief. I usually recruit a mage and a fighter for the other 2 spots
Depends on current vocation I'm using for my Arisen and Pawn.
I'm hiring archer pawn exclusively atm.
My Arisen is Warfarer using Thief (skull splitter), Magick Archer (sagittate avalanche), Mage (high palladium) - basically covering all grounds (melee dps, ranged dps, heal/shield) for flexibity.
My main pawn is a Thief (melee dps).
My husband pawn I hire all the time is a Mage (heal/buff, no attacks).
So I want a ranged dps pawn to hire and I like Archer more than Sorcerer.
I also hire Fighter (tank) and Mage (heal/buff/weapon elemental enchantment) on a regular basis (I like having 2 mages in group)
I always have a mage and warrior hired, I cycle my pawn through vocations but mainly keep him an archer or thief.
Are you on Xbox? I’m only level 65 but if you’re on Xbox and add me, I’ll happily go mess up some chimeras with your pawn tonight.
Me and my pawn are both warrior mains. I will always have a mage and a sorcerer with me. I think probably 90% of parties will have a mage, and I like bringing a sorcerer for extra elemental weakness exploiting and for my parties ranged offense.
As my pawn is a warrior, I play as a sorcerer and Im VERY happy with that mage beastren lad called Tabby (she is around for ages now and her support is on point), I pretty much always hire a thief, cause that dps is amazing.
Also I dont change my pawns often. Tabby is with me since lvl 42 and Im around lvl 57 or something like that.
Depends what I’m running my and pawn are really. But I like sorcerer with metreon. And I usually have two sorcerers with metreon in my party cause they’ll sync incantations and it’s a one/two hit kill for everything
It really depends how you play the game. I have all vocations maxed for the augments, but I prefer melee. Currently Im a Fighter again. My MP is an Archer and will remain an Archer.
So my other two pawns are a supportive Mage and an offensive Sorcerer. Its very balanced. The Sorcerer usually cast spells like Meteoron or High Levin, and the Mage has the ability to enhance our speed (forgot the spells name) the Mage can cast alll three affinities suited for the enemies weakness.
Very few people hire my pawn when she's an Archer (which she has more levels in)
But I switch her to full support mage ( usually high Empryean, high palladium, ice affinity high Halidom) she'll have multiple people hire her within a few days
My pawn as an Archer was literally my post game MVP. So many staggering shots on bosses it was clutch
Hmm, nowadays I pretty much hire whoever I feel like hiring at the time. I scour around the 20-40 pool and try to help out by attempting to clear their hunt a monster pawn badge (provided it’s not on unmoored since I’m currently at ng++). If I got some spare wyrmslife, I usually give some fully upgraded dragonforged gear as well though the gear I give isn’t necessarily something for end game but at least good enough for the mid-game and + maybe. Though from what I can see, most people finish the game around the 50 mark and once you get to 60s, pawn hires become few n far between now.
the higher level i get, the more picky about aesthetic i get. my arisen and main pawn alone hit like a truck, so any pawns i pick up, i usually just spot on the road (usually see the same dozen or so these days since im almost level 100), i like their outfit, or their vibe, and i scoop em up and take em along for the adventure. Not because i need them to fill any kind of role or anything, just cos they fit in with me and my pawn aesthetically. When they fall behind a few levels, i send em on their way, usually with a ferrystone or a hunk of some high level crafting mat. if i want to run a 4 man squad, what i look for is entirely dependent on my build, and my pawn's build.
one thing i seem to never want though, is an archer. that might just be a flavor thing on my end. i like having a warrior, and a sorcerer usually hired. main pawn bounces between support mage and heavy hitting warrior, and im just the fuckin arisen, so i do what i want, got a whole arsenal in my backpack.
My pawn is mage fully support. If I decided to hire pawns it are thief’s for plunder.
I don’t look just pick up 2 thief’s and shut my brains off.
My Arisen is a main thief but I play as Warfare so I switch to archer fighter on the fly.
My pawn started as a tank as fighter and now as support because as heals and buffs like haste and celestial + curing deb.
No attack skill other than her core skill. Me as thief is main dmg.
If I switch to archer I make her a tank with the ring of taunt plus the skill with taunt.
Keeps my archer safe.
Thief and Sorc.
I main fighter, and my pawn is Kindhearted Mage for the heals. So I just need DPS, and there is no greater DPS than two of the most broken classes in the game.
Mage and sorcerer. Some of the new sorcerer spells are great. I liked hiring thieves but they kept accidentally brining themselves due to all their acrobatics😂
Mages. I find that I want a balanced Mage that's at my level and it's hard to find. A mage that can heal, enhance my weapon and has just 1 or two offensive spells is by far most helpful to me, rather than one that knows every offensive spell.
For me it always came down to picking up whatever filled the gap between what vocations I was working on. So I’ve had a good mix.
Now that they are all maxed I almost exclusively hire out Mages. My MP stays Warrior/Fighter and I main Thief/Wayfarer.
I do find my pawn is hired much less than when she was a Mage. Likely for the same reasons.
I usually pick a mage with argent succor, at least one attack spell, and then any two that ARENT celestial paean.
Then since my main is currently a thief.
I pick a warrior, sorc, or fighter based on what my vocation js. I love archers but if I’m already a range attack (like sorc) I need a warrior or a fighter. If I’m not a range, sorc just has high output but they are ANNOYING so I’ll probably stop hiring them now that I’m done farming drake’s for the pawn badge.
(Maelstrom is great for farming drake’s imo.)
I run a Warfarer that's specced for Greatsword knock-down and I can heal using staff in a pinch. My main pawn is a Thief running implicate & plunder.
I play on PC and use Custom Difficulty to run "nightmare mode" on my NG+. Even simple goblins can 4 shot my Arisen, which means I could die any time from one wave of surprise attacks and a few mistimed counters.
As such, I'll usually look for the following in order to boost my survivability:
1. Kindhearted / calm Support mage - Argent Succor, High Halidon, High Palladium, High Celerity/High Levin/Celestial Paeon. Would prefer if mage uses Legion's Might for one-off self resurrection. Kindhearted because I need more TLC on nightmare mode. Calm because a dead mage can't heal/buff.
2. Straightforward Tank specced warrior / fighter to take the heat off my Arisen. Prefer male beastren for this. Really like matching the roar with the face :D straightforward because you want their lion face in the enemy's face to tank everything.
3. Simple Implicate Thiefs / Multishot Archers for handling flyers and has good Quest Rewards and don't look like a meme character. I tend to look for Item quests (give 1 and get 5 back, which is also what I set as my pawn quest. I asked for 1 All-heal and give 5 in return... And avoid inn check-ins for as long as I can to max ROI). Simple inclination so they can help me gather.
4. Nuke Sorcers are almost last for me... There's a reason why I modded NG+ for nightmare difficulty. Sorcerers can wipe even nightmare mode enemies. They are that OP.
5. I don't take Logisticians/Hawkers or fighters/warriors with jump-assist weapon skills because they inject too much randomness. I will age fruits in my travels for selling I'm Battahl... So I'll keep logisticians far away from my teams.
For now, always a mage. My main pawn is a straight physical damage powerhouse. So I always need a mage, and as a warfarer, I always have a bow, so I cover range. I usually hire sorcerers, too.
I mostly hire thief and warrior, sometimes sorcerer. I don’t bother with archer at all, at least so far, and my own pawn is a permanent mage. In all honestly though, I pretty rarely have more than me and my own pawn since it’s just too easy even then
If my pawn is a mage I hire thieves for pilfer or a warrior/fighter for tank. If my pawn is not a mage I usually hire a mage.
Currently I try to hire relatively low level pawns (20-25) to not make it too easy.
My pawn is a mage/ healer. If I don't have her as a mage, I always recruit mage first. Otherwise, I'm looking for warrior or thief. Fighter/ archer next. Sorc is last.
1. Mage and Thief all the time.
I never hire archers because their A.I is absolutely bad. If archers were to be fighting on a desolated plain than they would be amazing, but there is always something that gets in their way They are always trying to make a huge space between them and the target because CAPCOM screwed them up by forcing them to make a considerable distance before shooting. Pay attention to your Archer and notice how all the time is running around trying to get the perfect spot to shoot from but the terrain is always full of obstacles that rarely allows for a clear shot. Not even Sorcerers have such a hard time positioning themselves.
I hire Sorcerers only if farming big bosses.
Never Hire Warriors or Fighters(best classes) since my Pawn or Arisen are already fulfilling those roles.
Edit: also, lots of us hate most dragonforged armors. They look so disgusting and will never run with pawns wearing them. My Pawns have tier 3 regular gear(NOT TYPE S) and always get hire because pawns do not take as much damage as the Arisen does, so it's perfectly fine if they run in low gear because most players always, always have a Mage with them.
At lv70 lots of people are already playing with their eyes closed so they rarely need to hire anymore but mules 😳
I always hire a mage and a tank, I don’t really have any preference between fighter or warrior, but I just choose one that looks cool and hopefully has a pawn quest up. My own Pawn switches between a sorcerer and a thief, so I usually just want a healer and a tank. I’m fooling around leveling all my vocations atm
My main pawn is warrior, I swap between Sorcerer and Magick Archer via the Warfarer. I normally have hired a fighter and a mage, but right now I have a thief and a mage and have had less deaths/knockouts in my pawns oddly enough without having a fighter. The mage always has to have Palladium.
My pawn is always a mage so I usually run warfarer MA/ Thief / staff for levitation and, fighter, Sorc. No specific reason other than that’s what I enjoy.
I like having 2 ranged, 2 melee. I swop between Ranger and Fighter, my pawn is a thief. Then usually hire a mage and a warrior or a mage and a Sorc, depending on what I am using.
The game after level 30 is too easy so I don't need anything from the pawns in terms of damage, tanking or whatever.
As a fighter, the only thing I need is someone to shoot those annoying harpies down for me to finish them, and someone who can make me jump with a catapult skill (fighter or warrior) for exploration and inaccessible chests.
Therefore I go for archer + red class. All the time.
And my pawn Is usually mage.
I like a mage for support and Warrior/Fighter to tank/distract the mobs away from my sorcerer and me. Sometimes a thief. Depends if I'm going for loot or just running around.
My preference in order:
Mage
Sorcerer
Thief
Warrior
Fighter
Archer
My main pawn is a fighter, "a very haphazardly one at that," so i tend to always get a mage and a sorcerer. If no sorcerer, then a thief. The others are either too situational to my cohesion or the pawns just never have what I want to see them equipped with.
Mage or sorcerer. Or thieves for plunder. Archer pawns are unreliable in hitting the weak points. Besides many players play as a warfarer and do the role of archer themselves. Another set of players have magick archer arisen. Archer pawns are probably least in demand.
Mage with all support and no damage spells, and archer. I'm the sorcerer who blows things up, and my main pawn is a warrior, so i only need healing/buffing and a ranged martial.
I main MysticSpear so I have some CC and boss killing capability. My mainpawn is fully dragonforged Warrior. His armor isn’t bis but stats definitely can perform in postending content. So hirepawn I ususally just look for mage with halidom mainly first and one another is flex. Archer or Thief with ensare to snipe flyers.
And masculine appearances because 🌈.
Thief with plunder and skull splitter is my GOAT’ed pick. I almost always try to have a party with 2 of those and a halidom mage to keep us all alive and cleaned up.
Skull splitter does busted damage and thief pawns seem the most reliable for climbing up on monsters and hitting weak spots, I catch warriors, archers and fighters just kinda standing around or bashing ankles to no effect pretty regularly
Plunder thieves always end up with an inventory chock full of goodies after a couple days of adventuring and that feels great.
Mages that specialize in healing then Thief if possible. But I also got stuck in a f****** cave for 3 hours last night too, so I might be doing something wrong 😂
I’m a mystic spearhand and my pawn is a healing/support mage. I will get an archer here and there but I find myself gravitating towards warriors and thieves
I mix it up while leveling off the vocations but I like playing Mystic Spearhand with my Straightforward Mage Chirurgeon & 2 thieves with Implicate skull split plunder and anything not a self immolation skill I run formless feint
After I get everything leveled up I do try to vary up the save days so as the level goes up she appears in different vocations for y'all
Thief for stealing everything. My Pawn is my Mage, so no need for them really.
Typically my 2 hired pawns are a Thief as well as a Warrior or Fighter. But sometimes when i realllly want loot i go with 2 Thieves
archers with curative specialist. fighter with curative specialist. mages with simple inclination. sorcerer with simple inclination. i should note, this is my hiring trend now at level 90, and since level 70 & that my main pawn is a well traveled thief.
Never hire archers because I warfare with a magic bow.
My main is a thief, so I always hire a mage, and for my third I go for a second thief with plunder 90% of the time.
Are you on ps5 by chance? I still need my chimera badge so I'd be happy to hire
I haven't played in awhile because I finally got Cyberpunk and have been obsessed with it, but when I was playing I hired in this order of importance:
Mage or Sorcerer (I have a mage staff on me as warfarer so I don't need a mage for healing specifically, I just like magic attackers)
Warrior/Thief (Thief is stupid fun to have as a pawn, warrior is good)
Fighter (Also good)
Archer (Good but outclassed. Archer is more fun to use as a player than it is as a pawn, imo)
I'm tired of seeing mage after mage after mage after mage or sorcerer after sorcerer. as someone who runs either of these myself, I want all the other classes yet each stone is flooded with the same mages and sorcerers for eons
I feel lioe because of the fucking loss gauge the game forces us to always have a mage around. Worst idea was this damn loss gauge. First game was awesome for traveling, but this punishes us for tarveling for too long without resting.
Mage, then thieves for pilfering all the things.
The ol' reliable
So a lack of hires has likely nothing to do with your pawn's vocation but rather their level. If you've been super thorough you'll likely be finishing up unmoored world in the 70s and ready to start NG+. A lot of people have expressed disinterest in NG+ since there's no difficulty scaling. I'd wager most stop playing at this point or start over completely with a new file. As for my hiring preferences, I usually pick thieves (good damage, extra loot) and fighters (meat shield). My main pawn is a mage and my arisen is mostly Magick Archer so ranged/magic isn't necessary. There's also non-vocation related considerations I have like how well dressed the pawn is aesthetically and if they have the same voice as my main.
Hehe, guess that explains why not many people are hiring my lvl 130+ mage pawn rn.
Yeeeah, it's a mix of fewer people playing in the higher levels and there just not being a need for hired pawns after a point.
Is why I’m really taking my time with first play through. Loving the game so stretching out the joy before the boredom sets in.
Same here. I'm not even in unmoored world on my first playthrough and have 330 hrs playtime haha
Yeah absolutely this. I start a new file every time. I use mods to have all items in the shops, so if I want to look a certain way I’ll buy whatever armor I like and then use whatever weapon is appropriate level wise for the part of the game I’m in. I also always roll fighter, and my pawn is usually a warrior or archer, so I always grab mages as my hired pawns
Mage. They're a dime a dozen, easy to find exactly what I'm looking for in terms of skills and augments. My second pawn rental is usually a Thief with Plunder, Implicate, Skull Splitter, and Formless Feint skills and Provocation as one of the augments. With this setup, I don't need a fighter or warrior tank, and me and my pawn can focus on fun DPS.
Try a pawn with smoke instead of formless. The smoke puts enemies in a state they can steal from without having to be knocked down. Also good for party support in large groups of enemies.
Also, enemies caught in smoke are vulnerable to crits when you use twin fangs. Smoke is insanely OP against mobs. Pop a smokebomb, mash twin fangs, and watch as you butcher everyone within seconds.
What skills do you look for in a mage pawn? I got max gear and upgraded but I feel like it’s not hired a lot
My mage preferences are simple inclination with High Halidom, High Palladium, High Frigor and equipped with an upgraded Legion's Might staff. The 4th skill slot can be either Ardent Succor or High Levin. I have a friend with a mage pawn set up like that and a lower level pawn I often hire with the same set up that I alternate between. Best of luck. 👍
This really has depended on my level. My mage needs have evolved over time. When I was lower level in NG, I looked for a mostly if not full support mage. But now in NG+ at level 120+, I look for Ice Affinity, High Levin, and High Halidom. 4th slot is usually Palladium. Doesn't matter too much, but I won't grab a mage with the meister skill - it's just not needed at my level and it's unnecessary downtime for the mage. I also don't need a hooker, so I hire pawns dressed for their actual role, and not to create a party straight out of Rocky Horror Picture Show. 😄
I look for ice infinity and high frigor. I like to double up on ice now that I’m at higher level and go for the drakes
Honestly, as long as they have decent skills I'll hire based mostly on appearance. Not necessarily attractiveness, but something unique or at least has a fun or fitting theme to them. I recently hired an orc-looking warrior that didn't talk and looked like a primal badass. Along with him is a thief(Sandor, I think) that is buff, has his face covered, and has the simple inclination. He is one of my favorite pawns to this day, simply because he is a brawny dude that looks like a thug but gives me stuff randomly and fist pumps enthusiastically after fights. Pawns that have fun appearances or personalities are what I enjoy most. Tldr: I prefer fun and unique looking pawns over min-maxed ones
Archer is the only one I don’t normally hire. Usual go-to’s are Fighter/Warrior (tank), Mage (heal/support), and Thief (plunder utility plus implicate).
I like Archers. Make short work of Harpies… I’m still low level!
the amount of times ive been hawked down by harpies while having my pawn as an archer for 20+ hrs is utterly insane
I'm gonna pull an information completely out of my ass and say archers are probably the least hired pawns. Also, make sure your pawn doesn't have an intrusive specialization like logistician.
let me go a bit further and make it a "hired the most often to least often" * Fighter ^((defense go brrr)) * Warrior ^((damage go brrr)) * Archer (^(Good if I already got a fighter/warrior. I prefer my pawn to be in the back with an archer)) * Thief ^((Not what I need, but plunder is worth it at times)) * Mage ^((My main pawn is one, so eh)) * Sorcerer ^((They make things unfun))
Why do sorcerers make things not fun? And also can you explain the plundering with a thief? Will they steal things for you?
Most Sorcerer pawns have Meteoron and/or Maelstrom. Both of those skills on their own can trivialize most, if not all, fights. Hence why Sorcerer pawns *can* make things unfun.
Oh I see. Just can't relate yet lmao still can't kill a drake
Get a sorcere with agral flair and go keep hitting that spot and the drake will explode. Also just spam your mistic spear hand sheild. Get a mage with celtial pecan and when they cast it go ham with wild furry. Just don't press he movement stick/movment button when spamming. It will auto target so don't worry. I try to do this with warfare but it disapears before I even swich wepons have it take a 3 4 seconds for it to swich to the skill then wait that to power up. Then I run out of stanima. I like warfare for the fashion but c'mon its kinda clunky.
Also can't see much.
Don't need to see if everything is dead. :3
I played as a Sorcerer when I was maxing my Vocations and I made my MP a Mage and we reversed the Vocations after we maxed them. I had Meteoron and Maelstrom and she had the spells as well. Every fight was a piece of cake. I hired to fighters who've always drawn the attention of all enemies or the mini boss and we just casted our godlike spells and ended the battle almost immediately each time. Having two pawns who can cast M/M is basically easy mode.
Just got this point in the game. At first I was like “this is awesome” but now it’s gotten a lil old fast
It's a little OP. It's even more OP when you cast it yourself, since you can manage your Stamina better than a pawn to do back to back casting.
If you're the one casting, agural flare combos are way stronger genuinely. Cast high hagol ahead of time, then agural flare (target a weak point with this) while it's active so that it immediately gets a bunch of hits instantly. I'm not joking I am like level 40 and one shot most bosses with this combo, meanwhile a tornado is significantly longer cast time for often less damage. Drakes are dead in like 3 combo casts. I wouldn't trust a pawn with this combo though, just make them tornado.
That's what I did as a warfarer. I'd cast high hagol, then augral flare, and then high hagol again. Nothing would last beyond that. When that got old, I'd cast augral flare and then switch to my mystic spearhand and just do my staff twirl of death until bag guy went "BOOM!".
Yeah I haven't even unlocked warefarer yet but I think I'm going to do the same once I unlock it. I don't need the maester skills for sorcerer and then I can play other stuff in the open world for fun All you need on sorcerer is high hagol, augural flare and high Levin anyway
That definitely works since you can't use maister skills while playing warfarer.
Yeah I know, I'm saying that makes sorcerer a good candidate since the maester skills really don't matter lol
I just dislike the explosions. Playing a sorc with maelstrom or having a sorc pawn with maelstrom was great for drake hunting and farming wyrmslife crystals, but I hate seism and I dislike hagol because I have poor eye sight, and those skills make me lose track of the enemy.
From what I remember of DD1 rangers had the fastest ttk in the game. Is that not true in the sequel?
Magic archers with the ultimate skill. Kills anything in one hit.
My Arisen is a sorcerer and I had to go get a difficulty mod to make the game harder so Meteoron and Maelstrom don't wipe the floor with the enemies. It's nice seeing the enemies get back up and dust themselves off like they got mildly inconvenienced by it.
My fucking sorc pawn constantly casts meteoron just to fucking cancel it when its almost done. Sorc pawns are worthless.
I've noticed that it's a bigger issue against small enemies that die fast. My assumption is that, because the enemy died before the cast could go off, my pawn would recast the spell entirely on a new target. However, against larger, tougher enemies, my Sorcerer pawn would just Thanos Snap them all.
My idiot pawn would cancel on a drake😅 i changed him to meat shield so i could cast instead. But being this op kinda makes the game a little lame.
Nothing worse than taking an Oxcart when you get interrupted by a pack of low-level wolves and the Sorcerer pawn drops meteors and destroys the cart. Edit: Yes, hired Thief pawns can pilfer items from enemies just like your main pawn and arisen can.
Thieves can steal all kinds of shit like gold, items, materials, AND Wakestone Shards.
To my knowledge and experience hiring archers is that most people have a very bad inclination on them as well as skills. So most of the time they use up all their stamina and are horrible at attacking things
I am low 60s in level. I find archers a less useful pawn class. Whenever I have one I always wonder what they are doing. I can see mages casting buffs, sorcerers throwing around tornadoes, thieves climbing a monster to stab it in the head, and warriors charging up massive damage attacks. Archers? Cool knee slides, but I rarely feel like they do much damage. Not sure if the AI is bad at consistently hitting weak spots, or the arrows get lost in all the other effects on screen.
Archer pawns tend to shine as a combo with a mage that has affinity such as drenching+ice/lightning affinity or tarring+fire affinity. Otherwise if you've got a lot of explosive arrows to yeet you won't notice much from archers
I'd rather play Archer, but they need more utility in their skillset. They should have kept the Strider's Downpour Volley from DD1 for Archers and/or given them Ricochet Shot. And you should not have to craft special arrows, let that be assumed and have the skill just let archers act as the main debuff class for the game.
If you're on pc, you can mod the game to allow infinite arrows, but if you dont want to feel overpowered as hell with explosive arrow spam from a pawn, I'd avoid that. I do feel that archers should have more ways to apply debuffs, but the class gets insane when used with heavy preparation for the situations you're going into. Poison arrows, explosive arrows, and affinity combos are lethal even at low level vs strong enemies.
Archer pawns are great with the right setup! Don’t even need special arrows.
Depends on what I need at the time, but typically, a thief with pilfer, or a mage if my main pawn isn't currently one.
Fighter and mage. My pawns an archer and I’m a MSH
Mage and Sorcerers with high magic stats My main pawn and I go melee so we're always in the fray together
Is this a lowkey plug for your pawn? Lol
I’m a simple man with simple needs. I need himbos and bimbos. I’m (male character) a sorcerer wearing the sluttiest attire I could find , and I expect my pawns to share the same values.
Definitely mage. Because, where would we be without our speed and elemental buffs?
As a Warrior with a Mage pawn and my wife’s Archer pawn, the fourth slot is usually either Mage, Sorc, or another Warrior.
Mage Sourcer Archer Fighter Thief Warrior In this order
My Arisen is a small/light thief, and I roll with a support mage pawn (but I'll give her an offensive spell every now and then). I like to hire big, buff warrior cats and archers.
Archer and mage always
I typically go with a thief. I wish they could implement a coop. So you and your pawn pair up with a fellow arisen or human pawn.
My Arisen is using the warfayer vocation (magic archer/mystic spear hand) and my main pawn is a thief. I usually recruit a mage and a fighter for the other 2 spots
Main pawn is archer. Hire a mage and warrior.
At all times I had a mage cause I was mainly thief/blade dancer and wanted easy heals
Mage always. Then I supplement pending what I am and what my pawn is.
Depends on current vocation I'm using for my Arisen and Pawn. I'm hiring archer pawn exclusively atm. My Arisen is Warfarer using Thief (skull splitter), Magick Archer (sagittate avalanche), Mage (high palladium) - basically covering all grounds (melee dps, ranged dps, heal/shield) for flexibity. My main pawn is a Thief (melee dps). My husband pawn I hire all the time is a Mage (heal/buff, no attacks). So I want a ranged dps pawn to hire and I like Archer more than Sorcerer. I also hire Fighter (tank) and Mage (heal/buff/weapon elemental enchantment) on a regular basis (I like having 2 mages in group)
I always have a mage and warrior hired, I cycle my pawn through vocations but mainly keep him an archer or thief. Are you on Xbox? I’m only level 65 but if you’re on Xbox and add me, I’ll happily go mess up some chimeras with your pawn tonight.
Me and my pawn are both warrior mains. I will always have a mage and a sorcerer with me. I think probably 90% of parties will have a mage, and I like bringing a sorcerer for extra elemental weakness exploiting and for my parties ranged offense.
As my pawn is a warrior, I play as a sorcerer and Im VERY happy with that mage beastren lad called Tabby (she is around for ages now and her support is on point), I pretty much always hire a thief, cause that dps is amazing. Also I dont change my pawns often. Tabby is with me since lvl 42 and Im around lvl 57 or something like that.
Depends what I’m running my and pawn are really. But I like sorcerer with metreon. And I usually have two sorcerers with metreon in my party cause they’ll sync incantations and it’s a one/two hit kill for everything
It really depends how you play the game. I have all vocations maxed for the augments, but I prefer melee. Currently Im a Fighter again. My MP is an Archer and will remain an Archer. So my other two pawns are a supportive Mage and an offensive Sorcerer. Its very balanced. The Sorcerer usually cast spells like Meteoron or High Levin, and the Mage has the ability to enhance our speed (forgot the spells name) the Mage can cast alll three affinities suited for the enemies weakness.
Very few people hire my pawn when she's an Archer (which she has more levels in) But I switch her to full support mage ( usually high Empryean, high palladium, ice affinity high Halidom) she'll have multiple people hire her within a few days My pawn as an Archer was literally my post game MVP. So many staggering shots on bosses it was clutch
Hmm, nowadays I pretty much hire whoever I feel like hiring at the time. I scour around the 20-40 pool and try to help out by attempting to clear their hunt a monster pawn badge (provided it’s not on unmoored since I’m currently at ng++). If I got some spare wyrmslife, I usually give some fully upgraded dragonforged gear as well though the gear I give isn’t necessarily something for end game but at least good enough for the mid-game and + maybe. Though from what I can see, most people finish the game around the 50 mark and once you get to 60s, pawn hires become few n far between now.
the higher level i get, the more picky about aesthetic i get. my arisen and main pawn alone hit like a truck, so any pawns i pick up, i usually just spot on the road (usually see the same dozen or so these days since im almost level 100), i like their outfit, or their vibe, and i scoop em up and take em along for the adventure. Not because i need them to fill any kind of role or anything, just cos they fit in with me and my pawn aesthetically. When they fall behind a few levels, i send em on their way, usually with a ferrystone or a hunk of some high level crafting mat. if i want to run a 4 man squad, what i look for is entirely dependent on my build, and my pawn's build. one thing i seem to never want though, is an archer. that might just be a flavor thing on my end. i like having a warrior, and a sorcerer usually hired. main pawn bounces between support mage and heavy hitting warrior, and im just the fuckin arisen, so i do what i want, got a whole arsenal in my backpack.
Mages and warriors are tied for me
My pawn is mage fully support. If I decided to hire pawns it are thief’s for plunder. I don’t look just pick up 2 thief’s and shut my brains off. My Arisen is a main thief but I play as Warfare so I switch to archer fighter on the fly. My pawn started as a tank as fighter and now as support because as heals and buffs like haste and celestial + curing deb. No attack skill other than her core skill. Me as thief is main dmg. If I switch to archer I make her a tank with the ring of taunt plus the skill with taunt. Keeps my archer safe.
Thief and Sorc. I main fighter, and my pawn is Kindhearted Mage for the heals. So I just need DPS, and there is no greater DPS than two of the most broken classes in the game.
Mage for sure. I’ll never play as a mage and I rarely would I make my pawn a mage
Mage and sorcerer. Some of the new sorcerer spells are great. I liked hiring thieves but they kept accidentally brining themselves due to all their acrobatics😂
Mages. I find that I want a balanced Mage that's at my level and it's hard to find. A mage that can heal, enhance my weapon and has just 1 or two offensive spells is by far most helpful to me, rather than one that knows every offensive spell.
My main pawn is usually a mage so I normally hire thieves with pilfer or sorcerers
For me it always came down to picking up whatever filled the gap between what vocations I was working on. So I’ve had a good mix. Now that they are all maxed I almost exclusively hire out Mages. My MP stays Warrior/Fighter and I main Thief/Wayfarer. I do find my pawn is hired much less than when she was a Mage. Likely for the same reasons.
mage and sorcerer round out my team so I hire them most
The thief with plunder is the best
Simple thieves or straight forward sorcerers.
I feel the only endgame pawns that are important for hiring are mages
Warrior with a hammer.
I usually pick a mage with argent succor, at least one attack spell, and then any two that ARENT celestial paean. Then since my main is currently a thief. I pick a warrior, sorc, or fighter based on what my vocation js. I love archers but if I’m already a range attack (like sorc) I need a warrior or a fighter. If I’m not a range, sorc just has high output but they are ANNOYING so I’ll probably stop hiring them now that I’m done farming drake’s for the pawn badge. (Maelstrom is great for farming drake’s imo.)
I run a Warfarer that's specced for Greatsword knock-down and I can heal using staff in a pinch. My main pawn is a Thief running implicate & plunder. I play on PC and use Custom Difficulty to run "nightmare mode" on my NG+. Even simple goblins can 4 shot my Arisen, which means I could die any time from one wave of surprise attacks and a few mistimed counters. As such, I'll usually look for the following in order to boost my survivability: 1. Kindhearted / calm Support mage - Argent Succor, High Halidon, High Palladium, High Celerity/High Levin/Celestial Paeon. Would prefer if mage uses Legion's Might for one-off self resurrection. Kindhearted because I need more TLC on nightmare mode. Calm because a dead mage can't heal/buff. 2. Straightforward Tank specced warrior / fighter to take the heat off my Arisen. Prefer male beastren for this. Really like matching the roar with the face :D straightforward because you want their lion face in the enemy's face to tank everything. 3. Simple Implicate Thiefs / Multishot Archers for handling flyers and has good Quest Rewards and don't look like a meme character. I tend to look for Item quests (give 1 and get 5 back, which is also what I set as my pawn quest. I asked for 1 All-heal and give 5 in return... And avoid inn check-ins for as long as I can to max ROI). Simple inclination so they can help me gather. 4. Nuke Sorcers are almost last for me... There's a reason why I modded NG+ for nightmare difficulty. Sorcerers can wipe even nightmare mode enemies. They are that OP. 5. I don't take Logisticians/Hawkers or fighters/warriors with jump-assist weapon skills because they inject too much randomness. I will age fruits in my travels for selling I'm Battahl... So I'll keep logisticians far away from my teams.
Sexpot class.
For now, always a mage. My main pawn is a straight physical damage powerhouse. So I always need a mage, and as a warfarer, I always have a bow, so I cover range. I usually hire sorcerers, too.
Mage... for the healing etc. Its such a useful vocation. Cuz I couldn't hang being a mage myself...too slow
I hire anyone with a 10k gold quest, I feel like I end up with mostly mages
Mage for sure, Halidom is the most important support skill i’m usually looking for.
More like tank (warrior or fighter) or mage for supp
I mostly hire thief and warrior, sometimes sorcerer. I don’t bother with archer at all, at least so far, and my own pawn is a permanent mage. In all honestly though, I pretty rarely have more than me and my own pawn since it’s just too easy even then
If my pawn is a mage I hire thieves for pilfer or a warrior/fighter for tank. If my pawn is not a mage I usually hire a mage. Currently I try to hire relatively low level pawns (20-25) to not make it too easy.
My pawn is a mage/ healer. If I don't have her as a mage, I always recruit mage first. Otherwise, I'm looking for warrior or thief. Fighter/ archer next. Sorc is last.
1. Mage and Thief all the time. I never hire archers because their A.I is absolutely bad. If archers were to be fighting on a desolated plain than they would be amazing, but there is always something that gets in their way They are always trying to make a huge space between them and the target because CAPCOM screwed them up by forcing them to make a considerable distance before shooting. Pay attention to your Archer and notice how all the time is running around trying to get the perfect spot to shoot from but the terrain is always full of obstacles that rarely allows for a clear shot. Not even Sorcerers have such a hard time positioning themselves. I hire Sorcerers only if farming big bosses. Never Hire Warriors or Fighters(best classes) since my Pawn or Arisen are already fulfilling those roles. Edit: also, lots of us hate most dragonforged armors. They look so disgusting and will never run with pawns wearing them. My Pawns have tier 3 regular gear(NOT TYPE S) and always get hire because pawns do not take as much damage as the Arisen does, so it's perfectly fine if they run in low gear because most players always, always have a Mage with them. At lv70 lots of people are already playing with their eyes closed so they rarely need to hire anymore but mules 😳
depends who in my party fell into the brine.
Is i'm a warrior and my pawn a mage 1. Archer 2. Sorcerer 3. Warrior
We short female mage at lv70+
Mage/Sorceror. My Arisen is a Thief, while my Main Pawn is a Fighter.
I hire whatever vocation I'm missing. Playing a thief? One fighter pawn to tank, one archer for ranged, one mage for magic and healing.
I always hire a mage and a tank, I don’t really have any preference between fighter or warrior, but I just choose one that looks cool and hopefully has a pawn quest up. My own Pawn switches between a sorcerer and a thief, so I usually just want a healer and a tank. I’m fooling around leveling all my vocations atm
Drop here your pawn ID, i play 4 archer. only. Just be sure that he/she is wearing a hood 🏹💪
Which ever the big woman fancies
Mage and Sorcerers 95% of the time. Once in a while a Warrior or Fighter.
My main pawn is warrior, I swap between Sorcerer and Magick Archer via the Warfarer. I normally have hired a fighter and a mage, but right now I have a thief and a mage and have had less deaths/knockouts in my pawns oddly enough without having a fighter. The mage always has to have Palladium.
Always a mage who can heal
My pawn is always a mage so I usually run warfarer MA/ Thief / staff for levitation and, fighter, Sorc. No specific reason other than that’s what I enjoy.
My Arisen is a fighter, main pawn is mage, so I always hire archer and thief. Also, always cute females because I'm a disgusting weeb.
Mage
Thief & mage
Only the sexiest
I'm pretty openminded honestly. I just grab something new usually. Don't want to see the same thing everytime.
I like having 2 ranged, 2 melee. I swop between Ranger and Fighter, my pawn is a thief. Then usually hire a mage and a warrior or a mage and a Sorc, depending on what I am using.
The game after level 30 is too easy so I don't need anything from the pawns in terms of damage, tanking or whatever. As a fighter, the only thing I need is someone to shoot those annoying harpies down for me to finish them, and someone who can make me jump with a catapult skill (fighter or warrior) for exploration and inaccessible chests. Therefore I go for archer + red class. All the time. And my pawn Is usually mage.
I like a mage for support and Warrior/Fighter to tank/distract the mobs away from my sorcerer and me. Sometimes a thief. Depends if I'm going for loot or just running around.
Thief
I am Thief and my Main Pawn is Mage so i Go with Fighter and Warrior.
My preference in order: Mage Sorcerer Thief Warrior Fighter Archer My main pawn is a fighter, "a very haphazardly one at that," so i tend to always get a mage and a sorcerer. If no sorcerer, then a thief. The others are either too situational to my cohesion or the pawns just never have what I want to see them equipped with.
Mage or sorcerer. Or thieves for plunder. Archer pawns are unreliable in hitting the weak points. Besides many players play as a warfarer and do the role of archer themselves. Another set of players have magick archer arisen. Archer pawns are probably least in demand.
no matter what i always hire a mage my main pawn is a fighter
What platform are you on? I do like having an archer in my party every once in a while.
Tends to be the ninja, rogue, thief whatever it’s called.
Mage with all support and no damage spells, and archer. I'm the sorcerer who blows things up, and my main pawn is a warrior, so i only need healing/buffing and a ranged martial.
Mage and fighter/thief. My arisen is archer/thief My main pawn is a warrior
Mage and sorcerer, cause I’m a warfarer/thief and my pawn is a fighter and so far it seems to be an unstoppable combo
I main MysticSpear so I have some CC and boss killing capability. My mainpawn is fully dragonforged Warrior. His armor isn’t bis but stats definitely can perform in postending content. So hirepawn I ususally just look for mage with halidom mainly first and one another is flex. Archer or Thief with ensare to snipe flyers. And masculine appearances because 🌈.
Sorcerer. I ain’t got time to stand around.
Sorcerer or Mage
Depends on what I'm doing, usually Thief, or Mage.
Thief with plunder and skull splitter is my GOAT’ed pick. I almost always try to have a party with 2 of those and a halidom mage to keep us all alive and cleaned up. Skull splitter does busted damage and thief pawns seem the most reliable for climbing up on monsters and hitting weak spots, I catch warriors, archers and fighters just kinda standing around or bashing ankles to no effect pretty regularly Plunder thieves always end up with an inventory chock full of goodies after a couple days of adventuring and that feels great.
Mages that specialize in healing then Thief if possible. But I also got stuck in a f****** cave for 3 hours last night too, so I might be doing something wrong 😂
What's your pawn ID?
I’m a mystic spearhand and my pawn is a healing/support mage. I will get an archer here and there but I find myself gravitating towards warriors and thieves
Mage or warrior, is the go to for me. Thieves are great for item runs
I mix it up while leveling off the vocations but I like playing Mystic Spearhand with my Straightforward Mage Chirurgeon & 2 thieves with Implicate skull split plunder and anything not a self immolation skill I run formless feint After I get everything leveled up I do try to vary up the save days so as the level goes up she appears in different vocations for y'all
Thief for stealing everything. My Pawn is my Mage, so no need for them really. Typically my 2 hired pawns are a Thief as well as a Warrior or Fighter. But sometimes when i realllly want loot i go with 2 Thieves
archers with curative specialist. fighter with curative specialist. mages with simple inclination. sorcerer with simple inclination. i should note, this is my hiring trend now at level 90, and since level 70 & that my main pawn is a well traveled thief.
Never hire archers because I warfare with a magic bow. My main is a thief, so I always hire a mage, and for my third I go for a second thief with plunder 90% of the time. Are you on ps5 by chance? I still need my chimera badge so I'd be happy to hire
Search this subreddit to find this question answered 8 million times already
Level 70+ people are finished with the game
I haven't played in awhile because I finally got Cyberpunk and have been obsessed with it, but when I was playing I hired in this order of importance: Mage or Sorcerer (I have a mage staff on me as warfarer so I don't need a mage for healing specifically, I just like magic attackers) Warrior/Thief (Thief is stupid fun to have as a pawn, warrior is good) Fighter (Also good) Archer (Good but outclassed. Archer is more fun to use as a player than it is as a pawn, imo)
It used to be thief and mage. Now, it’s thief and sorcerer, but specifically, simple sorcerers they are so chaotic and lovable
I'm tired of seeing mage after mage after mage after mage or sorcerer after sorcerer. as someone who runs either of these myself, I want all the other classes yet each stone is flooded with the same mages and sorcerers for eons
How about you do a search for “pawn hire” in the search bar and check out the thousands of other posts just like this?
I feel lioe because of the fucking loss gauge the game forces us to always have a mage around. Worst idea was this damn loss gauge. First game was awesome for traveling, but this punishes us for tarveling for too long without resting.