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While many of us miss the Strider vocation from Dragon’s Dogma: Dark Arisen, Thieves aren’t bad at all. While Warfarer is considered the jack-of-all-trades, I believe this green-colored vocation has better tools for many situations. It is highly adaptable, has a lot of damage, and with the right build for your Thief, it can become the best vocation in Dragon’s Dogma 2. So, grab your daggers, don your hood, and prepare to stab every foe that crosses your path.
Best Thief Build in Dragon’s Dogma 2
Once I finished Dragon’s Dogma 2, I realized my Thief build carried me through almost all of my adventure. It was so powerful and easy to use that I dubbed it “the Assassin build.” You see, there are certain skills for Thieves that make them perfect for any situation. Some are great against smaller foes, some can take down mini-bosses in one hit, and most importantly, some can take down harpies in seconds, which, for me, are the most annoying creatures in the game. And thankfully, you don’t need a lot of things to make this build work.
Weapon Skills
Let’s start with skills. I picked Masterful Kill, Cutting Wind, Implicate, and Draw and Quarter as my main weapon skills. Each one does a specific job, and while all require surgical precision, with a bit of practice, you’ll delete enemies in seconds.
Cutting Wind is there to close gaps. It isn’t the best one for doing damage, but it is great to reach foes such as Bandit Archers or Sorcerers. You can spam this to make said enemies flinch, but don’t use it as your main DPS skill; you’re better off using Carve to do damage.
Masterful Kill is the bread and butter of this build. You need to get the timing right, but once you do, it’ll instantly kill small enemies or inflict considerable damage. To give you an example: by using this skill, I defeated the fake Arisen in two hits. Yes, it was a bit anti-climatic, but it allowed me to embrace the assassin fantasy of this vocation.
Implicate is my favorite ability because it takes down two of my most hated enemies in the game: harpies and saurians. For the former, you can pull them down and follow up with a deadly attack once they’re down. For saurians, you can cast Implicate twice, making these foes rollover. With their weak spot exposed, you can go in for the kill.
Last but not least, Draw and Quarter is your boss-killer ability. I kid you not; I timed this skill right while clinging to a minotaur, and I took two of its health bars down with one hit. When you use this ability, remember to be close to the ground as it’ll launch you away from the enemy, and if you’re too high, the fall can kill you.
Augments
While there are many great augments in the game, I feel these are the best for this Thief build in Dragon’s Dogma 2. Ideally, you always want to have Subtlety equipped to reduce enemy aggro against you. However, if you lack a Warrior or Fighter in your team, you can swap it for Zeal or Dynamism (assuming you unlocked Warfarer).
Gratification, Vigor, and Verve are necessary for this build, and thankfully, all are Thief augments. Gratification gives you HP back when delivering a killing blow, and Vigor allows you to cling to enemies for longer, which is essential in boss fights. Lastly, Verve is there to give you a nice DPS boost.
I added Mettle because it is important to counter the HP loss from your gauge and get your health back up fast. And while Thew might be more of an out-of-combat augment, it is useful if you’re carrying different daggers and want to swap between them during combat; it’ll increase your carry weight considerably.
Armor and Weapons
For this Thief build in Dragon’s Dogma 2, I chose to follow the “aesthetic” route. However, that doesn’t mean the armor I picked doesn’t have its benefits. If you finish the Thieves’ Guild trial, you can get the Thief’s Gaiters. This leg piece is great as it provides a lot of defense and resistance against poison, sleep, and silence effects. The same happens with the Gazer’s Hood and Rampart Breaker. You can obtain all of these at the Nameless Village. If possible, enhance all your equipment at Vermund, as it provides a balanced stat increase, which is what this build needs.
There are three weapons I recommend. Heaven’s Key boasts high damage and +45 of Holy Damage. You’ll have to reach the true ending to obtain these daggers. Dragon’s Vein, which is the best weapon for Thieves, also requires the true ending. You can get them by talking to the Dragon-Forged. However, for those still exploring the standard route, you can get Crimson Teeth. You can find these daggers inside Sal’Battahl Cavern in Battahl. They are easy to get and should carry you all the way to the endgame.
As you can see, this build isn’t challenging to pull off; all it needs is the right timing to fight specific enemies. So, if you have the time, avoid fast-traveling and practice your abilities with all foes you encounter. You’ll become the deadliest Arisen in no time with this build.
