I played the vast majority ofDragon’s Dogma 2as a Fighter. I had a brief interlude where I tried switching to the two-handed brutality of the Warrior, but I couldn’t get my head around the attack timings after so long spent blocking and shanking, so I hired a Warrior Pawn instead. Thenbroke up with him.
I couldn’t be bothered switching to an Archer to complete the elven quest in Vernworth, because I really didn’t want to be a ranged fighter, sitting back while my Pawns did all the dirty work. Little did I know that skipping this archery lesson would result in memissing out on an entire elven villageuntil the Unmoored World revealed it to me, but that’s besides the point. I was saving all my Discipline Points for one vocation in particular.
I’d seen plenty of pictures of Arisen carrying awesome double-ended spears. I’m a bit of a spear guy in games – I played Dark Souls with a pike, Elden Ring with the Golden Halberd, etc. – and this was the next level. It looked like a fantasy version of Darth Maul, just without the face tattoos. Little did I know that the flippant comparison would be more apt than I ever could have imagined.
I unlocked Mystic Spearhand the hard way. I missed Sigurd at all of his Vermund locations, so met him at Dragonsbreath Tower, which is as formidable as it sounds. In fact, it was during my first attempt to climb the mountain that the tower presides over that I realisedI needed to break up with my original Pawns.
However, the route was a breeze with new Pawns in tow, and I made it to Sigurd and undertook his challenge. The fine fellow helped me to tackle the dragon at the peak – the first I had fought to the death – and rewarded me with the Mystic Spearhand discipline. He also gave me the Dead Ringer, a duospear with frighteningly good stats that lasted me all the way until the Unmoored World.
I’m incredibly glad the Griffin’s nest in the ruined castle didn’t foreshadow an untimely third party joining the fray.
There is a much easier way to go about this – simply speaking to Sigurd in Melve and then buying the duospear from the Volcanic Island Armory for the paltry sum of 56,000 gold (around the price of two haircuts) – but I attempt to play through games without detailed guides the first time around, so forced myself into doing things the hard way.
However, it was all worth it. Mystic Spearhand blends physical attacks with magic, ranged spellcasting with close-quarters melee fighting, and therefore offers some of the most satisfying combat in gaming. Stunning opponents feels like Sekiro-lite, following up on your magical bolts with acrobatic flourishes and devastating sweeps of your double-ended spear is immense, and upgrading your abilities makes you feel like a Jedi.
If the duoblade combat and backflipping finishers didn’t feel enough like the lightsaber duels that are synonymous with Star Wars’ space monks, Humble Offringe lets you use the Force. I’m not kidding.
Using this ability, you can manipulate objects in the world around you, throwing them at enemies with disastrous effect. You can even throw enemies at other enemies. If you didn’t feel like Arisen Skywalker already, now you will.
Mystic Spearhand isn’t the best Dragon’s Dogma vocation because of the Jedi connection, it just so happens that magical, acrobatic combat is incredibly fun. Respawn’s Jedi games are incredibly popular for good reason: everybody wants to fight like that.
Effortlessly graceful, brutally efficient, and suitably epic, Mystic Spearhand’s Jedi style is pure fantasy. I reckon I could learn some Fighter skills with a bit of training. I know I can shoot a bow, and again, practise would turn me into a fearsome foe with that in my hands. But there’s no way I could ever perform the moves of a Mystic Spearhand – even those that don’t utilise magic! I’m not athletic enough, I’m not skilled enough, and no amount of training could ever grant me the abilities to do what my Jedi Arisen shows off.
Dragon’s Dogma 2 is a game built around capitalising on cool moments; mounting dragons and climbing on minotaurs to get the killing blow. However, the fights are often a battle of attrition. Mystic Spearhand changes that. Whether facing gorgon or goblin, sphinx or slime, my Arisen dispatches them with ruthless efficiency and plenty of panache. What more could you ask for?
