All Dragon’s Dogma 2 Trickster skills and which to unlock

Which Dragon’s Dogma 2 Trickster skills should you use? One of the most unique vocations we’ve ever seen in a role-playing game of any sort, the Trickster focuses primarily on confusing foes, drawing their aggression or forcing them to fight one another. With the right group of Pawns, Tricksters can absolutely obliterate just about any enemy without dealing a lick of damage themselves – or just lure them into walking off a cliff.

The Trickster is in the running against another vocation in Dragon’s Dogma 2 for most unique – the Magick Archer. If slinging elemental arrows while keeping your Pawns in tip-top shape sounds more like your kind of playstyle, head on over to our Dragon’s Dogma 2 Magick Archer skills guide. Otherwise, reading up on how to find Dragon’s Dogma 2 Seeker’s Tokens is a good bet if you’re planning on putting together the best Trickster build, as the vocation has a lot of utility for finding hidden items.

How to unlock Dragon’s Dogma 2 Trickster vocation

The Trickster vocation is unlocked when speaking to Luz, an oracle banished from Vermund and found in Battahl. You’ll likely first encounter her during the main quest Flickering Shadows, which you’ll obtain when you first enter Bakbattahl.

She’s located off the beaten path between the Checkpoint Rest Town and Bakbattahl itself, and if you’re thorough, you can reach her early.

Best Dragon’s Dogma 2 Trickster skills

The Trickster has two types of skills: skills that draw aggression to the Trickster or the Trickster’s ghostly simulacrum and skills that confuse and manipulate. It isn’t a vocation for those inexperienced with Dragon’s Dogma 2, and it’s definitely not a vocation for those without a powerful, damage-dealing party of Pawns, as you’ll have to rely on them almost exclusively to deal damage. That said, the best skills to take are those that buff up your Pawns while keeping enemy aggression on your simulacrum, switching out to other more utility-based weapon skills when necessary.

The best Dragon’s Dogma 2 Trickster skills are:

• Suffocating Shroud
• Aromatic Resurgence
• Binding Effigy
• Tricky Terrace

Suffocating Shroud

While the Trickster’s base attack also draws enemy aggression, Suffocating Shroud, upgraded from Sweeping Shroud, hits all enemies over a large area. With a simulacrum summoned, this will cause almost all enemies to immediately target it. Combined with the fact that you can ‘infect’ enemies with the simulacrum to draw the aggression of all other foes, and this is a must-have skill in the Trickster’s kit. Be warned, however, that if your simulacrum dissipates or you forget to summon it, that horde of goblins and giant ogre will hone in on you instead.

Aromatic Resurgence

Aromatic Resurgence and its base skill, Aromatic Rally, may seem like a detriment as it saps your Pawns’ health over time; however, it also greatly boosts their damage output. As the Trickster cannot deal much damage on its own, this is completely necessary to keep up at almost all times in a fight. Bedies, the health decrease isn’t too severe, and if you have a Mage in your party, it’s quite easy to heal up after every fight. It also doesn’t affect the loss gauge.

Binding Effigy

While you can run up to an enemy and possess them with a simulacrum in order to have enemies turn on each other, it’s quite risky with spiked clubs and flames flying around. Binding Effigy, the upgrade over Latching Effigy, allows you to ‘shoot’ the Trickster’s simulacrum from a safe distance. This is the perfect skill to have against overlarge foes as getting close is quite tricky. Once a big ogre or minotaur is possessed, and you cast a Suffocating Shroud or two, that big beast will fall to his friends and your Pawns quickly.

Illusive Divider

While Tricky Terrace is also a good choice, Delusory Screen and Illusive Divider have a bit more utility by putting up a wall your enemies will want to walk around and will more often than not fail to shoot through. Given you’re going to be kiting enemies and manipulating them with your simulacrum, this wall is vital in keeping your Trickster safe while tricking your enemies into running all over the battlefield after it instead of attacking.

All Dragon’s Dogma 2 Trickster weapon skills

While the above four weapons skills are the best options for most encounters, switching up your Trickster’s skills at camp before heading into dangerous areas is a good idea, especially with skills such as Dragrant Alarum allowing you to ‘wall hack’ and see enemies before they see you.

All Dragon’s Dogma 2 Trickster core skills

The Trickster’s core skills focus on making the simulacrum more potent and easier to cast.

With all this information under your belt, you’re ready to adventure as a Trickster throughout Vermund and Battahl. Be warned, however, that you’ll need a damage-focused party of Pawns to make the most of the vocation. As the Trickster is great at drawing aggression, you can hire two damage dealing Pawns, such an Archer and a Sorcerer, while bringing along a Mage for healing duties. All together, it’s a unique – if a little passive – way to play the game.

Curious about the best weapon skills for other vocations? Check out our guide covering Dragon’s Dogma 2 Mystic Spearhand skills, another unique and new vocation to the sequel. Otherwise, whenever you’re done with Dragon’s Dogma 2, our best games like Monster Hunter on PC likely has a game or two of interest to you.