Dragon’s Dogma 2 gives all kinds of playstyles relying on what Vocation you choose. Most of those are the sorts of archetypes you’d anticipate: melee sword fighter, speedy dagger wielding thief, ranged archer, and spell slinging mage – and a few are hybrid Vocations, like Mystic Spearhand and Magick Archer, that mix components of 1 Vocation with one other for a very new model of play.
However what of the Trickster Vocation? It was revealed as a part of the Dragon’s Dogma 2 showcase again in November, however little has been proven of this distinctive class past that fast 45-second look, and a brief description on the Dragon’s Dogma 2 web site. Thankfully, as a part of our go to to Capcom, we received to sit down down and play with the Trickster for about an hour, and I can confidently say that it is a model of play in contrast to something I’ve ever seen in an open-world motion recreation.
To begin, The Trickster is basically a pacifist. Their chosen weapon, a ceremonial Censer, does little to no harm when it’s swung at an enemy. As a substitute, the function of attacking is to construct up aggro and pull an enemy’s consideration in the direction of you. To that finish, you even have a particular capability known as Suffocating Shroud that sends your smoke out in a large space and attracts a considerable amount of enemy consideration in the direction of you.
So why would you wish to get an entire group of enemies swarming on you in the event you can’t really harm them? Ah, see that’s the place the phrase “trickster” comes into play. Through the use of the Trickster’s distinctive talent, Effigial Incense, you create a Simulacrum (or a clone, for simplicity’s sake) that enemies will understand as the actual you. This clone has its personal well being bar and can disappear if it’s killed, however you too can teleport the clone to you whereas it’s nonetheless alive with the press of a button. This fashion, you’ll be able to principally kite enemies to wherever you need, so long as you retain their aggro and hold your clone alive.
So you’ll be able to maneuver a foe to get an environmental benefit, which is tremendous vital, as a result of the Trickster shines brightest when there are cliffs, uneven surfaces, or different components of the surroundings that can be utilized to your benefit. The Trickster has two skills designed round creating surfaces that aren’t actually there, however seem actual to enemies. The primary, Tough Terrace, creates a cloud that may be positioned off a ledge that the enemy will understand as actual strong floor; and the second, Illusive Divider, will create a wall of smoke you can see by, however the enemy can’t.
The ultimate piece of this puzzle is the Visitant Aura, a way that means that you can primarily make an astral projection you can freely transfer round to scout the panorama for so long as your stamina will permit. You’re tremendous weak whereas controlling the projection, so utilizing Illusive Divider to offer your self some cowl whereas utilizing it in the warmth of battle is a good suggestion. Crucially, you’ll be able to float off of ledges, ascend or descend at will, and even name your clone to wherever your projection at present is. I’m positive you’ll be able to see why that is perhaps helpful.
Once you mix all of those “methods” collectively, the actual worth of the Trickster comes into view. Earlier than getting right into a fight encounter, you’ll be able to create a clone with Effigial Incense, use Visitant Aura to scout out an space for enemies and search for any type of environmental hazards (like a cliff as an example), recall your clone in order that it hovers over stated environmental hazard, place a false flooring beneath it with Tough Terrace, then lure enemies near the clone and use Suffocating Shroud to ship all of their aggro to the clone and watch with glee as enemies throw themselves off the edge in an effort to get at you.
Now, clearly it is a lot of prep to undergo, and isn’t going to be sensible in each scenario. Which is why the Trickster can also be outfitted with another methods up their sleeves. First and foremost, they’re a assist class – counting on, and considerably buffing, the power of their pawn occasion in order that they will do a whole lot of the heavy lifting. One such buff is Fragrant Resurgence, which supercharges your occasion, making them hit so much more durable. Whereas I used to be enjoying for gameplay seize causes, I needed to make a psychological be aware not to make use of this buff as a result of my pawns would kill all of my foes earlier than I received an opportunity to point out off any of the extra technical methods of the vocation.
Essentially the most highly effective spell I noticed of the Trickster’s was Dragon’s Delusion, which takes a while to forged, however brings forth an phantasm of a Dragon that terrifies any enemy that sees it, even massive Ogres, bringing them right down to their knees, giving your pawns ample alternative to do massive harm. Since most of the Trickster’s different expertise appeared well-suited for coping with small to mid-sized enemies, this was a very nice addition to see as one thing that would additionally allow them to cope with the larger, beefier enemies.
The Trickster was not a simple vocation to determine in simply an hour’s time. It took me some time to totally grasp the aggro system – avoiding pulling an excessive amount of aggro and never having any strategy to get away from the enemies I attracted. However as soon as it clicked, I discovered it to be a uniquely satisfying Vocation that dropped at thoughts considered one of the core tenets of Satan Might Cry’s fight: It’s not nearly killing each enemy in the room, however how you kill each enemy in the room. It’s an deliberately underpowered Vocation that’s designed to encourage inventive considering to resolve troublesome fight issues in methods past simply swinging a weapon or hurling a twister at it. And it’s one which I’m very excited to experiment extra with, as soon as I’ve received my arms on the full recreation.
Mitchell Saltzman is an editorial producer at IGN. You will discover him on twitter @JurassicRabbit