The Dark Arisen expansion gives pawns a noticeable step up through new gear, new trade items, and a batch of behavior changes that affect how AI companions fight beside you. Much of the power comes down to three things: the party roles you pick, what you spend Norgan Ducats on with Guildmaster Dwayne, and how you tune each pawn’s inclination so it uses its skills the way you intend.
Quick answer: Build a party of a Mage, a Sorcerer, and a tanky Warrior or Fighter around your Arisen, then spend Norgan Ducats with Dwayne on Augmentum Scriptura and the paired Ring of Master and Ring of Myrmidon.
A party composition that covers every role
A dependable setup for most Arisen playstyles uses one Mage, one durable melee frontline, one Sorcerer, and you. The Mage keeps the party alive with Anodyne and Argent Solace, adds elemental enchantments to weapons, and buffs stamina. The frontline Warrior or Fighter holds enemy attention off your backline. The Sorcerer supplies heavy area burst damage.
The Mage is the part of the party you can least afford to drop. Its recovery spells remove the need to burn through curatives, and its affinity buffs raise the whole group’s damage against resistant enemies. If you are unsure what to run, a Mage pawn covers the most ground.
Your Main Pawn is the one you fully control
Hired pawns arrive with whatever their owners built, but your Main Pawn is completely yours to shape. You choose its equipment, augments, vocation, and skills, which makes it the most influential companion in the group. Keep its gear and skill bar current rather than leaving it with an outdated loadout.
Obelisk of Benediction boons
Interacting with an Obelisk of Benediction lets you spend Discipline (Dcp) and Offering Flames on permanent enhancements for both the Arisen and your Main Pawn. These cover stat boosts, extra skill boons, and spoils spawn-rate increases weighted to specific vocations. Costs sit between 5,000 and 7,000 Dcp per boon.
Stat enhancement and skill boons such as Steel Cleave and Hurricane Strike run 5,000 Dcp, while the Warrior and Fighter spoils spawn-rate boosts cost 7,000 Dcp each. The spoils boosts matter for relic farming, since appraised drops lean toward the vocations active in your party.
Norgan Ducat trades with Guildmaster Dwayne
Norgan Ducats are a dedicated currency in Dark Arisen, exchanged with Dwayne at the Vocation Guild for items you cannot get any other way. The rare trade list and its exact costs are below.
| Item | Norgan Ducat cost |
|---|---|
 Ring of Virtue | 1 |
 Ring of Evasion | 3 |
 Orienteer’s Tome | 3 |
 Ring of Master | 5 |
| Ring of Myrmidon | 10 |
 Enigma Chain | 15 |
 Augmentum Scriptura | 20 |
 Sigil of Devotement | 30 |
| Wisdom Corset / Girdle of Sagacity | 90 |
For maximum pawn strength, prioritize Augmentum Scriptura. This manuscript expands your augment capacity to seven for you and your Main Pawn, allowing each of you to equip one additional passive. At a cost of 20 Norgan Ducats, it permanently upgrades both party members.
Dwayne also stocks a standard trade list for consumables and crafting goods, each priced in Norgan Ducats.
- Hound’s Scent Pouch, Frostbright Ore, and Giant Hunk of Rift Crystal — 1 Ducat each
- Enormous Hunk of Rift Crystal and Liquid Vim — 3 Ducats each
- Allheal Elixir and Wakestone — 5 Ducats each
Ring of Master and Ring of Myrmidon revival pairing
Pawn revival is faster only with the rings assigned to the right wearers: the Arisen needs the Ring of Master, while the pawn must equip the Ring of Myrmidon. Neither ring has an effect on its own.
| Ring | Worn by | Norgan Ducat cost | Buy / Sell (G) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ring of Master | Arisen | 5 | 1,000 / 1,500 |
| Ring of Myrmidon | Pawn | 10 | 3,000 / 900 |
Both rings are usable by every vocation, from Fighter and Mage through to Mystic Spearhand, Magick Archer, and Trickster, so the pairing works no matter how your party is built.
How pawn inclinations change combat behavior
Inclination decides how a pawn uses the skills you give it, so the wrong one can waste an otherwise good build. There are four to weigh when evaluating a pawn.
- Calm — Rational and cautious, favoring defense and evasion to survive. A strong fit for fragile Mage and Sorcerer pawns.
- Straightforward — Impulsive and bold, this pawn rushes fierce enemies and climbs large monsters.
- Simple — Curious and adventurous, with balanced combat and a habit of flagging nearby items and points of interest.
- Kindhearted — Devoted to supporting the group, this pawn quickly helps allies but favors non-combat actions over attacking.
Finding Norgan-trained pawns and hiring friends for free
At a Riftstone, the Advanced Pawn Search includes a filter for Norgan-Traveled pawns. Turning it on returns pawns that have been updated since the expansion, equipped with higher-tier Norgan gear and six equipped weapon skills rather than the older four-slot bars. You can also narrow by level and Rift Crystal budget while you search.
Pawns belonging to players on your platform friends list cost 0 Rift Crystals to hire, regardless of how far above your own level they sit or how good their gear is. That makes a friend’s high-level pawn a cheap way to carry a weaker party.
Pawn AI and Dragonsplague changes in Dark Arisen
A wave of adjustments changed how pawns act in and out of combat. Two new commands arrived: holding the “Go” button issues an Explore order that sends pawns to seek out nearby points of interest, and holding “To Me!” triggers a High Five.
Combat behavior improved across the board. Pawns now suggest using large boulders when enemies group up, lure enemies toward usable terrain, and perform follow-up attacks on foes the Arisen knocks back. While grappling a large enemy, a pawn can pull the Arisen up for a higher jump. Pawns prioritize enemies targeting the Arisen when you play a ranged vocation, guard and dodge more effectively, become briefly invincible while you revive them, and catch you more reliably after a long fall in battle.
Dragonsplague now grants afflicted pawns combat upsides rather than being a pure liability. An infected pawn can stun large enemies by striking their legs, attack smaller foes without spending stamina for a short time, make stunned enemies easier to knock off balance, and accumulate its loss gauge more slowly.
A specialization tome returns to the Scrap Store after it has been used or discarded. While serving in another player’s world, your Main Pawn also retrieves items dropped by enemies it defeated.
Two specializations also feature in the current pawn systems, Guardian and Orienteer, learned from the Guardian’s Tome and the Orienteer’s Tome.
Building a party from your own pawns
Dragon’s Dogma 2 now supports three save slots, each holding a separate Arisen with its own Main Pawn. Because each file carries a distinct Main Pawn, you can develop several of them and then hire those alternate-profile pawns into a single party. Done across all three slots, the result is a group made up almost entirely of your own custom pawns fighting alongside your active Arisen.
