There is no swimming in Dragon’s Dogma 2. You can wade through shallow streams and shorelines, but the moment the ground drops away beneath you, the water belongs to the Brine. The Brine lurk in deep rivers, lakes, and the sea, and they pull under anything that ventures too far from the bank.
What the Brine does in deep water
The first time your character enters deep water, a tutorial pop-up titled “The Brine.” appears. It cautions you to stay alert along the shore: the Brine instantly swallow anyone or anything that enters their waters. Press F to dismiss the message and continue; the danger then unfolds right in front of you.
A few steps after the bottom drops away, the water around your character turns a deep red. A mass of red tentacles breaks the surface, closes over your character, and the camera follows them under.
There is no game over, no reload, and no prompt. Play simply continues. You do not lose control for long, and nothing asks you to load a save.
If you see reddish tentacles beginning to surface around you, back out of the water at once. Once they close over you, there is no fighting free.
Who survives the Brine and who doesn’t
The Brine treat your character, your pawns, and everything else very differently. This is worth knowing before you lead a fight anywhere near water.
- The Arisen: taken under, then restored to a nearby shore, lying on the ground before getting up again.
- Pawns: the game’s tutorial says they “will become forfeit” when the Brine take them.
- All other living creatures: met with an immediate, watery death.
Because everything else dies at once, deep water works as a hard wall around the map, much like a cliff you cannot climb.
Where new players first meet the Brine
You can run into this within minutes of the opening. During the quest “Tale’s Beginning,” the objective “Follow Justinn.” sends you along a ledge above the pool below the Ultramarine Waterfall, in Northern Vermund at the base of Mt. Alles.
The trail turns to the right. If you walk straight on instead of following it, you drop into the pool and the Brine take you. It is an easy place to test exactly what happens, since you resurface on the grassy bank right beside the same pool.
The Drenched debilitation from water
A second tutorial, “Debilitations,” follows the Brine warning, along with a toast reading “Debilitation: Drenched.” Water leaves your character Drenched whether you fall into a river, wade too far, or simply get soaked by rain. On its own it deals no damage, and it runs for 60 seconds.
Being Drenched changes how elemental attacks land on you, which matters far more than the wet effect itself:
- Fire attacks deal reduced damage while you are soaked.
- You cannot become Tarred.
- Lightning strikes have an increased chance of leaving you benumbed.
- Ice hits have a higher chance of inflicting ice-bound, which freezes you solid and prevents movement.
How to cure Drenched
Drenched clears on its own after its duration, but you can remove it immediately with a curative. The dedicated cure is Parching Concoction, a medicine that dries excess water off the skin. Allheal Elixir and Panacea also remove it, since both wipe every current debilitation at once.
| Curative | Buy price | Made from | Sold at |
|---|---|---|---|
 Parching Concoction | 200 G | Hill Beech Bark x2 | Eldart’s Apothecary, Hal |
Parching Concoction weighs 0.1 kg, stacks up to 99, and sells back for 70 G. You can also craft it from two Hill Beech Bark if you would rather not buy it. You can cure Drenched with Parching Concoction, Allheal Elixir, or Panacea.
Turning the Brine against enemies
By the game’s own tutorial, every living creature other than the Arisen and pawns dies at once in deep water, so a river or lake beside a fight is worth keeping in mind.
The same logic applies to your own party in reverse, so keep pawns well clear of the edge. You cannot kill the Brine themselves, and they only ever occupy deep water, so your real control over them is simply where you choose to walk.
