Dragon’s Dogma 2: Best Thief weapon skills

The Thief is one of the most enjoyable vocations in Dragon’s Dogma 2, allowing players to quickly dart around enemies while using high-damage attacks. There’s quite a high skill ceiling with the Thief, especially against tougher enemies, but it’s a rewarding vocation to rank up and master.

Of course, as with any vocation in Dragon’s Dogma 2, you can make or break your Thief with the weapon skills you choose to wield. While there are no truly useless Thief weapon skills, certain ones are stronger than others. In this guide, I’ll take a look at all of the weapon skills for the Thief and give you my suggestions on the best ones to use.

Best Thief weapon skills in Dragon’s Dogma 2

The Thief has a wide range of weapon skills, featuring skills that deal strictly damage and others meant to be used as an escape from trouble. Some skills can only be used in specific situations, such as when you’re grabbing an enemy or when you parry them.

Below, I’ve listed five weapon skills you should prioritize your DCP on in Dragon’s Dogma 2. Keep in mind though, some of these skills are only unlocked after reaching a certain Vocation Level or completing specific quests.

Biting Wind

Biting Wind is the first skill you unlock in Dragon’s Dogma 2 and it’s by far one of the best for the Thief vocation. It allows you to dart away from or toward combat while also getting quick jabs in along the way. You can also upgrade Biting Wind to Cutting Wind, which has a larger attack range and makes it even easier to damage enemies and then dart away. It’s arguably the best overall skill for the Thief and it’s the one I use the most throughout combat.

Enkindled Blades

Enkindled Blades is another early skill that might be extremely useful or moot for you, depending on your primary Pawn. If your primary Pawn is a Mage, then Enkindled Blades can be moot because Mages imbue your weapons with elemental damage. One of my Mage Pawns is often imbued by daggers with lightning damage, which overrides the flame damage from Enkindled Blades.

However, if you don’t have a Mage consistently imbuing weapons, Enkindled Blades is a terrific weapon skill. When you have the flames active, you deal more damage. This can eventually be upgraded to Ignited Blades, which makes the flames last longer.

Helm Splitter

Helm Splitter is one weapon skill that needs to stay in your skill slots for the entire duration of Dragon’s Dogma 2. This skill allows you to jump up in the air, spinning in a constant circle and flailing your weapon as you do so. Your weapon can connect with enemies and deal massive damage as long as they stay within the weapon’s range.

Helm Splitter is one of the best ways to deal damage to larger enemies in Dragon’s Dogma 2, but it also allows you to deal critical damage to any larger enemy’s head. If you line up your Helm Splitter correctly, you can hit an enemy’s head numerous times in one attack, making it more likely they’ll become staggered and take extra critical damage. Helm Splitter can also be upgraded to Skull Splitter to make the spin faster too.

Ensnare

Remember what I said about the Thief struggling to deal with larger enemies? Well, Helm Splitter is one way to go about it, but Ensnare is another. This skill pulls out a lasso and ropes enemies, bringing them closer to you or knocking them down. I find Ensnare best to deal with those annoying Harpies, who remain high in the air, or to bring down large enemies, like Cyclops’ or Ogres. You can also upgrade Ensnare to Implicate, which applies a greater force to your rope.

Formless Feint

Finally, there’s Formless Feint, which isn’t a weapon skill you unlock by leveling up as a Thief in Dragon’s Dogma 2. Instead, you need to complete a specific main story quest, which takes place in the capital city of Vernworth. More specifically, you need to investigate the False Sovran at the Nameless Village and complete that quest to unlock Formless Feint.

Once you unlock the skill, you’ll want to equip it immediately. When activated, Formless Feint gives you lightning-fast reactions, allowing you to dodge just about any attack. This skill uses stamina, though, so you’ll need to watch your yellow energy bar while using it.

These are the five skills I recommend using as a Thief in Dragon’s Dogma 2. There’s certainly a case to be made for others too though, like Easy Kill, Powder Charge, and Shadow Cloak, so I would unlock every one you can and test them out for yourself.