How to beat a Cyclops in Dragon’s Dogma 2: Weakness, strategy, rewards

The Cyclops is a boss-type enemy in Dragon’s Dogma 2 that you have to defeat if you want to advance the story. You’ll make life so much easier for yourself if you have a keen eye, unlike the Cyclops.

You have to fight at least one Cyclops in DD2, and there’s no running from it. Fortunately, of all the bosses in Dragon’s Dogma 2, the Cyclops has the lowest HP, and with our guide, you can take down this one-eyed monster quickly and easily.

Cyclops weakness in Dragon’s Dogma 2

From my experience fighting the Cyclops in Dragon’s Dogma 2, it has a couple of distinct weakness: hitting it in the eye, and knocking it off of its feet.

You won’t be surprised to learn the eye is a Cyclops’ main weak spot. You’ll notice as the battle wears on that it will protect this vital point too if you attack it too much—when it stops attacking to protect its eye, lay into its body or legs.

I play as the Archer Vocation, meaning fighting Cyclopses is a cakewalk for me. A ranged weapon like a bow lets me keep a safe distance and while unleashing arrows at its eye. In the meantime, my Pawns—a Fighter and Warrior—hack and slash at the beast.

Once you’ve inflicted enough damage to the Cyclops, it falls to the ground. Attacking its legs and feet seemed to be effective for me. When the Cyclops falls over, yourself or a Pawn should take the opportunity to land a critical hit on its eye, inflicting a huge amount of damage.

Best Cyclops strategy in Dragon’s Dogma 2

To start off, whether you’re fighting a Cyclops in the wild or on the way to Vernworth, having four Pawns in your party is vital. Not only will it give you the extra firepower needed to end the fight quicker, it also means there are a couple of extra bodies to take the focus off of the Arisen.

Next, if you’re playing a Vocation with range, concentrate all your efforts on its eye. In the meantime, have at least one or two offensive Vocations like Fighters, Thieves, or Warriors to do the brunt of the physical work and keep the Cyclops occupied. Finally, having a Mage is key to heal you all during the fight.

Watch out when the Cyclops is in melee range. It swipes with its club in a massive radius, and if you get hit, it hurts—a lot. If it starts getting close, make sure you keep your distance and avoid the weapon swings.

Early on, as an Archer, I used abilities like Manifold Shot to double my damage with arrows. Torrent Shot is the quickest way to weaken the Cyclops as you reel off a machine gun-like barrage of arrows. Any time the Cyclops completely keels over, run to its eye and score as many free hits as possible. One of your Pawns should have the sense to plunge their weapon into the Cyclops’ eye to considerably damage it.

If being an Archer isn’t your thing, the same logic still applies. Swipe away at the Cyclops with your weapon of choice and make sure you’re vigilant in avoiding its devastating attacks. You can also be brave and climb the creature until you get on top of its head. Doing so will also allow you to impale the Cyclops with your weapon.

Unlike other boss battles in Dragon’s Dogma 2, like the Griffin, the Cyclops only has two extra health bars, so it shouldn’t take long to beat it.

Cyclops rewards and drops in Dragon’s Dogma 2

The rewards can vary a bit when defeating a Cyclops, but I’ve had the following drops: Beast-Steak, Misshapen Eye, Rugged Bone, and Scrag of Beast.

A couple of those are great food items you can use to instantly restore health, or better yet, set up camp and cook them into a fine meal to give you and your party some great stat-boosting bonuses. On the other hand, Misshapen Eye and Rugged Bone are valuable materials used to upgrade your gear in Dragon’s Dogma 2.

Be sure to check out how to defeat a Golem with ease in DD2 as well.