Dragon's Dogma 2 — Progression Route

New Arisen to the True Ending and beyond — the route that keeps you moving without walking past the things you cannot get back.

arpg✓ Verified in-gameTitle Update 3.2Progress is permanent — no reset147 steps · 7 missable

What this guide is

A run-along checklist, not a walkthrough. Dragon’s Dogma 2 does not tell you when a quest is about to become impossible, and a great deal of its best content is gated behind returning somewhere you have already been. This route sequences the world so that the missables stay reachable.

It is not a list of everything you could do. It is the order that keeps vocations, travel unlocks, questlines and endgame preparation moving together, so that when the point of no return arrives you are not choosing what to abandon.

Levels are guidance, not gates. What actually gates this game is your vocation rank, your Pawn, and whether you went back to Melve.

Written for Title Update 3.2. Several things older guides tell you are no longer true — see the tips below.

Tags you'll see on steps

These appear beside individual steps in the walkthrough.

missableFails permanently if you move the story past it. Do it in place.

timedHas an in-game deadline. Since 3.1 these show an hourglass on the quest notification.

no-returnPast this point, earlier content is unreachable for this playthrough.

gateBlocks everything after it — the route genuinely stops here until this is done.

prepDo this before the step that follows, not alongside it.

optionalNot required to reach the True Ending.

Wording used in the steps

Shorthand in the step text, not tags.

Updated for 3.2Six weapon skill slots instead of four, and a rebuilt save system with three slots that no longer overwrite each other. Both change how freely you can experiment.

The Eternal FerrystoneGiven automatically by Brant in Vernworth since 3.1. If a guide tells you to hoard Ferrystones, it predates that and is worth ignoring.

Permanent PortcrystalsMelve, Checkpoint Rest Town and Volcanic Island Camp all have them now. Your portable ones are for filling gaps, not for covering the map.

VocationsTen of them, and switching is progression rather than a reset. You do not need them all maxed — unlock the Augments you want and move on.

The Unmoored WorldThe true postgame, entered with the Empowered Godsbane Blade. It runs on a clock and loses settlements as time passes, so it is the one place in the game where resting has a cost.

Walkthrough

Verified for Title Update 3.2✓ Verified in-game

Sections

Vermund63

Stage 0 — The Arisen and the Main Pawn0 / 5

Your starting vocation is not a commitment. Changing vocations is most of what progression IS in this game, so pick what looks fun rather than what looks optimal. For a first party, aim for one frontline, one physical damage dealer, one Mage and one flexible slot.

Create your Arisen and pick a starting vocation
Fighter, Archer, Thief or Mage.
Create your Main Pawn with a complementary vocation
Complete Gaoled Awakening and escape the Excavation Site
Reach Borderwatch Outpost
Fill out a four-Pawn party
Fighter/Thief/Mage/Archer in some order works well either way round.

Stage 1 — Borderwatch to Melve (levels ~1–10)0 / 10

Melve now has a PERMANENT Portcrystal, added in Title Update 3.1 — which matters more than it sounds, because you come back here repeatedly in the early game.

Stage 2 — Vernworth (levels ~10–20)0 / 4

Your first real hub. Everything in Vermund routes back through here.

Reach Vernworth and complete Seat of the Sovran
gateReceive the Eternal Ferrystone from Brant
⚠️ THE SINGLE BIGGEST DIFFERENCE FROM THE 2024 ROUTE. Added in Title Update 3.1 and given automatically during Seat of the Sovran. Older guides are built around hoarding single-use Ferrystones; you can build around Portcrystals instead, and should.
Activate the Vernworth Portcrystal
Visit the Vocation Guild and the Pawn Guild

Stage 3 — Brant’s investigation0 / 6

Do not rush these end to end. They work best as anchors for exploring northern Vermund between them.

Complete Monster Culling
Clear Trevo Mine, Harve Village and the eastern Vermund objective. Rewards a PORTABLE PORTCRYSTAL (added in 3.1) — still extremely valuable even with the new permanent destinations, so prioritise this fairly early.
Complete Disa’s Plot
Complete The Caged Magistrate
Complete The Stolen Throne
Also establishes Wilhelmina’s storyline.
Complete The Nameless Village
Complete An Unsettling Encounter
The other half of Wilhelmina’s setup.

Stage 4 — Unlock Warrior and Sorcerer0 / 3

Trevo Mine is already on your route from Monster Culling, so this costs almost nothing to pick up.

Recover the Greatsword and the Archistaff
Return both to the Vernworth Vocation Guild
Unlock Warrior and Sorcerer
Six of ten vocations now open. Start levelling alternates for their Augments rather than trying to max any one of them.

Stage 5 — Harve and western Vermund (levels ~15–25)0 / 3

Harve matters more than it first appears — several character questlines route back through it later.

Complete Scaly Invaders
Complete Trouble on the Cape
Explore Stormwind Cave and the coastal caves

Stage 6 — Return to Melve0 / 4

⚠️ THE BIGGEST MISSABLE BLOCK IN THE FIRST HALF OF THE GAME. Do not simply leave Melve behind once Vernworth opens — come back while you are working through Brant’s quests.

missableTrigger Readvent of Calamity and fight the dragon
Missing or failing to complete this disrupts Ulrika’s entire subsequent questline.
Speak with Sigurd and unlock Mystic Spearhand
The earliest convenient unlock. Not lost if you miss it — Sigurd can also be found later at Dragonsbreath Tower — but it is a long detour to go back for.
missableContinue Ulrika’s storyline
missableComplete Home Is Where the Hearth Is

Stage 7 — Vernworth side stories0 / 9

Clear the capital before Feast of Deception moves the story on.

optionalComplete A Place to Call Home
optionalComplete The Heel of History
optionalComplete The Gift of Giving
optionalComplete A Beggar’s Tale
optionalComplete The Ornate Box
optionalComplete Saint of the Slums
optionalComplete Till Death Do Us Part
optionalComplete The Phantom Oxcart when it becomes available
missableStart Every Rose Has Its Thorn and gather the evidence
Requires The Stolen Throne and An Unsettling Encounter first. Easy to overlook entirely, which is how Wilhelmina’s line gets stranded.

Stage 8 — Sacred Arbor (levels ~20–30)0 / 4

Worth doing before Battahl for a reason that only pays off much later: finishing the Arborheart chain now makes the Sacred Arbor evacuation in the Unmoored World considerably cleaner.

Meet Glyndwr near Vernworth and complete Gift of the Bow
Complete A Trial of Archery
Discover Sacred Arbor and establish access
Begin The Ailing Arborheart
Opens after A Trial of Archery.

Stage 9 — Checkpoint Rest Town (levels ~20–30)0 / 6

Also gained a permanent Portcrystal in 3.1.

Reach Checkpoint Rest Town and activate its Portcrystal
Visit Ibrahim’s Scrap Store
Worth knowing about before you need it: quest items you have lost or sold can reappear here.
Unlock the local oxcart routes
Complete Hunt for the Jadeite Orb
Complete Prey for the Pack
Begin The Sorcerer’s Appraisal

Stage 10 — Ancient Battleground and the Sphinx, part I0 / 5

A large optional branch, and the entry point to the game’s biggest optional questline.

optionalExplore the Ancient Battleground and find Oskar
optionalComplete Tolled to Rest
optionalExplore Worldsend Cavern
optionalDiscover Mountain Shrine and meet the Sphinx
missableBegin A Game of Wits and complete the first five riddles
⚠️ THE SPHINX HAS REAL FAILURE STATES — a wrong answer can cost a reward permanently. Do not improvise the riddles. Dropping a portable Portcrystal nearby saves a great deal of walking.

Stage 11 — Feast of Deception0 / 4

The transition out of Vermund. Check the list below before you trigger it — several Vermund threads get harder or impossible to finish afterwards.

no-returnConfirm Melve, Ulrika, Wilhelmina, Harve and Sacred Arbor threads are where you want them
Confirm Warrior, Sorcerer and Mystic Spearhand are unlocked
timedClear any quest showing the timed hourglass icon
Title Update 3.1 added an hourglass to timed quest notifications, which makes these far easier to catch than they used to be.
Complete Feast of Deception

Battahl & the vocations31

Stage 12 — Enter Battahl (levels ~25–35)0 / 10

Bakbattahl becomes your southern hub.

Stage 13 — Unlock Trickster0 / 2

Intersects the main story rather than sitting off to the side.

During Flickering Shadows, visit the Reverent Shrine
Speak with Luz and unlock Trickster
Eight of ten vocations.

Stage 14 — The Sphinx, part II0 / 3

The second shrine is reached from the Battahl side, near Checkpoint Rest Town.

optionalFollow the river route beneath Checkpoint Rest Town to Frontier Shrine
missableComplete Riddle of Reunion and the remaining riddles
missableClaim the rewards, including the Unmaking Arrow
⚠️ THE UNMAKING ARROW PERMANENTLY ERASES WHAT IT KILLS. There is no undoing it and very few of them exist. Do not fire it to see what happens.

Stage 15 — Southern Battahl0 / 5

Worth doing before pushing the story further, and the fallback point for Mystic Spearhand.

optionalExplore the caves around Bakbattahl
Visit Dragonsbreath Tower and fight the Lesser Dragon
Unlock Mystic Spearhand from Sigurd here if you missed him at Melve
Continue the Dwarven smithing quests
prepStart carrying more Wakestones, curatives, Camping Kits and debilitation cures

Stage 16 — Agamen Volcanic Island (levels ~30–40+)0 / 3

You can come here before the story pushes you, and 3.1’s permanent Portcrystal at Volcanic Island Camp makes doing so far less painful than it used to be.

Find Gautstafr and begin Put a Spring in Thy Step
Escort him to the Hot Springs and meet Cliodhna
Unlock Magick Archer and take the Maister ability

Stage 17 — Unlock Warfarer0 / 3

The last vocation, and the one 3.2 changed most — six weapon skills instead of four gives Rearmament far more to work with.

Find Lamond at Volcanic Island Camp and begin The Sotted Sage
Obtain Newt Liqueur and give Lamond the drinks
Unlock Warfarer and obtain Rearmament
Ten of ten vocations.

Stage 18 — Vocation and Maister cleanup0 / 5

The right moment to actually build your character. You do NOT need every vocation maxed to finish the game — unlock the Augments you want and stop.

prepTake your chosen vocation to Rank 9
prepTake your Main Pawn’s vocation to Rank 9
Pick up the cross-vocation Augments you actually want
Collect the Maister skills you want
Upgrade your primary weapon and your Pawn’s equipment

The point of no return25

Stage 19 — Main story cleanup0 / 3

⚠️ READ THIS BEFORE PLAYING FURTHER. A New Godsway and the Guardian Gigantus sequence take the game into its final act, and the hard cutoff is around the top of Moonglint Tower. Everything you have left unfinished in Vermund and Battahl should be finished FIRST.

Complete Flickering Shadows and Convergence
Explore the Seafloor Shrine
no-returnComplete A New Godsway

Stage 20 — World cleanup0 / 12

The checklist that decides what your playthrough contains. Past Moonglint Tower, most of it is gone for this cycle.

Stage 21 — Build your Portcrystal network0 / 6

The Unmoored World is a race against a collapsing map, so travel time is the resource that matters most. Set this up BEFORE the final battle, not during the apocalypse.

prepConfirm fast access to Vernworth
prepConfirm fast access to Bakbattahl
prepConfirm fast access to Sacred Arbor
prepConfirm fast access to Volcanic Island
prepConfirm fast access to Checkpoint Rest Town
Spend portable Portcrystals on whatever still lacks convenient access
The permanent Portcrystals added in 3.1 cut this setup down enormously compared with the original game — the portables are now for filling gaps rather than covering everything.

Stage 22 — Guardian Gigantus and Moonglint Tower0 / 4

3.2 made this far less punishing. There are now THREE adventure save slots, each holding an Autosave, an Interim Save and a Last Inn Rest — and loading the Inn save no longer destroys the other two. For a completionist route that changes everything about how carefully you have to tiptoe here.

Begin The Guardian Gigantus and follow Talos
prepMake a deliberate save before entering Moonglint Tower
no-returnEnter Moonglint Tower and complete the final encounters
Begin Legacy

The Unmoored World28

Stage 23 — Reach the true endgame0 / 2

The normal ending is available during Legacy. The route below is the other one.

Reach the ending sequence
gateUse the Empowered Godsbane Blade at the right moment
This is what opens the Unmoored World. Taking the normal ending instead ends the playthrough here.

Stage 24 — Immediate priorities0 / 4

⚠️ DO NOT REST CASUALLY HERE. The Unmoored World runs on a clock, and parts of the map are permanently lost as time advances. Resting to heal is how people lose settlements they meant to save.

Reach the Seafloor Shrine and speak with Rothais
Begin Halls of the First Dawn
Establishes the evacuation objective for all five settlements.
Recover your Main Pawn
Complete Dreams Apart

Stage 25 — Put out the beacons0 / 6

The red beacons are the immediate threat, and they pay the endgame currency.

Clear the Bakbattahl beacon
Clear the Sacred Arbor beacon
Clear the Vernworth-area beacon
Clear the Volcanic Island and Talos objectives
Complete A Scholarly Pursuit
Bank the Wyrmslife Crystals
These become your main endgame currency.

Stage 26 — Evacuate all five settlements0 / 5

The five population centres tied to Halls of the First Dawn. Sacred Arbor is noticeably cleaner if you finished the Arborheart chain back in Stage 8.

timedComplete Civil Unrest and evacuate Bakbattahl
timedComplete The Regentkin’s Resolve and evacuate Vernworth
timedEvacuate Sacred Arbor
timedComplete The Importance of Aiding Ernesto and evacuate Volcanic Island Camp
timedComplete Shepherd of the Pawns and evacuate the Excavation Site

Stage 27 — Loot the ruins0 / 7

Once the apocalypse is under control, switch from surviving to farming. The Unmoored World holds equipment and enemies you will not meet as easily anywhere else.

Explore the newly exposed terrain and seabeds
Visit the Dragonforged and buy endgame equipment
Wyrmfire-enhance the equipment you care about
Hunt Dullahans, Gorechimeras and Goreminotaurs
Hunt the lesser dragons and other draconic enemies
Collect the unique Unmoored World armour
optionalFinish outstanding achievements

Stage 28 — The final beacon and New Game+0 / 4

⚠️ THE FINAL BEACON APPEARS AT THE SEAFLOOR SHRINE, AND ACTIVATING IT ENDS THE GAME. Do everything else first — there is no coming back to the Unmoored World in this cycle.

no-returnFinish exploring before you go near it
prepSpend surplus Wyrmslife Crystals
no-returnActivate the final beacon and complete the True Ending
Start New Game+ with your level and equipment
Carries over vocations, vocation ranks and skills. The natural home for alternate quest outcomes, missed Sphinx rewards, missed romances, missed Maister skills and equipment collection.