Ur-Dragon Class Strategies

This page describes strategies for effectively fighting the Ur-Dragon, both online and offline.

The following strategies works on both online and offline versions of the Dragon, but will be of the greater utility when fighting the online Ur-Dragon, since it's a much more challenging foe.

If you have an original strategy to contribute, feel free to add to this section

About the Online Ur-Dragon
The online Ur-Dragon has an extremely large amount of health to the point that its health bar typically won't visibly move in response to most attacks, even when it is clear that the party is inflicting damage. Rest assured, your contribution does make a difference, unless you exceed the damage cap.

Causing a significant amount of damage on the Ur-Dragon will grant you decent rewards even if you don't succeed in killing it, so it's worth putting together an Arisen, main pawn and assembling a complimentary party that will inflict a good amount of damage to it.

Assassin

 * Main Article: Ur-Dragon Assassin strategies

The Assassin class is a powerful offensive vocation with strong strength growth: Ur-Dragon assassin strategies generally rely on leveraging high strength and attack power for maximum damage. Specific strategies are discussed in more detail in the above link.

In the original version of Dragon's Dogma the effects of the skill Invisibility, and the augments Bloodlust and Autonomy were significantly more powerful than in the later release Dark Arisen, so some strategies using these skills will not be as effective in the later version. The Fighter augment Exhilaration often used by some Assassins was also reduced in power in the later release.

Warrior
This strategy will work on both online and offline Ur-Dragons, and both Dragon's Dogma and Dark Arisen versions of the game. It would be best for the Warrior to take very high-powered Rangers to shoot down the higher wing and tail hearts of the offline Ur-Dragon... and hope that the online Ur-Dragon spawns with no high wing hearts during Grace in order to effect an easier kill.

Warriors possess the weapons with the highest base damage output but lack ranged combat, therefore they cannot reach the hearts on the wings except under very limited circumstances. Dwells-In-Light and Angel's Fist at their highest enhancement are excellent choices against the Ur-Dragon, due to their holy enchantment. Obviously the main issue is that these two weapons need to be won from the online Ur-Dragon, in which case Wounded Heart or Bloody Thistle are the next best options. The DLC weapon Dragon's Flight can also do a decent amount of damage, though it is somewhat outclassed by the weapons mentioned previously. The issue with this class is its difficulty in hitting the wing tips, and climbing damage doesn't compare to more direct attacks. Additionally, since the Ur-Dragon likes to move around a lot, it can be very difficult to land a hit on certain parts, namely the tail and wings, due to the Warrior's slow movement speeds.

Climbing Warrior Strategy by PurpleDragon217

The Climbing Warrior Strategy can be used to defeat the online Ur-Dragon. It is a challenging fight, perhaps more challenging than most other Vocations, but winnable. Your support pawns are a critical element of this strategy. Hire two high-level Striders or Rangers. Together with your Main Pawn, your whole team will combine to beat the Ur-Dragon within the Grace Period.

If the Grace dragon has wing tip hearts, the pawns will have to shoot and kill those hearts (or hit them with spells if a pawn is a Mage or Sorcerer). Wing tip hearts are the biggest obstacle for a Warrior kill. If the Grace dragon has no wing tip hearts, a Warrior kill becomes more do-able.

Prepare for the fight by selecting your Arisen's Augments: Vehemence, Clout, Bloodlust, Opportunism, Adhesion, and Impact if you are using a Strength-based weapon (such as a Devil's Nail or Bitter End), or Acuity, Clout, Bloodlust, Opportunism, Adhesion, and Impact if you are using a perma-enchanted weapon (such as an Angel's Fist or Dwells-In-Light). Vary these appropriately (and consider Attunement as well) depending on the STR/MAG balance of your Arisen and any Master Rings you might use. Load up with plenty of boosters. Take a minimum of 32 Tagilus Miracles (and 32 Salomets Secrets if any of the 4 in your party are using perma-enchanted weapons or you have a Sorcerer or Mage pawn). Take Stamina curatives (mushrooms or Mushroom potages) and status curatives (Panaceas or Sobering Wines) as appropriate. Equip your Arisen (and main pawn, if applicable) with any armor that boosts Stagger/Knockdown. Staggering the Ur-Dragon is an important element of this strategy. Finally, equip your Arisen with Gloves of Might. Gloves of Might greatly increase your climbing speed and help keep from being thrown off the Dragon.

When the Dragon lands, identify the heart that you can get to fastest and most reliably by climbing (back leg hearts are best because they are fast to reach and easier to not be thrown off of; back and rib hearts are next easiest; arm and neck hearts after that, and tail and head hearts are most challenging). Immediately grab on and climb to a heart. If there are no wing tip hearts on the grace dragon, unequip the bow of your main pawn, and strongly consider unequipping the bows of your hired Striders/Rangers. You want Striders climbing with you and daggering. Their DPS when climbing is an important part of the strategy. Rangers can be valuable either shooting Tenfold Arrows or climbing, so you might play them by ear. One Caution: once you unequip the bow of a Hired pawn, the bow is gone for the remainder of the fight.

Once you are on a Dragon heart, attack with the X button (Xbox controls). This will beat the Dragon's heart with the end of the weapon. Warriors attacking this way are not fast, but because you are attached to the heart, they are reliable hits and do decent damage. Perhaps more importantly, you increase the likelihood of Staggering the dragon. Ideally, with a Warrior hammering a heart and a Strider or two also climbing and hammering the same (or even a different) heart, the Dragon will be stunlocked. Stunlocking a Grace dragon that has no active wing hearts gives your best chance for success. Monitor your boosters, keep the team maxxed for damage, and climb to any remaining hearts once you destroy the one you are attacking.

Magick Archer
This is effective strategy for the offline Ur Dragon for both versions of the game, NOT for the online Ur-Dragon.

As soon as the Dragon lands fire off Hunter Bolt repeated until it drops to the ground, then whilst is on the ground use Grand Scension. And repeat.

Recommended items are Heaven's Key and at a minimum, a bow as strong as Dragon's Quickening. Liquid Vim or other stamina curatives should be used to allow continual attacks with Hunter Bolt.

Mage or Sorcerer
A Mage and Sorcerer's Focused Bolt core skill (charged Light Attack) enchanted with Holy Affinity has good homing properties and can easily hit all parts of the Ur-Dragon with no stamina usage and from a decent range. It is the safest way for these classes to do damage without having to charge up lengthy spells. Sorcerer is recommended over Mage due to the fact that Sorcerer Archistaves put out more damage than Mage staffs.

Successful casting of High Maelstrom will stun the Ur Dragon, if it lands a direct hit, though this spell can be difficult to cast without interruption unless the Ur Dragon is already reeling on the ground.

Seism type spells are very effective against a downed or stunned dragon - however as an area of effect spell the effectiveness decreases as hearts are destroyed. Once more than two thirds of the hearts are destroyed the spell is generally quite innefective.

The video below is an excellent example of a solo Sorcerer's use of Focused Bolts to decimate the online Ur-Dragon.

Dragon's Dogma specific strategy
This Mystic Knight strategy takes advantage of the same behavior exhibited by the Ur-Dragon while using the Magick Archer strategy listed above. This method is suitable for the offline Ur-Dragon in both versions, and Dragon's Dogma's online Ur-Dragon and NOT Dark Arisen's online Ur-Dragon. It also assumes the Mystic Knight has a very high Magick attack stat to compensate for damage diminishing over distance.

Preparation

 * Be sure to have a shield and sword (preferably Ascalon or Totem Mace) equipped instead of a staff. Set your shield skills to Blessed Trance and Blessed Riposte, and be sure to have Great Cannon as a sword skill.
 * Skills like Holy Furor and Sky Rapture can also be useful with precise timing; the latter enables the Arisen to escape oncoming attacks quickly, and Holy Furor can be a great opening attack with proper timing.
 * Having the Wyrmking's Ring in your inventory will help a little with casting times, and several augments available through the Sorcerer and Mage vocations (Acuity, Articulacy, Attunement, and Equanimity) will also help. The Fighter augment Prescience is highly recommended, and should be considered one of the key elements to this strategy.

The Strategy
After killing the three guardian pawns: sprint straight forward to the south end of the arena and stop about 60% to the other end; you want to end-up almost exactly where the Ur-Dragon lands, which is on the meridian of the arena towards the north end (there is a dark spot and some purple fires right about where you want to stop). Face the camera towards the portal from which the Ur-Dragon comes so you know how much time you have before it descends. Immediately begin casting Blessed Trance, followed by Blessed Riposte; you should be able to charge both to level 2 and cast if you have the Wyrmking's Ring in your inventory. If you are really good with your timing, you will still have time to cast Holy Furor, charged to level 2; release (cast the spell) when the Ur-Dragon nearly lands on top of you.

When you regain control of your character (which should not be knocked over if your timing was good, as the casting animation should render you temporarily indomitable) sprint to the west (left) side of the map where there are a series of ledges. Jump to the first ledge, climb up, turn to face the dragon (which may have followed you) and cast Great Cannon. If the Ur-Dragon followed you, jump up on the ledge and keep ascending the other ledges while distancing yourself from the Ur-Dragon until it focuses its attention on one of your pawns or simply pauses. You may have to dodge a breath attack, but it's not difficult to do if you keep moving, as you are mostly above the breath attack. The closer the Ur-Dragon is to the ledge, the better.

Staying on this (west) side of the arena prevents the Ur-Dragon from roosting, and (as noted above in the Magick Archer strategy) mostly causes the Ur-Dragon to attack you with Holy Furor and occasionally Frigor.

What you want to do now is get into a rhythm with the dragon where you are staying on one of the west-side ledges, have one or more Great Cannons between you and the Ur-Dragon at any given time, and Blessed Trance with Blessed Riposte also active as much as possible. Try to place your Great Cannons as close to the ledge as possible, and do not be afraid to stack them all atop each other.

The idea behind this strategy is this:


 * You are standing behind a Great Cannon (or several) which you created while Blessed Trance was active.
 * The Ur-Dragon will cast Holy Furor, which is indicated by a large, red-glowing circle forming around your character.
 * You have Blessed Riposte active, and perform a Perfect Block (made easy with Prescience) when Holy Furor activates (hold block until Holy Furor activates, then pump the block button until the perfect block animation begins).
 * Blessed Riposte will activate the Great Cannons upon a Perfect Block, showering the Ur-Dragon with a countless number of holy missiles.
 * Several Perfect Blocks may be performed during Holy Furor, drastically increasing the amount of holy missiles released at the Ur-Dragon; sometimes so many will be released that your console will experience significant slow-down, which actually makes performing additional Perfect Blocks easier.

You will generally find that after casting Holy Furor on you, the Ur-Dragon will cast another spell (usually on your pawns fighting it in the field, but sometimes on you again) and will then lift-off into the air. If it is within your range (and it usually is coming towards you) it will come down easily with a few blasts from a Great Cannon, which you should still have active; if not: you have enough time to summon one while the Ur-Dragon begins to take-off. Never be without at least one Great Cannon between you and the Ur-Dragon; it will enable you to deal damage while recharging your stamina, and will ensure additional damage while blocking Holy Furor.

After the Ur-Dragon takes off, you should be able to knock it out of the air with some Great Cannon blasts. As soon as it starts to fall: begin casting Blessed Trance, and follow with Blessed Riposte if necessary; if you don't need Blessed Riposte (which lasts much longer than Blessed Trance), then start summoning more Great Cannons, of which you can have up to 3.

The Ur-Dragon will recover from its fall, and will likely begin the whole cycle again; it will cast Holy Furor, you will do a perfect block behind a Great Cannon, countless holy missiles will rain upon it, the Ur-Dragon will cast another spell (usually at your pawns, but sometimes you'll get another Holy Furor or Frigor) and then it will attempt to take-off into the air; you will quickly knock it out of the sky, cast Blessed Trance, summon Great Cannons, it will recover and cast Holy Furor, etc.

A Ruinous Sigil + Great Cannon will create an automatic turret if the Ur-Dragon touches it.

Pros

 * The Ur-Dragon becomes incredibly predictable.
 * The Ur-Dragon will not cast debilitating spells like Petrification; it will mostly stick to Holy Furor and Frigor.
 * The Ur-Dragon will never roost as long as the Arisen occupies the west side of the arena.
 * Console slow-down makes performing multiple Perfect Blocks easier by "pumping" the block button during Holy Furor.
 * Potential for massive damage when the Ur-Dragon is fully in-range, and especially with augments which increase magick damage.

Cons

 * Sometimes the Ur-Dragon will be just out of your range if you are on the ledge. Sticking to the very edge is recommended to minimize this. Leaving the ledge is fine to close the gap, but this also activates different spell chains and different behavior from the Ur-Dragon. Returning to the ledge quickly is advised once the Ur-Dragon notices you. Move around, staying on the various ledges, and positioning yourself as close to the Ur-Dragon as possible.
 * Pawns (usually Mages and Sorcerers) will die, and the best time to revive them is during the period where the Ur-Dragon falls out of the sky and is stunned. This usually results in your Blessed Trance wearing-off, and you not having time to place Great Cannons, or restore your buffs. Return to the ledge immediately after reviving pawns, and find an opportunity to renew the cycle.
 * Console slow-down. With 3 Great Cannons activated by a perfect block via Blessed Riposte, there will be a lot of things happening at once on the screen, especially if your pawns are casting spells at the same time.
 * Distance/Range. If your Mystic Knight is more than a dragon's length away (this is defined as from the Ur's nostrils to the base of its buttocks where the tail begins), damage from the Great Cannon is significantly reduced.  Unless your MK is a magick min/max, you will not be particularly effective.

Dark Arisen specific strategy

 * Karathrax's Mystic Knight alternate Strategy

The above strategy from Obsidian Draconis is useful for Mystic Knight fights against the offline Ur Dragon (Dark Arisen) and for both Ur Dragons in Dragon's Dogma. This is inefficient against the online Ur Dragon in Dark Arisen as fighting it from close range is significantly more effective than from a distance. Just prior to the release of Dark Arisen, both consoles' online Ur Dragons were significantly upgraded in terms of the range of Defense and Magic Defense it has at the time each Generation spawns so long-range shots from the MK's Great Cannon are significantly downgraded in terms of power due to distance.

Optimal augments are: Acuity, Attunement, Clout, Vehemence, Bloodlust and Articulacy.



Take the following, divided between player and main pawn (or whomever in the party has the best carry capacity): 32 Salomet's Secrets, 32 Tagilus's Miracles; For the Arisen, 4-5 Liquid Vim; For the party, 3 Panaceas, 10 Spring Water, 10 Mushroom Potage, each.

Skills needed are: Great Cannon, Ruinous Sigil, Full Moon Slash, Abyssal Anguish, Blessed Trance, Blessed Riposte

Rings: Rings that increase magic are preferred over third tier skill rings, as there often is simply not enough time to fully charge and cast the third tier skills in a Ur-Dragon fight.

This is more tactically advanced play. The Mystic Knight has a running balancing act in order to keep buffs going and keep on top of the Ur Dragon's attacks. Learning the Ur's moves-- it telegraphs its intentions-- to anticipate rather than react is the key to success here. An Abyssal Anguish buff on the MK's weapon is very useful since it adds a significant knockdown/stagger to the MK's attack.

The Strategy:

Set up at least one Ruinous Sigil and Great Cannon trap for the Ur to land in. It is useful to set up a pair as the Ur is intelligent enough to position itself upon landing to avoid them. Set your stat buffs after the Ur roars his introduction since he can cancel them all with his roar. Generally, you always want one GC sigil on the field at all times, but never more than two. Make sure you always have Blessed Riposte charging your shield, particularly when you know the Ur is casting its own Holy Furor. Perfect Blocking the Ur's spell with a charged magick shield with at least one Great Cannon sigil on the field does significant damage to the Ur.

Choose Sorcerers with the following spells: High Bolide, High Maelstrom, High Gicel and especially High Fulmination. Bolide and Fulmination will stack automatically into the MK's damage; set Great Cannon sigils within a Sorcerer's AoE field for extra firepower. Maelstrom is good against the Ur for stagger and knockdown; sigils can also be set within the edge of its funnel cloud, though they're not always accurate in striking the Ur's hearts.

Remove bows from Striders/Rangers for climbing efficiency. If the Ur has front paw hearts, generally pawns will not climb on their own until those paw hearts are destroyed.

Ranger
(suitable for Dragon's Dogma and offline Ur Dragon)

This Ranger solo strategy isn't as spectacular as the Assassin or Mystic Knight strategies but it's very simple, still effective and different.

Preparation

 * Dagger skills Instant Reset (In case you get knocked down). Nothing else really matters!
 * Longbow Skills: Tenfold Flurry, for when the Ur-Dragon is roosted; Comet Shot, for scoping out spots that are vulnerable for Tenfold Flurry; Endecad Shot, for hitting multiple places at once.
 * Augments: Clout & Vehemence, for strength boost; Autonomy & Bloodlust further strength boost, similar to the assassin solo strategy; Trajectory & Damping, to cause Tenfold Flurry arrows to fly almost perfectly straight and to simplify aiming at a roosting Ur-Dragon.

The Strategy
Sleep till night-time to activate Bloodlust. At the Ur-Dragon chamber head to the top of the eastern cliff after you kill the three corrupted pawns. Once Ur-Dragon lands he will either start casting spells, which should be dodged whilst remaining on the cliff and firing arrows .. dodge and shoot.

If the dragon roosts he will shoot purple balls of death - typically four times per party member. These can be avoided by standing a certain distance away from the pillar type object in between you and Ur-Dragon, causing you to still be able to hit him, but causing the purple balls to hit the pillar. Use Comet Shot to see the areas that still have a heart and then start shooting Tenfold Flurry.

Use of liquid Vim's or any other stamina curative is optional. It should be possible to complete the trial without having to heal at all.

Pros

 * Simple
 * Doesn't require stamina curatives for survival
 * Very good for attacking Ur-Dragon's wings

Cons

 * Not as much damage output as Assassins or Mystic Knights
 * Generally a lot lower output if Ur-Dragon isn't roosting even though he does pretty often
 * More vulnerable to spells cast by the Ur
 * Ur-Dragon's right side is partially protected while he is roosting

Ranger Strategy for the Online Ur, Dark Arisen version.
Karathrax's alternate strategy, works for both Dragon's Dogma and Dark Arisen.

There is little to no need to climb, and if your Arisen has a Strength stat over 300 and are a reasonably accurate shot, there's no reason for the Ur to land any damage on you. You WILL need 4x Tagilius' Miracles, Salomet's Secrets (just in case) and Mushroom Potage to fuel your stamina... and Blast Arrows. Lots of Blast Arrows.

The Longbow is a Gold Dragon Forged Revenant Wail. There is little to no need to use any other weapon during the round, so feel free to take along an extra set of daggers for Dragon Forging.

Augments: Bloodlust, Clout, Vehemence, Sinew, Opportunism, Adhesion The last two are just in case. The Arisen in the video below is a very high strength build, so if the Arisen also has a high investment in Magick, switch Sinew and Adhesion for Acuity and Attunement for your just in case augments and carry Heaven's Key.

Load up with 32 Tagilius' Miracles, 32 Salomet's Secrets (split them evenly between two people), at least 10 each Mushroom Potage, 5 Panacea then add a Maker's Finger to the Arisen's inventory. Load everyone in the party to Overload with Blast Arrow; your pawns are your mules. Since Rangers will use 10 Blast Arrows per shot, you won't be Overburdened for very long.

Strategy:
Shoot. SHOOT. SHOOT.



Strider

 * Karathrax's climbing strider strategy

Consider the Strider! It's very effective against the online Ur Dragon, particularly with one Sorcerer and another Strider/Ranger or a pair of Rangers or Striders.

For a Strider Arisen, if you're just setting out for your first online kill, wear your best and strongest armor. If you're vulnerable to magick attacks, stock up on magick defense curatives or tools (such as Decoction of Bandlily or Mage's Periapt, which also stack up to 4x), because you'll be a sitting duck for the Ur's Holy Furor while you're climbing. Group curatives/tools are highly recommended over Periapts, as they apply to the entire party.

Recommended Arisen augments are Clout, Vehemence, Acuity, Attunement,Opportunism, and Bloodlust. These augments will obtain the greatest boost to damage output from both physical and magical base stats. Arisen with low magic stats that will not benefit from Attunement may use Adhesion instead, for safer climbing.

When climbing the Ur Dragon, if you're going to be thrown by a spin, leap or paw swipe, push up the left analog stick (movement) to prevent being thrown off. (Adhesion will not save you from that particular draconian move.) Keep in mind that damage testing showed Acuity to do a strange thing: at the moment of strike, Acuity, when coupled with a holy buff, will add another 10% of the user's STRENGTH stat to damage. Keep it, even if you're using Framae Blades.

Load up on your curatives, take one Maker's Finger, and load the whole party to near Overencumbered with Blast Arrows, particularly if you are not confident in your manual shooting skills. If the Ur Dragon presents with tail or high wing hearts in Grace, you will need those Blast Arrows.

Recommended consumables for the party:

10 Spring Water, 5 Panacea, 10 Mushroom Potage each. If the Arisen is hit, pawns will instantly use enough Spring Water to keep them alive, provided they have enough. This makes a Mage in the group unnecessary.

Arisen and Main Pawn (or whomever can carry the most without being too terribly overburdened): 16 Tagilus's Miracles and 16 Salomet's Secrets.

Arisen only: 5 Liquid Vim, more if you are below level 200 - as many as you need for the entire fight. The Mushroom Potage is back-up in case you run out of Liquid Vim.

Equip a Maker's Finger, and give everyone all the Blast Arrows as they can carry. Yes, you're moving slowly. No, it doesn't matter much.

Ask your Sorcerer for a holy buff prior to killing the three Corrupted Pawns by pressing on the left "help" D-pad command button (for Holy Affinity or Holy Pact; this must be pressed twice, as the Sorcerer will only buff two per command. If the Sorcerer has Holy Pact and Perpetuation equipped and you're wearing Gauntlets of Oblivion or Gauntlets of Shadow with the bonus "Extends duration of attribute boosts applied to you," the buff will last five-and-a-half minutes. Try to make sure that the Sorcerer buffs the rest of the climbers in the party prior to the Ur landing. Climbing attackers with high Magick Attack stats, should use Heaven's Keys, not Framae Blades, for high strength Striders the reverse applies.

Destroying which heart in which order can be important. It is recommended to shoot Blast Arrows as soon as the Ur Dragon lands, however group strength and magic boost potions should be saved until the Ur Dragon either flinches the first time or finishes roaring. Your Maker's Finger should be reserved until the Dragon is down on the arena floor, stunlocked: the Ur Dragon can and will throw off the effect of the Maker's Finger and cancel curative effects and stat boosts applied prior to its initial roar. Aim for a heart with high health or high annoyance (the high wings!) first, or take a position near a tail heart and shoot it over and over again, forcing the Ur Dragon to flinch and back up to the point where its tail is out of bounds. As long as a glowing heart is shot or struck with sufficient power, the Ur Dragon cannot get away from you. The Maker's Finger is best used against a heart with a high health concentration, such as the lower back leg (the cankle!), ribcage or, if it's rearing, the center back or kidney hearts. Don't miss!

Once the Ur Dragon is down and stunlocked, choose an annoying or difficult heart to take, which is a tail, high wing, or a heart on the head and chin, or the front paws. The front paw hearts are hard to hit when the Ur Dragon is standing; it's easiest to grab into that particular hitbox when the foreleg is stretched out straight. (tactics battle tested on both console's Ur Dragons for multiple kills)

This video is a sample kill as a Strider.



Pros

 * Very fast and almost foolproof. The strategy is effective enough for a fully-leveled and well-equipped Arisen and main pawn to take the online Ur Dragon without help from rented pawns.


 * The Strider has the fastest climbing speed of any vocation. Add the Gloves of Might for even faster climbing speed, although their use precludes equipping Gauntlets with enchantment duration extension properties (see above).


 * The Strider's Hundred Kisses/Thousand Kisses strike rate has been determined by damage testing to be the fastest of any vocation, faster than Assassin, Ranger and Magick Archer.

Cons

 * Shooting skills can be problematical as the Ur-Dragon typically presents an extremely fast-moving target, unless it is flinching or it is stunlocked on the floor. Shooting skills can be practiced on the offline Ur Dragon, though it is not as aggressive and fast as the online version.


 * Always reserve some Blast Arrows in case of roosting. The Ur can be brought down from its perch by hitting it with a Blast Arrow-loaded Mighty Bend, provided you hit it in a 'live' heart hard enough to make it scream.