Drake

"I must feed... slake my hunger!" '''Drakes are an astoundingly hardy and powerful adversary, possessing many powerful attacks, the means of flight, and the ability to use Fire Breath. They can seize control over the will of Pawns for a brief period and then use them against the Arisen. The Drake bears a glowing chest where its heart resides which serves as an exploitable weakness.'''

Description
The smaller cousin of the titular Dragon in Dragon's Dogma. The drake is one of the lesser dragonkin encountered in the game. The drake will most likely be the first dragon-kind encountered in a player's game, as it is the only dragonkin to exist on Gransys prior to The Final Battle.

The Wyrm and Wyvern are similar to the Drake, but instead of Fire, they possess different elemental affinities.

Defeating a Drake has a chance (minor) of dragon forging the player's equipment, as long as it has at least one level of enhancement.

Rewards

 * Killing the Drake gives a percentage chance of dragon forging equipment depending upon enhancement level of the equipped gear.
 * The horns can still be broken off when the drake is dead, but there is a short time window to do so.
 * After a reload or retry the dragon's horns regenerate. This effectively means that after a save and reload more horns can be broken off allowing for multiple Dragon Horn drops in one fight.


 * Having all three dragon tears in your inventory guarantees the drake will drop a Wakestone (Post-Game Only and you must be in The Everfall.), and improves the chances of receiving the above drops.
 * The Drake's Tear item drop rate increases substaintially in Post-Game.

Tactics

 * The Drake is the 'land based' dragon, most likely to stay on the ground as opposed to take to the air; the Wyrm is a spell caster; and the Wyvern being the flyer. While they all share characteristics, as a rule of thumb one can count on these preferences from each of the different dragons.
 * Mighty Bend with Ice Enchanted bow will instantly cause the drake to hit the ground. This can be pulled off every time the drake is using fire attack or holding a pawn. In fact it's more important to deal heavy damage in a single shot as opposed to doing multiple low damage hits if trying to take it out of the air.
 * Bring some Empty Flasks so a player can bottle the Spring Water in the Healing Spring southwest of the Drake's spawning area in Devilfire Grove. Being able to heal the player and pawns simultaneously helps a lot, especially after the Roar attack. It is also possible, with some patience, to lure the Drake all the way to the Healing Spring.
 * The Drake is weak against Ice elemental attacks by 150%
 * The heart of the Drake on the front of its chest is its weak spot. When the Drake is nearly dead the exposed heart must be struck for the killing blow. This can only be done by the Arisen.Drake_Screenshot_7.jpg
 * When the Drake grabs a Pawn and begins possessingthem, the move can be interrupted by directly attacking the claw holding the Pawn. Dealing enough damage to the Drake until it staggers will release the captured Pawn.
 * When the Drake is writhing on the ground with its heart exposed, the heart takes exponentially more damage from attacks than it does when the drake is on its feet.
 * When the Drake takes to the air, attacks to its heart, head or wings will bring it down when enough damage is dealt over time, or if it is staggered by a single strong attack. Oftentimes, this can be used to put the Drake in a cycle, as when it recovers from the fall, it will likely try to fly again. Repeated attacks to the wings will eventually disable the Drake's ability to fly.
 * When the Drake flies into the air and goes off to a new spot a little distance away, if the player does not immediately follow it, it's often far away enough that one can save the game and then go to re-engage it in battle. However, this can lead to problems as well, occasionally it won't re-appear when flying off causing the player to gain dragon forged items, at the normal rate fairly low rate. This has happened when the message that an item has become dragon forged pops up, or after flying away the dragon just disappeared (it is generally accepted that the drake flies off into the sea and drowns itself, which is what causes this to happen).Drake_Screenshot_6.jpg
 * If the Drake is in the air, the Arisen can grab its tail and climb up to its heart and attack. This is much easier with Assassin (double jump) and Fighter (high stamina/melee damage) vocations. However, be careful doing this as the player will take damage from falling if it knocks them off, be prepared with stamina recovery items if attempting this early game.
 * Standing behind a tree can render the Drake's attacks --- most notably the Fire Breath and the Roar --- harmless; this doesn't work if the head is 'inside' or clipping through the tree.
 * If the player and his/her Pawns dashes behind the Drake as it rears up to roar, it will have no effect. If far enough away from the drake at the time of the roar (a considerable distance if in front of it) the roar will also be ineffective.
 * When using a bow wielding vocation, use Fivefold Flurry or Tenfold Flurry combined with Blast Arrows to make short work of this battle; simply hitting the Drake's heart at close range with two of those attacks will make it drop and writhe in pain, allowing for further attacks. This can be done again as soon as it gets up, effectively stun-locking it and preventing it from retaliating, all while exposing its heart for attacks.
 * If the player's party has a Warrior that has the skill Indomitable Lash, this can make short work of a downed Drake, more so if the Warrior is wielding Malignance, a rather powerful Ice Based Elemental Weapon, it can also render a Drake's wings useless in only a few slashes.
 * The Drake usually uses a grab attack after using Roar. If there's any Pawns near the drake, do not revive them first or they will be grabbed. Move out of the way and revive Pawns that are further away first.
 * After the Drake grabs the player and slammed him/her to the ground, it will follow with a charge attack. Blocking or countering abilities like Masterful Kill, should be employed for a massive payback.
 * The Sorcerer spell High Maelstrom works well against the Drake as it has a wide attacking radius and can easily hit the heart without having to aim accurately, the multiple hit from this spell can sap away the Dragon's health quite quickly and keeps it staggered often. A whole team of Sorcerers, spamming High Maelstrom can fell a Drake in no time.DD_screen_March3_07.jpg
 * Mystic Knight's Great Cannon is extremely effective against the Drake, provided you have an ice enchanted weapon like Almace equipped (or enchanted via spell). Have the Pawns distract the Drake long enough for you to cast at least two spheres of the Cannon and fire away, the amount of shots are enough to generate a fair amount of continuous damage and also hit almost every part of the Drake's body, this also causes most if not all of the body parts to break. It is also possible to use the cannon to deal the killing blow on the heart, so there's no need to move in close for the final hit, which normally has to be dealt by the Arisen. Combining the Cannon with other augments such as Bloodlust and Acuity for an even better result. The Wyrmking's Ring also helps a lot. If done right, the fight can be finished without taking even a single point of damage (though the same cannot be said for the Pawns...)
 * Because of the area layout and computer AI an effective way to kill the Drake in Devil Fire Grove is to climb onto one of the nearby rock formations. As long as the low side isn't nearest to it, it will attempt to charge to no avail, leaving the player only vulnerable to its roar, fire and flight attacks. While the first one is unavoidable, the second usually is also ineffective, more so depending on the height of the rock ledge. Its AI will most likely cause it to jump into the air in this situation, however, making it a sitting duck for most ranged classes, simply let it fly towards he player, shoot its heart/head/wings (whichever preferred, although enough shots to the wings will stop it from flying, which might be preferred depending on tactics) to cause it to fall back to the ground. Attack making sure to save enough stamina for when it jumps into the air again, rinse and repeat until it's dead. If attempting to revive pawns it's best to wait for it to be shot out of the air and stunned momentarily before rushing off the perch to attempt rescue.
 * For those who want to kill a Drake earlier than normally possible try this method. Using a long range vocation (Magick Archer works best thanks to the auto aiming) go to Devilfire Grove. Clear out the hill opposite the grove where the Hobgoblins and Cyclops are. Once that hill is clear go into the grove just far enough to shoot the Drake and get its attention. Quickly run back to the cleared hill and stand in front of a chest by a tree. Stay there and use long range skills to shoot the Drake every time it cycles back towards the player's party. It will go in a loop towards the player, get to main path, turn around, go to the woods, turn around and come back to towards the player again. It may take you a long time but it is possible to defeat the Drake this way. Save the game every time it goes back to the groves. WARNING: When knocking it out of the sky by the main pathway, be careful how often attacks hit the Drake, especially as it gets up. It may decide to break the loop and come over onto the hill. A quick dash away from it without engaging will send it flying back to its grove but it is best not to risk it if the player's party are under-leveled for this fight.
 * Pawns will state: "Blindness works well."
 * Possible tactic to use to gain Bestiary Knowledge. (Verify)

IMPORTANT: There is the chance that when a Drake swings its whole body around that it can knock the player's lantern light out and in the heat of battle might not even think of re-lighting it, which can make finding the Drake rather hard since it can only be seen by the glow from its mouth and chest.

CAUTION: Support pawns that are used, which are at a higher level than that of the Arisen, can be possessed and can annihilate the entire party. Proper potions/curatives that remedy Possession should be carried and utilized as necessary.

Trivia

 * After defeating The Dragon, a special version of the Drake can be found in the Conqueror's Sanctuary. It has more HP than the common drake, and unlike the majority, this particular one speaks in English as opposed to Latin.
 * When the Drake uses its Roar attack, it may come with dialogue. "Arisen!"
 * Being the only draconic enemy available before the Post-Dragon Campaign, fighting Drakes is the easiest way to get Dragonforged equipment earlier in the game.
 * When fighting the drake at Devilfire Grove, resting at the nearby Rest Camp near Lake Hardship is the best way to quickly rest for 7 days to respawn the Drake. A good gauge would be to assault and kill the guards at the camp site as they take 7 days to respawn as well. There's a Rift Stone for lost pawns or updating old pawns when you level up.
 * The Drake's Tear increases the drop rate percentage of rare loot, which includes increasing the drop rate of Wakestones and Wakestone Shards in the Everfall . When in your inventory with the Wyrm's Tear and Wyvern's Tear, the drop rate percentages increase further.
 * The Drake is a lesserkin of The Dragon, and it is the fire-based counterpart to the Wyrm and the Wyvern.
 * The Drake is also the only one of the dragon lesserkin to be available to fight (in Devilfire Grove) before killing The Dragon.

Possible Bugs

 * It's possible for the Drake to end up flying skyhigh and never return to battle.

Quotes

 * Latin Quotes:
 * "Arisen!!" (Battle Start)
 * "I am your master." (when possessing a Pawn).
 * "Slay your master!" (when possessing pawn)
 * "The seat of god lies beyond..." (death throes)
 * "Am I to die...?" (death throes)
 * "You are not the vessel..." (upon killing the Arisen)


 * English Quotes:
 * "Arh..Ah! ... Who are you?"
 * "I must feed...slake my hunger!"
 * "Your heart, give it here!"
 * "What have I? Ngh? Wauuugh!"
 * "Aye, that is the way, chosen one!"
 * "Show me your power!"


 * The generic wyrms and wyverns share the Latin dialogue.