Drake

"I must feed... slake my hunger!" '''Drakes are an astoundingly hardy and powerful adversary, possessing many powerful physical attacks, the means of flight, and the ability to breath Fire to roast their foes. All lesser dragonkin 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 and serves as an exploitable weakness.'''

Description
One of the smaller cousins 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 dragonkin encountered by the Arisen, as it is the only dragonkin to exist in Gransys prior to The Final Battle.

Drakes are similar to its cousins, the Wyrm and the Wyvern, bearing many of the same abilities and characteristics, however it is instead related to the Fire element. As such the Drake bears a natural weakness to Ice based attacks.

Defeating a Drake has a minor chance 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.
 * Even after the Drake dies, 2 Dragon horns (if not already dropped) from the head and a Dragon alula from its back (where the wings intersect) can still be extracted from the Dragon's corpse if the Arisen continues to attack those areas before the Drake disintegrates. The pawns will declare  The horn is destroyed!  when a horn part drops, and declare  On solid ground, the advantage is ours  or  It is grounded, master  when the alula part drops from the wing area of the back. Up to 8 various Dragon parts can be extracted from the Drake in a single fight.
 * 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 substantially in Post-Game.

Tactics (Offensive)
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.
 * First, shooting the Drake with a Goldforged Rusted Bow/Longbow will inflict the Drake with Torpor, slowing it down SIGNIFICANTLY and make this fight MUCH easier. You can then switch to another bow like Dragon's Glaze (Ice imbued element) and kill him in seconds since shooting its heart is easy in slow motion !  Note that the higher the enhancement of the Rusted weapon, the higher the chance it will inflict Torpor (Slow).
 * 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.
 * 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
 * Pawns having 100% resistance to Possession (for example, wearing the Hellfire Cloak) can no longer be affected by any attack inflicting this debilitation. They simply free themselves at the end of the grab animation giving a lot of extra time to the Arisen.
 * 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.
 * 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 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.
 * 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...). Also, the MK's Ruinous Sigil(ice enchanted of course) does MASSIVE damage to the heart when he's knocked down. Just stand by the heart(don't even have to be THAT close) & spam away until he gets back up.
 * 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.

Tactics (Defensive)

 * Beware that when a Dragon Horn drops from attacking the Drake's head, it will always rear up and Dragon roar to instantly kill your pawns afterwards. Pawns will declare  The horn is destroyed!  . The only way to disrupt the Dragon roar in this instance is to quickly inflict enough damage to its heart to stagger it out of the roar animation.
 * After the Drake grabs the player and slammed him/her to the ground, it will follow with a charge attack.
 * The Drake's charge attack can be blocked or countered with Masterful Kill or Clairvoyance for massive payback.
 * 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 the Drake grabs a Pawn and begins possessing them, 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.
 * 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.
 * 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.
 * 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.
 * The Drake can knock out the Arisen's lantern at night and make finding the Drake rather hard since it can only be seen by the glow from its mouth and chest.

Tactics (Pawn-specific)

 * For offensive pawn tactics, consider using a Strider pawn with a Scather inclination as they are likely to climb the Dragon and do all the work for the Arisen by shredding the Drake's heart (check to see if the pawn has the Adhesion and/or Opportunism augments as these are very helpful for climbers). Defensively, consider using a Mage pawn with the Legion's Might staff, since that special staff auto-resurrects pawns from the Dragon roar.
 * A pawn equipped with a Rusted weapon can inflict Torpor (slow) on the Drake. This makes the fight MUCH easier, as the Drake moves in slow motion and its attacks are easy to avoid, and its heart easy to shoot/attack.  Torpor can be inflicted by hitting ANY part of the Drake (not just the heart), and pawns often attack the other body parts anyways.  Note that the higher the enhancement of the Rusted weapon, the higher the chance it will inflict Torpor (slow).
 * CAUTION: A higher level support pawn CAN annihilate the entire party.  Proper potions/curatives that remedy Possession should be carried and utilized as necessary. One can avoid this problem entirely with possession resistance equipment such as the Hellfire Cloak.
 * The longer a Drake takes damage without inflicting any, the higher the chance that it will Dragon roar and kill all pawns within range (the area behind the Drake is safe for pawns).

Trivia

 * 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.
 * As of Dark Arisen, it seems that Drakes found roaming the overworld have a chance to flee from the Arisen if the situation grows dire; much like monsters found in another Capcom series, Monster Hunter.
 * 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 early 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 also a Rift Stone for lost pawns or updating old pawns.
 * The Drake's Tear along with the Wyrm's Tear and Wyvern's Tear, increase the drop rate percentage of rare loot and of Wakestones and Wakestone Shards in The Everfall.
 * During the game startup a Drake can be seen drinking water from the river that serves as a natural border between the Wilted Forest and the Cursewood. However in the actual game, no Drake is found in this area.

Quotes

 * Latin Quotes:
 * "Arisen!!" (Battle Start)
 * "I am your master." (when possessing a Pawn)
 * "Slay your master!" (when possessing a 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!"


 * Generic versions of the Wyvern share dialogue with the standard Drake and Wyrm.