Farming Exploits

There are a number of Farming Exploits in Dragon's Dogma and in Dragon's Dogma: Dark Arisen which can be used to rapidly and or repeatedly kill foes either for Experience Points, Discipline Points, or loot and Gold.

Dragons
Dragons can be killed for several forms of reward - in addition to experience, they can be used to Dragonforge equipment, and certain species may give Dragon's Tears which are useful in The Everfall. For Dragonforging or item drops the Godsbaning exploit can be used to gain the desired result. Early in the main quest the only dragon in Gransys is the Drake in Devilfire Grove - if killed one will re-appear after one week.

Ur-Dragon

 * See Ur-Dragon and Ur-Dragon Class Strategies for more details on defeating this foe.

The offline Ur-Dragon is much easier to kill than the online version and can be relatively easily farmed for its loot drops. (Lvl.50+, Lvl.80+ recommended)

The Dragon's hearts, when destroyed yield useful rewards, including large amounts of Putrid Dragon Scale which sells for over 20,000 Gold, as well as other Dragon parts, and fairly common drops of Ambrosial Meats. Each heart gives two or three items, with 30 hearts on a Dragon.

Once killed the Dragon always rewards the Arisen with 20 Wakestone, and a special holy enchanted weapon - both of which sets can be sold for up to 1 million gold.

Cursed Dragon
The Cursed Dragons found only on Bitterblack Isle have a high dragonforging rate (75% for 3* equipment), better than the all others except the (online) Ur-Dragon and Grigori

Use a Rancid Bait Meat in the Duskmoon Tower or Midnight Helix to lure Cursed Dragons. Duskmoon Tower will only spawn Cursed Dragons; not other monsters. Note also that when you first arrive there, Barroch is present and can be used to store and replace any dragonforged equipment when you head to Midnight Helix.

Cursed Dragons spawn in the area as long as the Rancid Bait Meat persists. This means that killing the Cursed Dragon and re-entering the area will immediately spawn another Cursed Dragon. This can be done multiple times as long as the Rancid Bait Meat persists.


 * In the Duskmoon Tower (Pre-Daimon), a Cursed Dragon will spawn immediately when using Rancid Bait Meat; (Post-Daimon) killing the Dire Dragon is required when not using Rancid Bait Meat. If one does not place a Bait Meat, the Cursed Dragon will spawn only after the corpse of the Dire Dragon has decomposed. If one places the Meat with the Dire Dragon still alive, a Cursed Dragon will spawn alongside the other Dragon.

Death
Post-Daimon, Death can be made to appear in the courtyard of the Garden of Ignominy, provided the stench of death there is high. This can be achieved either by killing enemies, or, more easily, using Rancid Bait Meat.

In the presence of dead creatures or bait either Death or a Garm will appear in the courtyard - Death only appears if Saurians are present - if Goblins are present, Garm will appear.

The foes in the Garden of Ignominy can be changed by simply entering and exiting a Rift Stone, or by exiting the main entrance and re-entering. After Death is routed from sustaining too much damage, re-zoning after dropping another bait can cause him to re-spawn immediately.

To "Farm Death" the following steps can be taken:


 * 1) When in the Garden of Ignominy defeat all enemies (Note: Saurian corpses attract Death, while Goblin corpses attract Garm.)
 * 2) Save the game.
 * 3) Die via Godsbane or return to the main menu.
 * 4) Reload the save.
 * 5) Upon reloading drop a piece of Rancid Bait Meat. Death will Spawn.
 * 6) Damage Death as much as possible until he retreats.
 * 7) Zone the area by leaving and then re-enter - eventually, enemy corpses will decompose. Enemies must be refreshed and killed again.
 * 8) Repeat the steps 2-7 above to re-spawn Death again.

Garm
Spawning Garm is very predictable, as any room that spawns a Garm will always consistently spawn Garm, usually in a pack of two or three. The spawn rate and number of Garm spawned may change after defeating Daimon for the first time, but their spawn locations will always remain the same. As with all Necrophagic enemies; the more corpses are present in an area, the more likely these creatures will spawn.

The following steps can be taken:
 * 1) When in the Garden of Ignominy (Or any other location Garm frequently spawn) defeat all enemies that spawn.
 * 2) Save the game.
 * 3) Stab the Arisen by using the Godsbane.
 * 4) Reload the save.
 * 5) Upon reloading drop a piece of Rancid Bait Meat. Garm will spawn.
 * 6) Defeat all the Garm.
 * 7) Zone the area by leaving and then re-enter.
 * 8) Repeat the steps 2-7 above to re-spawn Garm again.

Pre-Daimon
An Elder Ogre can also be spawned in the Fortress of Remembrance Pre-Daimon, much earlier than the above method. Using a Bait Meat in the Fortress Pre-Daimon will only spawn an Elder Ogre, whereas the above Stockade method may spawn Death instead.

That can lead to a lot of tedious rezoning and wasted bait, and that issue is of no concern in the Fortress Pre-Daimon method. The only downside is after your bait/dead enemies disappear, you have to respawn the undead on the bridge to lure more Elder Ogres. You can still lure 2 - 3 Elder Ogres per bait though, even 3 - 4 if one spawns "naturally" while you're slaying the undead on the bridge before any bait is placed (which is not uncommon actually), and so you won't need to respawn the enemies more than once or twice to get their coveted crafting materials & the Immortal's Bracers from completing the Wages of Death II quest. To respawn the undead on the bridge, simply go back to Gransys and sleep for 3 days.

Here's the method broken down by steps:
 * 1) Enter Fortress of Remembrance, dealing with Death as you are able. He will always spawn the first time you enter the Fortress Pre-Daimon, but won't after that in that spot. Kill the undead on the bridge, which may spawn an Elder Ogre before bait is even placed.
 * 2) Save game for precautionary measures. Place bait anywhere on bridge, and kill the Elder Ogre.
 * 3) Exit/re-enter the way you came in via the Corridor of Emptiness. Kill the new Elder Ogre that has now spawned. Repeat this step until the bait/dead enemies disappear, and no Ogre spawns upon re-entry.
 * 4) Go back to Gransys and sleep for 3 days.
 * 5) Return to BBI, and repeat steps 1 - 4.

One other advantage here is that you will have quick easy access to both Olra and Barroch because you are just past the first shortcut gate in the Corridor of Emptiness. Barroch sells Rancid Bait Meat, and that's a big help because most players won't have gathered a lot of bait yet at this point in their first Pre-Daimon BBI run.

Post-Daimon
An Elder Ogre can be spawned infinitely in The Bloodless Stockade using Rancid Bait Meat. For best results, the below method should be done Post-Daimon with Gorecyclopes present in the First Level Underground as there is seemingly a higher chance of Death spawning instead when Living Armor are present in the First Level Underground. If a Rancid Bait Meat spawns an Elder Ogre, then all remaining Rancid Bait Meats should spawn an Elder Ogre.

Method for spawning an Elder Ogre infinitely:
 * 1) Place Rancid Bait Meat on walkway before stairs leading to Sparyard of Scant Mercy
 * 2) Defeat the Elder Ogre
 * 3) Save game
 * 4) Use Godsbane/exit to main menu
 * 5) Load save
 * 6) Enter Sparyard of Scant Mercy
 * 7) Exit Sparyard of Scant Mercy to re-enter The Bloodless Stockade
 * 8) Repeat steps 1-7

Daimon
Daimon can be "farmed" continuously for multiple runs, without the need to wait or sleep at an inn. Although the treasure chests within Bitterblack Isle will only re-spawn after 3 (in-game) days, Daimon will always re-spawn whenever the Arisen enters the Bitterblack Sanctum. The four treasure chests within the Bitterblack Sanctum will also always re-spawn after Daimon is slain.

Evil Eye
In Dragon's Dogma the Evil Eye tentacles could be farmed for Malecysts and shards during the early encounter during the quest Lure of the Abyss. In Dark Arisen these tentacles no longer drop any items. The tentacles found in the outer halls of the Chamber of Sorrow not not drop Malecysts, only those found in direct association with the Eye itself.

During a conventional Evil Eye battle the tentacles can be farmed in a similar fashion for rewards, whilst doing little damage to the Eye itself. Active Pawns may interfere with such a scheme by killing the Eye of there own volition.

Loot
The godsbaning exploit can be used to rapidly reset the outcome of the looting of a Chest, Gather spot, Ore deposit, or creature drop.

Gold
Gold can be farmed in Hard Mode at regions with high creature density - a commonly recommended area is that around the Travelers' Camp and Healing Spring in the Verda Woodlands.

Cursed items
Bitterblack cursed items can be repeated taken from Gorecyclops (Condemned) using an exploit involving Master Thief. For details see Master Thief

Discipline and Experience points
Experience Points are best farmed by repeated killing high level enemies, such as Death, Daimon, or the Ur-Dragon. (see § Foes.) Hard Mode and Weal items can be used to increase the experience gain.

Discipline Points are best gained by killing large numbers of smaller enemies - an exploit for this can be done during Post-Game in the Noble Quarter -

Noble Quarter Guards
Discipline Points (also Experience Points, Royal Banners, and Interventives) can be farmed in Gran Soren during Post-Game with minimal effort.

Post game spoiler follows

The easiest place to farm Discipline Points for Vocation advancement occurs after slaying The Dragon during the "Post-Game".

After meeting the Duke during the quest A Warm Welcome, and entering the Noble Quarter of Gran Soren, an endless supply of guards will pursue the Arisen. The Arisen can simply climb the Gran Soren Cathedral boundary wall and let the pawns slay the endless supply of Gran Soren soldiers.

The player may literally walk away from the game and come back in a few hours to find the current vocation maxed out to vocation rank 9. Gaining levels is possible with this technique, but it is much slower than gaining vocation rank. This technique should really be used specifically for growth in vocations the player simply does not wish to grind through to learn that vocation's augments and skills.

This exploit can also be continued in in the Craftsman's quarter - there are multiple safe rooftops to hide on. Soldiers in this area give more experience when slain (600+) than those in the Noble quarter (80+), but are noticeably harder to kill.