Climbing

Climbing is a core mechanic in Dragon's Dogma.

Description
Climbing allows the Arisen and their Pawns to take on larger monsters. They may grab onto, climb up, and attack giant enemies, and get to otherwise unreachable weak points such as the eye of a Cyclops or the heart of a Drake.

Stamina is the deciding factor on how long one can stay attached to an enemy as climbing uses stamina. When their stamina is fully depleted, the climber's grip is lost and they will fall.

Stamina will be used up very rapidly if the monster attempts to shake off the climber. During such violent motions the climber can only cling, and will be temporarily unable to attack. Some creatures will grab a climber, smash them on the floor, or try other motions to dislodge them; colliding with structures when climbing will also cause loss of grip.

Mounted combat
Climbing Arisen and allies are restricted in the attacks they can perform: Dagger wielding combatants can carry out light and heavy attacks, whilst staff users are restricted to light attacks. The heavy attack Magick Billow can be used once, but the force of the blow will cause dismounting. Fighters and Warriors are also limited to light attacks.

Generally, non-core skills can not be used whilst climbing, with a few exceptions: The dagger skills Scarlet Kisses, Hundred Kisses and Thousand Kisses can be used when mounted on a large creature, and are ideally suited for that purpose. Assassins also can use Gouge with a sword. The Magick Archer skill Immolation (and its variants) is very effective.

The inclination Scather encourages climbing, as most larger dangerous monsters are climbable.

Environmental climbing
Ledges of most large rock formations, walls, large scale wooden structures and so on can be grabbed onto with a jump and then scrambled up.

Walking near a ledge or fall causes a hesitation response; if the Arisen continues in the same direction, they will go over the drop. Pressing in the back direction immediately once falling usually causes the Arisen to grab onto the ledge and dangle. This dangling allows fall height to be reduced and often turns a damaging fall into a safe one.

Vocation and build effects
Different vocations climb at innately different rates. The fastest climbers are Striders, with Rangers and Magick Archers also being effective. Heavy or tank-like classes such as Warrior or Mystic Knight are slow climbers.

Striders are unique in having greatly reduced stamina use when climbing - consumption is reduced by one third compared to all other vocations, giving climbing time of half as much again. The also gain an increase in attack power when climbing giant monsters.

Encumbrance plays a major role in stamina drain whilst climbing - tripling tiredness from very light to very heavy encumbrance.

Smaller characters also climb monsters faster than larger characters, dependent on Character Weight. However, heavier characters may be better at encumbering creatures when climbing.

Augments and equipment

 * Dexterity improves climb speed on environmental objects like rocks, (but not ladders), and does not improve the speed of climbing on creatures.
 * Arm-Strength reduces stamina use when climbing.
 * Adhesion improves grip whilst climbing, reducing the effect of monsters flailing.
 * Opportunism increases attack strength whilst climbing.
 * Gloves of Might improve climbing speed.

Monster climbing

 * Dragonkin, Ogres, Cyclopes, Cockatrices, Evil Eyes, the Gazer, Golems, Chimeras, Giant Saurians as well as their giant cousins and Griffins can all be climbed.
 * Depending on the position on the creature, monster climbing uses "tank controls" - that is: forward/backward, and rotate left/right or "strafe controls" - that is: forward/backward, and shuffle left/right.
 * Jumping while clinging to an enemy propels the Arisen much higher than even a double jump, in return for some stamina expenditure — this coupled with the height of the creature and a double jump may be used to reach heights and/or ledges normally unaccessible.
 * Creatures may use a variety of tactics to attempt to dislodge the climber:
 * Some moves deal next to no damage, but effectively eat away the climber's stamina. The most obvious of these are the wet-dog-shaking-dry moves.
 * Stamina restoratives can be used whilst climbing.  When climbing enraged monsters it is advisable to keep the stamina level high enough to compensate for sudden violent motions that will exhaust stamina.
 * Attacks aimed at a party member on the ground or at the climber may easily stagger and thus causing them to fall off.
 * Clinging to a Cyclop's arm while it strikes may fling the climber to the ground badly bruised, but riding a raging Ogre's arm is usually safer than being in any other place around it.
 * The monster may just keep moving in rapid motions if none of the above works, causing the attacker to dangle and simply run out of stamina over time, especially if they are loaded with heavy loot.
 * In a case of a non-damaging collision of creature's limbs, a climber may autonomously reattach themselves from the former part of the creature to the colliding one — e.g. such as from a Cyclop's face to its arm when it tries to feel its damaged eye.
 * Monster anatomy can pass through arena/chamber boundaries whereas the Arisen and pawns cannot. For example, if a dragon's head or tail passes through landscape features as it spins, any Arisen or pawn mounted on boundary-breaking anatomy will instantly drop off.

Environmental climbing

 * Crates and Barrels can be scaled with a jump.
 * Frigor based spells create a temporary climbable spire of ice.
 * Some objects can be climbed, such as the Hanging Bodies found in some locations on Bitterblack Isle.
 * When dangling from an object, press "down" to drop, and "forward" to climb up.