Drake

"Does doubt haunt you?"

Drakes are an astoundingly hardy and powerful adversary, possessing many mighty physical attacks, the means of flight, and will attempt to roast their foes by breathing Fire. All lesser dragonkin can seize control over the will of Pawns for a brief period and then use them against the Arisen. The Drake's chest glows red where its heart resides, which serves as an exploitable weakness.

Description

A more common type of dragon known as a Drake

The Red Drake is one of the smaller cousins of the titular Dragon in Dragon's Dogma and is one of the lesser dragonkin encountered in the game.

It is likely that the Drake in Devilfire Grove will be the first dragon encountered by the Arisen in the world of Gransys. After the cataclysmic events following The Final Battle, more dragons appear in Gransys, including other species.

Drakes are similar to their cousins the Wyrm and the Wyvern in that they bear some of the same abilities and characteristics. However, they are differentiated from their cousins by their relation to the Fire element. Accordingly, Drakes bear a natural weakness to Ice based attacks.

Defeating a Drake has a small chance of dragon forging the Arisen's equipment, provided it has at least one level of enhancement.

Overview

Type	Dragonkin
Experience gained	Base Experience of 25,000 Can be more or less depending on a few factors such as: Having fewer pawns Being under the effect of Weal Use of the Bezel Crown bow Being in Hard Mode Having higher or lower level pawns
Location	Devilfire Grove's Drake Estan Plains' Drake Conqueror's Sanctuary's Drake Gransys Devilfire Grove, respawns after 7 days Post-Game Estan Plains, respawns after 7 days Conqueror's Sanctuary, respawns after 3 weeks Chamber of Fate in the Everfall, respawns after 7 days Bitterblack Isle Rotunda of Dread : With 4 Saurians and 4 Sulfur Saurians (Pre-Daimon) With Fiend-luring Incense - one Drake, one Wyrm and one Wyvern
Items	On death Dragon Scale (20%), Amber Dragon Scale (32%), Dragon Claw (12%), Indurated Dragonsblood (5%), Rift Cluster (5%), Drake's Tear (5%), Dragon Horn (1%), Greatwyrm Stone (1%) Drake Horns destroyed Dragon Horn (100%) Drake Wing destroyed Great Dragon Alula (80%), Dragon Scale (14%), Amber Dragon Scale (5%), Drake's Tear (1%)

Stats

Stats Health Attack Defense Magick Attack Magick Defense Weight 80,000 1,600 400 † 500 230 5,000

Relative Damage Taken Slash Bash Fire Ice Thunder Holy Dark 100% 100% 20% 150% 100% 100% 100%

Debilitation Resistance

Sources: Dragon's Dogma - ドラゴンズドグマ ＆ Dark Arisen (www10.atwiki.jp), the Dragon's Dogma Signature Series Guide, List of Creature Debilitation Resistances, and in-game testing.

† Defense values refer to the Drake's heart. Blows hitting the wings or head do much reduced damage, and areas such as the tail are even more armored.

The Conqueror's Sanctuary Drake has higher defense, and considerably higher attack and aggression.

Attacks

Attack	Type	Description
Fire Breath	Mag	A massive stream of fire is blasted from its mouth. Can cause Burning. The Drake can use this move either when pacing forward or backing away from its target(s).
Charge	Phys	Charges at a target on the ground to trample it.
Grab (Arisen)	Phys	The Arisen is grabbed and then slammed into the ground.
Grab (Pawn)	Spec/Status	A Pawn is grabbed but instead of being slammed into the ground, the Drake tries to seize control over the pawn. Causes Possession, which turns the Pawn against the Arisen.
Slam	Phys	Will take flight then drop suddenly to slam its torso into the ground, inflicting massive damage to anyone underneath.
Aerial Spin	Phys	If the Arisen or one of his/her Pawns are holding onto the Drake while it is in flight, it will spin rapidly, draining a massive chunk of stamina.
Stomp Attack	Phys	A powerful attack with its feet, staggers targets.
Sweeping Backhand	Phys	A backhanded slap with one of its front claws.
Tail Sweep	Phys	A powerful spinning attack with its tail, knocks targets off their feet.
Wing Flap	Phys	Powerful wing flaps that create strong winds preventing the party from approaching. Can be counteracted by equipping the Stability augment or armor with the bonus enhancement "Prevents wind from affecting mobility." While this negates the buffeting effect of the wind, the dragon's wing flaps will then be able to deliver physical blows.ows.
Dragon Roar	Spec/Status	A mighty roar that kills all Pawns within range, staggers the Arisen and can cause Skill Stifling, as well as rendering pawns unconscious. Dragonkin will immediately Roar in retaliation when one of its horns are destroyed, or when its wings are disabled. A drake also roars when its heart is first exposed, but this does not skill stifling or render pawns unconscious
Fiery Drive By	Mag	Flies into the sky and then dives past a target, breathing fire at the ground near them as it passes. The Dragon initiates multiple passes before landing again. (very rare)

• When a Dragon Horn is destroyed, Pawns will declare "The horn is destroyed!" and a piece of Dragon Horn will drop. There is a horn on either side of the head.
• Destroying the wings causes Pawns to declare "'Tis grounded, Master!" or "On solid ground, the advantage is ours!" , and a Great Dragon Alula will drop.
• Intact horns can be destroyed after the Dragon is slain, likewise, an alula may by obtained by striking a dead Dragon's back where the wings intersect.

Tactics

Offensive

Fighter with Almace sword vs Drake, one on one duel-0

Shieldless Almace-wielding Arisen initially lures a Drake away from the Hobgoblins at Devilfire Grove, and then demonstrates the use of Hindsight Strike to completely avoid damage. (Hard Mode, with the Stability augment equipped)

• The heart on the front of its chest is its weak spot.
  • When the Drake is nearly dead the exposed heart must be struck by the Arisen in order to kill it.
  • While the horns are present attacks to these causes nearly as much damage as attacks to the heart but does not affect the overall helth of the Dragon.. Only once the horns are destroyed do attacks to that part of the head damage the Drake itself - however the underlying armor is much more resilient to attack.
• Concentrate on downing or stunning the dragon - a reeling dragon is more vulnerable to attacks, and its heart can be easily attacked by all vocations.
• Strong against Fire, and resistant to Burning.
• Immune to being Blind, Tarred, Drenched, Curse, Petrification and lowered attributes.
• Weak to ice
  • Can be partially frozen but not shattered. However, when frozen the affected body part is as if it where covered in a temporary armor of ice, and will take much reduced damage on the hit that breaks the ice - reduced to around one fifth.
• Vulnerable to Torpor and Poison. A Torpor-debilitated Drake is much easier to climb, dodge and attack. Torpor will last for 25 seconds before the debilitation must be re-inflicted.
• Repeated attacks to the wings will eventually disable the Drake's ability to fly.
• When in flight and hovering even the slightest physical attack on the tip of the tail will usually down the dragon.
• Can be silenced, but the debilitation has no noticeable effect.

Vocation specific tactics

• For all melee-capable vocations, climbing up to its heart and attacking is the direct route to defeating a Drake. For climbing tips, see Climbing.

Strider with Rusted Daggers vs Drake. One on one duel, dead in 60 seconds.

Lone Assassin (not strider) using Rusted Daggers to inflict torpor, incombination with Thousand Kisses and Masterful Kill. (Hard mode, with Adhesion augment)

• Of the physical ranged attacks:
  • In terms of knocking down a dragon - the core bow attack loose has better knockdown than the multistrike skills, other specialized skills such as Deathly Arrow, Fearful Din are even more effective; Fracture Dart also so, and has the additional advantage of damaging the wings.
  • The Ranger skill Great Gamble is very effective when used against the Drake's heart.
• Assassins - The Drake's charge attack, and other physical attacks can be blocked or countered with Masterful Kill or Clairvoyance.
• Fighters & Mystic Knights - the Drake's charge attack, and other physical attacks can be Perfect Blocked. Perfect blocking a dragon's charge attack may stagger it.
• Warriors - powerful "single strike" skills are best against the heart, though the Warrior should also consider concentrating on attacks and skills intended to stagger or knockdown the dragon.
• Mystic Knights - Abyssal Anguish and Great Cannon are both effective against the Drake, especially when used with ice enchanted weapon. Perilous Sigil based spells are a powerful alternative to physical attacks on a downed dragon.
• Magick Archers - as per other bow users, with the advantage of the ice based Sixfold Bolt. Hunter Bolt also reliably knocks down a Drake.
• Sorcerers: High Maelstrom works well against the Drake, and with Articulacy, the duration and cast time overlap allowing sorcerers to stun lock the Drake when placed under its chest, even more so with a team of Sorcerers. High Gicel does horrific damage to the Drake with a direct hit on the heart.

Defensive

• Attacking the mouth during the fire breath attack can interrupt and stagger the Drake.
• Beware the Dragon Roar
  • Dragons roar with anger everytime a wing or horn is destroyed.
  • The roar can be interrupted, however, once recovered the Drake try to roar again.
  • If staggered whilst rearing up to roar the Dragon will not attempt it again.
• Prepare for Skill Stifling (Arisen), Possession (Pawns), and for fire damage and burning infliction
• Though other smaller enemies during a Drake battle may be annoying (such as the Hobgoblins at Devilfire Grove), one tactic is to ignore them and concentrate on the dragonkin, as the Drake's attacks will rapidly kill them anyway.
• Fire breath:
  • Standing behind a thick tree is a good defensive position. It can render the Drake's Fire Breath harmless and the Roar will not inflict Skill Stifling.
  • The ice block from spells such as Frigor can also protect against the fire breath.
  • Not blocked by any shield carried, regardless of blocking including Perfect Block.
  • Drenched, such as from falling into Lake Hardship, will mitigate against a single breath attack, preventing Burning but not its other effects.
• The Stability augment is very useful against all Dragonkin. All wind buffeting attacks are nullified, meaning that one cannot be blown over backwards or interrupted while casting spells or charging skills.
• Wing buffets can also be blocked or Perfect Blocked by a shield or magick shield.
• The application of one Sobering Wine, or other method to the status of Impervious, will clear all status effects from the party and provide an temporary immunity to all debilitations including burning, possession, and Skill Stifling.
• After the Drake grabs the Arisen to the ground, it will follow up with a charge attack.
• The Drake usually uses a grab attack after using the roar. If there are any Pawns near the Drake, do not revive them first or they will likely be grabbed.
• A sufficiently short Arisen will be able to slip underneath the Drake's legs, giving some degree of protection from various attacks, and easy access to its heart.

Pawn-specific tactics

• Generally the skills and augments suitable for an Arisen fighting a Dragon are suitable for a pawn.

  

  A Strider pawn annihilates a Drake (almost single handed)

  A mounted Strider pawn with 3 star knowledge can be ruthlessly effective at slaying Dragonkin.

• For offensively-oriented non-spellcasting pawn tactics, consider using the Scather inclination to encourage climbing attacks on the heart.
• When hiring, pawn knowledge is important - poor enemy knowledge may cause the pawn to fail to target the heart with its most powerful attacks, and instead randomly target one of four critical targets on the Drake (the two horns, the wings, and the heart).
  • To this end, an Arisen may consider concentrating on destroying the horns and wings early on in the battle.
• Ranger pawns can show greater than human skill with Great Gamble, as well as timed skills like Deathly Arrow.
• Consider using a Mage pawn with the "auto-resurrecting" Legion's Might staff.
• Ward against possession either with high possession resistant armor and rings, Placative Brew or other potions, or spells.
  • When the Drake grabs a Pawn and begins possessing them, the move can be interrupted by directly attacking the claw holding the Pawn. Inflicting enough damage to the Drake to stagger it will release the captured Pawn.
  • The Drake's defenses are reduced whilst possessing a pawn - attacks to the heart do more damage.

Pawn Bestiary Knowledge

Wing destruction. Note the Drake's reel, the pawn's immediate comment, the Great Dragon Alula as loot, and the immediate Dragon Roar once the Drake recovers

For full details of all Dragon species, see the Bestiary

Dragon species knowledge

• Draconian Strategy Vol. 1 - Knocking a Dragon off balance and to the ground will expose its heart.
• Draconian Strategy Vol. 2 - A Dragon is vulnerable to being staggered or knocked down when it is preparing its breath attack.
• Destroy the wings to ground them for the remainder of the fight. After knowledge is triggered Pawns will state "'Tis grounded, Master!" or "On solid ground, the advantage is ours!"
• Destroyed horns drop as loot immediately. Pawns will notice "The horn is destroyed!"
• While a Dragon is hovering, attack its head, heart or wings to knock it to the ground.
• When a Dragon grabs a pawn and tries to possess them, a strong hit to the Dragon's foreleg holding the pawn will stagger it and release the pawn.
• Strike the heart.

Drake specific

• Weak to Ice

In addition to witnessing these techniques, it is necessary for Pawns to participate in killing 15 Drakes either with their own Arisen or while traveling with others. Kills on Firedrakes also count towards the kill count.

Trophies/Achievements

• Serpents' Bane - "Defeated a drake, wyrm, and wyvern."

Notes

• The Drake is lesser kin of The Dragon, one of three sub-species - it's the Fire-based counterpart to the ice Wyrm and the thunder Wyvern.
  • The Drake is the "land based" dragon, more likely to stay on the ground as opposed to take to the air; the Wyrm is a ground-based spell caster; and the Wyvern is the flyer.
• Having all three dragon tears in your inventory guarantees the Drake will drop a Wakestone (Post-Game Everfall only), and improves the chances of receiving the above drops.
• The Drake's Tear item drop rate increases substantially in Post-Game.^(verify)
• (In Dark Arisen) saving shortly before (or exiting and saving during) a Dragon battle may increase its chances of flying off before the battle is complete.
• If a Pawn is possessed, unequipping all the Pawn's weapons will render them harmless.

• Exploits exist for farming drops from destroyed horns and wings - leaving far enough and returning, saving and loading, or setting up a Portcrystal and teleporting to it, with the dragon undefeated, will reset both the dragons' health and bodyparts (which will regrow).

Quotes

• After defeating The Dragon, a special version of the Drake can be found in the Conqueror's Sanctuary. It has more health than the common drake, and unlike most Dragonkin, it speaks in English rather than Latin.
• The Drake may shout: "Arisen!" This indicates the Drake has the upper hand in the fight.
• Latin Quotes [subtitles]:

"I am your master now." (when possessing a Pawn)

"Slay your master!" (when possessing a Pawn)

"Aye, that is the way, chosen one!" (indicates approval of tactics)

"Show me your power!" (disapproves of Arisen's tactics)

"Such power!" (indicates approval of magick use)

"Am I to die...? The seat of god lies beyond..." (death throes)

"You are not the vessel..." (upon killing the Arisen)

"You are not the Chosen one..." (upon killing the Arisen)

"Are you at an end, little one?" (upon the Arisen reviving himself or herself with a Wakestone)

• 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!"

• Standard versions of the Wyvern share dialogue with the standard Drake and standard Wyrm.

Pawn Chatter

Pawns comment on Drakes as they would other Dragonkin. In addition :

"The Dragon!? Why... How!?"

"There, Master! Drakes!"

"Watch! It readies flame in its maw!"

"Nary an ash would remain after that breath..."

"Mind those claws!"

"Take shelter from the flames!"

" 'Tis aggreassive."

"There! The heart lies exposed!"

"Quickly! The heart is unprotected!"

"An opening!"

"Attack when it reels!"

"Its head is vulnerable!"

" 'Tis aloft! Brace for a dive!" (sadly "Dive" is glitched)

Media

Drake preparing his Fire Breath

Drake using his Fire breath

Drake possessing a Pawn

"What will you be? Man? Dragon? Or aught else?"