Grapple

Grappling is a combat mechanic in Dragon's Dogma.

Description

Grappling allows the Arisen or pawn to grab, hold, pin or restrain enemies in position, allowing others to attack without risk - whilst grappled attacks delivers additional damage to the helpless enemy.

Only Fighters, Warriors, Assassins and Mystic Knights can grapple foes, other vocations can pick up, carry or throw downed or staggered enemies, but not grapple.

Once grappled foes will struggle to free themselves, just as the Arisen can struggle when grabbed by larger foes - eventually they will break free - additionally grappling consumes thus Stamina and if stamina is fully depleted the hold will be broken prematurely.

Grappled enemies' breaking free can be interrupted with either ally's or foe's repeated attacks.

In some cases, to be grappled a foe must either be stunned, staggered, knocked down, or in some other way incapacitated. Depending on the foe they will either be held in a 'Nelson' hold (e.g., bandits), or 'pinned' to the ground (e.g., Saurians).

Only smaller foes can be grappled - giant enemies cannot be grappled, but can be climbed; whilst small enemies such as Spiders cannot be grappled or climbed, but instead can be picked up and thrown.

"Friendly Fire"

When grappling a foe the usual rules on friendly fire are reversed - attacks by foes do damage to their grappled ally, and the grappler is usually undamaged. Both humanoid foes held in a 'Nelson' hold, and quadruped foes pinned take damage from their allies.

• Most melee and magickal attacks are inflicted on the grappled creature.
• Very effective when outclassed - for example Snowy Saurians will lose between one third and one quarter of their total health when pinned and hit by an ally.
• Some attacks still strike the grappler :
  • A Saurian's kick attack
  • Bolide meteors
• Holding or pinning enemies doesn't protect the holder against debilitating spells like a Lich's Lassitude.

Pawn Chatter

"I have it!"

"I'll grab hold of it!"

"Now, Arisen! End it!"

"I've hold of one! Now, strike!"

"I'll hold it! Finish it, quickly!"

"Rain steel upon it!"

"The tail! Hurry, while I've ahold!"

Notes

• Grappling is done by holding the "grab" button, whilst carrying is done by tapping the same button.
• Attack power (Damage Calculation) is more than doubled when attacking grappled foes, allowing defenses to be broken, and greatly increased damage - the increase in power is even more than four Strength Boosted invigorations
• Pressing attack whilst grappling will release the enemy with a damaging kick.
  • A glitch happens, always, when grappling undead within the area of effect of Unholy Anodyne spell. It disables all controls making impossible to release the enemy untill the spell expires. It is advised to pick up the enemy rather than grapple in these circumstances.
• Heavier and larger characters are better at grappling, and lose less stamina when doing so.
• Undead may grapple their targets - the correct response is to attempt to shake lose, or in the case of an ally - grappling the foe will release them - see Undead Strategy Vol. 2.
• Vocations that cannot grapple have the option of grabbing, carrying, and throwing enemies.
• Most giant creatures have a variant of a grapple attack; for example a Chimera may grab with the snake's head, or hold down with the front paws whilst mauling the victim.
• Attempts to "grab" a harpy in flight may result in the Arisen clinging to the harpy's legs in a situational reverse of when harpies grab humans - some degree of control over the flight is possible - for details see Harpy § Flying.
• When breaking free from a grapple, humanoid enemies (e.g., bandits and hostile guards) will cause minor damage to the Arisen or pawn using the grapple. It will also cause a slight stagger.
• Pawns will actively grapple any susceptible foe - in the absence of any suitable knockdown skill, simply blocking attacks from smaller enemies will exhaust their stamina, leaving them open to being grabbed.
• Possessed pawns will grapple the Arisen, but this behaviour seems to confuse their new allies, and creatures such as goblins fail to attack.

Gallery

Grapple hold

Grapple breaking

Undead grappling a Ranger