Dragon's Dogma: Dark Arisen - How to Beat Ogres

Fighting ogres in Dragon’s Dogma: Dark Arisen is hard, but these brutes can be taken down rather easily if players know what to do.

Gransys is filled with many dangerous monsters that can easily catch players by surprise when playing Dragon’s Dogma: Dark Arisen. Every encounter is a matter of life and death, especially for new adventurers who are yet to find their footing.

Dragon’s Dogma 2 NPCs Stay Dead Forever

Ahead of Dragon Dogma 2’s March 22 release, the developers confirm that the NPCs in the game are subject to permadeath.

Ogres are especially hard to beat early on, yet the difficulty of fighting one is part of what’s made Dragon’s Dogma: Dark Arisen timeless. If you’re having trouble beating these monsters, here’s a quick guide going over their behaviors and weaknesses.

How to Beat Ogres in Dragon’s Dogma

Fighting an ogre in Dragon's Dogma Dark Arisen

It’s important to note that ogres are very dangerous early on. Players will usually encounter their first ogre while they are still severely undergeared and underleveled. If you’ve just arrived in Gran Soren and find the ogres inside the Ancient Quarry or the forests north of it, do your best to sneak past them, as chances are high that you won’t be able to beat them without exhausting all your supplies.

Once you do feel confident enough in your equipment and character stats, aim for an ogre’s face regardless of what vocation you’re using. If you’re a melee fighter, use jump attacks or skills that can knock it down, such as the Fighter’s Shield Bash or the Warrior’s Pommel Strike. If you’re an archer, aim for the face, and try to use either Blast or Poison Arrows to deal more damage. Mages should use fire spells and inflict debuffs like Torpor and Sleep. When an ogre tries to protect its face, use heavy-hitting attacks like Indomitable Lash and Mighty Bend to break its guard.

A good general tactic for fighting ogres is to throw Skulls at them to inflict the Curse debuff, which reduces the damage they deal while increasing the damage they take. You can usually find skulls inside caves and catacombs. Make use of other throwables and consumables to make the fight easier.

General Tips

Ogres have long recovery times. You usually have enough time to deal big hits to it when it misses an attack. It takes especially long to recover when it misses its dropkick attack, so do your best to avoid that, and be ready to counter-attack immediately after.
You can cause ogres to fall down by grabbing onto it after it misses its charge move.
Avoid the Wilted Forest region when exploring the world of Dragon’s Dogma at night. There are three pairs of ogres in the area.
Given enough time, an ogre will enrage, making it act faster and more unpredictably. You can tell if an ogre is enraged if the color of its buttocks turns pinkish-red.
As pawns say, ogres get excited when they see women. They attack faster depending on how many females are in the party.
If you get grabbed by an ogre, mash all of your buttons to escape its grasp quicker.