Dragon's Dogma 2 Dragonsplague cures, signs, and symptoms

The Dragon's Dogma 2 Dragonsplague disease can pose a serious threat to your game, causing one of your Pawns to go nuclear and wipe out a town. It's a disease that spreads between Pawns only, so you're safe as the hero of Dragon's Dogma 2, but the NPCs around you definitely aren't if you let it go unchecked. Vigilance is key when it comes to dealing with this disease, so here's everything you need to know about Dragonsplague in Dragon's Dogma 2, from symptoms to cures.

What is Dragonsplague in Dragon's Dogma 2?

The Dragonsplague disease is something that only Pawns can get (phew!) but it can have some quite disastrous effects on your playthrough. The exact way Pawns can contract Dragonsplague in the first place isn’t quite clear (it seems as though dragons and drakes have a chance of infecting Pawns during combat) but it spreads by passing from Pawn to Pawn – an infected Pawn will lose their Dragonplague infection when it is passed to another. Infected Pawns can then display a range of symptoms, notably becoming less obedient to your commands.

Resting at an inn while an infected Pawn is in your party can then cause the Dragonsplague to strike properly. In-game, you'll see a cutscene where the infected Pawn turns into a horrible, shadowy, dragon-like creature. When you wake up, you'll see a message telling you that many innocent people lost their lives as a result of the Dragonsplague and that the infected Pawn has been returned to beyond the rift. You'll find most, if not all, NPCs in the area surrounding the inn you slept at have all been killed.

There seem to be no real exceptions to this, so even story-critical characters and vendors aren't exempt from the catastrophe. Dead NPCs can be revived with Wakestones, though you will need a lot of them, especially if you rested in a larger town like Vernworth. This means that saving in Dragon's Dogma 2 using an Inn Rest can be a huge risk, and if a Dragonsplague attack is triggered by resting, there is no real way to save-scrub out of it as the rest will immediately overwrite your save.

However, some players, such as reddit user u/lightningbutt, have reported that some NPCs begin respawning after several in-game days, though some will remain in a morgue and must be revived with Wakestones. I've not been able to verify this myself, but if it is the case, Dragonsplague isn't quite as game-breakingly bad as it sounds. Of course, no Dragonsplague at all is better than a few dead NPCs, so you may have to consider deleting your Dragon's Dogma 2 save if things have gone terribly wrong.

Dragon's Dogma 2 Dragonsplague signs and symptoms for Pawns

When playing Dragon's Dogma 2 and adventuring with your party of Pawns, there are a few symptoms you should look out for as Dragonsplague does not appear in any menus as a status effect or debilitiation:

• The Dragonsplague tutorial appears: If a tutorial page for the Dragonsplague disease appears, this means one of your Pawns is infected. Note that this only appears the first time it happens, so you won’t see this tutorial for any other instances, and it doesn't tell you which Pawn is infected, so you'll have use the rest of the symptoms to determine which pawn has it.
• Refusal to obey commands: Pawns with Dragonsplague will start acting more independently and often refuse your D-Pad Pawn commands. Using these commands often, especially during combat, should make it obvious if a Pawn is infected or not.
• Appearing unwell: While idle, infected Pawns may start looking a bit peaky, touching their head as though they're in pain.
• Red eyes: These aren't obvious all the time, but you can sometimes spot a red glow.

Do note that none of these symptoms will be apparent when looking to hire Support Pawns via a Riftstone, so you'll need to assess and diagnose each Pawn you bring into your party. Furthermore, if a Pawn simply starts talking about a disease that causes them to start disobeying commands and such, this does not mean they are infected with Dragonsplague – I've had my Main Pawn say this many times and she is yet to annihilate an entire town.

How to cure Dragon's Dogma 2 Dragonsplague

Dragonsplague cannot be removed with any curatives or medicines for Pawns, so the fastest and easiest way to "cure" Dragonsplague is to get your afflicted Pawn(s) killed or dismiss them as soon as you notice the symptoms mentioned above. Support Pawns you've hired can be quickly dismissed, preventing them from spreading the disease any further, though they're not actually cured.

Main Pawns, however, can only be cured by dying since they can't be dismissed. That means leading them to water or letting them get knocked down in combat and not reviving them are the only ways for them to perish. Picking them up and throwing them into water is a sure-fire way to send them off as you should know that crossing water in Dragon's Dogma 2 often results in the Brine devouring you. Thankfully, your Main Pawn can be resummoned from a Riftstone so they're not permanently dead, but make sure you grab any stuff from any of your Pawns' inventories before offing them to ensure it's not lost forever– it's for their own good!

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