Dragon’s Dogma 2’s pawn plague is wreaking havoc in the game

Dragon’s Dogma 2 players will no doubt have heard whispers from their faithful followers, known as pawns, about a terrible plague infecting their ranks. Unfortunately, that sickness is real and currently spreading through Capcom’s fantasy role-playing game via its pawns, and it’s led to the mass murders of NPCs like merchants and quest-givers.

The cataclysmic results of the plague are causing some players to worry that it’s “ruining” their game saves — and Dragon’s Dogma 2 currently only lets players have one of those (although a change is coming). But the ultimate impact of that spreading infection may not be as bad as it seems.

The infection known as Dragonsplague is foreshadowed by players’ overly chatty pawns over the course of Dragon’s Dogma 2’s story. Dragonsplague, pawns warn, will make the infected violent, aggressive, and dismissive of their master’s orders. It can be contracted by hiring a pawn who is already infected, or though combat interactions with drakes and dragons, where it can spread between party members.

Left unaddressed, a pawn with full-blown Dragonsplague will transform into a shadowy dragon themselves and lay waste to entire towns full of people. Here’s an instance of Dragonsplague resulting in the deaths of scores of residents in Vernworth. Yes, everyone but the player’s main pawn and a few soldiers are left dead.

The game adds insult to injury by chiding the player, “If only you had been more observant, perhaps this tragedy could have been prevented.”

Thankfully, preventing the spread isn’t difficult. Players will get an in-game warning at the first threat of an infection, but the symptoms of an Dragonsplagued pawn aren’t so easy to spot — you have to pay attention. Plagued pawns will show signs of sickness, like coughing and visible discomfort; they’ll touch their head as if checking for fever or a headache. They’ll also start to disobey commands, responding with phrases like “I will act of my own accord” or “Don’t tell me what to do!” More subtly, their eyes will start to pulse with a reddish hue.

There are a few ways to address a Dragonsplague infection. If one of your hired pawns is infected, quickly dismiss it — or intentionally kill it by throwing it off a cliff or into a river — before the plague affects other members of your party. If your main pawn is infected, your best recourse is to kill them. Throw them into the Brine to drown them, then bring them back using a Riftstone.

The most important thing to avoid is resting at an inn. Doing so will initiate the full-on murder spree seen in the video above.

Image: Capcom

Stressing out over a Dragonsplague infection may not be worth the fuss, however. And you shouldn’t use all your Wakestones (and certainly don’t buy any!) to revive dead NPCs right away. While a plague outbreak that results in mass murder may seem like a game-ruining problem, players are reporting that a wiped-out town will eventually repopulate, and that some NPCs may come back to life over time. (Other characters in the world have to have Wakestones too, right?)

On the Dragon’s Dogma 2 subreddit, a player reported that one of their towns was decimated by the plague, they simply fast forwarded a week by resting at a bench. “Everyone (side and main quests NPCs) respawned. Finished the game as normal. DID NOT need any Wakestones,” they report.

With Dragonsplague quickly spreading through the huge player base of Dragon’s Dogma 2, we’re likely to learn even more about how the infection spreads and how players can best deal with it in the coming days.

For now, keep your eyes peeled for any disobedient pawns with signs of infection.