After saving the city of Drezen in Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous, one of the first new quests will be The Dragon Hunt. This questline not only introduces a powerful dragon foe and showcases the skills of a potential party member; but it also includes the return of a major Pathfinder: Kingmaker character, Storyteller. By completing the Dragon Hunt with full success, the wise elf will become a mainstay for the crusade’s knowledge keepers and relic restoration.
While the Dragon Hunt involves tracking just one foe, dragons in Pathfinder are notoriously powerful. Almost all of them deal elemental damage, cast high-level magic, can cause foes to panic, and hit extremely hard with tooth and claws. For a fight like this, new assassin party member Greybor is a mandatory asset.
Though players are able to start the Dragon Hunt near level 9, it is best to wait until at least level 11 before heading to this final Pathfinder fight. This is because the dragon, Devarra, has an immense amount of attacks and defenses that can’t easily be countered without having access to at least some 6th level spell slots. Additionally, martial characters like Greybor will have a third iterative attack every round, which will add up a lot of extra damage.
Party Composition for the Dragon Hunt in Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous
For the Pathfinder questline, parties must always take along Greybor, a Dwarf Slayer. He dual-wields axes and gains sneak attack damage when flanking or surprising a target. Though his damage potential is high, using an off-hand weapon can result in accuracy issues. For his Mythic levels, players will want to give him Thundering Blows and Destructive Shockwave which both provide minimum damage on a miss. Aside from Greybor and the main hero, there will be four essential roles for the encounter:
- Tank with Smite: Devarra is Chaotic Evil, making her susceptible to both Seelah’s Smite Evil and Regill’s Smite Chaos. Both of these moves will bypass the dragon’s damage reduction. Seelah will further help the party save against fear effects, though if still using a shield her damage output will be lower than Regill’s.
- Buffer versus Fire: Both Sosiel and Daeran will have access to the spells Protection from Energy and Resist Energy (but for Daeran he must select such spells on level up). Protection from Energy will block up to 120 fire damage total, while Resist Energy will lower each fire attack by 10-30 damage for 10 minutes per caster level.
- Support Mage: Arcane casters like Nenio and Ember can cast helpful spells like Haste, True Seeing, and Displacement. For more offensive spells, they will need the feat Spell Penetration to get past Devarra’s spell resistance. Additionally, because Ember mostly deals fire damage she will also require the Mythic Ability Ascendant Element: Fire to harm Devarra.
- Archer: Ranged fighters like Lann, Wenduag, and Arueshalae can battle Devarra at a safe distance. Each will want to maximize attack stat, which may mean temporarily disabling pure damage abilities that sacrifice accuracy like Deadly Aim and Rapid Shot.
Devarra’s Strength and Weaknesses
Devarra is a ferocious challenge rating 25 Red Dragon in Pathfinder. She has access to both a fire aura that will deal continuous damage, and a fire breath that will hits everyone in a medium size cone in front of her. Reflex saves will halve the damage. She may also full attack with bite, wings, and tail with over 30 to her attack bonus, making short work of anyone lacking high enough armor or a miss chance. Additionally, she can instantly cause fear effects as a free action or cast Displacement on herself.
Since Devarra herself has high defenses, all offensive party members will want True Seeing to increase their odds of landing hits (as Dispel might fail to remove Displacement). Everyone will want a magic weapon (or Arcane Strike) to overcome the dragon’s damage reduction, or cold energy which will deal 50% extra damage. Finally, try to only keep Greybor and the tank in melee to assist the former’s sneak attacks while depriving Devarra of easier targets.
The Dragon Hunt Quest Chain in Pathfinder: Wrath of Righteous
After getting a tip from Irabeth that the dragon Devarra is harassing the crusaders, players will want to get the mission at least started; if Devarra isn’t injured via the quest story, the dragon will constantly attack the party as an unwinnable random encounter. First, head to Drezen’s tavern to find Greybor in the northeastern corner. His fee for the job is 1,200 gold but acts like a full companion for gearing and feat selection.
Grimwood Trap
With Greybor placed in the party, head westward to Pathfinder's Grimwood Forest. Tell Greybor to lay the dragon trap, and the party will wait for one hour for Devarra to arrive. At this point, it will graze on the bait and not notice the coming ambush. Take this time to buff with spells and abilities and then charge at the dragon. This first battle will end after it takes just 25% damage, and it will flee injured.
To continue the hunt, one must head to the Bloody Trail closer to Lost Chapel. Greybor will once again ask for confirmation, and a third location, Artisan’s Tower, will appear. Approach and a random encounter in the form of a storybook will begin. The whole party will need to make some high skill checks of 30+, including Lore Nature, Mobility, Athletics, and Perception. Failing these may both cause damage and start the next encounter right in front of their prey’s breath attack range. Unless one is very over-leveled, it is advised to reload until passing the skill checks.
Surprise Attack
If all skill checks were successful, the party will instead be on the outer rafters, with Devarra distracted by a pleading Storyteller. Greybor will suggest a stealth approach, and one may either agree or simply charge in. However, passing both stealth checks will give Greybor a free sneak attack, which could mean an extra 100 or more damage depending on player level.
Saving Knowledge
Regardless of what condition the Pathfinder party arrives in, Storyteller will flee to prioritize saving the tower’s knowledge and the battle will begin. As with most boss fights, switching to turn-based mode will make the situation easier to parse. Parties should spread out to avoid everyone being caught in Devarra’s area of effect attacks and auras. Only Greybor and the tank should stay close to the dragon. Everyone else should cast helpful spells and shoot from far range. If an archer is able to snipe from more than 120 feet away, Devarra’s AI might never approach them if all melee characters die, allowing attacks without reprisal.
Once the dragon has lost around 80% health, she will fly to the tower’s upper ledge and charge up the final assault. Players will need to rush up there and finish off the monster in around one minute (real-time only, turn-based mode will disable). If Devarra lives, she will burn the tower’s remaining knowledge and flee. If the dragon dies, Storyteller and Greybor will celebrate the victory. Note that if Devarra wound up taking 100% damage in the final turn, she will still fly to the ledge but then instantly collapse.
With the book collection saved, Storyteller will gladly join the Pathfinder crusade at Drezen. He resumes his duty of trading tomes for experience points. Greybor can also be permanently hired for 12,500 gold (25,000 if the battle was lost). Before returning to Drezen and reporting to Irabeth, players may want to explore Artisan Tower further for more lore, treasure, and optional fights.
The Dragon Hunt Rewards and Loot in Pathfinder: Wrath of Righteous
Once players are done dealing with the dragon in Pathfinder: Wrath of Righteous, they can find a lot of important loot, such as the Bracers of Abrupt Onslaught. These bracers grant the player a +5 bonus in trickery skill chests and increased effectiveness for sneak attacks. In addition, players can also grab the “Half of the Pair amulet,” which gives players a +2 bonus on attack rolls and an armor class if the other half of the amulet is being used by someone else.
After completing the Dragon Hunt, players can also call Greybor as a permanent companion. However, to have Greybor as an ally, players must spend 12,500 Gold to keep him as a permanent companion.
Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous is available on PC.