Harpy is an Enemy in Dragon's Dogma.
Overview[]
Harpies have a wingspan of nearly twenty feet and they have an undeniable grace when in flight. Their intelligence is that which you would expect from an animal, yet they are known to sing arias of such beauty that none can say whether the songs contain real language or nothing more than the simple cries of a beast.
Like most birds, they seem to have poor perception at night and avoid taking action during the dark hours, preferring to take their rest upon some safe perch. Yet there have been tales of harpies attacking by the light of the moon or the fiery glow of torches, so it will not pay to let your guard down at night.
The harpy’s song clouds human minds and lulls them into sleep. Once one harpy begins to sing, the others are likely to join in its song, so keep an ear open.
Harpies are winged flying beasts with the body, legs and wings of a large bird such as a condor or vulture, but with the face of a beautiful woman. They do not speak though their song affects humans, lulling them to sleep. They will attack any who come near by gouging or knocking down with their claws or they may also grab a human victim and lift them to great height, before dropping them, usually to their death.
A stronger form of Harpy, the Snow Harpy is the region specific sub-species in colder climes; it possesses an icy breath that may freeze. Related species are the Succubi and Sirens.
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Experience gained |
Base Experience of 140
Can be more or less depending on a few factors such as:
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Location | Before the defeat of the Dragon
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With Master Thief, a Harpy Cloak or rarely a Gryphic Cloak among other items may be stolen from them. | |
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Stats[]
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Sources: Dragon's Dogma - ドラゴンズドグマ & Dark Arisen (www10.atwiki.jp), the Dragon's Dogma Signature Series Guide, List of Creature Debilitation Resistances, and in-game testing. |
Attacks[]
Attack | Type | Description |
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Dive Attack | Phys | Quickly dives at a target and slashes them with its talons. |
Grab | Spec | Grabs a target and attempts to fly off with it, and eventually drops them at great heights. Fall Damage from a sufficient height will be fatal. Harpies will also eventually shake off Arisen who have grabbed onto them. |
Sing | Status | Starts singing with a sleep-inducing voice; other Harpies often join in to make this process faster. |
Gasp | Status | Whilst hovering, loudly exhales, which may cause stagger |
Flying with Harpies[]
As well as grabbing prey, Harpies themselves can be grabbed when in flight, and used to lift or carry a person to a high place or across a gap. Since the Harpy will attempt to free itself, this pursuit can be dangerous.
To fly a harpy one should attempt to grapple it after jumping (ie Vault, Double Vault, or Feather Jump) - grapples on the ground will generally fail, or result in the Arisen just carrying the creature.
The Harpy can be made to fly in a chosen direction by pointing in that direction. Flight time is around a dozen seconds, with a few seconds of flailing and rapidly losing height at the end - Character Weight and Encumbrance don't seem to affect fly time, height gained, or speed in any significant way.
Pawns often suggest grabbing onto a Harpy at the Barta Crags to cross the Miasmic Swamp, but this feat is not recommended - it is very unlikely the journey will be that long - generally the distance traveled is not great- but can help in reaching certain high places - such as the locations of Badge of Vows 97 or Badge of Vows 95.
Tactics[]
General[]
- As with other flying enemies, setting the wings on fire will cripple them, turning them into flightless birds.
- If their grab attack will miss, creatures will immediately land to rest for a while and can be safely grabbed.
- Once grounded, they can be held down.
- Once carried off by a Harpy it is possible to be caught once dropped, avoiding Fall Damage. Requesting aid from pawns may put them in a better position to make the catch.
In flight[]
- It is possible to take down a flock of Harpies all in a single strike. Use any Lightning-based skill and hope that the Thundershock effect occurs, as it will branch off and strike all Harpies in the vicinity, sending them all to the ground.
- Fire based spell are effective in grounding (and damaging) Harpies, due to the infliction of Burning.
- Once in flight, Harpies are more difficult to shoot down for bow users: skills with a wide area such as Endecad Shot or Pentad Shot may be useful. Splinter Dart is also effective against aerial enemies if properly timed.
- With manually-aimed bow shots the archer will need to compensate for the flight of the arrow and the movement of the Harpy. This is called 'leading the target,' and is a common technique when shooting at a moving object.
- Harpies will often take the same flight path as other Harpies. If this is noticed, sniping them down in a row is a simple task.
When grounded[]
- Ideally, Harpies and other flying enemies should be picked off from afar while they are perched on a tree branch or on roosting on the ground, before they take flight. When surprised they take extra damage.
- When grounded, Harpies can be grabbed and thrown off a cliff. Surprisingly, they don't make any attempt to regain flight and usually die on impact.
- Fighters, Mystic Knights and Warriors can grapple Harpies on the ground to reduce their defense even further.
Class specific skills[]
- Long range bow skills such as the Ranger's Tenfold Flurry or Comet Shot, Assassin's Lyncean Sight, or Strider's Mighty Bend are very useful skills for shooting down roosting Harpies. For spellcasters, Magick Bolt and Focused Bolt are effective, though a manually-targeted Ingle is even more so as it can be aimed, and is effective outside the standard targeting range. For Magick Archers, manual targeting of core and special skills is effective outside the normal range.
- Fighters: Skyward Slash or Heavenward Lash slashes upwards to bring down flying enemies. Shield Drum can lure them down within striking range.
- Warrior: Use light regular jumping attacks to swat them down. Battle Cry / War Cry can lure them down to striking range.
- Striders: Ensnare or Implicate will pull them down from the sky. Helm Splitter can be used to attack enemies at height.
- Magick Archers: Dark magicks such as Vortex Trail or Shadowshackle are useful against Harpies since it will group small enemies together.
- Mystic Knight: Use Vortex Sigil to trap Harpies in place. Alternatively, a well aimed Sky Rapture works like Burst Strike for flying enemies. Magick Cannon can pick them off from a safe distance. If a Harpy flies through a Ruinous Sigil its momentum will trigger it, which will also fire a Magick/Great Cannon placed within its sigil.
Pawn Bestiary Knowledge[]
- For the foe knowledge flags for Harpy see the flying beast section in the Bestiary.
Pawn Chatter[]
- "A woman...?"
- "A fiend with woman's form!" (no bestiary knowledge)
- "There, Master! Harpies!"
- "Strike, lest the harpy sing!"
- "Slay them afore they can use their voice!"
- "Burn their wings!"
- "Don't let them drag you off!"
- "Harpies!"
- "Beware the harpy's song!"
- "Focus your attacks as it hovers."
- "Ignore the comely face -- those talons bite deep!"
Notes[]
- Harpies (like Bandits and Goblins) can sometimes be found guarding a human captive in a cage, which triggers a random Leave No Prisoners rescue quest.
- (Glitch) The action of the spell Petrifaction on harpys can sometimes leave them still able to fly (or glide) but unable to flap their wings. Other animations glitches may occur in the same state.
Trivia[]
- In Greek and Roman mythology, Harpies are described as flying beasts with the head of a woman or girl, and either beautiful or extremely ugly, depending on the source (see Wikipedia: Harpy).
- Harpies are not pictured in the Bestiary section of the Brady Games guidebook, presumably because their official artwork displays their breasts.