Dragon Quest 2 HD-2D Remake Tier List - Best Characters & Builds

Tier List Overview

Unlike traditional JRPGs with massive rosters where you might debate which of fifteen party members to bring on a journey, the Dragon Quest 2 HD-2D Remake offers a fixed party of exactly three characters: the Prince of Midenhall, the Prince of Cannock, and the Princess of Moonbrooke. Because you cannot swap out your party members, ranking the "best characters" in a traditional sense is counterproductive. Instead, the true measure of mastery in DQ2 lies in how you build and equip them.

This tier list ranks the best weapons and builds for each of the three heroes. In Dragon Quest 2, weapon choices are permanent decisions that dictate a character's combat niche for the rest of the game. Choosing the wrong weapon for a specific hero can severely gimp your run, while the right choices will break the game's difficulty wide open. This ranking is based on maximizing damage output, resource management, party synergy, and overall effectiveness against the notoriously grueling late-game bosses like Malroth and Hargon.

S Tier

The Prince of Midenhall: The Powerhouse Build (Broad Sword / Dragon Killer)

The Prince of Midenhall is your primary physical damage dealer, and his entire identity revolves around hitting things incredibly hard. For him, the S Tier build focuses entirely on maximizing his raw attack stat through the Greatsword weapon tree.

• Broad Sword to Dragon Killer: Early in the game, you should immediately guide the Prince toward the Broad Sword in Rhone. This eventually upgrades to the Dragon Killer in the late game. While the Dragon Killer is situationally named, it actually features one of the highest base attack stats in the game. Against the final bosses—who do not classify as dragons but still take full physical damage—the Dragon Killer outdamages almost everything else.
• Why it’s S Tier: The Prince has no magical utility. His job is to end fights quickly before the enemy can deplete your resources. The Greatsword build ensures he remains your undisputed MVP from the moment you get the Broad Sword until the final credits roll. You will never need to pivot his strategy.

The Prince of Cannock: The Hybrid Sage Build (Staff / Magic Focus)

The second Prince is the ultimate flex pick of DQ2, but his absolute highest-tier build ignores physical weapons almost entirely in favor of becoming a pure magic caster.

• The Thunder Sword Trap: Many veterans will tell you to give the Thunder Sword to the Prince of Cannock. While the Thunder Sword is an amazing weapon, giving it to Cannock is actually an A-tier trap. It forces him into melee range where his low HP and defense make him a liability, and it doesn't boost his late-game magic enough to justify the loss of utility.
• Why Staff/Magic is S Tier: By keeping Cannock equipped with a Staff (which boosts his magical defense and healing output) and investing entirely in his spell pool—specifically Increases (attack buff), Healmore, Firebane, and Defeat—you turn him into a second-rate, but highly reliable, Princess. He buffs the Prince of Midenhall's damage to astronomical levels, patches up the party's HP, and uses Defeat to instantly remove annoying late-game mobs like Hargon's cultists. The safety and efficiency of this build are unmatched.

The Princess of Moonbrooke: The Full Support Build (Fairy Staff / Falcon Blade)

The Princess is inherently S Tier by virtue of being the only character who learns Multiheal, the single most important spell in the entire game. Her build revolves around keeping her alive to cast it.

• Fairy Staff to Falcon Blade: Early on, the Fairy Staff is mandatory as it provides a massive boost to her healing. Once you acquire the Falcon Blade (which attacks twice per turn), her build peaks. Why? Because she attacks twice, but more importantly, the Falcon Blade’s defense stats allow her to survive a stray hit from late-game bosses while still contributing chip damage on turns where you don't desperately need healing.
• Why it’s S Tier: Without the Princess's Multiheal, the final boss fights are virtually impossible for a standard-level party. Building her for maximum magical defense and survivability ensures she is always standing when you need her most.

A Tier

Prince of Midenhall: The Anti-Boss Build (Demon Axe)

The Demon Axe is arguably the coolest-looking weapon in the Dragon Quest 2 HD-2D Remake, and it boasts a staggering attack stat. However, it sits firmly in A Tier due to a hidden, crippling drawback.

• The Mechanics: The Demon Axe occasionally inflicts a random status effect or instant-death proc on enemies. In theory, this is amazing. In practice against late-game bosses, it rarely procs.
• The Drawback: In classic DQ2, the Demon Axe inflicts the "Curse" status on the user, draining their MP every turn. While the HD-2D Remake may tweak this slightly, the weapon still generally carries a negative trade-off for the wielder. The Prince of Midenhall has very little MP to begin with. Losing MP every turn just to deal slightly less damage than a Dragon Killer keeps this weapon out of S Tier.

Prince of Cannock: The Thunder Sword Melee Build

If you refuse to play Cannock as a support caster and want a second physical damage dealer, the Thunder Sword is his best option.

• The Synergy: The Thunder Sword deals bonus lightning damage to many undead and draconic enemies in the mid-to-late game. Cannock’s naturally higher speed than the Prince of Midenhall means he will often strike first, potentially softening up enemies.
• Why it’s A Tier: It is a highly viable, fun build that makes the mid-game a breeze. However, it falls off in the final dungeon. Cannock simply does not have the raw strength to make the most out of the Thunder Sword's base damage against Malroth, meaning he will just be flailing for 30 damage a turn while risking his life in the front lines.

Princess of Moonbrooke: The Nuker Build (Staff + Sacrifice)

The Princess learns the spell Sacrifice, which kills her but deals massive damage to all enemies based on her current HP.

• The Strategy: You max out her HP, run her into a boss fight, and immediately cast Sacrifice to delete a massive chunk of the boss's health bar, then revive her with the Pinch of Life item.
• Why it’s A Tier: It is an incredibly effective "cheese" strategy for the mid-game, but it requires rare consumables to pull off consistently in the late game. It’s an amazing tool to have in your back pocket, but you cannot rely on it as your primary win condition against the final bosses, making it slightly less consistent than the S Tier support build.

B Tier

Prince of Midenhall: The Status Effect Build (Poison Needle)

The Poison Needle is a classic Dragon Quest novelty weapon that deals exactly 1 point of damage but has a high chance to instantly kill the target. In the original game, speedrunning this weapon was the meta. In the HD-2D Remake, things have changed.

• The Nostalgia Factor: It is incredibly satisfying to one-shot a Rogue Knight or a Green Dragon early in the game. For the first few hours, this weapon feels like an S Tier cheat code.
• The Reality: The HD-2D Remake features heavily balanced boss HP pools and drastically reduced instant-death probabilities on major enemies. Once you leave the early game, the Poison Needle becomes dead weight. You are forced to pivot back to standard swords anyway, making this a B-tier novelty rather than a legitimate endgame build.

Prince of Cannock: The Whipping Boy Build (Whip)

Yes, the whip exists in DQ2, and yes, you can give it to the Prince of Cannock to hit all ground enemies for reduced damage.

• The Appeal: AoE physical damage sounds great for mob clearing, especially in dense dungeons like the Cave to Rhone.
• The Problem: The Whip’s base damage is abysmal. By the time you get it, Cannock’s Firebane spell is clearing groups of enemies much faster, safer, and for free (assuming you manage his MP). The Whip forces Cannock into melee range to do mediocre damage to enemies that his magic already handles effortlessly.

Princess of Moonbrooke: The Sleep Lock Build (Fairy Flute / Sleep Spells)

The Princess learns Sleep and Stopspell, and you can find the Fairy Flute, which puts enemies to sleep.

• The Execution: The idea is to put bosses to sleep, buying your party free turns to heal or chip away at health.
• The Inconsistency: Sleep accuracy in Dragon Quest 2 is heavily dependent on enemy level differences. Against Malroth and Hargon, Sleep has a miserable success rate. It might work once or twice, but you cannot build an entire strategy around it. You are better off using her turns to Multiheal and spamming defense buffs.

C Tier

Prince of Midenhall: The "True" Sword of Kings Build

This is going to be controversial for purists, but the literal Sword of Kings—the canonical weapon meant for the Prince of Midenhall—belongs in C Tier for an optimized playthrough.

• The Legend: The Sword of Kings is required to break the seal on the final dungeon. It is iconic, beautifully animated in the HD-2D style, and carries the lore of Erdrick.
• The Stats: Statistically, it is completely outclassed by the Dragon Killer and even the Demon Axe. It has a lower attack stat than both. It offers no special procs, no elemental bonuses against late-game bosses, and no utility. Using it on the final boss is actively detrimental to your clear time. It is a key item masquerading as a weapon.

Prince of Cannock: The "Jack of All Trades" Build

Because Cannock learns a little bit of everything—some healing, some attack buffs, some attack magic—there is a temptation to build him as a hybrid who attacks physically and casts magic equally.

• The Fallacy: If you spread Cannock’s gear and strategy too thin, he becomes a master of none. His physical attacks will bounce off late-game armor, and his limited MP pool will burn out halfway through a boss fight because he wasn't equipped with a Staff to boost his healing efficiency. In a game with only three party slots, a character who is "okay" at two things is vastly inferior to a character who is "amazing" at one thing.

Princess of Moonbrooke: The Frontline Brawler Build

The HD-2D Remake’s beautiful visuals might trick you into thinking the Princess can hold her own in melee combat with a sword or axe. She cannot.

• The Death Sentence: Her strength stat is abysmal. Putting her in the front lines to swing a weapon means she will take full damage from enemy AoE attacks and physical strikes. Late-game enemies like Malroth hit so hard that the Princess will be one-shot from full health if she is not protected by the game's targeting mechanics. Building her for melee is essentially a challenge run gimmick that will only lead to frustration.

How to Use This Tier List

When utilizing this tier list for your Dragon Quest 2 HD-2D Remake playthrough, it is vital to understand the context of the game's design philosophy. Unlike modern JRPGs that feature deep skill trees, respec options, and frequent balance patches, DQ2 is a product of the 1980s. Your choices have permanent weight. If you sell the Dragon Killer by accident, or if you waste your permanent weapon upgrades on the wrong character, you cannot undo it without starting over or grinding for dozens of hours to compensate.

Furthermore, the HD-2D Remake introduces subtle quality-of-life changes and rebalancing that differentiate it from the NES original and the Game Boy Color port. Enemy AI has been slightly tweaked, spell MP costs have been adjusted in some versions, and boss health pools scale differently to accommodate the new, more fluid battle pacing. Therefore, old guides that tell you to rely purely on the Poison Needle or to ignore the Princess's offensive magic entirely may no longer be perfectly accurate.

Your personal playstyle should also dictate how strictly you follow these rankings. If you prefer a slow, methodical, and highly defensive playstyle, you might value Cannock’s Stopspell and the Sleep Lock build (B Tier) much higher than an aggressive player would. If you are willing to grind for rare consumable items, the Sacrifice Nuker build (A Tier) might feel like an S Tier experience to you.

Ultimately, the true "S Tier" strategy in Dragon Quest 2 is synergy. The game is not designed for one character to carry the entire burden. The Prince of Midenhall must be built to deal damage; the Princess must be built to survive and heal; and the Prince of Cannock must be built to fill the gaps between them. If you use this tier list to ensure each character fulfills their specific niche without stepping on the toes of the others, you will find that even the most brutal encounters in the HD-2D Remake become a highly manageable, deeply rewarding dance of turn-based strategy.