Where to find a Medusa Head in Dragon's Dogma 2

Ready for a rematch against Medusa? The fearsome monster is your first fight in Dragon’s Dogma 2, but later on, you’ll have the chance to take her head.

Actually, I say “her,” but Medusa isn’t one monster. Or rather, she exists in one spot (that I’ve found), and will respawn over time. That’s a good thing too, because you need to be careful to remove her head during the fight. Depending on your care, you could end up with a withered head or a preserved one.

Where is Medusa in Dragon’s Dogma 2

While you fight Medusa in the introduction of Dragon’s Dogma 2, that isn’t where you get her head. Instead, you find her in southwest Battahl. There’s a wooded area, the Wyrmsblood Forest, which you can see even through an unrevealed map. You’re looking for a big patch of green at the bottom edge of the desert.

As you approach the area (be careful not to blow up the one bridge that leads to it), you’ll start meeting people who try to warn you away with stories of a monster that turns people to stone. If you look at the map, you’ll see the path slither up the mountainside, but you’re not actually going all the way up. There’s a path that splits off near the bottom. It’s surrounded by stone people and animals, but it’s easy to miss.

The path will take you to Nera’Battahl Windrift, a set of ruins built into the mountain. You don’t have to look far however, as Medusa is pretty much the only thing of interest in these ruins. You’ll most likely find her slithering around the cavernous room with her gaze casting a pinkish-red light as she scans the darkness.

How to defeat Medusa

Medusa is hardly the most difficult fight in Dragon’s Dogma 2. I was able to topple her with little resistance at level 45 and I was pulling my punches, as we’ll discuss shortly. The main thing you need to watch out for is her famous petrifying gaze. During the fight, she’ll begin looking around with her glowing eyes, and you simply need to stay out of the light.

If the light hits you, however, it isn’t immediately game over. Stone will begin to form over your character, and you have a reasonable amount of time to take cover. Once you’re out from her gaze, the stone recedes and you can continue on as you were. I spent the fight cowering behind a pillar, lobbing magic at her. Speaking of which, she’s weak to lightning.

How to obtain Medusa’s head in Dragon’s Dogma 2

Beyond simply defeating Medusa, we need her head. Intuitively, you have to aim for her head to obtain it. You can even do it as a ranged fighter, like an archer. I did it with the Sorcerer. You simply attack the head and try to have the killing blow land there, and it will tumble away, allowing you to pick it up.

However, simply doing it this way will get you the Withered Medusa Head.

The Medusa Head decays like fruit or meat in your inventory, and very quickly, it will become unusable for petrification. In fact, using the Medusa head seems to quicken its decay. If we use the food comparison, a Withered Medusa Head is essentially a ripened fruit or aged meat. If you want something fresh, you need to get the “Preserved Medusa Head.”

To do this, it requires a bit more technique. You can actually end the Medusa fight quicker if you do enough damage to the neck/head area, and that’s a bit harder to do as a ranged attack. Instead, it’s better to go at her with a thief or warrior.

For the Thief, you’ll want to climb up Medusa and start hacking at her neck, hopefully stunning her and knocking her over in the process. For the warrior, your best bet is to just topple Medusa first, then when she’s struggling to get up, go for the head.

The point is, however, that you need to attack her head and attack it hard. Most magic isn’t precise enough to do such local damage, so if you want the preserved head, you need someone who can just lop it off. 

If you knock it off quick enough, you’ll get the Preserved Medusa Head. This version still rots, make no mistake, but you’ll have it for longer and get more uses out of it than the Witherered version. Also, note that if you put it in your storage rather than your inventory, it will last longer. You can just take it out of there when you need it.

How to get the An Eye for an Eye achievement in Dragon’s Dogma 2

Speaking of needing it, the achievement “An Eye for an Eye” requires you to petrify Medusa with her own gaze. Obviously, with the head in hand, you have a good idea of what needs to be done. However, the problem is you already killed Medusa.

As I said earlier in this guide, Medusa will respawn. In my experience, the world refresh is a bit strange, so I can’t just tell you to come back in 7-14 business days. The rule of thumb is that it takes seven days for all monsters to respawn in an area, but sometimes it takes longer, and I think that has to do with your activity. If you go all the way to Vernworth, for example, and wait there, the areas in Battahl will refresh quicker. Some suggest waiting 14 days for this reason, but if you go to the nearest camp and wait, Medusa may never respawn.

So, if we’re being careful, you’ll want to return to Bakbattahl and wait 14-ish days. 

However, regardless of the quality of the head you grabbed, it will rot before that time is up. With that in mind, you’ll want to stash it in your storage before waiting, then grab it when it’s time to move. Remember, you don’t need the Preserved Head to petrify Medusa, it just lasts longer.

Once you think it’s likely that Medusa has returned, take the head and try the fight again, but this time use the head on her to turn her to stone. This will grant you the An Eye for an Eye achievement.

Also note that using the Medusa head is a useful way to complete the mission in A Case of Sculptor’s Block, which you find in the Noble Quarter of Vernworth.