Dragon’s Dogma 2 Medusa Head: How to Get the Preserved Head

Medusa is a secret boss in Dragon’s Dogma 2, where you can get cool loot and achievements. You don’t need to accept her related quest to find her since it’s possible to encounter her even if you randomly wander into her lair. While fighting the gorgon does present a big challenge, getting a Preserved Head from her is an even more excellent task. If you aren’t careful with your attacks, you might end up with a decapitated head. This guide will help players obtain the much coveted Preserved Medusa Head. 

Medusa Location

You can find Medusa without accepting the A Case of Sculptor’s Block quest, but we highly recommend accepting it for the rewards. If you don’t fancy doing the mission, you can head towards the gorgon immediately by heading southwest of Bakbattahl in the Wyrmblood Forest. You can find Medusa within the Nera’Battahl Windrift or the Caliginous Depths, one of the first caves you can discover upon entering the area.

If you also want to do the quest, you can start the mission by heading toward the Noble Quarters area in Vernworth and looking for an NPC named Klark. Typically, You can find him around his home but on neighboring streets. Once you see him, he will ask you to go to a sculptor in Battahll.

When you reach Battahl and find the NPC Fulvio, he will engage in a short dialogue with you and ask you to meet him in a specific spot to fight a Griffin. While he does not outright tell you to get the gorgon’s head first, he will imply that petrifying his subject will help him with his work. You can complete the quest without getting Medusa Head, but it will be far easier to get it first. 

How to Get the Preserved Medusa Head

While most people can quickly kill Medusa, many fail to obtain a Preserved Head. Getting the head in pristine status requires looting the item in several conditions. Here is everything you need to do to get a Preserved Medusa Head:

• Focus Attacking on the Head with Bladed Weapons until it detaches.
• Make sure that Medusa has not lost one last health bar before her head detaches.

Fulfilling these conditions will guarantee players a Preserved Medusa Head. While it may sound simple to do this, many factors can cause the gorgon to take unwanted damage. The main trick here is to hit the head and neck as often as possible while dealing minimal damage. To do this, we discuss these two aspects individually. 

Detaching the Head

There are two ways to detach the head from the body. Players commonly try to climb Medusa back until they reach the head and continuously stab and slice at it until they severe the body part. However, this action consumes too much stamina, requiring you to do this stunt multiple times. If you don’t have enough energy for this or fail to execute the maneuver flawlessly, you can force Medusa to sleep by attacking her head with a Sedative Bolt, requiring you to have a Bow. Once the gorgon is asleep, you can keep attacking her head without interruption. 

Ensure Minimal Damage

Players find this aspect harder to pull off since many factors can impact your DPS on Medusa. You want to deal as minor damage as possible before getting the Preserved Medusa Head. Your vocation and weapon choices will be the most impactful aspects of fulfilling this condition. 

Weapons with the Lightning Affinity can do the quickest work severing the head from the gorgon’s body, so we highly advise players to equip one before going to the cavern. One item that can help players with this task is the Ring of Derision, which you can get from completing the Sphinx Riddles. This accessory limits the damage you deal to the minimum, which means you can hack and slash at Medusa with little DPS.

Regarding weapons, you may want to use thieves’ daggers since you can do more hits with this item. You may also want to use low-rank weapons to minimize damage output further. Since you are using a bow and daggers, you may want to pick up or use the Thief or Magic Archer vocation. Aside from these, you may want to minimize your Pawn’s involvement in the fight since they will undoubtedly cause unwanted damage.

Other Tactics in Fighting Medusa

Medusa’s petrifying gaze is the only mechanic you must watch out for. Being caught in its range will petrify players, allowing the gorgon to deal continuous damage while you are disabled. Climbing onto her back will minimize the chances of you getting stunned. However, if you prefer to fight Medusa with a bow to make her sleep, you want to use the pillars in the cavern as covers to avoid her line of sight.

Looting the Body

After successfully killing Medusa, loot the body to get the Preserved Medusa Head. You can also obtain several weapons from her body, which you can use or sell for profit. Here is everything you can get from the gorgon:

• Granite Medusa Bone – 17.78 to 18.18% drop chance
• Monster Hide – 4.44% drop chance
• Hunk of Rift Crystal – 9.09 to 20.00% drop chance
• Ring of Motility – 2.22% drop chance
• Dragon’s Gaze – 9.09 to 11.11% drop chance
• Ferrystone – 9.09 to 11.11% drop chance
• Blighting Arrow – 5.45 to 6.67% drop chance
• Medusan Spellbow – 18.18% drop chance

Players should note that the Medusa Head decays over time. Even if you get the Preserved version, it will eventually rot into the Withered state. This process doubles when the item is in your inventory, so you must store it to slow the decay. We advise players to complete any mission that requires the head as soon as possible. 

Gamers should note that they can fight Medusa multiple times and obtain the Preserved Medusa Head numerous times. However, her respawn timer is set to seven days, so they need to wait that long before they can fight her again.

Using the Medusa Head for the A Case of Sculptor’s Block quest

If you have the A Case of Sculptor’s Block quest active, you must immediately bring the head to fight the Griffin before it decays. When using the item, make sure that your Pawns won’t randomly attack the creature, or it will cause it to shatter. You want to keep the Griffin petrified for as long as possible so that Fulvio can finish his sketch. 

Many players have confirmed that this quest might be buggy. To remedy this, try to spend as long as possible fighting the Griffin, even if Fulvio tells you he has all he needs. Avoid dealing too much damage to it to prevent it from prematurely flying away. Once Fulvio tells you a couple more times that he is finished and wants to leave, you can leave the creature be, force it to fly away, or kill it.

Unlocking the Achievements with Medusa Head

You can achieve three achievements related to Medusa, which you can all do in one run. However, the hardest one will require you to have the Daughter of the Evening shield. Otherwise, you will have to fight Medusa two times to complete it. Here is how you can unlock all achievements related to the gorgon:

• Off With its Head!: You can achieve this achievement by severing Medusa’s head. It doesn’t matter what condition this body part is in when you get it. 
• Getting a Head: You can obtain this by getting a Preserved Medusa Head. 
• An Eye for an Eye: You obtain this achievement by petrifying Medusa. Players usually use the Medusa Head on themselves to do this. However, you can use the Daughter of the Evening shield to reflect her gaze on herself and turn her into stone. You can get the item from the Vernworth Castle Vault. 

Note: For An Eye for An Eye, if you want to use the Medusa Head to petrify her, you must put it into storage and wait for seven days. Putting it in a vault slows decay, so you can still use it once Medusa respawns.