Deftness itself is the chance a player has to land a critical hit and the chance to steal an item from an enemy. Found by going to the menu of the game and looking through the attributes, the description for deftness tells you what it is, but not fully what it does or how to calculate it.

How To Use It

In order to calculate this attribute, you need to remember that the number associated with deftness only equates to a small percentage boost in critical chance. Critical Hit rate is calculated as Deftness / 100 + 3% (with weapon skill trait). So when it comes to raising this stat, you’re going to need a high level on the attribute in order for it to actually make a difference in gameplay.

Steal rate, a useful but not necessary bonus to having a higher deftness, is calculated as (Drop Rate * 2) (1 + (Deftness – 51) / 474). 

Why It’s Important

The main reason deftness is an important stat is due to landing critical hits. While criticals are important in a lot of games, in Dragon Quest Heroes 2, critical hits cause MP to be restored. MP, of course, is used for more attacks, so the higher your chance of landing criticals, the higher amounts of MP you’ll have at your disposal.

Players who pay attention to this early on in the game will reap more benefits in battles as they level through the game.

How To Boost Deftness and Criticals

Items in the game that will raise your critical chance, and in turn raise your deftness level, are few but essential tricks to utilize. For instance, the Tough Guy Tattoo provides a regular and spell critical percentage while also being an extremely effective damage booster. This comes in comparison to items like the Raging Ruby that lower damage but offer +5% more criticals. 

So players will have to weigh their options with the items they equip as usual, but when considering deftness certain items should be more heavily considered like the ones previously mentioned.


Though deftness is largely ignored as it takes more work to successfully level, there are items and work associated with it that make the attribute worth it. Players leveling through the game will see the effects of deftness in battle during critical moments – and they’ll be glad to have landed a critical at an all important moment.

For more tips and tricks on Dragon Quest Heroes 2, check out these other guides: 

Dragon Quest Heroes 2 Guide: Finding the Ethereal Stone to Upgrade the Weapon Shop Dragon Quest Heroes 2 Guide: How to Unlock Sage and Gladiator (and Locked Chests) Dragon Quest Heroes 2 Guide: Main Character Classes and How to Change Them