The Sphynx Quest might be one of the coolest story-like side quests in the game according to the consensus of the player base (totally has nothing to do with her Boobas).

You should do the quest for the sake of experiencing it, even if you don’t like riddles. This is where we come in. This guide will show you how to find the creature and how to solve her riddles most efficiently, without backtracking all the time.

Only interested in a specific Riddle? Here are quick links to the main sections:

• Riddle of Eyes
• Riddle of Madness
• Riddle of Conviction
• Riddle of Wisdom
• Riddle of Rumination 
• Riddle of Reunion
• Riddle of Recollection
• Riddle of Contest
• Riddle of Differentiation
• Riddle of Futility
• Final Riddle: Fighting the Sphinx

Prerequisite Items

There is an optimal way to do this but it will require quite an investment of Ferrystones(don’t worry as we will give you an option to do the quest differently with almost no item invested at all).

Not getting the items we suggest will mean a lot of backtracking, so we highly suggest you play the game organically until you reach the second large city of Bakbattahl.

By that point in the game, you should have most of the items from the list.

We will have two sections of the guide under each riddle, the “Optimal” way and the “Normal” way. Depending on how you choose to approach this you can safely ignore the one or the other.

OPTIMAL WAY ITEM PREREQUISITES	NORMAL WAY ITEM PREREQUISITES
1 Port crystal placed in Bakbattahl	1 Ferrystone
6 Ferrystones

Starting the quest

You will start this adventure from the Checkpoint Rest Town. You get there by walking or getting an Uber from Venworth West Oxcart Station.

Once you reach the town rest at the Inn. This is optional but it will give you an extra Inn save file that you can go back to if something goes wrong.

Take the items from the prerequisite list from your storage and follow the road out of town until you reach this Riftstone of Fellowship.

Go into the rift and hire any pawn named “SphinxMother, SphinxFather, or SphinxParent”.

Make sure the spelling is right.

You will need this pawn to solve a riddle so get it now to spare yourself from backtracking.

Make sure your Main pawn is alive and with you while you are at the Riftstone.

Now it is time to get to the Sphynx first location. Backtrack a little and follow the road north until you reach Ancient Battle Ground.

There will be a Drake fighting Cyclops under the castle but you can safely ignore them and run up to the gates. Go inside take a left and work your way through the castle. You will have to fight some undead until you reach the ladder that will lead you up to the lower level of the battle. When you climb up, walk straight until you reach this hole.

Drop down and fight some more skeletons. On your left, there will be a boarded-up door. Brake it to unlock yourself a shortcut for future travel and then take the other door straight through the castle until you reach the second ladder and climb up to the upper battlement.

Walk straight and look to your left for this passage, climb up the ladder, and jump down through the gap on the wall where the arrow is pointing to reach the Worldsend Cave.

Now all you need to do is follow this route through the Worldsend Cave and a Shrine Corridor with a gap between them that looks like a Golem graveyard.

Well, not really as one of them is gonna come to life and you can fight it or skip the fight and run straight to the Corridor follow the stairs up and you have reached the Mountain Shrine of the Sphinx.

First five riddles

Now let us start solving riddles. You will take the riddles in the same order in this guide if you want to make solving them as smooth as possible.

1. Riddle of Eyes

For this riddle, Sphinx will ask you to bring the items of greatest value from the nearby tomb.

Now you can go in and explore the whole tomb but the item you need (Sealing Phial) is in a chest up the slope behind the entrance.

Give the item to the Sphinx. You will keep the Sealing Phial and you will get a Wakestone as a reward from the first chest behind her.

2. Riddle of Madness

In this riddle Sphinx will ask you to bring her a person you care most about. 

There are a few ways to solve this but the most efficient one is to grab your main pawn and place her/him on the pedestal in front of Sphinx.

Make sure not to back out of the dialog option once you have your pawn in place.

You will get a Portcrystal. This is going to be important as we are going to use it for the next riddle and further down the line.

3. Riddle of Conviction 

The Sphinx will ask you to give you something that is most precious to you. There is no right answer here: you give the Sphinx any item you want. The trick is not only will you get the item back but she will double it as a reward for solving the riddle.

The obvious choice here is giving her the Portcrystal you just got. Not only to make the rest of this quest easier to do but Portcrystal are the most valuable items in the game as they let you set up teleportation points and there are only a few that you can get in a given playthrough.

But if for some reason you like Rotten Apples and you want to double it instead don’t worry you can follow a Normal Way of this guide like we mentioned before. 

• OPTIMAL WAY: Take one of the Portcrystals you just got and place it around the shrine. 
• NORMAL WAY:  Munch on those Rotten Apples like it’s the last thing you will ever eat.

4. Riddle of Wisdom

In this riddle Sphinx will ask you to bring her parent back to her. 

Remember that Rift Stone we sent you to get the pawn named “SphinxMother, SphinxFather, or SphinxParent”. This is the riddle you will need them for so grab them and place them in front of the Sphinx.

Your reward will be 1200 Rift Crystals.

5. Riddle of Rumination

And here comes the worst part about this quest. I bet some donkey of a dev is leling his ass off thinking of all the people trying to solve this and failing. 

The punch line of the riddle is this: You have to remember where you picked up your first Seeker Token and go there. At the same spot, you find a new special token called Finders Token.

You have only 7 in-game days to solve this.

The reward for completing the riddle is 3 Ferrystones.

Now if by any chance you read our Dragon’s Dogma 2 beginners tips and tricks, you will have a nice screenshot of the location where you got your first token.

If not and you don’t remember we have one other suggestion if you don’t mind installing mods. The mod is safe and tested by yours truly.

Go to this link here Nexus Mod and follow the instructions on how to download and install the mod. When you do the only thing this mod will do is give you a marker on the location of the Finders Token.

Otherwise, you can just wait for 7 in-game days to pass and fail this riddle. You can fail one riddle and still continue the questline.

• OPTIMAL WAY: this is where you will use your first 2 Ferrystones if you do not want to backtrack a lot or risk having too much time pass. Teleport to the closest location of the Finders Token, grab it and teleport back to the PortCrystal at the Sphinx location.
• NORMAL WAY:  do the same thing as the guy in an optimal way without teleporting.

Whatever you choose to do DO NOT talk to her yet as you have a choice to make.

Making a choice before moving on

Now when you hand in (or not) your Finders Token the Sphinx will move to a different location, where she will give you her last riddles. 

You have 2 options here. 

1. You can hand in the riddle and right away grab onto the Sphinx back and ride along to the next location
2. Pick up the last Riddle reward for a chest and your Portcrystal (if you were following the optimal way) and make your way to the next location yourself.

• OPTIMAL WAY: We suggest you hop on to the Sphinx back and ride along to the next location. You can always teleport back here at any time to get your reward using the Portcrystal you placed on the ground.

A few notes on how to ride the Sphinx … tehehe (sorry I’m 12 mentally).

As soon as you complete the last riddle immediately jump on the Sphinx and grab onto her. 

Don’t hang on her Boobas you horndogs but instead, climb up until you reach her back right in between her wings. Now you can let go so you don’t drain your stamina.

After you pass into Bathhal territory stay vigilant until you see her going for a cave entrance.

This is where you need to grab back onto her otherwise the way she flying will YEET you off her back.

• NORMAL WAY: Grab the 3 Ferrystones from the chest and make your way back to the Checkpoint Rest Town. Go to the bridge at the entrance of the town, and go down under it until you see a cave. That is your path forward to the Sphinx’s next location. 

Once you get there place a Portcrystal you got from the riddle on the ground.

Riddle of Reunion

Whatever path you choose, go behind the Sphinx after she speaks to you and check out the chests. 

One of them is open and you can pick up 100k gold.

Why is it open? Finding her counts as solving another riddle and that will be very important to mentally note from now on. 

FEW THING TO KNOW BEFORE MOVING ON

From this point on riddles will be given to you in random order. 

You must pay attention to what riddle you picked up and find the guide on the following list.

Likewise, we suggest you keep count of how many riddles you solved from now on (if you are unsure we will tell you a trick on how to get the right answer in the next section)

For both the Optimal and Normal way you will place one off the Portcrystal on the ground so you can teleport back to this location.

You will have to read how to solve all of the riddles below so you know what to do before receiving the riddle from the Sphinx.

Riddle of Recollection

In this riddle Sphinx will ask you to tell her how many riddles you solved so far.

Now since this riddle can drop on you randomly the number will differ for each player.

Let us say for example you got it right away, as the first riddle in the new location and you solved all the previous riddles without failing a single one.

That will mean 5 Riddles+ Riddle of Reunion (finding the Sphinx new location) and your answer should be 6.

If you got completely lost at some point that is ok we have a trick that you can use to solve this …. Go behind her and count the open chest, then go back to the previous location and do the same if you don’t remember if you failed one or not. Whatever the number is that is your answer.

Now that you have your answer grab the little Sphinx statues and place the correct number in front of Sphinx (they don’t have to be directly on the pedestal, placing them in front of her is enough).

The reward for completing this riddle will be an Unmaking arrow that will kill anything in one hit. Make sure to save it as we are going to use it at the end of this quest if you want to follow the Optimal Way. If you will use the Arrow to kill the Sphinx and this is your final riddle you must be ready to attack her right away after you are done conversing with her.

Hit her until she initiates the dialog “Well you are a persistent one” and her HP bar shows up.

Then sprint to get the Unmaking arrow out of the chest and follow the steps in the last section below.

Riddle of Contest

In this riddle Sphinx will have you duel one of her Knights. Ofc it’s going to be a different kind of duel because a normal duel would be too easy. 

Before the duel, she will automatically equip you with a Ring of Derision. This ring will make your attack basically do 0 dmg.

Before we get to how to solve this take a mental note not to fight the guy around Sphinx. 

If you hit her by accident she will get mad and fly off and that will be the end.

You can go about this in 2 ways. 

1. You can hit the guy with any attack that will break his poise, then pick him up and YEET him off the nearby cliff (easier to do with some Vocations).
2.  Drag the fight to where your pawns are standing and let them take care of him.

That is another riddle in your pocket and your reward will be a Ring of Ambition that boosts XP gains by 50%. 

Riddle of Differentiation

In this riddle Sphinx will ask you to bring a specific person to her. 

She will show you a “holographic illusion” of this individual. 

We suggest you take a screenshot of him as soon as she shows you the guy (if you missed it you can ask her to repeat the riddle and do it then).

Otherwise, you must pay attention to the scar over his eye or hair. Why? Because she is sneaky bish and is asking you to bring her one of two twins. 

Dante or Virgil (a little Devil May Cry easter egg). 

The only two differences between them are the scar over their eyes and their hair.

Dante has straight hair and a straight scar over his eye. You can find him roaming around shops in Checkpoint Rest town.

Vergil has wavy hair and a wavy scar over his eye. You can find him roaming around the main road past the South border checkpoint.

• OPTIMAL WAY: this is where you will use 2 Ferrystones. Teleport to Bakbattahl or Vernworth and go to a Vocation guild. Change your Vocation to an Archer or a Warfarer. Grab a bow from your storage or buy one in the shop(we are doing this for the last phase of the quest so you don’t have to backtrack).

Now take an Oxcart to Checkpoint Rest Town or the South Border Checkpoint. Find your target (Dante or Vergil) and grab them. Once they are over your shoulder use Ferrystone to teleport back to the Sphinx and place them on the pedestal and talk to her.

• NORMAL WAY:  Stroll your way to Checkpoint Rest Town or the South Border Checkpoint. Find your target (Dante or Vergil) and grab them.

Now you will have 3 choices: 

1. Take a painful stroll back to the Sphinx while dragging your target with you.
2. Use one of the Ferrystones that you got if you completed the Riddle of Rumination to teleport back to the Sphinx with your target over your shoulder.
3. Use the Sealing Phile to trap your target inside it and return to the Sphinx(note that this is a one-use item).

Place your target on the pedestal and talk to the Sphinx to complete the riddle.

Riddle of Futility

In this riddle, Sphinx will ask you to bring Amphora to the Ser Maurits in Bakbattahl.

This thing is so fragile if a wind blows on it it will break so we won’t bring the Amphora to the person we will bring the person to Amohora.

• OPTIMAL WAY: this is where you will use 2 Ferrystones. Teleport to Bakbattahl and go to a Vocation guild. Change your Vocation to an Archer or a Warfarer. Grab a bow from your storage or buy one in the shop(we are doing this for the last phase of the quest so you don’t have to backtrack).

Now go to the location marked on the map pick up Ser Maurits and fling him over your shoulder. Back up a bit till you have a clear view of the sky and use a Ferrystone to teleport back to the Sphinx. Drop him next to Amphora to complete the riddle.

• NORMAL WAY:  Stroll your way to  Bakbattahl. 

Now go to the location marked on the map, pick up Ser Mauritis and fling him over your shoulder. Back up a bit till you have a clear view of the sky. 

This is where you will use 1 Ferrystone from the prerequisites to teleport back to the Sphinx. Drop him next to Amphora to complete the riddle.

Final Riddle-Sphinx Fight

All along the way there are clues about the final Riddle depicted on many murals you passed and even on the Amphora you delivered to Ser Mauritis. You also might have or might not noticed that she has a shiny golden key around her neck that opens that shiny golden chest behind her. 

The trick to fighting her is to Hit her in the butt and back legs while not touching her face and front part provided you want to do this without using the Unmaking Arrow.

Long story short as soon as you finish the final riddle make sure to attack the Sphinx right away to initiate combat. You will know you did it if she initiates a conversation with you and her HP bar appears. 

• OPTIMAL WAY: You should be in your archer or wayfarer vocation by now. Equip the Unmaking Arrow and shoot her. Make sure your aim is true because the game saves after you fire the arrow so if you miss… well you missed.

• NORMAL WAY: Before handing in the last riddle dismiss all of your pawns. Take your Main Pawn and YEET her/him off the cliff and leave them to die.

We are doing this because pawns won’t aim only for Sphinx’s legs or ass and can and will do enough damage to fail the fight. 

Make sure you only hit the Sphinx over her rear end until she dies.

After you are done with the fight Mommy will tell you how proud she is and will drop the Key of Mendacity. Take the key to the golden chest and loot the Etharnal Wakestone as your reward. 

This item can be used to mass revive people in a location if something bad happens like your pawn losing his mind because of a STD. 

That’s it you are done my dudes and dudettes. Hope it’s Friday where you’re at. Game on.