Generations ago, your ancestor Erdrick was sent out to defeat the Dragonlord by the King of Tantegel, and now the scions return to the Dragonlord’s Castle to seek aid from a mysterious figure within… also at the behest of the King of Tantegel. The layout of the castle hasn’t changed much over the years, but you don’t have to run as dire of a gauntlet as Erdrick did - without the Dragonlord, this castle isn’t as appealing of a den of evil. That said, it’s still a lengthy - dare we say, tedious? - dungeon, and this guide will help you get through it and find all the treasures with as little bother as possible in Dragon Quest 2: HD-2D Remake.

Page Breakdown¶

Dragonlord’s Castle - 1F¶

The layout of the Dragonlord’s Castle is the same in Dragon Quest 2 as it was in the first game, so if you remember some of the gimmicks, they still hold true. Still, let’s not assume - we’ll guide you through things as if you’ve never darkened the Dragonlord’s doorstep. There are three (technically two) treasures on 1F, but given the way things are structured we need to dip into B1 for a bit before finishing 1F.

From the entrance head east and north along the eastern edge of the level until you reach the northeastern corner, where you can find a chest! Open and… it’s empty. But it’ll still be listed as a treasure until you have your hopes dashed, so this sort of disappointment is necessary if we want our Nose for Treasure skill to stop giving us false positives. This also applies to Mimics and other variants of monsters-in-a-box.

Now, we need to get to the north-center of the map to reach the depths, but you can only get there by heading up the western edge of the map. Before doing that, however, we need to descend to an isolated bit of B1 to get a bit of treasure… even if you know where you’re going, it takes a fair bit of walking to actually reach all the treasure in this place, unfortunately. Head west as far as you can, then go south around some rooms until you find some stairs to the east. Descend them, then turn south, avoid a patch of electrified floor, then go down a spiral staircase to reach B1.

You’ll appear near the southeastern corner of the level, and from here head up a hallway to the north, then turn east and enter an earthen tunnel and follow it south and search the southernmost end of the tunnel to find a Prayer Ring on the ground. This is a hidden item.

Backtrack to 1F, then return to the entrance. After this, head up the western edge of the level to reach the northwestern edge of the level and search a decorative floor panel to find a Mini Medal. This, too, is a hidden item. Continue east until you reach a wall, then turn south and eventually you’ll find some stairs to the west. Go down them, and when you reach a room with doors to the north and south, go north and search another decorative floor panel along the northern end of the northern room to score 4 gold - a third hidden item. Really only worth the effort of collecting so Nose for Treasure stops counting it.

Backtrack south, then east up the stairs, and from here continue south and east to find the throne room to the north. Follow the red carpet up to a large patch of electrified floor surrounding a throne. Cast Safe Passage to protect you from the environmental hazard, then search behind the throne to open up a passage under the throne, just like in the first game! Descend these stairs to officially move onto B1.

Dragonlord’s Castle - B1¶

There’s a fair bit of treasure on this level, but some of it we’ve already obtained (the Prayer Ring) and a bit we can’t get until later. For now, there’s only one treasure we can grab - head south down the natural earthen passage you find yourself in, then turn west to reach a hallway. Turn north, then east and you’ll find a red chest you can open to score some Magic Water. That’s all we can do here at this time, so make your way south and west through another cave to reach the southeastern corner of the level, then find some stairs leading down to read B2.

Dragonlord’s Castle - B2¶

Not a lot you can do here on your first visit - you need to work your way north along the western edge of the level, then east along the top and finally south along the eastern edge of the level to find stairs down to B3. Near the northwestern corner of the map you’ll find a side passage running east that ends in a blue chest you can’t open until you get the Magic Key. We might as well list all the treasure here, however, even if you won’t be getting them on your first visit. In the aforementioned blue chest you can find a Wasteband, which is cursed and not worth equipping anyways - no loss there. Near the southeastern edge of the map, however, you’ll find another side passage to the east that also has a blue chest at the end, and this one contains a suit of Metal Slime Armour - very solid late game armor, and something to look forward to when you return with the Magic Key!

Descend the stairs along the southeastern part of the level to reach B3.

Dragonlord’s Castle - B3¶

You’ll arrive at the south-center of the level, and there are stairs down in the northeastern and northwestern corners. There’s also an isolated area in the middle of the level that you can only reach by ascending from a lower floor, so we’ll be ignoring that for now. Both stairs are worth exploring, but first, head west and north to find a chest, which turns out to be another Cannibox - a necessary nuisance you need to deal with to keep Nose for Treasure accurate.

Once done with the Cannibox, work your way up to the northeastern stairs and descend them to reach a small, isolated section of B4. Search the southeastern edge of the small chamber you find yourself in to find a red chest with an Ice Shield inside, then return back up to B3. Backtrack to B3 and head to the northwestern corner, then head south to find another chest, which turns out to be a Cannibox.

There’s one more treasure left in B3, which you can’t reach until you descend further (although it’s marked on the B3 item list above), so take the stairs down in the northwestern corner of the level to reach B4… again.

Dragonlord’s Castle - B4¶

You’ll arrive near the northwesternmost stairs on the western edge of this level, and there are four more stairs in this level - two to the southeast, one leading to the isolated chamber that contained the Ice Shield we got earlier, and another in the northeastern corner of the level. The northeastern stairs will take you towards your destination, so we’ll save that for last, and obviously the stairs leading to the cavern with the Ice Shield is a non-issue.

That leaves the two flights of stairs to the southeast, but before you bother with them, head northeast and north from the stairs you arrived at to find another Cannibox. Clear it out, then make your way south along the western edge of the level until you find some passages going northeast, which lead to the two interior staircases. There’s a flight of stairs up to the northwest and another flight down to the southeast. If you go down the stairs to the southeast you’ll reach a tunnel in B5, where you can go back up the stairs you came down or you can exit to the north… which will just put you back at the stairs. This path is completely pointless, so instead go up the stairs to the northwest to return to B4.

These stairs will take you to the isolated central part of B3. Head south and you’ll find a chest containing Zombie Mail, a cursed suit of armor. Not the best treasure, but there’s more to be had, by the almighty power of backtracking! Go up another flight of stairs along the southeastern edge of this isolated central chamber to return to B2, then on B2 head up another flight of stairs to the west to go back to B1. When you surface on B1, you’ll be in a central area you couldn’t access from earlier! Go south and loot a chest to score the Battle Fork, a fairly powerful polearm.

With that treasure in hand, work your way back to B4 and head to the southeastern edge of the level, then head north to encounter the Midnight Manguini and a Goyling, who minibosses whom, after a scene, you’ll need to defeat. The Goyling is weak to Flying Knee and both are weak to Zap/Zapple and Bang/Boom. The Midnight Manguini can get two actions per turn and will strike for 30-50 damage each time it attacks, and it can also drain MP, while the Goyling can attack for somewhat less damage or cast Sizzle to hit the entire party for 25-30 damage. As long as you aren’t coming into this fight too banged up, you should be able to focus on Midnight Manguini, after which the fight is all but won. Once they’re defeated, go down the stairs in the northeastern corner to reach B5.

Dragonlord’s Castle - B5¶

A mercifully simple level, you just need to follow the hallways from the northeastern corner where you arrive to the southeastern corner, where you’ll find stairs leading down to B6. Make your way south from the northeastern stairs and loot a chest to obtain a Staff of Sentencing. From this chest go west, north into an adjacent hallway, west again until this hallway ends, then south. Ignore the first hallway to the east but take the second to find a green chest, which you can’t open until you get the [Ultimate Key]… quite a long ways off. Once you’ve got this device, however, you can open this chest to obtain a Mini Medal.

In any event, grab what you can and make your way down the stairs in the southeastern corner of the map.

Dragonlord’s Castle - B6¶

Quite a few treasures on this level! You’ll start out along the southwestern part of the level; from there, cross a bridge to the north and make your way north, east, then north into a room with six chests. Two are already opened, leaving only a red chest, a blue chest (Magic Key required) and two green chests (Ultimate Key required). On your first visit you can only loot the red chest… which is a Cannibox. Bummer. Come back later and open the blue chest to obtain a Mini Medal, while even later the easternmost green chest will yield a Sage’s Stone and the westernmost green chest will forfeit a Dragon Robe. Good gear that we can only aspire to for now…

Loot what you can, then head to the northwestern edge of the level to find two chests, one of which contains an Assassin’s Stab Scroll and the other houses a Kasap Scroll. From here, work your way east, then go down some stairs to the south to reach a watery cavern. Once you descend the aforementioned stairs, head west to find a pair of barrels containing an Angel Bell and some Magic Water.

Finally, head east across two bridges, then tread across a poisonous purple swamp (use Safe Passage to avoid taking damage) and once across head down a slope to the southeast to find a pot containing a Seed of Agility.

That’s it for the loot in this area! At least, the conventional loot. You’ll want to continue south and west to reach the story objective here, as well as a teleporter which will take you back to 1F when used. Even better, it creates a permanent portal on 1F that connects back to B6, allowing you to skip between the start and end of this dungeon at any time! Huzzah!