Solving the Sphinx riddles in is a heroic undertaking, requiring you to trek or teleport back and forth from its Mountain Shrine, using your wits and precious to complete a number of tasks for the talkative monster. For each one of the five riddles you solve, you'll get a reward, plus a big prize if you manage to complete them all.
It's no easy feat, though—even with us telling you the solutions, it'll require quite a commitment to get it all done. Before doing any of this, I'd also recommend you bring a Portcrystal to place, since you'll need to travel back and forth between the shrine quite frequently. All that covered, here's how to solve each Sphinx riddle in Dragon's Dogma 2. Obviously, this guide will contain spoilers for the Sphinx and its location, so look away now if you don't want to see.
Dragon's Dogma 2 Sphinx location
If you haven't found the Sphinx yet, its Mountain Shrine is accessible to the north of the Checkpoint Rest Town via the Ancient Battlegrounds area. Take the north path into a valley with a load of broken bridges and stone saurians and then keep following it until you come to a ballista overlooking a battlefield with a dragon, i.e the Ancient Battlegrounds. Climb up towards the castle on your left until you reach the armoured cyclops, then head into the cave behind it and keep climbing. You'll have to fight a golem along the way as well, but after that you're basically there.
Riddle of Eyes solution
In the Riddle of Eyes the Sphinx directs you towards a little dungeon down the stairs from its shrine. Enter inside and fight the goblins, but instead of delving through the entire dungeon, turn around and look above the doorway to see a chest. Climb up and open it to get the Sealing Phial and then bring this back to the Sphinx to pass the test. As a reward you'll get a Wakestone and to keep the Sealing Phial, which you'll need to use to solve another riddle.
Riddle of Conviction solution
In the Riddle of Conviction the Sphinx asks you to give her something as valuable as life. We gave her a Wakestone, which she was pleased with. Since the reward for this trial is also a Wakestone, there's no net loss or gain if you do this. It might be possible to give her something of less value and still pass, but considering the alternative is her potentially eating you, it's your choice whether to risk it.
Riddle of Rumination solution
For the Riddle of Rumination the Sphinx asks you to go to the first place where you found a Seeker's Token. I hope you have a good memory! This will likely be in the area around Melve. The first one I found, and possibly the first you can find, is located just after the Borderwatch Outpost on the road to Melve, where you can jump between two cliffs above some water and find a token just behind a chest. If you choose the right location, rummy best you'll find the Finder's Token instead. Take this back to the Sphinx to pass the test and get three Ferrystones.
Riddle of Madness solution
In the Riddle of Madness the Sphinx asks you to bring her the one you love. There are multiple characters that can fulfil this criteria if you've completed their quests, such as Ulrika from Melve, Glyndwr the elf who you find in the Vernworth market, and Captain Brant if you've completed his quests up to the coronation. To capture your loved one, simply use the Sealing Phial you got from the Riddle of Eyes in your inventory when you're next to them, then bring it back to the Sphinx and break it to let them out. Then you just need to talk to the Sphinx again and say this is your loved one.
You can also apparently also use your for this, though since I used Captain Brant to complete the riddle, I haven't been able to test that. Your pawns wait outside the Sphinx's shrine, so you can likely just pick up your pawn and bring them to the altar. Completing this challenge gets you rummy golds a Portcrystal.
Riddle of Wisdom
For this riddle the Sphinx asks you to find her parent, but I'm going to level with you; we haven't worked this one out yet. I tried bringing her Chimaera materials—since the Chimaera is one of her possible parents in Greek mythology—but that didn't work. I tried bringing her the Medusa Head. I even tried bringing a giant brick, since the Sphinx is living stone, but none of those worked.
I also scoured the continent for another Sphinx shrine and came across one hidden in the mountains of Battahl, though sadly this was empty and contained no parent Sphinx. As soon as the answer is known I'll add it to this section. However, if you can't wait, there is a way to brute force the final reward listed below.
The alternative solution
Don't fancy doing the riddles? If you don't mind missing out on the individual riddle rewards you haven't earned, there is a way to best the Sphinx that will get you the main reward. It's worth noting that if you do this the Sphinx won't move to the Frontier Shrine in Battahl after you complete her first set of riddles, meaning you'll lose access to the four further riddles she poses.
Here's what you need to do:
- Acquire eight Wyrmslife Crystals. You can get these by exploring, but mainly via defeating dragons.
- Find the cave-dwelling hermit along the east coast of Battahl. The easiest way to get here is by making your way to the capital of Bakbattahl and then heading north along the coast. Trade the hermit those eight crystals to get the Unmaking Arrow.
- Using this arrow will automatically save the game, so there's no going back on this plan once it's done. If you're sure you just
want the Sphinx's final reward, change to the Archer vocation, equip the Unmaking Arrow and shoot the Sphinx. She'll essentially say 'well played' and disappear, leaving the key to the final chest.
So what's the reward?
The Sphinx drops 10,000 gold plus the Key of Sagacity which unlocks that fancy sarcophagus she was guarding. Inside you'll find the Eternal Wakestone. The item description makes it sound a lot like a regular Wakestone, but the key difference is that this one can only be used to revive NPCs.
If you kill an NPC or they die, the stone will collect their soul, then when you use it all those NPCs will come back to life—it's essentially a single-use mass resurrection item. To test it I killed 20 NPCs in Melve and it collected all of their souls for revival.