Depends on my character. One of my characters at the moment is a pacifist, so basically i have to run away and lead the dragon to populated areas, usually full of bunnies, but you need alot of bunnies to get stuck in a dragons throat and choke him, , but it can be done, although patience is needed,
Well, for this noob who has no fancy weapons and shouts, I have Lydia shoot arrows at them from afar while I just use magic of the opposite element from their breath and gradually approach them and then when they land I rush in and attack them with some kind of sharp weapon. It usually works with a few hits. A few times I've been eaten as I run toward the dragon's face though. xD
Or if it's a fire dragon and I'm feeling like something really epic, I poison my Ancient Nord Battle Axe of Cold and jump on its head for a finishing blow. lol
Depends on the build, but as this is a game about fighting Dragons, most of them have some way to go about it, or avoid the Main quest entirely.
Which type of character works best? Archer, hands down. Stack up some magic Resistance, and stay back from the physical attacks, puncushion with impunity.
The worst is probably the pure Melee'er. The Dragon doesn't have to land until you have Dragonrend, so prior to that, you spend a lot of time running around slowly in your armor with your weapons in hand, and waiting for a chance to counter-attack. I don't generally play these types. Even when I do, I get a good bow, and invest in some Archery because Here There be Dragons.
My favorite? Magic. Gain, stack up those resistances, but the Mirmulnir combo is Lesser Ward, and Lightning Bolt. Even that puny little Novice Restoration spell blocks dragon breath like nobody's business, but it drains a lot of Magicka, and takes a little while to charge up, so you really have to time it when he says "Yol,.." Once you get Ward Absorb, you don't need to upgrade it further, just use it to charge up your blue bar for some Thunderbolts. The nice thing is you can cast right through it, so you don't have to let it down until it pauses to take a breath.
The ultimate are my World Eater Cherry Tapper builds, which were designed for one thing, Alduin's Bane. I started a little contest on another forum to beat Him at the Throat of the World in as little time as possible at the lowest level with little to no equipment other than the Scroll, on Master.
And the winner is... Breton, Atronach Stone, double cast (Not Dual Cast, in both hands) Walls of Frost. Dragonrend, followed by Shin as soon as He THWOMPs down, hose his footprint with multiple instances of DoT that drains His Stamina so He can't take back off. Wearing nothing but a loincloth, He didn't last as long as the daily power, and was powerless to hurt me with 100% Spell Absorbtion.
That's why my weapon of choice is usually Lightning, it Hit-scans, meaning instead of travel time, it draws a line of site, and hits whatever's first in it's way like Bullets in Doom. Therefore, you don't have to lead the target, dragons, nor fleeing bandits, for that matter. Also, none of them are significantly resistant to it. If I have Spell Absorption, I just throw them alternating hands for maximum Rate of Fire, and soak up the Thu'um to keep going until they land. Then, hose-em. If you can beat down Dragon Priests, several have Staffs of Wall Spells (Fire, and Lightning, you have to find ones of Frost.)
Yes, this. Just "Fus" is enough to interrupt them, and has a way shorter cooldown period. They usually fly off for another straffing run after that. Destruction mages can also use Impact, but I just time it for their shouts, then go back to casting it hand-to-hand for maximum fire rate, and better Magicka efficiency. That's assuming you aren't using infini-destruction enchantments, or Spell Absorbtion to power it. In the first case, just Impact them into submission. For the latter, you Want them to breathe on you to refill your blue gauge. With the Atronach stone, or just perks, a Scroll of Guardian Circle heals you some, while refilling your Magicka with the rest, which makes these fights downright easy. Dragon Preists, too. (Unless they have a Staff of the Storm Wall, that forces you out of what I call the Magicka Well.)
Well the character I just created (that I'm spending the most time on) won't fight Dragons as I'm avoiding the main quest, buuuut, when I'm playing my Dark Elf I just stand there and shoot arrow after arrow at the Dragon. As long as it's a fire-breather, I'm good to go, given my natural resistance to fire + the boots I wear with 25% extra resistance. It's awesome, because their fire breath does basically nothing to me.
If you do that, use Power Attacks, and/or Bashes to stun him so he can't counter, then side straffe so he has to turn in place rather than snapping at you. He still has wing-slaps, but they're not as nasty as the bite, or tail lashes. This is Stamina intensive, but worth it for fast damage, and saving arrows.
