How do you kill a dragon in a one on one situation???

[modi]

Lets get this out of the way first: I am a lvl 11 Nord that does a little bit of everything (Destruction magic, archery, and typically one handed swords). I'm sure questions like this have been asked frequently on this site, and I have already read all of the answers. I know that arguably the best way to go is arrowing it until it grounds, then hacking at its flank when it is on the ground or continuing to arrow it while maintaining your cover. I agree with that completely. However, even with doing that I still stand no chance in hell against these things. Whenever I try to arrow it while it is flying, it flys over me and completely roasts me with firebreath. I tend to keep as many health potions on hand as I can, but I use almost all of them before I get the dragon to 3/4 health typically. I know most of you are going to read this and think "wow this guy sucks. I can 2 hit a dragon with a power strike." but I know that I am not the only one having these problems. So please, if you have any helpful tips on how to take down a dragon one on one, let me know.

 

[Ebony Knight]

First of all, don't put yourself down. No two people have the same experience with this game. To add to that at lower levels, without the focus of a single "class type" to focus on (based on the description of your character) you're going to feel a little bit less powerful. A few things to try:

Don't worry about it in the air- Dragons are fast and they fly high. If you're on a console actually making contact with a dragon in the air is border line impossible. If you're on a pc I imagine it is still difficult. Use this time to avoid the dragon's breath and retain more health. Eyes in the sky and keep moving.

Invest in a heal spell- If you don't have one grab a low level "healing" spell. I've found this to be far more helpful than my shield. Particularly when thee dragon is in the air I can typically get my health back up to full between bouts.

Fuus Ro Dah!- Really all you need is a quick fuus. The unrelenting shout actually interrupts a dragon mid-power. USE IT!

Attack the wings- When battling the dragon on the ground attack its wings specifically. If you manage to do enough damage to the wings the dragon will crash and not be able to fly. Word of advice from one of my favorite movies "A downed dragon is a dead dragon"!

 

[modi]

thanks for the help, ill keep that in mind. how do you go about it when it lands? range from cover, or melee?

 

[Ebony Knight]

Well I hardly ever use a bow as a heavily armored melee type. I imagine that (particularly if you have a companion to distract it) using a bow from cover is possible. The only advantage you would get from melee is if you get thee beasts health down to about 1/3 you heave a chance to go into a "killcam animation" that will finish the job for you.

 

[modi]

I dont have a companion, but I was figuring that I could probaly take cover behind a rock or something and step out to take shots then take cover again over and over. however, do you think it would be better to do melee? I am around level 28 archery, and around level 36 one hand, and around 28 destruction. what do you think I would be best off trying?

 

[Ebony Knight]

I would stay away from magic, from what I understand it's a little under powered and I'm not sure how resistant to magic dragons are. Again I really don't use a bow but I'm sure you could do either depending on the strength of your bow. Never know until you give it a shout. The theory you're wanting to implement seems sound though.

 

[modi]

I would probaly agree with the first thing you said...I'll probaly save my magika for healing. So I am assuming that you are a straight up warrior than??

 

[Ebony Knight]

I am essentially a ground and pound warrior. I supplement with some magic and I've used my bow maybe a dozen times at lvl 31. It's a tradition I've carried on since daggerfall, my first character is always a redguard warrior.

 

[modi]

Damn. I would get bored of the same thing over and over haha. That must be hard (at least at first) to only do hand to hand. Im forced into using my magic most the time cuz im not that great at melee.

 

[Flynhawaiian9]

When I first started out with my orc-serker I'm slinging around a steel warhammer and haven't even touched my bow . My first interaction with a dragon was outside of white run and I had no problem of course the dragon was busy melting other people but when I encountered a dragon on my own I got fried I found that running to the nearest group of enemies mamoths towns anything to distract the dragon then I go in and finish it off lol its cheap but effective

 

[modi]

yeah, that is exactly what happened to me. the first wasnt difficult at all, but as soon as I got a surprise attack in a swamp in the middle of nowhere with no animals to be found, I was toast. Literally.

 

[Ghost town]

Don't forget potions. Resist fire and resist frost potions are good to have with you. Switching back and forth from bow to battle axe works really well for me, but I invested most of my skill in two handed weapons.