Gorzash
Battle-Jaded Orc
"Dragons: the very word conjures nightmarish images of shadowy skies, terrible roars, and
endless fire..." - Lore: Dragon Language UESP The Elder Scrolls Wiki
CONTENTS
I: Universal Tips - Miscellaneous pointers for all playing styles.
II: The Dov - Everything you need to know regarding how dragons fight.
III: The Thief - A solid strategy for thieves and assassins to take down dragons stealthily.
IV: The Warrior - Tips every warrior should know and reasons why warriors shouldn't use bows.
V: The Mage - Knowledge for a mage, including best Schools for combating a dovah.
VI: Mixing Styles - The best combinations of fighting styles to use against your aerial enemies.
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Perhaps the most valuable asset one can access for combating dragons is the Shout "Dragonrend". This can be obtained through the Main Quest, Alduin's Bane, which is relatively far into the Main Questline. The Shout forces its target to land, making melee attacks (and to a lesser degree, ranged attacks) easier to land. The cool-down is particularly short as well, making this an even more ideal weapon to be harnessed by all. In combination with the Shout "Marked for Death" (with all three Words of Power, drains enemy's Health by 3/sec, as well as reduces their Armor Rating by 75) it can lead to a quickly met fate for most any dragon.
Another useful Shout - and one that can be acquired earlier on - is "Unrelenting Force". Now, I know what you're thinking: I don't know what I'm talking about, for Unrelenting Force has zero knock-back effect on dragons. It, however, does have a more discrete use, perchance noticed only by the resourceful: when the Shout is used just before a dovah unleashes a breath attack, it will stagger the beast momentarily. This in turn interrupts said attack, saving your hide from a thorough scorching or a numbing blast of frost.
The last of the Shouts that is notably effective when battling dragons is "Storm Call". This is perhaps the most useful universal offense that you have at your disposal. It basically will hit the targeted dragon (as well as any other enemies or allies) multiple times for significant damage and with 100% accuracy. Since striking targets with precision can be a pain in this game, it is always comforting to know that you'll assuredly land a few hits by means of Shouting Storm Call.
Perhaps the following combat strategy is considered cowardly and exploitative, but here it is, nonetheless (this is not to say that I agree with it). Dragons tend to make enemies quite easily. So, let's say you happen to be frolicking through the meadows of Whiterun one fine evening, when you hear the deafening bellow of a dovah from behind you. Quickly, you reach for your bow, but as you do this, you behold the typically frightening sight of a lumbering giant. A brilliant idea hatches in your human brain - that is to say, your decisive and crafty brain. You bolt for the behemoth. He pivots his burly neck, turning his gaze not to you, but to a thoroughly worried dragon. You see what I mean by "exploitative."
And now, a heedful warning: most offensive, enemy-applicable Special Abilities are ineffective when used against a dovah. Battle Cry, Command Animal, and Voice of the Emperor are all abortive when fighting dragons. The cause of this seems to be the fact that dov are not bound fully to the role of an NPC, Animal or Creature. Passive Special Abilities can prove useful, on the contrary. Nords' 50% Frost Resistance and Dunmers' 50% Fire Resistance can be potential life savers in a heated (or frosty) fight. Debatably more effective than either of these, however, is the Bretons' Special Ability, Dragonskin; it absorbs all Magic damage for 60 seconds. Bretons also have a Passive Special Ability that allows for 25% Resistance to Magic damage.
Vampirism is an interesting Active Effect to be had, especially when it has a chance to affect your fighting style against dragons. Vampirism grants the player anywhere from 25% to 100% Resistance to Frost damage, as well as 25% to 100% Aversion to Fire damage. When using this in tandem with the Dunmer's Passive Special Ability of resisting 50% of Fire damage, it can prove to be unexpectedly effective against dov. While using this combination, you can have totaled Resistance ranging anywhere from 25% Resistance to Frost damage and 25% Resistance to Fire damage, to 100% Resistance to Frost damage and 50% Aversion to Fire damage. Vampirism + Dunmer Passive Special Ability can really can prove to be a flexible tool. The only problem: you can only effectively fight dragons at night.
Always treat your terrain as utilitarian when in combat. A dovah's breath attack can be easily avoided by placing a rock barrier between it and you. Trees can also be used for this, but they are not nearly as effective.
Preparation is key for anything really, whether it be for a high school exit exam, a job interview, or a dragon fight. Make sure to bring Resistance to Fire and Resistance to Frost Potions even if they are the less potent, scarce kind that you have to gather from Dungeons and the like (as opposed to brewing them yourself).
If you really intend on devoting your character to dragon-hunting then join the Blades, a Faction focused solely on slaying the beasts. One of their leaders, Esbern, can grant the Dragonslayer's Blessing upon you, which grants an additional 10% chance of dealing Critical Damage upon the dov for five days. Additionally, joining this Faction will allow access to a certain One-Handed blade, Dragonbane. As the name suggest, it is especially effective against dragons; it deals an extra 20 - 40 points of damage to them, as well as 10 points of Shock Damage to all other foes. Eventually, your own crafted weapons will outclass it as you approach the higher levels; however, it is always a handy weapon to have earlier on in the game if you often wield One-Handed weapons.
_____________________________________________________________________________
II: THE Dov
_____________________________________________________________________________
III: THE THIEF
First off, the Thief is at a terrible disadvantage when fighting dragons compared to the Warrior or the Mage. Almost the entire basis of the Thief's playing style is shattered by the near-inevitability of a dovah detecting you. Stealth alone will quickly prove useless in these battles.
The secret to a thief's success lies in the Alchemy Perk Tree. By using Alchemy to your advantage, you will gain access to a unique and effective style of combating dov. You will be capable of brewing your very own Resistance to Fire and Resistance to Frost Potions, as well as Invisibility Potions. In addition to these specialized defenses, you will be able to create universal offensive Poisons, such as Ravage Health or Aversion to Magic Poisons. Create whatever ones complement your most intensely focused form of offense (i.e. aforementioned Aversion to Magic Poison will enhance your offense if you are a spellcaster).
Invisibility Potions combined with the Muffle Effect (many special boots will provide this; i.e. Shrouded Boots) and Dragonrend will bring any dovah to your mercy. Shouting Dragonrend upon your encounter will force the enemy to land, as mentioned earlier. After Shouting, immediately consume an Invisibility Potion. Approach the dragon without breaking your Invisibility Effect, and perform a Sneak Attack. This is possibly the only way to consistently execute high-damaging attacks with a thief. The only other way to get in a Sneak Attack would be to sneak up on a sleeping dragon. They hardly ever sleep.
If you fail to kill your enemy in one hit, be quick to ingest a Fire Resistance or Frost Resistance Potion. Like the Mage, you will be in great need of any defense you can get your hands on. Begin hacking away with your weapon as much as possible.
There is the commonly known Archery-based strategy, which in my humble opinion is acceptable for the Thief to use in order to properly deal with dragons (while not the Warrior, for reasons I have already explained.) To me, this is approved due to the already overwhelming disadvantages of fighting dragons using this archetype. The Thief's specialties lie elsewhere.
_____________________________________________________________________________
IV: THE WARRIOR
The in-between of the three archetypes, warriors possess immense power in close combat. The problem: Dragons don't like close combat, so they avoid it.
Now, we all are familiar with the arrow-spam "technique." I for one, find it outright silly that anyone who plays as a warrior would use a bow as their main weapon versus dragons (unless they have not acquired Dragonrend for whatever reason). The flaw with using a bow: Magic is better, in ever way humanly or inhumanly imaginable. If you are going to fight a dovah from a distance, then be a mage. If not, then read the rest of this section to find out what you should be doing.
Dragonrend is possibly your most useful asset as a warrior. Grounding a dovah allows you to unleash your full and overpowering arsenal of attacks. Without Dragonrend, you will be limited to only arrows and whatever hits you can squeeze in when your foe decides to land (and sometimes, they don't land.) Once they are inflicted with Dragonrend's effect, a general rule of thumb is to try as much as possible to stay away from the dovah's head! They can still lash out at you with their wings and tail; however, this offense is not nearly as deadly as their breath attacks, crushing jaws, and potential instant-kill animations.
If you choose to dual wield weapons, the Shout "Elemental Fury" is an extremely helpful tool. The reason why its effectiveness is amplified when used to combat dragons is this: the one big weakness of the Shout is that the increased swing speed usually reduces your likelihood to land every hit. Dov are quite large targets, if you haven't noticed; slightly broader than a barn. The downside to Elemental Fury and dual wielding is, for the most part, negated by the size of a dragon. That is why this strategy proves to be notably efficient. The Perks "Dual Flurry" and "Dual Savagery" will further improve your already high chances of massacring any landed dragon that crosses your path.
If you specialize in Two-Handed weaponry (or even One-Handed weaponry), then you will be just as well-suited to dovah-fighting as someone who dual-wields. The Perks "Great Critical Charge"/ "Critical Charge" are excellent ones to invest in. These both enhance your Power Attack versatility by adding a Sprinting Power Attack that does double damage. Even better, you can use it several times in a row even if you run out of Stamina; this stands true as long as the Sprinting Power Attacks are consecutive (you remain in the Sprinting animation even after Stamina has run out, as long as you do not perform any other action). This in turn creates a stun-lock effect, trapping your opponent in a fatal chain of extremely high-damaging attacks. However, this offense suffers from the same drawbacks as dual-wielding + Elemental Fury. Thankfully, the same drawbacks are also neutralized by the hugeness of dragons. With one chain of Sprinting Power Attacks, you can easily wipe clean half of a dragon's Health. Overall, warriors have more potential than mages, but this potential can only be released with the assistance of Dragonrend.
______________________________________________________________________________
V: THE MAGE
I'll start with saying that this is possibly the best archetype to choose if you are intent on slaying dragons. Mages have the advantage of varying ranged attacks, which can possibly be the key to beating a dovah at his own game. More precisely, Destruction Magic is said key: Destruction Dual Casting + Impact + Thunderbolt = most effective dovah ass-whooping tactic ever to be discovered. I strongly suggest that you use spells that deal Shock damage simply because of the dovs' innate resistance to Frost and Fire damage.
To compensate for the Mage's defensive incapability, start out as a Breton to gain their aforementioned Abilities.
For fending off your aeronautical foes, Conjuration Magic is a fantastic supplement to your necessary skills in Destruction Magic. Like Storm Call, Atronachs have that computer-perfect precision that humans lack. Not only are they helpful in this manner; they also take the role of the human shield in your fights (or Daedra shield... whatever you'd like to call it.) Dragons have a bad habit of making your allies their primary target, meaning that your Conjured Frost Atronach will draw most of a dovah's fire (hopefully, frost).
If you don't want to go the way of Conjuration for whatever reason, Alteration is a fine alternate choice (GET IT?). Spells like Oakflesh, Ironflesh, and Ebonyflesh are all great for boosting your Armor Rating. The Perk "Mage Armor" complements these spells by initially doubling their effectiveness (each investment in the Perk raises the multiplier by .5). Despite its name, Dragonhide is a bad choice; dragons will almost never use physical attacks against a mage, for you will be bombarding them from afar.
______________________________________________________________________________
VI: MIXING STYLES
Most people do not play as strictly a mage, warrior, or thief. Nearly everyone combines the styles of these three to some extent.
Mages may want to consider wearing Heavy Armor and getting the Perk, Conditioning. This will basically eliminate any need for a mage to use Clothes, unless they have dabbled in Alteration Magic. In this case, Heavy Armor isn't much of a help. In every other case, Heavy Armor will greatly boost a mage's defensive capability, allowing them to trade fire with a dovah. Other than this, the Mage doesn't have much need to invest into the Warriors' or Thiefs' Perk Trees.
For a warrior to enhance his or her combat versatility, he or she may want to consider Enchanting. In fact, everyone should want to consider Enchanting. It's that great. You can create armors with the Fortify Fire Resistance or Fortify Frost Resistance Enchantments (you can even have both of these Enchantments on the same piece of armor, if you get the Perk, Extra Effect). Enchanting weapons to deal Shock damage can be quite effective for a warrior in particular. It is the only Enchantment applicable that can slip through a dovah's elemental safeguard.
Thieves should definitely consider spreading their Perks to Perk Trees of other archetypes if they intend on being effective dragon hunters. This can be hard to do if you want to maintain your identity as a thief and not a warrior or mage. The School of Illusion is probably your best bet. It provides you with not only spells such as Harmony and Pacify (both nearly the same effect; both fantastic for thieves in general), but ones like Invisibility and Muffle (also extremely useful for thieves in general, but also effective against the dov). Invisibility and Muffle can be combined to have the same effect on dragons as the previously mentioned strategy using Potions. In addition to the School of Illusion, thieves must invest in the One-Handed and/ or Archery Perk Trees of the Warrior archetype. After all, I assume that you acknowledge that you'll have to have some form of offense.
______________________________________________________________________________
I hope this article was somewhat useful to anyone who is (hopefully was) in need of tips. Now go forth, Dovahkiin with the wisdom I have bestowed upon you! Wield my knowledge within your mind as you wield a blade with your arms!
endless fire..." - Lore: Dragon Language UESP The Elder Scrolls Wiki
CONTENTS
I: Universal Tips - Miscellaneous pointers for all playing styles.
II: The Dov - Everything you need to know regarding how dragons fight.
III: The Thief - A solid strategy for thieves and assassins to take down dragons stealthily.
IV: The Warrior - Tips every warrior should know and reasons why warriors shouldn't use bows.
V: The Mage - Knowledge for a mage, including best Schools for combating a dovah.
VI: Mixing Styles - The best combinations of fighting styles to use against your aerial enemies.
I: UNIVERSAL TIPS Perhaps the most valuable asset one can access for combating dragons is the Shout "Dragonrend". This can be obtained through the Main Quest, Alduin's Bane, which is relatively far into the Main Questline. The Shout forces its target to land, making melee attacks (and to a lesser degree, ranged attacks) easier to land. The cool-down is particularly short as well, making this an even more ideal weapon to be harnessed by all. In combination with the Shout "Marked for Death" (with all three Words of Power, drains enemy's Health by 3/sec, as well as reduces their Armor Rating by 75) it can lead to a quickly met fate for most any dragon.
Another useful Shout - and one that can be acquired earlier on - is "Unrelenting Force". Now, I know what you're thinking: I don't know what I'm talking about, for Unrelenting Force has zero knock-back effect on dragons. It, however, does have a more discrete use, perchance noticed only by the resourceful: when the Shout is used just before a dovah unleashes a breath attack, it will stagger the beast momentarily. This in turn interrupts said attack, saving your hide from a thorough scorching or a numbing blast of frost.
The last of the Shouts that is notably effective when battling dragons is "Storm Call". This is perhaps the most useful universal offense that you have at your disposal. It basically will hit the targeted dragon (as well as any other enemies or allies) multiple times for significant damage and with 100% accuracy. Since striking targets with precision can be a pain in this game, it is always comforting to know that you'll assuredly land a few hits by means of Shouting Storm Call.
Perhaps the following combat strategy is considered cowardly and exploitative, but here it is, nonetheless (this is not to say that I agree with it). Dragons tend to make enemies quite easily. So, let's say you happen to be frolicking through the meadows of Whiterun one fine evening, when you hear the deafening bellow of a dovah from behind you. Quickly, you reach for your bow, but as you do this, you behold the typically frightening sight of a lumbering giant. A brilliant idea hatches in your human brain - that is to say, your decisive and crafty brain. You bolt for the behemoth. He pivots his burly neck, turning his gaze not to you, but to a thoroughly worried dragon. You see what I mean by "exploitative."
And now, a heedful warning: most offensive, enemy-applicable Special Abilities are ineffective when used against a dovah. Battle Cry, Command Animal, and Voice of the Emperor are all abortive when fighting dragons. The cause of this seems to be the fact that dov are not bound fully to the role of an NPC, Animal or Creature. Passive Special Abilities can prove useful, on the contrary. Nords' 50% Frost Resistance and Dunmers' 50% Fire Resistance can be potential life savers in a heated (or frosty) fight. Debatably more effective than either of these, however, is the Bretons' Special Ability, Dragonskin; it absorbs all Magic damage for 60 seconds. Bretons also have a Passive Special Ability that allows for 25% Resistance to Magic damage.
Vampirism is an interesting Active Effect to be had, especially when it has a chance to affect your fighting style against dragons. Vampirism grants the player anywhere from 25% to 100% Resistance to Frost damage, as well as 25% to 100% Aversion to Fire damage. When using this in tandem with the Dunmer's Passive Special Ability of resisting 50% of Fire damage, it can prove to be unexpectedly effective against dov. While using this combination, you can have totaled Resistance ranging anywhere from 25% Resistance to Frost damage and 25% Resistance to Fire damage, to 100% Resistance to Frost damage and 50% Aversion to Fire damage. Vampirism + Dunmer Passive Special Ability can really can prove to be a flexible tool. The only problem: you can only effectively fight dragons at night.
Always treat your terrain as utilitarian when in combat. A dovah's breath attack can be easily avoided by placing a rock barrier between it and you. Trees can also be used for this, but they are not nearly as effective.
Preparation is key for anything really, whether it be for a high school exit exam, a job interview, or a dragon fight. Make sure to bring Resistance to Fire and Resistance to Frost Potions even if they are the less potent, scarce kind that you have to gather from Dungeons and the like (as opposed to brewing them yourself).
If you really intend on devoting your character to dragon-hunting then join the Blades, a Faction focused solely on slaying the beasts. One of their leaders, Esbern, can grant the Dragonslayer's Blessing upon you, which grants an additional 10% chance of dealing Critical Damage upon the dov for five days. Additionally, joining this Faction will allow access to a certain One-Handed blade, Dragonbane. As the name suggest, it is especially effective against dragons; it deals an extra 20 - 40 points of damage to them, as well as 10 points of Shock Damage to all other foes. Eventually, your own crafted weapons will outclass it as you approach the higher levels; however, it is always a handy weapon to have earlier on in the game if you often wield One-Handed weapons.
II: THE Dov
Before you can fight the enemy, you need to know the enemy. Dragons of all types have a fairly rigid AI, meaning that there are only around half a dozen maneuvers that they have up their sleeves... or scales. Dragons, however, have the ability to Shout as you do; be prepared for an even match.
All dov have an inborn 50% Resistance to Fire damage and 25% Resistance to Frost damage. This is important to know if you use Enchanted weapons; Fire and Frost Enchantments will not work as well.
If you've just been in heated combat with a dragon and it suddenly takes off flying into the horizon, don't be fooled. It will come back. Dov just have a weird tendency to fly off temporarily after they bombard you with fire. Unless you can use the Wait feature, you are not safe.
The first of a dragon's offenses is its breath attack. It lasts for roughly four seconds, and it doesn't seem to have a reach limit. Dragons' breath attacks will deal either Fire or Frost damage, never Shock damage. This breath attack is usually unleashed when they hover like a hummingbird in front of you. This action is a telltale sign, so watch out for it. Dragons also tend to use their breath attacks after they have landed, especially if you are out of range of their gnashing jaws. Once in a while, they will even use it as they fly by you. In this case, it usually lasts only for around one and a half seconds; however, it is quite a bit harder to predict, much less avoid.
In addition to breath attacks, dov have the ability to Shout, as mentioned earlier. A regular Dragon is capable of using both the Fire Breath and Frost Breath Shouts; Blood Dragons, Frost Dragons, Elder Dragons, and Ancient Dragons can use Fire Breath, Frost Breath, and Unrelenting Force. It is unclear as to how many Words of Power for any particular Shout a dovah has knowledge of. In regards to Unrelenting Force in particular, I have never actually been sent flying backwards when a dragon Shouts it at me (save Alduin). This leads me to believe that dragons only know one or two Words of Power for Unrelenting Force.
When grounded, a dovah's arsenal gains much variety. It will become capable of using its wings and tail as tools of destruction if you wander too far away from its head. A landed dragon also becomes capable of inaugurating an instant-kill animation if it bites you while you're low on health. While pretty cool to watch, it won't do you much good...
When a dragon is fighting another enemy, it will often times swoop in, pick up its foe with its claws, and drop it from several hundred feet. The difference between this killing animation and the previously mentioned one is it is funny and beneficial.
III: THE THIEF
First off, the Thief is at a terrible disadvantage when fighting dragons compared to the Warrior or the Mage. Almost the entire basis of the Thief's playing style is shattered by the near-inevitability of a dovah detecting you. Stealth alone will quickly prove useless in these battles.
The secret to a thief's success lies in the Alchemy Perk Tree. By using Alchemy to your advantage, you will gain access to a unique and effective style of combating dov. You will be capable of brewing your very own Resistance to Fire and Resistance to Frost Potions, as well as Invisibility Potions. In addition to these specialized defenses, you will be able to create universal offensive Poisons, such as Ravage Health or Aversion to Magic Poisons. Create whatever ones complement your most intensely focused form of offense (i.e. aforementioned Aversion to Magic Poison will enhance your offense if you are a spellcaster).
Invisibility Potions combined with the Muffle Effect (many special boots will provide this; i.e. Shrouded Boots) and Dragonrend will bring any dovah to your mercy. Shouting Dragonrend upon your encounter will force the enemy to land, as mentioned earlier. After Shouting, immediately consume an Invisibility Potion. Approach the dragon without breaking your Invisibility Effect, and perform a Sneak Attack. This is possibly the only way to consistently execute high-damaging attacks with a thief. The only other way to get in a Sneak Attack would be to sneak up on a sleeping dragon. They hardly ever sleep.
If you fail to kill your enemy in one hit, be quick to ingest a Fire Resistance or Frost Resistance Potion. Like the Mage, you will be in great need of any defense you can get your hands on. Begin hacking away with your weapon as much as possible.
There is the commonly known Archery-based strategy, which in my humble opinion is acceptable for the Thief to use in order to properly deal with dragons (while not the Warrior, for reasons I have already explained.) To me, this is approved due to the already overwhelming disadvantages of fighting dragons using this archetype. The Thief's specialties lie elsewhere.
IV: THE WARRIOR
The in-between of the three archetypes, warriors possess immense power in close combat. The problem: Dragons don't like close combat, so they avoid it.
Now, we all are familiar with the arrow-spam "technique." I for one, find it outright silly that anyone who plays as a warrior would use a bow as their main weapon versus dragons (unless they have not acquired Dragonrend for whatever reason). The flaw with using a bow: Magic is better, in ever way humanly or inhumanly imaginable. If you are going to fight a dovah from a distance, then be a mage. If not, then read the rest of this section to find out what you should be doing.
Dragonrend is possibly your most useful asset as a warrior. Grounding a dovah allows you to unleash your full and overpowering arsenal of attacks. Without Dragonrend, you will be limited to only arrows and whatever hits you can squeeze in when your foe decides to land (and sometimes, they don't land.) Once they are inflicted with Dragonrend's effect, a general rule of thumb is to try as much as possible to stay away from the dovah's head! They can still lash out at you with their wings and tail; however, this offense is not nearly as deadly as their breath attacks, crushing jaws, and potential instant-kill animations.
If you choose to dual wield weapons, the Shout "Elemental Fury" is an extremely helpful tool. The reason why its effectiveness is amplified when used to combat dragons is this: the one big weakness of the Shout is that the increased swing speed usually reduces your likelihood to land every hit. Dov are quite large targets, if you haven't noticed; slightly broader than a barn. The downside to Elemental Fury and dual wielding is, for the most part, negated by the size of a dragon. That is why this strategy proves to be notably efficient. The Perks "Dual Flurry" and "Dual Savagery" will further improve your already high chances of massacring any landed dragon that crosses your path.
If you specialize in Two-Handed weaponry (or even One-Handed weaponry), then you will be just as well-suited to dovah-fighting as someone who dual-wields. The Perks "Great Critical Charge"/ "Critical Charge" are excellent ones to invest in. These both enhance your Power Attack versatility by adding a Sprinting Power Attack that does double damage. Even better, you can use it several times in a row even if you run out of Stamina; this stands true as long as the Sprinting Power Attacks are consecutive (you remain in the Sprinting animation even after Stamina has run out, as long as you do not perform any other action). This in turn creates a stun-lock effect, trapping your opponent in a fatal chain of extremely high-damaging attacks. However, this offense suffers from the same drawbacks as dual-wielding + Elemental Fury. Thankfully, the same drawbacks are also neutralized by the hugeness of dragons. With one chain of Sprinting Power Attacks, you can easily wipe clean half of a dragon's Health. Overall, warriors have more potential than mages, but this potential can only be released with the assistance of Dragonrend.
V: THE MAGE
I'll start with saying that this is possibly the best archetype to choose if you are intent on slaying dragons. Mages have the advantage of varying ranged attacks, which can possibly be the key to beating a dovah at his own game. More precisely, Destruction Magic is said key: Destruction Dual Casting + Impact + Thunderbolt = most effective dovah ass-whooping tactic ever to be discovered. I strongly suggest that you use spells that deal Shock damage simply because of the dovs' innate resistance to Frost and Fire damage.
To compensate for the Mage's defensive incapability, start out as a Breton to gain their aforementioned Abilities.
For fending off your aeronautical foes, Conjuration Magic is a fantastic supplement to your necessary skills in Destruction Magic. Like Storm Call, Atronachs have that computer-perfect precision that humans lack. Not only are they helpful in this manner; they also take the role of the human shield in your fights (or Daedra shield... whatever you'd like to call it.) Dragons have a bad habit of making your allies their primary target, meaning that your Conjured Frost Atronach will draw most of a dovah's fire (hopefully, frost).
If you don't want to go the way of Conjuration for whatever reason, Alteration is a fine alternate choice (GET IT?). Spells like Oakflesh, Ironflesh, and Ebonyflesh are all great for boosting your Armor Rating. The Perk "Mage Armor" complements these spells by initially doubling their effectiveness (each investment in the Perk raises the multiplier by .5). Despite its name, Dragonhide is a bad choice; dragons will almost never use physical attacks against a mage, for you will be bombarding them from afar.
VI: MIXING STYLES
Most people do not play as strictly a mage, warrior, or thief. Nearly everyone combines the styles of these three to some extent.
Mages may want to consider wearing Heavy Armor and getting the Perk, Conditioning. This will basically eliminate any need for a mage to use Clothes, unless they have dabbled in Alteration Magic. In this case, Heavy Armor isn't much of a help. In every other case, Heavy Armor will greatly boost a mage's defensive capability, allowing them to trade fire with a dovah. Other than this, the Mage doesn't have much need to invest into the Warriors' or Thiefs' Perk Trees.
For a warrior to enhance his or her combat versatility, he or she may want to consider Enchanting. In fact, everyone should want to consider Enchanting. It's that great. You can create armors with the Fortify Fire Resistance or Fortify Frost Resistance Enchantments (you can even have both of these Enchantments on the same piece of armor, if you get the Perk, Extra Effect). Enchanting weapons to deal Shock damage can be quite effective for a warrior in particular. It is the only Enchantment applicable that can slip through a dovah's elemental safeguard.
Thieves should definitely consider spreading their Perks to Perk Trees of other archetypes if they intend on being effective dragon hunters. This can be hard to do if you want to maintain your identity as a thief and not a warrior or mage. The School of Illusion is probably your best bet. It provides you with not only spells such as Harmony and Pacify (both nearly the same effect; both fantastic for thieves in general), but ones like Invisibility and Muffle (also extremely useful for thieves in general, but also effective against the dov). Invisibility and Muffle can be combined to have the same effect on dragons as the previously mentioned strategy using Potions. In addition to the School of Illusion, thieves must invest in the One-Handed and/ or Archery Perk Trees of the Warrior archetype. After all, I assume that you acknowledge that you'll have to have some form of offense.
I hope this article was somewhat useful to anyone who is (hopefully was) in need of tips. Now go forth, Dovahkiin with the wisdom I have bestowed upon you! Wield my knowledge within your mind as you wield a blade with your arms!
