Melee kill Dragons?

Im wondering as an orc two handed warrior what's the best dragon strategy. Go in battle axe swinging? Archery? Do poisons affect dragons such as paralysis? Or should I learn a few projectile spells? Id really like to paralyze a dragon mid flight and watch it crumple to the ground. Open to suggestions...

Swordsmansmith said:

Im wondering as an orc two handed warrior what's the best dragon strategy. Go in battle axe swinging? Archery? Do poisons affect dragons such as paralysis? Or should I learn a few projectile spells? Id really like to paralyze a dragon mid flight and watch it crumple to the ground. Open to suggestions...

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I've been wondering the same thing. I think my vote would probably be for Archery.

Swordsmansmith said:

Im wondering as an orc two handed warrior what's the best dragon strategy. Go in battle axe swinging? Archery? Do poisons affect dragons such as paralysis? Or should I learn a few projectile spells? Id really like to paralyze a dragon mid flight and watch it crumple to the ground. Open to suggestions...

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well im a dark elf so my strategy may differ, but i usually do what probably most people do, which is shoot it with some arrows to bring the dragon to the ground then hit it with some melee attacks. Its also pretty cool when you jump on its head and start bashing his head in lol. but poison arrows should be pretty effective i guess, depending on the situation.

wait till they land... then beat the crap outta them with dual wielding weapons...

Swordsmansmith said:

Im wondering as an orc two handed warrior what's the best dragon strategy. Go in battle axe swinging? Archery? Do poisons affect dragons such as paralysis? Or should I learn a few projectile spells? Id really like to paralyze a dragon mid flight and watch it crumple to the ground. Open to suggestions...

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Play through the main quest far enough that you get the dragonrend shout and you can force them to land

Can anyone confirm how effective poisons are against dragons? Can you paralyze them?

I used to just dual cast either firebolt or ice spike and hit them until they died. Now I do largely the same until they land and I charge in and waste em melee. Granted, now I can waste em melee way easier than I used to.

Get them too an open space and they will land, then you can melee them. That's what I do with my current character who's an orc. I have a bow and loads of arrows but I prefer to melee.

You HAVE to be in an open area to melee kill. If they have no space to land (based on game limitations) they will hover and fire/ice blast your face off.

lemmyjftw said:

You HAVE to be in an open area to melee kill. If they have no space to land (based on game limitations) they will hover and fire/ice blast your face off.

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Freaking AWESOME! Thank you for this tip!

I have a spell-blade (ish) character that I have no problem killing dragons. Well, alright let's face it, on Master without any guards helping, it might take me a good fifteen to twenty minuets to kill said dragon, but still. Anyway, I noticed that my melee does a LOT of damage compared to say a bow or my pet. But, I ran into a problem.

I wanted to make a character that had NO MAGIC! I wanted that SAME character to not use bows. I intentionally wanted a "melee only" character. But, this dragon issue was starting to pose a problem. Granted my new character is only level 9 and does NOT have the grounding shout (I don't even have that on my main, because I tend to try to not do the main story).

I have no problem killing a dragon with a group of guards, but it seemed when I was by myself the dragon wanted to do what you described and just hover there roasting me and Lydia. If I hid and waited for Lydia to ground him, he'd kill her. If I tried to draw his fire and hide, he'd go back to flying around. So irritating.

Once you mentioned the "space" issue, I now see the problem. The location I kept returning to is the one from the "messenger" you get when you show off your voice around Whiterun. The "overlook" or something. That area SUCKS for killing dragons as a melee. As a caster it's awesome, plenty of stuff to hide around, but as melee, because of what you described, it's horrible.

Thanks again bro, big help!

I use a greatsword because a hit to their wings will ground them, which isn't all that helpful because a few swings kills them anyway. On the character I'm using now, I've been killing dragons that way since level 16?ish. Some of the more epic dragon kills involve a good hit to their wings, it sends them crashing to the ground putting dust in the air and a generic crater in the ground.

*I previously wrote "will permanently ground them." I have no idea how long it lasts, I've never hit a dragon and waited to see what happens.

With my orc when i was low level I ran up the the dragon hit berserk and started getting some power hits till he was dead. used potions if needed. If you level up your 2 handed you can get the running power hit do twice damage then in berserk mode you do ALOT. I got the dragon shout marked for death and when i got it I always used that on the dragon first. Between the marked for death and berserk it was a 1 hit kill if i did a running power hit. Actually today got my 3rd marked for death and that plus berserk i killed an ancient in 1 hit

BTW I use warhammers. All I ever used. Went from steel to daedric.

cmp007 said:

BTW I use warhammers. All I ever used. Went from steel to daedric.

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You can edit, rather than post a second comment, unless you feel the thread is best served with two. Or are just a rebel. Either way, there both fine choices.

Also, I never found the sprinting attack with a 2h weapon did that much more damage, not compared to the energy it costs. I'll normally use it when ive exhausted my energy, and replace the sprint with the whirlwind sprint, which does the same thing. Plus I'm really bad at controlling the character in the sprint attack thing mode. I look like an idiot, circling the enemy and just chopping the air in front of me.
I really like the side-swipe against multiple enemies though, it's the legit-ness, which is a word I'm told.

Here is my strategy, Dragonrend to bring it down, dual wielding daedric axe's for the kill

I use a daedric warhammer for 90% of my dragon kills, although when there's no room for landing I whip out my daedric bow. I don't do much archery, but I've levelled it up enough to make it somewhat effective at killing stuff.

Don't try yo melee a dragon to its face, it will eat you and not in the fun way.

Swordsmansmith said:

Can anyone confirm how effective poisons are against dragons? Can you paralyze them?

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Dragons are 100% resistant to paralysis. However, they are susceptible to poison damage if I remember right.

3v3r said:

Don't try yo melee a dragon to its face, it will eat you and not in the fun way.

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If you use a Sword & Shield properly you can melee a Dragon's face or even shield bash them easily.

ProfCheslieFarnsworthIII said:

Dragons are 100% resistant to paralysis. However, they are susceptible to poison damage if I remember right.

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They are susceptible to Shock too.