Dragons (Skyrim)

'''"Most Nords of Skyrim believed Dragons were only a legend. Until now."

- -The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim '''

Dragons (Dovah, or Dov plural) are a large and powerful reptillian race from Akavir that were once widespread throughout Tamriel. Although seeming rather beast-like, they are profoundly intelligent, capable of speech, written language, and comprehending other languages. Their spoken language can be used to cast powerful magic known as Thu'um or Dragon Shouts. They were rendered almost extinct, until 4E 201 when they have resurfaced in Skyrim with the return of Alduin.

Dragon Types
Common Others
 * Dragon: The first Dragons encountered in Skyrim; they are brown and are often the Fire variant.
 * Blood Dragon: The second most powerful dragon type, they are green with a fan-shaped tail.
 * Frost Dragon: They have shiny white scales with massive black spikes. Exclusively use Frost shouts.
 * Elder Dragon: They are bronze-scaled and are second in power only to the Ancient Dragon.
 * Ancient Dragon: The most powerful common dragon type in Skyrim. They are red and black.
 * Skeletal: A skeletal dragon appears in Labyrinthian during The Staff of Magnus (Quest).
 * Red Dragon: See: Nafaalilargus and Odahviing.


 * A Dragon's level is not necessarily the exactly level a player must be to encounter one, but it is an approximation.

Named Dragons
These are Dragons encountered throughout Skyrim. Essentially identical to random nameless Dragons in terms of gameplay, these Dragons are usually encountered during the main quest with individual names and dialogue:

Alduin: The firt-born of Akatosh has resurfaced Skyrim. He is raising the dragons throughout Skyrim so that he may feast on the souls of the dead and the living. One of the few black dragons. He is also called the "World Eater".

Paarthurnax: Leader of the Greybeards and follower of The Way of The Voice, Paarthurnax was present during the original "defeat" of Alduin.

Odahviing: Alduin's right hand Dragon, Odahviing was captured by the Dovahkiin and then pledged allegiance to him in return for his freedom. Can be called to aid the Dovahkiin by using the Call Dragon shout. One of the few red dragons.

Mirmulnir: The first Dragon encountered by the player. He attacks the Western Tower of Whiterun.

Sahloknir: An incredibly old Dragon with the ability to breath both fire and ice, was resurrected by Alduin only to be killed shortly after by the Dovahkiin.

Viinturuth: A dragon that has been observed speaking in native tongue to other dragons. This dragon can be randomly encountered while wandering Skyrim. After completing The Throat of the World you can witness Alduin resurrect this dragon from his burial site west of Anga's Mill.

Nahagliiv: Encountered near his burial site just outside Rorikstead. After completing A Cornered Rat you can witness Alduin resurrect this dragon at his burial site.

Vuljotnaak: Encountered near his burial site north-west of Bloated Man's Grotto, south-west of Sleeping Tree Camp, and south of Broken Fang Cave. Was being resurrected by Alduin when encountered. Can be found after completing Diplomatic Immunity and before Alduin's Wall.

Vulthuryol: A dragon encountered underground in Blackreach, underneath Alftand. To trigger this dragon attack the player must use the Unrelenting Force shout on the massive orange globe hanging above Blackreach.

Locations
Dragons can attack the player almost anywhere outdoors in Skyrim. Random encounters are scripted to take place after a certain amount of in-game time has passed without a Dragon appearance. Thus, fast traveling to an outdoor location is a reliable (sometimes guaranteed) way to cause a random Dragon encounter.

Listing every location a player could possibly encounter a Dragon would be futile. There are, however, places where dragons are scripted to appear. Dragons are commonly perched atop word walls, typically at mountain peaks, guarding Thu'um words. These locations appear as a Dragon's Head on the map and are listed here:


 * Shearpoint
 * Autumnwatch Tower
 * Skyborn Altar
 * Dragontooth Crater
 * Mount Anthor
 * Northwind Summit
 * Ancient's Ascent
 * Bonestrewn Crest

Dragon Behavior

 * Although most commonly hostile, occasionally dragons will fly around as if you're not there. While this may be a bug, eventually dragons will catch sight of something they wish to attack.
 * Their combat patterns usually involve fly-overs while shouting flame or frost, hovering while shouting at you, and ground attacks. Ground attacks involve swinging their tails, using shouts, and attempting to bite with their jaws. If dragons successfully do enough damage to a player they will perform a finishing move by grabbing half player's body with their mouth, swinging them back and forth a couple of times, then launching them in the air like a rag doll.
 * Dragons may crash land after sustaining enough damage, becoming unable to fly and scarring the ground in the process.

Defense

 * You will often hear a dragon long before you see it. They roar on a regular basis and they make a distinctive sound when flying. Use this to your advantage to either avoid or track them.
 * If you are a Vampire you are more resistant to ice, but vulnerable to fire, this might be good or bad depending of the dragons you encounter, if you are a Dunmer and a third grade Vampire you will be very resistant to all elemental damage, and have no problems at all fighting Dragons at low levels.
 * It is possible to find gear in game that protects against a percentage of elemental damage. This percentage stacks, so if you have the right gear it's possible to nullify up to 85% of elemental damage. Unfortunately, 100% resistance to any elemental damage is impossible.
 * Spellbreaker can deflect the breath attack of any dragon up to ancient dragons without its ward breaking.
 * Be aware of your surroundings when combating Dragons; NPC's may get in your way and can get hit and become hostile or wild animals might engage you from behind.

Offense

 * With the correct perks and powerful weapons, Dragons can be instantly killed with sneak attacks from a melee weapon or bow.
 * When landed, a dragon will let out a long roar when an attack causes it to reach 50% health (the same point where it can no longer fly). While doing its roaring animation, the dragon is incapable of attacking. Using the Slow Time shout can give you enough time to finish it off before it even stops roaring.
 * Shield bashing a dragon on the head will cause it to recoil its head and stop breathing fire or frost prematurely.

Bugs

 * Prior to patch 1.3 dragons had been known to become glitched into mountains and other textures, which cause them to fly backwards while spinning around.
 * Despite patch notes to the contrary, even after patch 1.2 it is possible you wont absorb a dragon's soul (this is most often the case with Blood Dragons)
 * At several locations, at the edge of the map, dragons can land beyond the mountains and will slowly lose health. You will be unable to absorb their souls, as they are out of bounds.
 * Rarely, after you kill a dragon it may fall through the ground and be teleported to another location.
 * Even when stood behind columns or large structures, dragons can still reach through and grab the player in their mouth and toss them aside for a one-hit kill. Likewise, dragon breath attacks such as Yol (Fire) and Fo (Ice) can usually damage the player through cover and obstacles if what the player is hiding behind isn't thick enough. This is more common with higher level dragons and in the area of The College Of Winterhold.