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, avian-reptilian 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 weakest dragon type, they are green with a spade-shaped tail.
 * Frost Dragon: They have shiny white scales with massive black spikes. Exclusively use Frost shouts.
 * Elder Dragon: They are bronze-scaled with arrow-shaped tails 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 Dragon: 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 exact 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 first-born of Akatosh has resurfaced in 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 "Eater of the World".

Paarthurnax
Leader of the Greybeards and follower of The Way of The Voice, Paarthurnax is Alduin's younger brother and was part of the cause for thousands of deaths but betrayed Alduin and helped in the original "defeat".

Odahviing
Alduin's right hand Dragon, Odahviing, was captured by the Dovahkiin and then was pledged allegiance to him in return for his freedom. He can be called to aid of the Dovahkiin by using the Call Dragon shout. One of the few red dragons. His name means "snow wing hunter" in the dragon language.

Mirmulnir
The first Dragon encountered by the player (other than Alduin). 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.

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 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:


 * Ancient's Ascent
 * Autumnwatch Tower
 * Bonestrewn Crest
 * Dragontooth Crater
 * Eldersblood Peak
 * Lost Tongue Overlook
 * Mount Anthor
 * Northwind Summit
 * Shearpoint
 * Skyborn Altar

Dragon Behavior

 * Although most commonly hostile, occasionally dragons will fly around as if nobody is there, but eventually dragons will catch sight of something they wish to attack (Excludes Alduin).
 * DragonEatsSoldier.jpg combat patterns usually involve fly-overs while shouting flame or frost, hovering and shouting at enemies, 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.
 * A useful piece of information to remember is that usually when a dragon lets out a high pitched roar, they are about to hover or land to unleash their fiery or in some cases, icy breath. If subtitles are turned on, the Dragon's Shout will appear in the subtitle bar before it's going to Shout, and if timed properly the player may be able to charge up a ward for defense.
 * When dragons are on the ground they cannot cross any kind of water, so the Dragonborn can position themself out of range of a dragon's breath attacks on the other side of some water and shoot them with arrows or ranged magic.
 * Some Dragons actually flying overhead will assist the player by attacking enemies.
 * When an enemy is outside the Dragon's continuous breathe attack range, the Dragon will shoot balls of frost or flame at the enemy that explode when they hit a barrier.

Defense

 * A Dragon can often be heard before it is seen. They roar on a regular basis and they make a distinctive sound when flying. This can be used to avoid or track them.
 * If the player is a Vampire they are more resistant to ice, but vulnerable to fire, this might be good or bad depending of the dragons encountered, if the player is a Dunmer and a third grade Vampire the Dragonborn will be very resistant to all elemental damage Dragons can produce.
 * It is possible to find gear in game that protects against a percentage of elemental damage. This percentage stacks, so if the player has the right gear equipped 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.
 * As always, the player must be careful about their surroundings. NPCs can accidentley wander in and get hit, turning them hostile.
 * Be extremely careful if there are Giants or Mammoths in the area. If you violate their personal space, even inadvertently, they will probably attack you, not the dragon. Giants do not honor the general rule that all other hostilities are on hold during a dragon attack.
 * Using Dragonrend right before a dragon shouts will make the dragons shout disappear and also cause them to land. (Not true when fighting an Ancient Fire Dragon)
 * Become Ethereal is helpful when the player has low health.
 * Mages can conjure an Atronach of the same type as the dragon (Flame for fire breathing dragons, and Frost for frost breathing dragons). This takes advantage of both the Atronach's total resistance to its element and the Atronach's tendency to make a huge target of itself.

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 the player 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. Power attacks can give the same result, albeit less reliably.
 * Distracting dragons with Shadowmere can be useful. Shadowmere is the toughest horse and can withstand the attacks and give the player time to kill dragons.
 * Using the Marked for Death shout can make dragons a little less difficult to slay.
 * Using weapons with drain magicka will eventually stop a Dragon from shouting
 * Mages can force any dragon to recoil over and over by spamming an Apprentice-level dual wielded Destruction spell like Firebolt with the Impact perk. This makes them easier to kill so long as a large pool of Magicka has been obtained beforehand.

Loot

 * Dragon Bone 1-3
 * Dragon Scales 1-3
 * Dragon Heartscales (Can be collected using Kavohzein's Fang)
 * Common items (often around 150-300 gold.)

Trivia

 * Remember that a dragon can only land near you if there is enough flat, open space. If you find yourself fighting a dragon who simply refuses to land on the ground, consider moving somewhere more open. The dragon can also land on most buildings.
 * A dragon's flame or frost breath may harm you even if submerged in water.
 * If you kill a dragon near a settlement or town (anywhere with people), everyone in the vicinity will come rushing to gawk at the corpse (only happens if you've absorbed the dragon's soul). The player can use this to their advantage.
 * When a dragon corpse is burning, the effect can be seen from the world map.
 * Later in the game dragons appear more often than before. At Gjukar's Monument you may see two dragons in the distance after starting The Fallen. Very rarely, you may have to fight two dragons at once.
 * If a dragon corpse is in an awkward place and you wish to remove it, simply cast a fireball, raise zombie or firebolt at the dragon and it will fly off into the air!
 * If lightning spells are used enough, the dragon may be unable to shout. So it seems that dragons use magicka to shout (verification needed)
 * On rare occasions, dragons can attack you if you are inside one of the five large hold capitals
 * At the end of the main quest, if you keep Paarthurnaax alive, there will be some dragons non-hostile to you while some are not.
 * Exiting the underforge seems to attract dragons, and you can kill multiple dragons just by using the exit. Some players have never encountered dragons after exiting the Underforge, despite having done so dozens of times across multiple characters.
 * If a giant and a dragon are fighting each other, the dragon may instantly kill the giant by flying over its head and grabbing it with its talons, dropping it immediately thereafter.
 * Dragons were ruled by the Tsaesci and flew west to Skyrim.
 * A low flying dragon may push you around by flying into you especially on horseback.
 * Dragons may fly underwater and emerge seconds later, as they are impervious to drowning.
 * If you can't absorb a dragon soul, use Dragonrend on the selfish soul-keeping lizard and it should start the animation.
 * Winterhold gets attacked a lot more often then the other holds with Riften seeming to get attacked the least. (verification needed)
 * It's possible that a dragon may attack just ouside one of the holds, and it can attack NPCs in town. In some cases, at Riften, a dragon attack will result in the deaths of several NPCs and cause the failure of some missions.

Bugs

 * Several different spells are capable of launching dragon corpses if cast on a dead dragon. Spells that work include Raise Zombie, Frost Spike, and Magelight.
 * A Wabbajack bolt is also capable of launching dragon corpses
 * Prior to patch 1.3 dragons had been known to become glitched into mountains and other textures, which caused them to fly backwards and spin around wildly.
 * Despite patch notes to the contrary, even after patch 1.2 it is possible you won't absorb a dragon's soul (this is most often the case with Blood Dragons) Also, the corpse will remain and no other dragon will spawn at that point. It is also possible to encounter a random dead dragon corpse that the player did not kill in which the player cannot absorb the soul.
 * Skyrim can sometimes fail to render the dragon's texture, leaving the player to fight the untextured model. The texture will appear once the dragon is dead.
 * 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. This also happens with already dead dragons whose souls have already been absorbed, causing their skeleton to get flung around as the player loads and unloads the area.
 * Even when standing behind columns or large structures dragons perform their execution move, reaching through and grabbing the player in their mouth and tossing 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.
 * Very rarely, when the dragon landed sometimes they'll be stuck on the ground when he had a full health
 * In some instances, when two dragons are encountered simultaneously one may die instantly upon landing. However, in other cases, both are able to land without dying.
 * Prior to version 1.4*, Dragons could get stuck in their out-of-combat flight animation (just straight flying, informal description) while fighting them. The direction they are stuck flying in is completely random, often they can be stuck ascending or even flying straight up, roaring and flailing their head about. During these glitches, the Dragon moves at a very slow speed. Reducing them to zero health may or may not break them out of this glitch. Also, they can even simply break out of the glitch after an apparently random amount of time has passed.
 * Prior to version 1.4*, Dragons could remain in flight even after their health had been reduced to 0. This is believed to be connected to their 'crash-into-the-ground-and-slide' animation (informal description), as they can fly around for a short time after falling to zero health, then randomly crash into the ground, distorting the crash area. This still happens on PS3. To solve, walk until you find a more open place. Eventually the dragon will crash to the ground.