Otar the Mad

Otar the Mad is one of the eight Dragon Priests found in The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim.

Interactions
Otar can be encountered within the Nordic ruin of Ragnvald in The Reach. He is sealed in a large sarcophagus the main chamber of the ruin.

Opening the sarcophagus is only possible by defeating his guardians, Torsten and Saerek who each hold a Skull Key. Both skull keys are required to open the lock.

Notable items
Upon his defeat, Otar the Mad drops the Otar Mask - one of the eight mysterious Dragon Masks located throughout Skyrim. Collecting all eight masks is a requirement for the unmarked quest to restore the Dragon Priest Shrine.

Strategies
{| class="wikitable collapsible2 collapsed" style="width:100%; margin-bottom:0px; margin-top:1px;" ! sab="1148"| Click for a list of strategies Otar uses Shock magic as his predominant way of killing the player. Regardless of what class the player is using, always stock up on Resist Shock potions in order to render his spells useless and use Combat boosting Elixirs. As a dragon priest he can control summons you cast, therefore avoid summoning anything besides Flaming Familiar, it explodes before getting controlled.
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Make use of the environment around Otar, there are various stairs and high vantage points which can be utilized. Also keep in mind that Otar's Staff creates a wall of lightning around Otar which does 50 points of shock damage.

During battle, Otar will summon Storm Atronachs. Much like his fellow Dragon Priests, Otar can also control any summons you cast. However, this does not apply to Atronachs summoned with the Master Level Conjuration Spells, such as flame thrall or dead thrall. Otar's staff allows him to create a wall of lightning at his feet that does high amounts of continuous shock damage.

While difficult to kill at low levels, it is possible to actually deplete Otar's magicka through continuous shock spells of your own and by baiting/dodging his own attacks.

For additional damage, Otar can be lured into areas where there is oil present. These oil patches can inflict significant burn damage upon Otar.

Warrior Strategies
If the player is a warrior: Before opening the Sarcophagus, drink any Elixirs that boost Combat Skills and also drink any shock resist potions you have. Using Shock Resists is a MUST due to the wall of lightning around Otar. The most efficient way of killing Otar is to equip two one-handed weapons and use the forward power attack until out of stamina whereby the player should just normally hit. Preferred followers are warriors who can tank Otar, mages aren't very effective against Otar.

Alternate Warrior Strategy: As opposed to the first option, a second option is possible for defeating Otar(and most dragon priests who rely on magic). The warrior can utilize the sign of the Atronach to allow he/she to absorb 50% of the incoming damage from the priest. This approach is extremely effective in conjunction with some minor skill in restoration magic, a simple fast heal will do as you will need to disengage once or twice to heal yourself, but the sign of the Atronach will restore your magicka very quickly after only a few hits from Otar. Despite shock spells draining magicka you will still gain a lot from getting hit by him so you need not worry about not being able to use a heal.

Alternate Warrior Strategy: If the first two are failing to produce results (most likely due to being ill-prepared for such a high level opponent) there is an easy way to force him to commit suicide or damage himself immensely. After opening the sarcophagus, get his attention by putting a few hits in. Turn around and run back to the small room with the bladed pendulums and the treasure chest (should be on the opposite side of the sarcophagus room). Activate the pendulums when you get in and hug the walls to avoid his powerful ranged attacks. Use range attacks to bait him into following you or turn off the pendulums and switch them back on. Please note that when you do this, Otar will disappear into the wall and you will be unable to search him. This will mean you cannot get the Otar mask and be unable to unlock the last of the dragon masks.

Alternate Warrior Strategy: If you're having trouble with any othe other strategies, use this one. Once Otar rises from his coffin run towards either of the doors and go through, now wait a few seconds, and he'll follow you through, hit him once with a power attack, turn around and go through the door. Repeat process. His health will steadily decline and he shouldn't be able to cast spells in the time it takes you to hit him and turn around.

Stealth Strategies
If the player is a thief: Again, before opening the Sarcophagus, drink any Elixirs that boost Combat Skills and drink any shock resist potions. Make sure the follower that has been brought along is a tank. While the follower is tanking Otar, run up the stairs and shoot arrows at him from high ground. If Otar knocks out the follower and starts to follow the player, jump down onto lower ground and keep shooting. Otar isn't very mobile nor is he quick so a thief should be able to escape if he comes too close.

Otar can be killed in a 1 hit backstab provided you have the sufficient skills, perks and enchanted attire. Namely the Assassin's Blade perk (x15 damage from sneak attack) from the Sneak tree and Shrouded Gloves (x2 sneak damage from 1 handed weapons) obtained from the Dark Brotherhood allow for a huge 30x damage multiplier. Even a lowly Iron Dagger is enough to fell this enemy. 720*2 = 1440

An example of this would be to take the base damage of the iron dagger, and add on the bonuses of Assassin's Blade and the shrouded gloves or handwraps. With base damage 4 for the iron dagger, we can add on the bonuses. 4*15 = 60 (Assassin's Blade). 60*2 = 120 (Shrouded Gloves). 120*2 = 240 (Power Attack). Thus, 240 damage is dealt with a base iron dagger backstab. On the other end of the spectrum, a reasonably powered Daedric dagger, with a base damage of 30, can easily deal over 1500 damage.

In this way, dual wielding an invisibility spell and a dagger may indeed be the easiest way to kill a dragon priest.

Trap Strategy
There is a way to kill Otar easily on low levels. Attack him and run away to lure. Best, stay behind cover all the time to not get hit by his shock spell. This is the easiest with a bow.

After you made him follow you, run to the door to the Ragnvald Canals (the one on the upper level). Go through it when he is close enough and he will come with you to that area. Keep luring him around some corners until you get to the corridor with the swinging blade trap. Reactivate them by using the lever and run on the other side, into cover. When Otar tries to come through, the blades will instantly kill him.

Archery Strategy
Its possible to dispose of Otar using archery, though this is recommended for slightly higher level players (between 15 to 20). You need a lot of arrows and a few upgrades on the Archery skill tree (at least have Overdraw on 2/5 or more). After activating the sarcophagus, quickly sprint to behind the book shelf where the entrance to the Ragnvald Canal is and crouch. If he hasn't yet detected you, shoot an arrow at him to lure him over. Once he's close enough go through and stand by the door to the canal and allow him to turn the corner, but as soon as he does, go through the door to the canal and he should appear on the other side with you.

After you're certain he's there, get to the other side of the bridge and keep popping in and out of cover, firing arrows here and there to continue to lure him over while still dealing some damage. Once he starts to cross the first bridge, make your way across the second one and keep firing arrows at him so as to do frequent damage. Once he has crossed the bridge, he'll either stand at the end and not attack or be pushed into the bridge by the water current, keeping him immobile and open to arrows. Keep in mind that this might not always work, as he can easily decide not to follow and stay back (which can also trigger a bug that has Otar at the end of the river underneath a waterfall, dropping the framerate drastically (tested Xbox 360)) but if you can pull this off, it is possible to defeat him whilst staying unharmed and also improving archery.

Another way using archery is to run and take cover behind the shelf leaning against a pillar after opening the sarcophagus (it's behind you to the right when you're facing the sarcophagus). Once there, sneak and snipe at Otar with your bow. If you stay in sneak and don't leave your cover, even if Otar is directly overhead, you can wear him down. Eventually he returns to stand near the sarcophagus and you just keep firing till it's all over.

A third way to defeat Otar using archery is to quickly turn around and run up the steps on the right, and take cover behind the first wall on the right, quickly entering sneak mode when you do this. If he hasn't detected you, come out when still in sneak and snipe at Otar, and keep shooting at him until he is dead. You need high enough sneak and archery to do this, but it only takes a minute at most.
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Appearances

 * The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim