whenever i fight a dragon and there isn't much cover, will putting up my shield lessen the damage from fire/frost at all? or am i wasting time i could be running? same with magic cast by NPC's? thanks!

It will once you unlock the Elemental Protection perk!

Prior to this ^ I dont' believe it does anything.

Posted Today, 01:21 PM
It will once you unlock the Elemental Protection perk!

so much geniosity in these forums. is that a blocking perk?
btw i muffed up the quote

This. Or you get a "special" shield that can block magic attacks.

(Peryite's Shield)

well i definitely need the perk. bumping this again, is that perk a blocking perk or something from a college of magic?

It is a blocking perk. If I remember correctly, the prerequisites are:

Shield Wall --> Deflect Arrows --> Elemental Protection

If there's a level requirement I don't remember it off the top of my head, but that can be checked on the elder scrolls wiki (google search)

I hope this is sufficient to answer your question

Skill requirement is 50

So since OP asked about spell protection and related it to a dragon, this brings up a question for me that I had never considered. Are Skyrim dragons using magic or are they just physically capable of breathing fire? I have always been under the impression that dragons across various movies and TV shows and fantasy lore were just able to breath fire, but that it was not related to casting a spell.

Your thoughts on this?

Just fought a frost dragon with a shield and elemental protection. The shield did nothing. I think this goes for all frost spells, elemental protection failed against some mages using frost as well, but worked against shock. I bet it's bugged...sigh.

@DkinTX- dragons "shout" fire in there dragon language, just like you can do. you just can hardly hear them saying it. i think a dragon did use the fus-ro-dah shout on my once, but they usually stick to frost or fire breath.

@dragonomega- although idon't have the perk yet, the description for it says something along the lines that it protects against some elements so maybe its only a certain percentage of when you get hit, just like arrows, sometimes the shield takes the damage and other times you still get hit

or as it only reduces the damg and as it's frost and it's not fully resited your recieveing the "full" slow effect it's hard to tell mid fight if your actualy reducing it?

No I checked damage. Same with or without shield every time. Shock and fire spells are reduced 50% everytime I block, frost spells are never reduced.

thats really weird, i want an explanation. although I'm a nord with 50% frost resistance anyway. frost dragons are so much easier for me

Unless you're staunchly opposed to using spells, I'd recommend getting a ward spell from the restoration school. it's like a shield made of magic that blocks magic. I just hot-swap to that when i go up against spell casters.