Curious as to the effectiveness of fighting a dragon as a stealth-archer type character. Points in Archery, Light Armor, and Sneak primarily. I just re-rolled my warrior into said character archetype. Currently level 7, probably going to be 8 or 9 before I meet my first. Just wanted to know how this type of playstyle goes up against the lizards.

The major problem is trying to get them to stay still for you to have a clear shot. I haven't discovered a good way yet, but my only advice is hope that one is fighting with something else, and you quickly kill it.

Up.

random dragons are sometimes perched on something, that will get you 1 maybe 2 good shots before you're detected.

Thats what my character is and I just shoot arrows at it while it flies around till it lands its happy ass and then go for the melee kill

But its REALLY annoying cause the dragon is constantly moving all over the damn place........

What I do is use cover to avoid his breath attack as much as possible, sidestrafing to get some pot shots in. I always get hit though and that's where the healing spell comes in handy. Eventually they go down. It's all about finding a suitable terrain with good full cover.

I'd say just be sure to level up your Archery skill and make it a priority as far as perks are concerned. The Overdraw perk will be a big help. The biggest issue for me is having it stay still long enough to get a shot off, but they all land eventually, right?

Well my current player is mainly Sneak, Archery, and Des. Magic. I should be running into another dragon pretty soon I'll go for the arrow tactic and let you know, I'm only level 14 though my bow skill is like 35 though and I will use my best arrows.

I use a stealth archer/dual wield dagger build and I have no problem with them at this point. Tips? Stealth is actually tough. Once you're spotted they keep their eye on you unless they attack something else. Which brings me to: meatshields. Companions and/or monsters are great distractions that allow you to plug away at a distance. If you don't want to do that don't forget that the first Dragonshout you received freezes dragons in place for a second (even if they are hovering) so use it to get a couple shots in then move. That's the other thing: move. A lot. Put cover between you and the dragon. Don't bother shooting at it unless it is hovering or on the ground. If it hovers or lands wait for it to be about to breath and use the sprint dragon shout to get out of the way and shoot it while it is breathing. This is especially effective if it is on the ground as it turns really slow to face you again. I tend to use this shout to get beside the Dragon and get some dual dagger shots in but if you want to go full archer it is the perfect shout to keep the distance you want.

Meh, get a sneak attack critical in then shoot regularly with poison and some dragon shouts.
Cause I have never been able to sneak attack a dragon twice within say a minute between the two shots.

Eagle Eye & Steady Hands perks help. But if you can't shoot a massive dragon on the wing you need practice. Look for some Hawks. I often find them in Solitude.

And remember to run and hide as needed. A rock is a lifesaver.

My main is a stealth archer, and its near pointless to shoot dragons any other time then when they are doing a flyover above you(really close), or landing. because there is a rather small max range on arrows in skyrim. if they are attacking you they will land frequantly so be ready to run for cover and start shooting.

Dragons will only land if you are in a clearing. else it'll just fly all over the places

Using Archery to take down a dragon is a pretty straight forward affair. The two major points off a attack are: when it drifts in front of you and hovers to shout at you, (You can get at least 1 or 2 good shots in) or when it lands. Though when it lands it's best to get right up in its face with a sword and shield as you can shield bash to interupt a shout. Dragons take time and patience, use your arrows carefully. Also poison your weapons and always have healing potions handy, to be honest, at level 7/8 if you're gonna shoot one down with just a bow and arrow, you're gonna take a few full on shouts in the face. A real problem can be other mobs, not sure about others, but i don't think i've had one dragon fight where wolves, bears, or something or other haven't all joined in the fight to bash me to pieces.

They are great fun to kill though. I've enjoyed all my battles so far.

Just level up archery and don't fight one if you don't have cover.

If there's other enemies nearby (enemies as in enemies to the dragon, which includes everything from trolls and wolves to guards and citizens) you can simply sneak and it'll eventually attack the other targets. Now is your chance to get in a few stealth attacks, as the dragon will very often land when fighting anything else than you.

I gave up on using my bow on Dragons and have begun leveling Destruction. Spells work a bajillion times better, despite my Destruction skill being way, way lower with a grand total of two perks.

If you're a pure sneak archer type, dragons that are perched or sleeping by word walls can be stealth killed.

At lvl 26 I three-shotted a blood dragon with an exquisite ebony bow and ebony arrow. No enchantments, no poisons.

First shot woke the dragon up, and the sneak eye opened less than halfway. Second shot still registered the sneak bonus and the dragon flew off, but crash landed right away. When it was recovering from the crash, the sneak eye closed almost all the way. Third shot killed it. All three attacks got the sneak attack bonus.

It only knew where I was for a moment when it was taking off, but by that time it was so wounded it couldn't stay in the air.

TL,DR: If you get the drop on a dragon as a stealth archer, they are dead if you have the perks and okay equipment.

I'm still wondering if the same can be said for giants and mammoths though. Haven''t fought them yet.

Don't forget poisons. I brought down a dragon last night with just my bow by using a lot of poisons. The darn dragon wouldn't land for me.