Thus far, I've obtained 3 dragon priest masks. I havn't searched for them, but they've just popped up along the way

BUT: each time I encounter one of them, I always get challenged.

I'm forced to lay down a strategy, think twice, saving meanwhile etc.

As an archer, I basically get the first move, often a stealthy crit, then I attempt to get a few shots at him as I run for cover. And by cover, I mean walls, trees, pillars and so on simply to avoid his horrifying lightening bolts. They are, how can I say it, a true pain, aren't they?

So I just thought... What is your strategy against such a dragon priest? And can a melee type actually use melee attacks in such a battle?
Furthermore, just out of curiosity, I just want to ask: Are the difficulty of these dragon priests all the same or do they vary? Thus far, i've only met the dragon priests who constantly throw bolts and other magical festives at me, are there other kinds? Like melee dragon priests?

Cudos appreciated.

My beast of a Nord is melee, i usualy end up quaffing a lot of healing potions, but block perks like elemental resistance, and potions for blocking magic damage is key.

I thought so as well.
So it's basically impossible to kill one of those as a melee without using potions and such?

Honestly sneaking and using archery is the easiest way to take them down early on. If you get the x3 damage for the bow perk, then even better. If you have a high sneak, you can even still stay hidden after your first strike and go on to kill the priest without him detecting you. But if you do have to get in his face, then using marked for death/poisons that drain his magic is a good way to even the odds.

for dragons and their priests i have to use potions no matter what char im playing as, theres just tough.

Okay, well as an archer, I don't need any assistance with killing dragons, but the priests are just a challenge

The easy way is to be a Breton with Atronach stone. You can be immune to all magic for 60sec a day, enough to kill a DP without fear.

If you're another race, Atronach stone still helps along with other resist magic items but you'll still need some other help. A flame Atronach is good both for damage and distraction and, of course, invisibility and muffle will let you get a good backstab in. Invisibility requires some serious investment but a Flame Atronach is easy to get.

My breton battlemage can beat them using just melee (I admit sometimes I have to cast a summon and run away only to come back and get a few cheap shots in), The most important thing is dodging the magic and staying out of the wall spells they spray out. But having dragonskin and magic resist doesnt hurt. Also mark of death is very very good

I'll never forget the first time I encountered a dragon priest....Krosis I think it was. I was out exploring and stumbled upon an outdoor word wall. After nearly dying defeating the dragon there, without saving, I ran towards the wall to get the word. At the last second, I noticed the sarcophagus and as he floated up out of it, I knew I was screwed. I was instantly blasted with fire, my rag doll of a body tumbling down the side of the mountain. Probably one of my favorite moments in Skyrim so far.

Dodging spells? How?

Epic

happened to me too, sort of

Depends on your level.
I usually hit em' with an arrow for a sneak critical hit and then charge them. I don't give them a chance to breathe at all with my war axe. They seem to go down fairly easy to me.
Hiding and trying to play it safes just makes it harder in my opinion.

Some of them don't pop out of their coffins until you get close enough. That's when I just charge the coffin and start wacking away at them before they are even set to attack back. Most of the time I've taken more than half their life before they even start fighting back.
Some are tougher than others. Depends on the enchantments their masks have and what your level and gear is.

In my opinion, it's better to go right at them and not give them a chance to breathe.

But that would require some decent armor, wouldn't it?

I'm usually geared up by the time I encounter any, so I do the same thing. Just poke 'em a couple times and then loot the mask.

Perhaps avoid would have been a better choice of words Using cover when ever you see them about to cast. I find however that if you stay in their face they spam their casted spell alot less then if you are at range. When I fought the one during the mage questline I trapped him in a corner and beat on him while he didnt cast. Instead he spent the whole fight trying to backpedal but couldnt more

Like I said, depends on your level and gear. I only had flawless Ebony armor when I started doing them. And a legendary war axe enchanted with shock damage.

I don't remember having a hard time with any of them really. The only thing that annoyed me about them is that thay keep running away from me. They don't stay still!!

If you can trap them into a corner, it's lights out for them most of the time.

use your freeze shout

Yes! It's strange that some of the best moments in the game come from getting killed. The other day I got picked up and dropped by a dragon after 500+ hours of it never happening before. Sure, my character was splattered from Whiterun to Markarth but it was cool. The same goes for the epic fail against giants when they swat you into the sky.

Sorry for the derail; back to the topic at hand.

If you're low level, try sending them further away from you by firing an arrow at a far wall, then shoot them. Run away and hide, repeat. When I have a feeling a dragon priest is in the room I'm in, I'll use Throw Voice to get him to come out, but stay hidden.

Staying in sneak mode makes it pretty easy to drop them. Once they get low health, you can backstab them. As for draining their mana, they use staffs, so there's not much point.

My strategy is to have at least 4 others with me.

It's a tough question to answer because it depends greatly on how strong your character is with health, stamina, and what weapons and armour you have. I only used a few extreme or ultimate health potions and the occassional stamina potion while fighting dragon priests, and take them down with a barrage of fire enchanted one handed sword or two handed warhammer strikes. I don't even bother with shields. If your character is not that strong, then I guess other potions need to come into play more. Using distraction tactics is a major strategy as well and very advantageous, such as conjuring frost and storm atronachs and dremora lords, allowing you to attack the priest from behind if he's busy attacking the summoned assistance. Or arrowing them (with poison if you want) while having first summoned a distraction. You need to switch a lot between bow and summoning, assuming you might have something to summon that won't die in 2 seconds. Same tactics with dragons. Dragons are so dumb, they always ignore you while they're trying to kill atronachs.

Shields are actually VERY useful. Vegetable soup + shield = stunlock for 6 minutes.

I've used this as well. Generally a paralysis arrow from sneak mode gives me beaucoup damage, and that helps as well. I'll either whirlwind sprint to them, or slow time.... With decent weapons they go down. But I ALWAYS have the health potions at the ready!

Ive had no trouble with Dragon priests on normal difficulty at least on warrior.
Altough challenging when i tried to take on Krosis with my thief style character, and Morokei was difficult on a mage style character(Did have to use the dog Barbas though).
By all my chars i found Krosis and especially Morokei the most challenging.
Killed all eight and got the ninth mask via the shrine(On warrior).

My Char build-up
Bjornholf - lvl 44 Nord warrior, One-handed with Shield+Heavy armor.
Over 200 Health and 200 stamina. Just needed 200 stamina then i put all points in health.
Items: Spellbreaker(Wards 50 magic dmg) or Shield of Ysgramor(Health +20 and 20% Magic resistance), Otar(30% in each elemental resistance) and the Lord stone(armor and 25% Magic resistance). Good combination for some resistance against their deadly spells.
Active effects: 50% Resistance to frost, Agent of Mara (+15% Magic Resistance)

(Optional)Beneficial racials for this:
Breton: Dragonskin and 25% magic resistance.
Nord - 50% Frost Resistance.
Dunmer - 50% Fire resistance.

I can usually kill one with a couple of dual wield power attacks. Lvl 61 Nord with full One-Handed and heavy armor perks. But I do play on normal difficulty, maybe I will kick it up a notch and see if it's a bigger challenge.