Okay I'm looking for some help here, first off info on my build. Character is a level 53 assassin with strong skills in sneak, illusion and one handers and okay at archery and restoration. I don't craft gear, only buy/find and upgradeit. Have leveled my crafting but no perks (only enough in smithing to upgrade magic items). Most importantly I only have 200 hp and I don't use health potions. Playing on Expert

Out in the world I'm a [censored] wrecking ball, if I screw up I can get into trouble because I die quick but that's the way I want it. Everything was fine until two things happened, my first Ancient Dragon and the fight with Alduin where you learn Dragonrend. Neither obstacle can be tackled, none of my strengths help me fight them. One breath attack does more then enough damage to kill me twice over lol and taking cover doesn't always work (bug?) And isn't always possible. I've tried stacking fire resists but I just don't seem to be able to get enough to make a difference.

I'm hoping there is a solution to this dragon issue that doesn't involve chugging potions and thus breaking my rule for this character. Hopefully someone someone can suggest something I've been too dumb to think of! I figured Dragonrend would be my solution, grounded dragons are easier to deal with, however the fight with Alduin is just as impossible as a fight with an Ancient Dragon.

Side Note, this [censored] was easy on my other character that did it early. It seems like starting the MQ very late in life (level 40) results in a much steeper scale used for dragons, just my perception anyways.

Why only 200 in health? Where did you put all the points you gained when you leveled up? Also, why restricting yourself not to use any health potion? They are cheap, plentiful and they will come handy if you're short on magika.

I think you should drop that rule of yours because your health pool is really too low. Not to mention that there are plenty of enemies that can do more than 200 Hp of damage at once: you can't hide from Dragons in the same way you did with other enemies.

Magic resistance should help but items sporting it are rare.

There's a birth stone that gives you 25%
Savior's hide (a light armor) 15%
Spellbreaker (a heavy shiled) 50% when blocking

and there's also a block perk that halves elemental magic damage when blocking with a shield.

Using some of these combined, you should be able to reduce the damage up to 85% (the in-game cap)

Why don't you use health potions/food? I think they're put there to help even out battles with powerful opponents.

you have to fight them with your character's strengths

what shouts are you using? slow time might give you the edge you need

marked for death, frost breath, ice form....will harm and hopefully slow them down

use the shouts as they near the ground and then attack while they are within your reach.

Well while you're in they middle of a fight being able to chug aan unlimited number of potions is kind of ridiculous and essentially makes you immortal. Just cheapens the game in my eyes.

Marked for death had worked wonders for Elder Dragons, they could kill me in one breath attack but it was slower so I could heal myself. Tend to just get roasted by an Ancient before it makes much difference.

Ice Form works on Dragons? Gonna have to get the rest of the words for that then and try it.

Also Slow Time is a great idea I hadn't considered!

I only have 200 hp because it makes the game harder and you need a lot of Magicka for high level Illusion spells. 200 health, 200 ish stamina and 450 ish Magicka is where all my upgrades went.

How effective are Wards against Breath attacks?

don't wards have to be touched to be set off?

since you are good at one handed try healing in the other hand.

You're thinking of runes I think, wards are magic shields, runes are traps on the ground.

I keep my distance from dragons being within melee range equals an instant execution animation, usually me getting chewed up and tossed.

I play a sneaky assassin character and I just avoid the breath attacks altogether. Get a follower/horse/summon or other distraction and kill them from afar.

This is the Quote for Truth here from Federally. I'm very glad I'm not the only one who plays Single Player Games without using any Potion. It's the same reason honorable fighters do not use Potions in MMO Duels. It is about combat skills you possess, the ability to adjust tactics against different opponents, rather than mindlessly chugging in as many Potions as you can regardless of who you are fighting. Let's face it, Who can kill you if you keep doing that? Why not develop a strategy to counter that specific opponent instead of chugging til it dies? I face palm myself every time I see someone used up so many Potions in a fight AND died.. It's just very very sad. They walk straight into an enemy and attempt to cut it down to death while shamelessly chugging in as many Potions as they can. Oh. My. God. Next time on a quest, just sell all the gears and buy 1,000,000 Health Potions. Might not be a bad idea after all.. viable?


I, at level 28 and a Warrior, cannot give Federally any suggestion though. Good luck.

With an decent alchemy skill you can make good resist fire and frost potions up to 100% with enchanted alchemy gear , you can also find or buy 40% ones, get some resist gear, rings and amulets are nice as they are light and you can put on if attacked.

As other say try to get followers or summons to tank for you.

Hey Follower! Why the hell didn't I think of that already? I don't use them at all since they don't fit my part style, however when I know I'm gonna have to fight a dragon I'll just drag Mjoll out with me.

Since I'm already level 53 I think it's too late to get enough perks in to Alchemy or Enchanting to save me from this situation so a follower.will have to do!

@Uhappynow thanks, glad I'm not the only one!

You could try using the shout, Become Ethereal, at the exact moment the dragon breathes. Only use Feim. It's duration is longer than needed to prevent the damage with the shortest cooldown. A Blessing of Talos and/or an Amulet of Talos makes this strategy even safer if you choose to use them.

This strategy (without the blessing or amulet) has been working for my 50+ archer on master difficulty without the use of any followers, so you might like it since you prefer not to use followers as well.

Playing @ Expert or above implies knowledge of WTF you're doing.

If you need to ask, you aren't ready.

You're rude, I've made it to 53 on Expert obviously I'm not some failure. Just looking for some tactics to deal with the high level dragons since none of my character's strengths work on them. Thanks for such a helpful post anyways, didn't know the Tips and Hints forum wasn't for asking for Tips and Hints.

Soundchaos you may have solved my problem! The Ethereal shout is also one I've never used, will have to try that out! That sounds like it may really help.

[
And you both don't think it's built into the npc enemy to have levels of health that are equal to you drinking a few potions. Try the Briarhearts, they have huge amounts of health and I'm level 40. They have 600 health and I have 300. I have a legendary daedric sword and a Briarheart took me out with two hits and I used fire breath on him. I had to use a range attack, daedric bow and my companions.

Enemies do the same when they're low on health so you're fighting on equal ground. You may not love the gameplay mechanics but you're putting yourself at a disadvantage. You're not rebalancing the game.

Briarhearts are easy, I don't need hp to take them. Can just pick pocket their heart and they drop dead, or sneak attack. Mobs are given massive hp pools because increasing damage and hp are thee only ways the game can make them more difficult, it can't make then smarter or give them new abilities.

I just prefer not to use (or even carry) health potions, just doesn't fit for me.

I can do what enemies do, it's called dual casted Fast Healing.

I do not want to turn this thread into something else, so let's just keep it to the topic.

With that said..
I do not think that is ever the case. NPCs, in games that equipped them with Potions, will always have a limited number of Potions to used. They also use these Potions to create more challenge for players; Not to be immortal like the mindset of players who have them in their pockets. That's why it's a really big face palm for me when I see someone resort to many Health Potions AND die..
If these "Briarhearts" are involved in The Legend of Red Eagle quest then I killed them in close combat. No Potions. Possibly before I reach level 10, too. Now that you've mentioned it, I actually posted here some time ago about Lydia stealing my Forsworn Sword. What happened was around the time I got Lydia, I headed out to do this quest and at the end of it 1 of my Forsworn Sword disappeared from her Inventory and we never really see face to face since.

you don't use potions during battle but what about "pre-poting" or non-healing potions eg -> potion of fire resist you said you tried with some magic resist items but how about a combo of fire resist and enchants?

i believe resistance is calculated twice as in

damg - "resist magic" = x

x- "resist element" = y

so a 100 damg fire attack if you have 30 resist magic and 50 resist fire will hit you like this

100 - 30% = 70

70 - 50% = 35 damg

compared to the fact you may have been stacking just fire resist which would "cap out" at the 80%?

for example generally you can find boots of resist fire/frost/shock 40%

and with a ring/neck giving 15% each for 30% magic and 40% fire you could then use a store bought set of potions of resist magic and resist fire to pre-pot the fight as going into a battle prepared is a little different to "pausing game mid-fight to chug pots.]

that said would you allow yourself to eat a potion if you found a "safe spot" where in-game you could have sat there for 5 seconds and not been disturbed/attacked while you found + drank potion? eg under a massive rock when dragon is on ground on other side of rock.

if not you can always try going wth a sheild enchanted for ressitance as i believe it can have the same size as boots so you an get 80% fire from boots/sheild and then 30% "magic" from ring/neck which if used in prev workings would take a 100 damg attack down to 14 damg.

Popping potions for buffs when I spot a dragon or when I feel it's appropriate I definitely do, resist fire and true shot pots have been instrumental in several epic battles I've had with Elder dragons.

I have some gear with smaller resist enchantments but I guess I need to go on a mission to find high resist boots, haven't found any yet in light armor. Only the versions with the small enchantment on them. Random loot is a bummer sometimes!

Stack 85% magic resist and fire resist. Magic Resist is calculated first so stack that first as a priority.

Spellbreaker - 50 dmg permanent ward while blocking
Boots of the Firewalker - 70% Fire Resist (random)
Helmet of the Unburned - 40% Fire Resist (static)
Otar Dragon Priest Mask - 30% Resist Fire/Frost/Shock (static)
Necklace of Nullification/abatement - 20-22% Magic Resist (random)
Ring of Nullification/abatement - 20-22% Magic Resist (random)
Agent of Mara Quest (permenant bonus) - 15% Magic Resist (Quest)
Lords Stone - 25% Magic Resist (Weynon Stone)
Savior's Hide - 15% Magic Resist (Daedra Quest)

You didn't mention your race but Nords - 50% Frost, Dunmer - 50% Fire, Breton - 25% Magic.

If you need to fill in the gaps for fire get the Helmet of the Unburned - 40% fire resist on a helmet (Labryinthian - Mages College Quest). Now you have capped resistance for both magic and fire (swap fire for frost when necessary). Substitute with Elixir of Fire Resist and Philter of Resist Magic where needed.

If you haven't done the College Side Missions yet then you should be guaranteed a leveled magic resist item (ring/necklace) from Breylna's two quests.

After doing this with no outside perks/block or anything else you should take 3 damage from a 100 damage breath attack from an ancient dragon on master.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OXyGs_yw3z4

If you are a Breton you can get 80% Magic Resist out of the gate by doing the quests for Agent of Mara and the Savior's Hide and popping the Lord's Stone.

I doubt this will help the OP but you can disrupt a dragon's breath attack with a shield power attack at melee range. The one handed power attacks have a bit of a stagger too, but I've haven't tried them against a dragon. At range I rely on finding cover I can hide behind. I pop in and out to get to get them to breath then pop out when they finish to land a hit before they start flying around again. I normally whittle them down with arrows until they land, then charge in, shield power attack, three swings, shield power attack, three swings etc. until they die. I play on Master and those ancient dragons can really take a pounding (even using a legendary Daedric sword and hitting them with the weakening shout). Good luck.

Use any Unrelenting Force shout... doesn't matter how complete it is it causes them to stagger when they use their fire/frost and interrupts it completely.