Skyrim Walkthrough: Dragon Rising

You’ve tasted the excitement of your first real quest and managed to survive an encounter with undead in the barrows; now you’ll meet your first dragon. Dragon are the toughest creatures you’ll meet in Skyrim, but with proper strategy and perhaps a little bit of luck you’ll succeed against most.

The first dragon you meet isn’t particularly tough, plus you’ll have plenty of men with you – but it’s a good early encounter and gives you the chance to begin formulating a strategy against dragons. You’re going to have to use both ranged attacks and close combat and eventually you’ll have to work out the weakness of each dragon – as an example a Fire Dragon will be susceptible to frost attacks – don’t attack a fire dragon with fire!

As you progress through this encounter you begin to realize just how good the sound and graphics of Skyrim are – have fun in this battle, things are getting tougher!

Objective

• Speak to Jarl Balgruuf
• Meet Irileth
• Kill the dragon
• Report back to Jarl

Meet with Iraleth, Farengarin the planning room in Dragonsreach. You’ll speak to Jarl and be given a magical Iron Helmet – leave Dragonsreach and meet Iraleth outside the town.

Head towards the Western Watchtower – this is close to Whiterun. Make sure you are fully rested and healed – the watchtower has been ruined, and as you investigate you meet your first dragon – Mirmulnir.

This is a fairly easy battle – use your bow to attack as the dragon flies – when the dragon lands use Frost or other ice magic – you should be able to get in close and attack, but beware her fire breath. This sequence is repeated several times (and is fairly predictable) – after a while, with the help of the warriors with you, you’ll weaken the dragon and finally kill her.

Search her body and you’ll find a Dragon Soul – you’ll be able to use the Magic Shout now – and should spend some time trying it out so that you get used to the ‘waiting’ period.

Go back to Whiterun and talk to Jarl – talk to him about the encounter but also about Dragonborn – you will found out about Greybeard’s summons. You gain your first title – Thane of Whiterun.

You first encounter with a dragon was easy – however, you’ve learned the basic techniques of dealing with dragons – use of terrain, and ranged attacks is very important, and knowing the relevant spell to cast at them is essential – the future encounters will be a lot tougher – you’ll have less allies, and ranged attacks will be less effective – it is very important that you watch their ‘cycle’ – as this at least lets you prepare a decent strategy against them!