Well in the Middle Earth apparently dragon are week in the stomach which is why they wear armor there but if you can hit them in their stomach with no armor on they almost instantly die since their skin is so fragile, but their upper body has powerful scales to protect them. I'm not sure how TES dragon are tho.

Thanks, really thanks. After watching that clip I've decided to read the Hobbit again. That's four hours gone. :mellow:

I'm saving my vote until you add the option "Only with magically-enhanced arrows ... then yes!"

Otherwise I think arrows are not special enough to penetrate dragonhide or their scales which are better than any platemail.

The best you could hope for is that each dragon has one spot of weakness like in the movie the Hobbit, but even in the Hobbit the dragon was brought down by a special arrow called The Black Arrow which was magical, and the man that shot the killing shot was a master at Archery, so he also had to make this impossible shot from a long ways away.

Enough holes in their wings will cripple them, shoot under their arms (Where their skin is not so tough) And aim for the eyes.

Not even an arrow fired from a bowman of such skill that he doesn't need magically-enhanced arrows? Silver weaponry, while most notably effective against Vampires, Ghosts, and Werewolves, is demonstrated to cut through almost all supernatural protections. Dwarven arrows are made of an unreplicable metal, capable of punching through steel armor with ease. Elven craftsmanship can work steel so expertly that it has an edge hard and sharp enough to slide into the finest of gaps, so it could puncture a dragon through the scales. Both volcanic ceramics, Ebony and Glass, are sharp enough to cut through all known materials. Dragon Hide shouldn't prove a problem. The Daedric Spirit worked into an Ebony weapon enhances the edge to a supernatural degree, cutting through all things before the physical edge makes contact.

The power behind each of the bows become increasingly more powerful as well, launching arrows with much greater impact force than possible in real life.

Are you sure a non-magic arrow can't do the job?

Where in TES lore does it state dragon scale is stronger than any plate mail? Seriously, I like to know. I've never like the idea dragons should always be walking titans.

Edit:The Tcaesci use to ride and eat these guys, clearly not that tough...

It should typically take a lot of arrows, but I could see a one hit with some uber enchantments and a really high skill.
If not, just make a custom enchanted arrow in the creation kit. Then you can get your occasional 1 hit.
In typical ranged combat with a dragon, there should be enough stress on the player to miss weak points a lot, assuming there are weak points.

Just saw the 1 hour gameplay of Guild Wars 2, and wow, I want to be an archer now.

Hopefully bows will do more damage to things than melee it should not take to many arrows to kill a dragon because they already said they buffed bows and made arrows a lot less common.

I think they should be vulnerable to arrows on parts of their bodies. But I'm hoping the dragon fights will be a alot more fun than shoot 50 arrows at what (in this scenario) is basically just a giant cliff racer. They should have some fighting with them flying and some on the ground.

One thing to consider. Players won't be able to stock up on arrows like we did in Oblivion. Todd even confirmed that there will be less arrows in the world, making every arrow count. Also, we know that dragons are not scripted, and can appear at anytime anywhere. That being said, whether you are a thief, an archer, a mage, or a warrior, there will have to be some way for each to kill the beast. Obviously dragon shouts will play a role in this solution, but there is still a lot we do not know. It excites me and scares me to know how much potential and influence dragons really have in this game. They could really make or break it.

I have a suspicous feeling that each dragon may have a weak spot in its armor...but each spot is in a different area for each of the dragons, and is very SMALL and DIFFICULT TO HIT.

Multiple people, myself included, have made topics about that: they're almost certainly not the same dragons. Akaviri dragons, while reasonably cool-looking, are weaksauce and ugly compared to the world-eater and his hard[NUMINIT] draconic minions.

Lol, i wonder if hitting a dragon in specific parts of his body has any adverse effect on the dragon, i can imagine shooting one in each eye.

You may have found the key to the game. I am going to try shooting at its ear...perhaps the arrow will penetrate the skull and mess up its brain!!!!

I bet dragons and creatures have body damage multipliers this time around.

If they learned anything from fallout 3 it would be this. And they nailed it with fo3.

I'm not saying you can cut off arms ect but I bet head shots and limbs will show different damages.

Expect dragons to have weak spots.

I'm pretty sure they have already solved this

There are two types of dragons in lore red and black. What make you think these dragons aren't just the black ones. Red dragons are the ones we see in statues and on the emblem. It is also the form Akatosh choose to take. If Alduiin is an alter ego (of sorts) of Akatosh he might come in the form of the black dragons. We have no earthly clue what black dragons looked like, so the dragons we see in the screenshots could be them. Tcaesci ate both just the same.

Even if they are a new breed, there is no lore stating their hides are "tougher than any plate-mail." Arrows of any metal should pierce their hides just the same as any other beast.

i certainly hope not. if they make the dragons killable by anything other than the dragon shouts or using something in the environment like the one you killed in dark messiah with the gate......ill be disappointed. if the "world-eater" and his kind can be killed with simple arrows i will simultaneously laugh my ass off and sob with my hands over my tear ridden eyes.

So killing over 50 dragons with shouts and the environment won't get repetitive? I can assure you dragons are going down to arrows, melee weapons, and magic. Get ready to cry, cause we will be killing these things like chicken wings.

I wouldn't want it any other way. Leaving hordes and hordes of crispy dragons in the wake of my magical destruction! :gun:

i wonder if the dragon will be like the dragon from phantasy star online episode 1 and 2.
anyone else know what im talking about

I find it hard to believe that people are worried about piercing dragon scales when I distinctly remember damaging storm atronachs well enough (made up of only magic and stone) with arrows alone. There's no way that I should be realistically able to impale or damage something made up of only stone and magic electricity, nothing more. Something fleshy should be no problem, plating or not. Now with arrows being more effective (and alternatively arrows more scarce), I wonder if it's in part because of the dragons, although I know the unrealistic premise of an archer with a single quiver of 50-100 arrows had a huge impact. Also I recall it being mentioned that when a dragon dies, it's body combusts and turns to ash. Between the dragons being related to the Big Daddies of Skyrim and the added effect of finishing moves, I'm wondering there will be some special kill sequence with each dragon? Either a ) the dragons must have a wicked dying sequence to turn into ash from some sword slashes or a couple arrows, or b ) there needs to be some sick way to kill/finish them off for that to happen.

Or maybe the combustion won't happen til say, I remove the dragon heart or scales from the dead corpse. Not sure. But I'm also wondering if there's some sort of crippled limbs effect pf Fallout into Skyrim. Honestly, I doubt it. Imagine though, if say, you're fighting a dragon and you cripple his wings, so he can't take flight. Or his legs to seriously slow him down (though I do believe the front arms are in the essence of bat arms). Like said, I highly doubt it for Elder Scrolls, but it could add an interesting element to combat if they did. You'd think they'd mention something like it by now, though.

I'm still really intrigued by the premise of slowing down time and paralyzing/burdening a dragon whilst in mid-flight and bringing him crashing down to earth, though. That would be epic.

that would make arrows of paralysis or covered in paralyzing poison worth their weight in gold.

regarding the turning to ash thing, if true, I imagine that to kill the dragon you should try and cause its fire breath fuel (whatever it is) to combust while inside the dragon. so perhaps by shooting a fire arrow down its throat, or a fireball, or stabbing it in the throat/belly with a flame enchanted weapon.

Lots of arrows. Lots and lots of arrows.

Of course, from what I've heard of that fight, it does not sound like it captured the epicness Bethesda seems to be going for with Skyrim's dragons...

I'd say that, yes, dragons can be killed with arrows, I'm not sure how effective they'll be against dragons, but I'd imagine they can be killed by any weapon that could kill a normal enemy, if they can be killed with swords and spells, it wouldn't be fair to count archers out. Though I wouldn't be surprised if the most effective way to kill dragons is with shouts, after all, there must be a reason the Dragonborn is the only one the dragons fear, a rare ability which you're character possesses being the greatest threat to them seems like a pretty good reason.