Going to jump into my next playthrough soon and I decided to specialize in stealth this time. I'm ashamed to say I never had a dedicated stealth character in Skyrim. Stealth has always been a minor thing for me in this game and I don't know why. Maybe it's because the land of Skyrim feels so...mildly barbaric that I always felt obliged to be some sort of melee warrior. I intend to change that this time around.

I plan on using SkRe and Deadly Dragon (plus a few more dragon overhauling mods, most notably Dragon Combat Overhaul) so I don't see how a Khajiit who doesn't specialize in archery can win in any way. Is it even possible for a character with One Handed, Light Armor, Alchemy, Alteration, Sneak, and Wayfarer to beat down a dragon? Any advice you stealth veterans could give would be appreciated.

I don't know about those mods in combination specifically but in regards to stealth: I've never been able to use stealth to fight dragons (unless I had a follower). Stealth and dragons don't really work because its very difficult for a dragon to not notice you, but if you manage to hit them without being noticed or slink back into stealth they'll usually just fly away. The most I could probably suggest is playing the main quest enough to get dragon rend for arrows and sword combat (which would still be pretty tough). I had a two handed orc/one handed khajiit who could survive dragons by luring dragons to forest areas and using trees for cover. Hell, I think i've survived dragons by diving into some water and praying to ysmir beard. So I guess get creative?

If im not mistaken dragon combat overhaul forces the dragon to target you when noticed anyway so get a good shield/ward and hunker down for combat. Spell breaker or a good shield can be a godsend. its completely possible to fight dragons with your set up, esp as a khajiit, but you'll have to be prepared for the dragon eating you and tossing you aside kill animations. Expect it to be long and grueling.

I've never been one to play a totally melee oriented character so someone can correct me if im wrong but i'd assume it'd be sort of how your warrior character would fight dragons. You hide until it lands and then run out and hit it, only now you hit it with poison and then run right the hell back out of the way. You'll need to find a good mod that balances poisons with deadly dragons and skyre though because trying to take out a dragon with 4000hp with poison that does like 100dmg is gonna take a while. Or you could use followers to tank it.

I've used several melee stealth characters and have never stealth attacked a dragon. I'm actually starting to suspect that they automatically detect people when they come flying in. Using a companion tank and just keeping a crossbow or something seems like the best strategy to me.

There may be 1 or 2 Dragons that one can https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eZFvujtUh-k up on for melee hits. I think. Usually from "above" their wordwall.

However, I can usually get off 1 arrow shot while sneaking, but then am forever "spotted."

I've managed to stealth kill dragons before but only with a bow. Even sneaking, the dragon always spots me if I walk up to close.

Even then my stealth kill on dragons is usually a 2 hit kill and only on "dragon" dragons. Not blood, frost, elder and so forth."

But with a high degree in stealth, x3 damage when hidden plus 100 in archery. I can shoot a dragon which takes all but a sliver of its health. game coding then dictates that the dragon fly up into the air and crash land which usually means I am still hidden. Then a second arrow to kill it once it crashed.

I have yet to kill a dragon with a melee method while hidden. Can never sneak up close enough to any that are sleeping on the ground.