In the GI article it was stated that some Dragon Shouts are indeed whispered instead of shouted. This being for stealthy characters of course. I'm still unsure how that will actually play out though.

Chances are, that it is similar to oblivion, with the Dragons being Gates, and you go about the main quest and only need to kill a selected few dragons for quest reasons, the dragon shout would be like a sigil stone (reward for closing oblivion gate) in that you can avoid them and just do the main quest.

There will be dragonshouts for the more stealthy players; you will have to whisper them instead of shouting and may do things such as teleportation. So I'm guessing that the player could use these dragonshouts to take down the dragon.

A missing scale, like the dragon in the hobbit. you have to shoot it directly in the right spot and the dragon goes down.

But seriously My stealth character is gonna be using his bow, and his superior acrobatic skills to dodge incoming attacks

Not arguing there. But it wouldn't really have made for a very good trailer. And the chracter did get knocked back by the dragon later on in the trailer, so it is a possibility.

I can see it now...player creeps up to snoozing Dragon, whips out dagger and stabs at huge snoring creature. Dragon wakes up at itchy feeling, opens eyelid and sees puny, annoying, human..releases huge gout of flame...human resembles flame grilled burger

I will try for archery sneak crits from a distance and possible up close bladework for desperate moments, just depends on how the steath + skills damage ratio works, i suppose.

Here's my take on the whole ordeal. Of course a stealth oriented player is (obviously) more prone to stealth, but what traits define a stealthy character? Agility, speed, accuracy, what have you. Just because you're not locking horns with a dragon, I still think a dragon fight in general would feel epic. Jump swipes if they're low enough, run from any avoidable attacks, get used to using your dodge key, and poisons. After all, it's still a dragon swooping down on you, no matter what your methods are for conserving your own hp and detracting from your foe's.

I think they should have a hoard too! How cool would that be, silently sneaking pasts mounds of chests or whatever, trying ever so hard not to make they slightest sound or send a stray coin falling.

Anyway as for stealth characters I think you should get a stealth ATTACK on a dragon, like a quick animation of you sticking your knife into its collarbone area or wahtever but nothing LIFE THREATENING for a monster of that size.

I to see dragon shouts as much the same for spells as sigil stones was for enchanting.
However dragons are random encounters, you can probably avoid many of them but also want to kill them for the shouts. Wonder if I also can soultrap

Now to kill dragons, they are creatures like everything else, they are not like Dagoth Ur who require a special way to kill. Do enough damage and they dies, they are boss enemies so they have lots of health and also strength and weaknesses, they might have location damage but if so they would have even more health.
Stealth and bows should work very well as they are large and easy to hit, poison might work, however they might be immune or cast cure poison as it's a obvious way to kill them. Probably immune to paralyze as it would be to easy.

One strategy I will try out is to try to find a place with some cover, a ruin would be ideal as it would have small openings where the big dragon has problems getting, now you can do ranged attacks. Now the dragon can respond with ranged area effect but I will be far safer from other attacks.

One last thing, dragons will be level scaled or area scaled, as they are random encounters and you will face them from early in the game they has to have some levelling. It is also confirmed that it's many types who are different, this might be the different levels of dragons.
I also have a feeling the dragons are hunting you so you run into far more dragons than others.

Stealth.

I refer you to the classic educational film "http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zekiZYSVdeQ".

Silliness aside, why would a stealthy character even fight a dragon?

To absorb it's soul and fuel their ability to use a new Dragonshout of course silly

But they won't fight it using stealth... Just like theywon't fight anything with stealth once they have been detected. They'll have to resort to something else once detected. Sword and Shield, Two Handed Sword, Dual Wielding, Magic, Bow and Arrow, or if feeling lucky... Nothing but fists.

And you can't do that after someone else killed it for you? Or after you poisoned its food and it died a slow, painful death while you watched from the shadows?

Maybe you get special arrows that do more damage to dragons, or can paralyse them or something. Or maybe dragonshouts that let you dark around the dragon to attack it at it's blind spot

Highly doubt anybody else will kill dragons for you or that you'll be able to poison it's food, unless of course you poison yourself but in either case your dead

Well, it worked for most monsters (as opposed to some of the bosses) in Morrowind and Oblivion nicely, why shouldn't it in Skyrim? That's how my level 1 Good-For-Nothing (custom class) got hold of Umbra and a lot of valuable other equipment in Oblivion, after all.



Why not? We have stories like those of the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wawel_Dragon in our world too, after all.

I suspect it'll be pretty similar to the way stealthy characters normally deal with enemies with more hit points, better armour, better weapons, etc. Use a mix of ranged and melee combat, use poisons, use potions, use hit and run tactics, etc. To be honest, I wouldn't want it any other way. It would feel kinda cheap if I played a character not so buffed out for combat, yet could easily kill the game's strongest enemies by some fortuitous trick (sneak kill, or shooting an arrow into a specific point).

Because they are going to make daggers more useful than in Oblivion they propably add perk by leveling up what allows you to deal more damage with daggers (especially against dragons). Personally I have nothing against fast "dodge-hit-dodge" combat.

Well guys you forgot about the companions you will be able to bring by your side that help you fight the dragons, so that may have a huge impact on how to fight one, instead of which class your player is and what only you will end up doing...

I imagine companions will turn into quick snacks against dragons. They never seem to hold up to the tough enemies.

Vewy vewy quietly :tongue:

Well instead fo the dragon swooping from its perch and down onto you, youll be sneakying on over to the dragon and getting the jump on him.

Also you could hide in the woods, take cover to break LOS, and then sneak attack, repeat or get high perches use tactics instead of just smash.

You're a thief, not a knight without armor. Use your head; hide and strike from the perfect place at the perfect time.

You know how sometimes they swoop low? Maybe there'll be a way to 'assassinate' them when they do this if timed right. You'd jump on their back and stab them in the eyes from behind or something?

I thought I read (or maybe heard on a pod cast) that arrows will be more deadly, but difficult to buy or find in skyrim. Maybe the more deadly arrows can kill a dragon?

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Now that...would be one of my favorite trailers for a game ever. Anyway, arrows have been said to deal more damage now, so dragon's won't look rediculous when you finally bring them down...and if you can poison the arrows along with enchanting the bow...stealth should be just fine.