I've only killed one so far, the first one. My archery doesn't do enough damage, and any time I try to get close for some fire throwing or melee I get killed so quickly. I really don't know what to do from here.

Have you tried becoming better at the game?

What level are you? I fought my first random dragon encounter at level 13 I think and it was fairly easy.

@Voxel: Uh, I'm only level 5. But they show up when I'm trying to get places sometimes.

I was having trouble too early on, and luckily when my first random encounter happened there were some wandering guards around and they helped a lot, so either A) run away or B) find some help. That's the strategy I'm using until I level up a bit more.

I've probably killed four or five dragons, the ones without names, and I'm level 15. I do shit elsewhere. Do shit elsewhere?

@Louis0nFire said:

@Voxel: Uh, I'm only level 5. But they show up when I'm trying to get places sometimes.

Level 5 might be too low to take on a dragon. You might want to try doing some dungeon fighting to get some better gear or money or practice some other skills like Smithing so you can level up and increase your health.

I killed my dragon with a steel mace that had a damage rating of somewhere around 20. I didn't take much damage during the fight.

Remember you have healing magic,which you can use while he is in the air

It's weird, I'm having no trouble with the dragons but I can understand why you are.

Personally, I whittle it down with a bow before dual casting healing and magic, which seems to keep me alive in the flamebreath before it flies off and I can heal.

Also, the Unrelenting Force Dragon Shout can be used to stun the dragon for a few seconds when it's on the ground.

Here's how I beat dragons. Alchemy is one of my main skills and I make a lot of resistance potions. Pop some 20% fire resistance tonic and you're good to go. That and I have a bow with electricity that I add poison to from my virtually unlimited stock. muhahahahahaha potions they do things...

Archery works well for one of the dragons I beat, but head on and chopping at the wings helps. Find a companion.

I ran into my first random dragon at level 9, I couldn't beat him by myself but lucky I was close to a settlement so I ran back there and got help from some Stormcloaks. I used archery and ran inside a house when I needed to heal.

@Louis0nFire: Dragons are tough, but here are a few tips.

• Bring plenty of potions for health, magicka and stamina.
• Bring plenty of arrows.
• If possible bring a follower or lure the dragon to a place with soldiers.
• You can get a couple of shots in when he is about to shoot fire.
• When he is on the ground get up to his side and whack at him with a two handed sword.

@Voxel said:

@Louis0nFire said:

@Voxel: Uh, I'm only level 5. But they show up when I'm trying to get places sometimes.

Level 5 might be too low to take on a dragon. You might want to try doing some dungeon fighting to get some better gear or money or practice some other skills like Smithing so you can level up and increase your health.

I killed my dragon with a steel mace that had a damage rating of somewhere around 20. I didn't take much damage during the fight.

I killed the first story dragon at about level 5, but that was also with the NPC soldiers backing me up, a tower to snipe from and hide in, and a bow that did extra shock damage with every hit.

In other news, I'm probably fucked later on, because I haven't been doing shit for putting perks in either my archery or destruction magic.

Just as a random note level 5 is ok to take on dragons, depending on what you've been doing I guess. My character is only level 6 currently and I've killed 4 dragons (though to be fair 1 of those just died on his own without me ever touching him). My strat has really just been to equip 1 piece of fire resist gear i have, though it's only 15%, and then flank the dragon when it lands and just beat the crap out of it. However, to be fair I've put every point I have into 2-handed stuff and even at a low level I hit really fucking hard. I have 1 shot with normal attacks everything I've came across so far except dragons and some random frost troll who took a bit more work than that. I've also put all of my level up bonuses into HP which helps a ton.
 
But yeah, depending on how you've been playing to this point you could possibly be fine at such a low level, I know I am. If not my suggestion would be to run the fuck away.

I didn't kill the first dragon until level 20. I'm too busy with other side stuff to care about the main quest. I only did it to get access to the shouts because I'm getting my ass handed to me by every boss in the game. Even regular monsters are murdering me with ease everywhere I go.

So far both non-story dragons I fought were hard as fuck. First one I fought had Bears and Saber Cats attacking him who immediately went after me when it flew away. I am a thief wearing cloth armour for magick bonuses to conjuration. This fight to a long time and I died many times. Fortunately with the help of my Flame summon and Lydia I eventually pulled through.

Second dragon I fought was at searpoint (or whatever it was called, got three words to a shout and was pointed in that direction in a letter "from a friend"). Seemed like it was gonna be a normal fight until I made the mistake of running up to the dragon shouts before killing the dragon and this dude name "Krosis" spawned who would steal my summons and seemed to have an infinite amount of fireballs that do half my health and then burn me. This was were I found out I could save in combat. Took even longer then the above fight.

Both were pretty epic and very tough.

You might have "activated" the dragons too quickly. They don't appear randomly until you fight your first as part of the main story. I did sidequests until I was at least level 10. I was the leader of the companions before I fought my first dragon. Now they're reaaally easy to fight. I just shoot arrows while my companion or town guard gets aggro, then when he's weak, I wait till he lands and I go in for the sword kill.

My first random dragon was an ice dragon, my Nord warrior destroyed it with minimal effort.

I find dragons way easier than some of the wild animals. They're big and slow so it's pretty easy to avoid their attacks.

Lead it to a giant. Giants don't play. They'll take care of that dragon but quick.

When it lands, get in close for one hit, the strafe next to it's side while its trying to turn to face you. Make sure you're healing yourself while you strafe.

Try to stay out of the fire when it's flying away, i'm actually not having any luck doing that, but when it lands, i stand either at the side of it's head, or just behind a wing, it seems it can't reach me there.

@Louis0nFire: Had the same issues. You're just too low level. I've got up to level 11 and have stayed away from Dragons since the first story mission. Sounds like you need to be a littler higher than that to take one on successfully.

@Louis0nFire said:

@Voxel: Uh, I'm only level 5. But they show up when I'm trying to get places sometimes.

Duder, you're kind of in over your head a bit. You killed the first dragon in the game (the named one, that isn't Alduin) yet? My first encounter that was outside a story mission was when I was level fifteen. Two of them at the same time. It was absolutely amazing. All I would recommend is a strong bow, some strong Destruction magic (maybe some Alteration for Stoneflesh?) and a strong sword and shield/heal spell.

@SuperWristBands said:

Seemed like it was gonna be a normal fight until I made the mistake of running up to the dragon shouts before killing the dragon and this dude name "Krosis" spawned who would steal my summons and seemed to have an infinite amount of fireballs that do half my health and then burn me.

Krosis, so far, has to be the most powerful enemy I've killed. He was harder than the fucking dragon I killed to get to him. It makes sense though because, I think, Krosis was/is a dragon priest and they were granted powerful magic by the dragons and dragon gods. They're in kin with Draughr really since they're both dragon worshipers and are cursed with being undead because of their belief. Oh well, getting all three words to a shout was pretty boss, the shout, however, wasn't.

I ran into my first random dragon at level 6 and i beat him, it was close, and i had to use a couple healing pots but i beat him with my mace and shield. and then i encounterd a dragon at level 8 at the mages guild, beat that with the help of the mages there, and leveled to 9.

@Louis0nFire said:

I dont think i met my second dragon after the quest on till about level 12 which by then i had my horse who decided to go jump on the dragons head and killed it with very little help from me. Companions work wonders for these times when you cant solo them, or when you see one in the wilds, before it aggros you, i would fast travel back to a town and wait, while looking in the sky and 50% of the time, the dragon would fly to the town where the archers would pull it. I have noticed they are on a timer if you dont aggro them but if your close enough to a town, they should go to where you are. Doesn't always work but i have 3-4 skele's outside whiterun atm that are not the quest dragons.

I've only killed one so far, the first one. My archery doesn't do enough damage, and any time I try to get close for some fire throwing or melee I get killed so quickly. I really don't know what to do from here.

I'm finding dragons to be difficult to kill as well (Level 10, I believe). Although in my last encounter I lured it towards a mammoth and those two battled it out while I launched arrows into its wings.

Ive killed 4 dragons so far and theyre fairly easy.  I just keep shooting arrows at it

Use a shield; I've found that by timing shield bashes to the dragon's face enough, he can't attack me and I can delay his takeoff by quite a bit. Works for almost every enemy in the game.

Bash, slash, slash.

I fought my first random dragon at level 8 and it was a tough fight. I haven't played as an archer, but considering that you want to take him on from a distance and the dragon will only use ranged attacks that do no physical damage, I'd stock up on Ice and Fire resistance potions, if you can also get a fire/ice resistance spell even better. Another option would be to take a follower and let him attack the dragon before you do, that way the dragon will focus on him/her and not you.

at my lvl dragons best stay in the air, if they land i literally kill them in like 5 hits, woop woop!