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I summoned the dragon with the gong in Frostback Mountains. My party consists of my assassin rogue, Alistair as the tank, Sten for off-tank/DPS, and Wynne for heals. All characters are around level 11 or 12.

The dragon is wiping the ground with me. The fight usually goes okay for a minute or so and then Alistair gets eaten and we're done.

I know I need to stack a bit more fire resist, but my biggest problem seems to be the dragon's bite. Is there a way to prevent/avoid/mitigate it?

In general, what strategy/approach should I use to beat the dragon? I'm cool with changing up the party if needed.

My options are Alistair, Sten, Morrigan, Wynne, Leliana, Zevran, and the dog, but I can go get others (Shale?) if needed.

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You seem awfully low level to be facing a battle very similar to the end of the game. Have you considered waiting until you've leveled up? –  bwarner Jun 13 '11 at 14:54
@bwarner That's a valid suggestion. I didn't even know it was similar to the end of the game. Far as I can tell I'm about half-way. What level would you recommend? –  Anna Lear Jun 13 '11 at 14:59
I wasn't able to beat this dragon or Flemeth until 18+ but I play on Hard so it may vary. Either way, 11 seems too low. These is no shame in admitting defeat, you can always come back later to try again. I fought Flemeth like 5 times through my game progress before I was even close to finishing her. –  Jesse Webb Jun 13 '11 at 18:55
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5 Answers

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I ended up beating the High Dragon with Shale as a main tank because she is immune to the Dragon Bite of Doom (not the official name!), which is a one-hit kill for any other character. I would highly recommend using her because of that. Get her equipped with some fire resistance crystals (Large Brilliant are the best) and she's quite the powerhouse, especially with Stoneheart as a skill.

I was assassin rogue main as well, with Wynne for healing, and I believe I had Morrigan for cold damage, which the dragon is weaker to. Alternatively, you could also use Leliana for additional ranged damage instead of Morrigan. Seeing as you'll be in melee as a rogue with Shale tanking, that will already put a lot of pressure for healing on Wynne, so I'd definitely recommend having your 4th be some kind of ranged character that can hopefully stay out of the way and not steal aggro.

Additionally, you may want to consider grabbing Wade's Drakeskin Armor Set for yourself before you face the dragon, if you don't have it already. You can come back and initiate battle with it any time after the Urn of Sacred Ashes quest is finished. Unfortunately, you cannot make the Superior version until you have the Dragon Scale that you receive from beating the dragon.

Once you've had a chance to stand off against the dragon for longer than a minute, as with any boss, make sure you learn the cues for its attacks. One problem as a rogue is that you'll want to backstab, but the Dragon uses its tail and a kick move in order to ward off flanking. You'll want to stay very mobile. You can still trigger backstab damage if you're standing a little to its side and stabbing the back of its thigh.

Occasionally, it'll fly up into the air and decide to come crashing down somewhere. If I recall correctly, there is a visual cue as to where it's going to land, so make sure your healer isn't standing within range, or else they'll take a ton of physical damage.

Save up Warmth Balms on hand for you and your tank, seeing as you'll be in the closest range and keep them micro'd, as every little bit helps. Even with Wynne healing, I'd still set Shale's tactics to chug Health Poultices because of her large health pool. Hopefully, with Shale holding aggro and you and your ranged character on DPS, you should be able to take the dragon down. Good luck!

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I beat the high dragon on my first visit to the Mountain, about halfway through the game. I too was an Assasin/Bard DW Rogue, with Alistair as Tank (Templar/Champion), Wynne for Healing/Support (Spirit Healer/Doesn't Really Matter) and Leliana for kicks/ranged attack (Bard/Ranger?).

The first general tip I can give you is to setup your tactics. I assume you're not putting yourself through some voluntary potion abstinence, so get your characters to drink health potions when their health is below 20%. Get Wynne to heal anyone when they get below 50%, with herself as first priority. Also make sure to keep her mana up.

Tactics alone should keep Alistair alive for a fair bit. Make sure you give him massive armor, I had Cailan's set from the RtO DLC. I considered giving him Yusaris (the +damage to Dragons blade from the Mage's Tower) but figured a shield went better. Put +damage (Frost and Lighting, not Fire) Runes on his sword, I had Maric's.

Alistair also has Rally, which is great for any of your melee attackers. But by far his best use is Shield Bash, which will free you if you've been grabbed by the dragon. Tactics may/may not work for this, so you may have to do it manually. Either way, it prevents anyone except Alistair from being picked up by the Dragon. If Alistair himself is, have Wynne heal him while he's in the air, it should keep him alive, and is generally a lot easier than reviving him if he dies. That said, if you've built him right, he should survive the chomp (albeit with very little health at the end).

Wynne should cast as many support spells as she can, and then go on healing duty. When I played, she was almost completely tactics controlled, I almost never needed to micro her. Frost Weapons, Curses on the Dragon, etc. Don't make her do damage. She will suck at it. Give her any equipment to increase her willpower and mana reserves. She's not doing any damage, so forget about that.

Leliana served basically to sing the Song of Courage. After that, she shot arrows. Give her some nice light armor, anything to improve her defense and damage (in that order, her song is far too important).

As for your main character, well...

Don't use active abilities.

Stackables don't stack on active abilities. Once you've set everything up, just go and backstab the damn thing. Each hit should see several +damage numbers.

You'll be doing more damage personally than most of your other characters combined, so you have to make it count. Wynne's support spells, Alistair's auras, Leliana's songs should give you a hefty boost.

You're an assassin, so keep Mark of Death on the Dragon at all times. Depending on your second specialization (if you have one yet), either sing a Song of Courage, or turn Dueling on.

Again, I had Duncan's Dagger, which is +10 damage against Dragons. Add some runes to my daggers, and some Crow Poison, and I'm way ahead.

You probably don't have access to the Felon's Coat yet, so Shadow of the Empire should do fine for now. It's much cheaper too.

As far as attacks go, as long as Wynne is alive and active, none of your characters should die. The only time she's personally threatened is when the Dragon lands on her. I immediately micro and tell her to move the hell away, keeping the Dragon occupied.

You should constantly focus on getting around the Dragon. It will periodically turn around and face you, and you should go around.

That should be it. As you can probably see, I played my own character a bit of a glass cannon, and got through fine, fairly quickly. A more defense oriented character may have a more leisurely - though longer - fight.

Miscellaneous tips:

  • If you really must, go and get that drakeskin armor. I never did, because I didn't want to go and come back to the mountain.

  • Position your squad before calling the dragon, it makes things start off a bit easier.

  • There are a couple of glitch-based tactics that you can use, but I don't think you'll want to. There's one using blizzard on the mountain, and another where you stand all the way down by the door, and take pot shots with your bow.

  • Stack your stackables. You'll do well over +50% damage if you do it right.

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What level were your characters at when you did this? –  blueberryfields Jul 8 '11 at 20:57
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The dragon is wiping the ground with me.

You could try these overly complex strategies others have posted. Or you could go do some of the thousands of other quests in the game until you are at least giving the dragon a challenge.

I didn't beat this dragon until my main character was level 18 on Hard difficulty. And even that was after several tries and lots of party micro-management.

I suggest, go do some other stuff and come back for another try later. If you are still getting owned too fast, wait some more. Rinse and repeat...

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If i recall, there was a youtube video where somebody just littered the ground the dragon lands on with traps.

you're an assassin, so you can do the same!

Here it is:

it's been an age since i played, and i never used assassin abilities, so no idea what level the user is or if you can do this at level 11. Also, seeing as its been a year, i am hoping you're not still stuck on the dragon. Man, that would be a downer.

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Look, the dragon has very limited movement. Just use kolgrims's horn and zap him with magic. Archers help too.

You could force field grab people if you wanted to; it is a mage spirit spell.

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