Dragons

[Pallegina's Panties]

One of my earliest and fondest memories is playing Baldur's Gate II as a kid, and the whole Lord Firkraag. I recently ran across both the Alpine and Adra Dragons and I had my Immunity to Fear spells and whatnot at the the read but...

 

Unlike Firkraag, these Dragons have a literally army with them. Not that it matters because each one ends the fight just a few seconds in by doing some kind of AoE that decimates my entire party.

 

What is going here? Don't tell me I have to either hit max level or otherwise cheese these encounters...?

[MaxQuest]

Don't tell me I have to either hit max level or otherwise cheese these encounters...?

You don't need to hit max level to kill them. Nor use any cheese or exploits. Just learn the encounter.

 

What is going here?

Carnage and Mayhem

 

Dragon have respectable melee damage output. Especially Alpine Dragon. And 2-3 AoE abilities, each on a separate cooldown, but without usage limit. Plus a small army of minions that you already mentioned, to distract your attention via charm/paralyze/interrupts/etc; although you can use them to your favor as well.

 

Useful links: Alpine Dragon's army stats/abilites, Dragon Breaths comparison & Alpine Dragon abilities/preferences/cds.

[Pallegina's Panties]

Well, as I said, they just wipes my entire party a few seconds in.

 

Not really any opportunity to learn anything.

[MaxQuest]

CC and proper positioning are the key here.

 

And that's why you need high accuracy.

 

Unless you tell us what's your party composition, there is little else to tell.

[Pallegina's Panties]

There's no time for anything.

 

They literally do one attack a few seconds in that kills everyone.

 

Even if I had time to move my d00ds, their personal army just rushes in and locks everyone down anyway.

 

Really, these encounters are so cheaply designed....

[MortyTheGobbo]

I started making progress against the Alpine Dragon by using Bulwark Against the Elements and spreading out my party. That limits the mayhem caused by the breath attack. After that, it was basically luck for me, as far as I can tell. If I got lucky enough not to get annihilated, I could actually put a plan in motion and kill the dragon. If Hiravias has level 7 spells, he can cast Weather the Storm, which helps a great deal.

 

That's the Alpine Dragon, mind you. I've never actually tried to kill the Adra one, after my first attempts. And fighting the Alpine Dragon also took many attempts and a lot of frustration. Many attempts that had been going well ended when the dragon suddenly breathed and killed everyone.

[Torm51]

Do not eat the breathe.  You can run out of range of the AOE if you have speed enhancements.  A small purple circle will be above his head when he is about to breath.  If you dont have speed a party member with a HIGH reflex save (make it higher with scroll of defense the priest spell takes to long and he might be in range of the breath while casting) so that you can dodge or graze the breath.  Run the rest of the party away so they can buff up.   Come to think of it even with my best tanks I do not tank any Dragon unless I have too.  High deflection will let you disengage without so much of a big deal and well at the start of the fight you are not engaged so you dont have to take a disengagement attack.  MOVE.  Also Charm spells work really well against dragons.  If you can charm him/her they will devour the adds.  You can then deal with him solo.  Lastly, high accuracy classes that can knock down do well.  Fighters, and monks can keep them permanently proned if they have ACC buffs (Devotions of the Faithful, Coordinating attacks from paladin, marking/disorenting weapon) stack ACC and keep the dragon down.

 

Casters with raw damage spells will kill it over time if you can last long enough and land fort attacks (again extremely high ACC needed).  Plague of Insects from druid, Raw Damage Poison ground attack from wizard, Venombloom from Druid etc.  

 

Its a massive Dragon and they made it feel like it.  A mere Kith cant just sit their and face tank (for the most part) the dragon.  One unlucky roll and it could be lights out.  Even for a tank as their damage is so high that even grazes HURT.  Its a beast that weighs tons so this should be the case.  Oh and he has friends

Edited July 28, 2017 by Torm51

[MaxQuest]

There's no time for anything.

 

They literally do one attack a few seconds in that kills everyone.

Send a solo tank forward. 

While the rest of the group should stand outside of the 90° cone (i.e. always watch the direction dragon is facing).

 

You can also make dragon's minions tank him for you: for example charm/confuse a Greater Blight, which is also immune to frost damage, and thus takes no damage from breath. Or you can charm the dragon himself. Do note though - he will regenerate 25% of his endurance when you do this.

 

Even if I had time to move my d00ds, their personal army just rushes in and locks everyone down anyway.

You can deal with paralyze using:

- Prayer Against Imprisonment scroll / priest spells

- Using potions of Major Recovery - they will reduce the cc duration on you

 

Note: shades and phantoms don't hit hard, and frost DR is very effective vs their damage. Also they won't appear until you cast/use an attack upon the dragon himself.

Edited July 28, 2017 by MaxQuest

[Pallegina's Panties]

The dragon(s) attack my party upon ending the conversation - in whatever hap-hazard situation my party finds themselves in.

 

As I said, there is no time for setting up.

[Torm51]

Run backwards!

[MaxQuest]

The dragon(s) attack my party upon ending the conversation - in whatever hap-hazard situation my party finds themselves in.

 

As I said, there is no time for setting up.

v1. send the frontliner forward to meet them; while the rest of the party runs back. Use sugar.

v2. when the dragon says "Leave!", you agree, and attack with a ranged weapon/spell one of the oozes in order to trigger combat. Ofc after proper positioning (for example from low-left corner).

[Blades of Vanatar]

There's no time for anything.

 

They literally do one attack a few seconds in that kills everyone.

 

Even if I had time to move my d00ds, their personal army just rushes in and locks everyone down anyway.

 

Really, these encounters are so cheaply designed....

?????

 

I defeated the Adra Dragon in try # 2. Most importantly...Spread out. Use summons as meat shields and to engage Dragon Cronies. Definitely tank one of your characters. A fully speced Pally or Fighter Tank can stand up to a Dragon. Buff him and CC the Dragon. Burst damage the hell out of the Dragon AFTER CCing the beast. Eat lots of food prior. Go to Dyrord and rest first for the beast damage bonus. I could go on....

 

Their AoE attacks only hit your entire party if you are grouped tightly. No real dragonslayer just charges. You need to trick and lure the beast.

 

Alpine is the hardest imo. Tighter quarters for sure and more annoying Cronies. I would wait until lvl 11-12 for the Alpine encounter. Sky Dragon is a breeze, I have soloed him with a Resolution/Misery's End dual-wield Rogue on Hard.

[Messier-31]

Gaze of the Adragan anyone?

[Gorionsson]

First off: Be level 11+  (At least for Alpine)

 

2: Let  your tank approach, to take the brunt of the starting aoe. Keep tank alive.(Revive if necessary).

3: Keep rest of crew away from dragon at the start. Distract the minions with summons, then kill them with aoe/ranged attacks.

4: Buff yourself to the max accuracy (always bring a priest to dragon parties )  Debuff dragon.

5: Prone is very good against dragons. 

6: Dragons have different strenghts and weaknesses, and immunities (Elemental dr and afflictions). Figure out what these are.

 

I found Alpine to be easier than Adra for some reason.

[Blades of Vanatar]

Gaze of the Adragan anyone?

It's almost cheese. I was kind of thinking that was not what the op was looking for. But yes, it makes Dragon slaying much easier.

[Torm51]

 

Gaze of the Adragan anyone?

It's almost cheese. I was kind of thinking that was not what the op was looking for. But yes, it makes Dragon slaying much easier.

Isn't the Adra and Alpine dragon immune? I've beat them before but can't remember.

 

And I can't agree petrify targets Fortis the highest def on a dragon. If you play right and stack accuracy and get a good roll you should be rewarded.

 

Cheese is like killing all the Xaurips without aggroing the dragon etc. thats my opinion anyway.

Edited July 28, 2017 by Torm51

[Blades of Vanatar]

Debuff then Gaze. Reminds me of Firkraag Bane then Harm/Chromatic Orb cheese.

[Pallegina's Panties]

Pfft. The only cheese I'd ever use against Firkraag was using the Paladin "sub-class" that is Immune to Fear.

 

Which, admittedly, is pretty cheese-y.

[Heijoushin]

Gaze of the Adragan anyone?

 

Yup, initially this was the easiest way to do it. But they added loads of immunities for dragons in a later patch.

 

The dragon fights can be frustrating. I personally hate the huge "trash mob" that they come with. (Because a big bad dragon couldn't possibly fight by his ownsome lonesome...)

Maybe watch some youtube videos of it? It really feels like the Alpine dragon is impossible until you see someone actually doing it  

[Pallegina's Panties]

Yeah I was totally taken aback when their stupid army showed up as well.

 

Lord Firkraag didn't stoop to summoning a horde of stupid cronies when he faced down the Bhaalspawn.

 

These dragons of PoE lack... draconian dignity!

[Undesirable]

You can go toe to toe with them reliably with a level 16 Dragonslayer + foods. If you didn't get Blackwarden's Breast from the Iron Fort, it's trickier though.

Edited July 29, 2017 by Undesirable

[MortyTheGobbo]

If the dragons didn't have minions, it'd be too easy to gang up on them and stunlock them. BG dragons didn't have flunkies, but Baldur's Gate was a very different game, despite the similarities.

[Pallegina's Panties]

If the dragons didn't have minions, it'd be too easy to gang up on them and stunlock them. BG dragons didn't have flunkies, but Baldur's Gate was a very different game, despite the similarities.

 

Eh. it is my understanding that the Dragons are more than formidable on their own. The army is overkill.

[MortyTheGobbo]

Which is not the case. If all your party members were able to focus on the dragon without distractions, it'd be easy to drop a bunch of debuffs on them, disable them and kill them, as your frontliner occupies their attention. The mobs add an extra layer to the encounters, because you need to take them into account and prevent them from messing up your back line - AKA the people who soften up the dragon for the fighters/shooters to kill them.

 

It's difficult to create a single boss that can stand up to a whole team of people with varied abilities. Not without hideously bloating its health and making it flat-out immune to disabling effects. Which would be out of place in Pillars.

Edited July 30, 2017 by MortyTheGobbo

[Pallegina's Panties]

Well, I disagree. They'd still be worthy encounters without this "cheapness" factor of throwing mobs at you.