High dragon (strategy)

This battle can be very difficult one, and as such additional planning and tactics are recommended to make the battle easier:

Party composition

 * Weapon and Shield Warrior tank can use Shield Wall to ignore the dragon's knockdown attack.
 * Wynne's healing capabilities are invaluable when facing the High Dragon.
 * Shale is an excellent choice for the party main tank in this scenario. Equipping Large Fire Crystal will increase resistance to the dragon's fire breathing attacks. Shale is also immune to knockback and the dragon's 1-hit kill move; couple this with the Stoneheart ability to make her a very durable tank.
 * A fully specialized Arcane Warrior also works very well as a tank if The Warden uses a combination of Combat Magic, Rock Armor, and Shimmering Shield. This will render the Arcane Warrior highly resilient to the dragon's physical attacks and almost impervious to its fire attacks. However, note that an Arcane Warrior is vulnerable to knockdown effects, unlike the Weapon and Shield Warrior, so the damage output is highly dependent on how well the Arcane Warrior can resist knockdown effects.

Equipment

 * A Warrior with Two-handed Weapon talents can use the Yusaris to receive additional damage against dragons and fire resistance.
 * Equipping your party members with armor which provides additional fire resistance is recommended, especially for melee characters.

General advice

 * It certainly helps to engage the dragon with long range weapons and magic, due to a melee attack that causes immediate death.
 * The dragon is not immune to freezing or certain spell effects which halt the target. Use this to your advantage.
 * The death of a melee character from the dragon's grab attack can be prevented by using well timed healing spells. Freezing the dragon or casting a spell such as Force Field will stop the grab attack.
 * Using Force Field on your tank will stop all damage from the High Dragon. Unless you're within the safe spot where the dragon can't land, be careful of not losing aggro from the tank this way.
 * Misdirection Hex is a very effective way to migitate melee damage of the dragon. Using Death Hex will also allow all your party members with ranged weapons to cause critical hits, making them valuable damage dealers.
 * The dragon also seems to be vulnerable to most kind of Entropy spells, particularly to Sleep and Waking Nightmare, so use those to your advantage.
 * Assign your party members, especially the melee, to use lesser health poultice when below 75% health. Similiar tactic can also be used on mages to keep their mana available by using lesser lyrium potions.
 * The dragon can prevent enemies from flanking it by attacking with its hind legs.
 * Another tactic to use is traps. Place several around and then summon the dragon. After it lands, instant kill is possible if enough traps were laid.

Positioning



 * There are various ways to exploit surrounding environment to escape the dragon's attacks or even cause it to become stuck.
 * One strategy is to hide behind the crumbled circle tower to evade the dragon's Buffet (pulling) spell. You will simply hit the wall and get back up in complete safety. When the dragon flies into the crumbed circle tower, simply move to the other side of the wall, but don't let yourself get caught on the same side of the wall as the dragon. If you have spells that can cast through walls, you can kill the dragon more quickly.