High dragon (strategy)

The High Dragon is a formidable opponent and this page details tips on how to defeat her.

Note: These tactics are for the High Dragon at the Mountain Top while on the quest for The Urn of Sacred Ashes.

High Dragon Capabilities
The High Dragon possesses the following offensive capabilities: Fire Spit, Flame Breath, Massive Attack, Grab, Buffet. It can also attack with its tail and hind legs when you try to flank it. Occasionally, notably when the highest threat target is out of melee range, the High Dragon may briefly fly up out of view. Afterwards, it comes crashing down in an open location in the area. Any companions caught in the vicinity of the boss when it lands take massive physical damage.

NPC Recommendation

 * 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 Brilliant Fire Crystal will increase resistance to the dragon's fire breathing attacks. Shale is also immune to the dragon's 1-hit kill move; couple this with the Stoneheart ability to make her a very durable tank.
 * With Oghren as a tanking berserker with Yusaris (greatsword) and the Juggernaut set found to be a great team with a warrior Warden. (The team also used Wynne and Morrigan simultaneously for healing/ranged attacks)
 * Use any other characters as a distraction while trying to keep Morrigan and Alistair alive as long as possible. Set Alistair's tactics to use health potions. Morrigan can cast the Nightmare spell combination for a significant amount of spirit damage (careful micro-management is required, since the sleep duration is short and any damage will cancel the sleep effect). Cold attacks do nicely as well. Keep Morrigan as far from the dragon as possible while Alistair bashes the dragon in close quarters. Eventually, Alistair will take the dragon down.
 * Leliana using a good bow and equipped with non-fire elemental arrows can do a significant amount of damage from a safe distance without pulling aggro from the tank. Having her use Shattering Shot, especially with Master Archer, can also help a great deal.  Add Song of Courage to the mix, and you have a strong candidate for your dragon-slaying needs.
 * With the Feastday Gifts and Pranks DLC installed set Sten as your tank (ensuring he has the Qunari Prayers for the Dead) with a Self-Health<=75%-Use health poultice: least powerful tactic (set at top of list). This will keep Sten alive and he will be able to resurrect any fallen characters. A healthy supply of  (lesser) Injury Kits is also recommended.

Defensive
The High Dragon deals fire damage therefore fire resistance is recommended. Bear in mind that elemental resistances are capped at 75%. Here is a list of upper tier fire resistant items:

Large Fire Crystals

Note that getting Wade's leather armour sets involves returning to the High Dragon at a later time.

Spellcaster

 * The dragon is not immune, but merely highly resistant, to freezing or certain spell effects which halt the target.


 * The dragon is vulnerable to some Entropy spells.

+: It takes damage for the Nightmare spell combination, but is immune to the fear effect.
 * Hexes are an effective way to reduce the High Dragon's damage capability and defences:


 * Nature Spells seem to work on the dragon, a mage could finish a dragon with half health left off single handed while all other party members were dead by using the following spells:


 * Arcane Warriors with high mana/stamina regeneration, high armor, and Shimmering Shield make ideal tanks, with an unparalleled 60 armor with Rock Salve.


 * Having a mage ready to cast Force Field can readily counter the dragon's efforts to Grab (Monster) your tank. The effect occurs instantly and doesn't seem resistable, though it will only trap the dragon briefly.

Trap Layer

 * Another tactic to use is traps. Position your party and trap the High Dragon's landing spot. You will have to place about 50 Tier III traps there, but don't use Fire Traps because the High Dragon is 75% resistant to fire damage. After she lands, she will be killed instantly from the ~80 damage per trap triggered. Video demonstration here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iFkR2qF7zs0


 * NOTE: You don't need to actually put 50 Tier III Traps, with around 24 Small Claw Trap and a bit of moving around it's pretty doable.

Melee

 * Warriors that have specialized in either weapon and shield or two-handed weapons can use Shield Wall or Indomitable to ignore the dragon's knockdown attack.
 * A fully specialized Arcane Warrior also works very well as a tank with 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.
 * A Warrior can be behind the dragon and attack while the caster heals, and the other two party members take attention of the High Dragon.
 * Though potentially difficult, a rogue with Combat Movement can flank while remaining out of range of the High Dragon's kick attacks. If attempting this, make sure to stay as close to 180' as possible, as it's easy to unintentionally find yourself in kicking range if you're not careful.

Ranged

 * Attacking at long range can protect your character from most of the dragon's attacks.
 * If using a bow or crossbow, elemental ammunition that is not fire-based can contribute a significant amount of damage over time.

General Advice

 * The death of a melee character from the dragon's Grab attack can be prevented by using well timed healing spells. Lifeward is especially useful in this.  Freezing the dragon or casting a spell such as Force Field will stop the Grab attack. Stonefist can also stop the grab attack, but is significantly less reliable.
 * 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.
 * Assign your party members, especially the melee, to use lesser health poultice when below 75% health. Similar tactics can also be used on mages to keep their mana available by using lesser lyrium potions.

Positioning Advice

 * 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.
 * Another strategy involving the use of the crumbled circle tower is to use ranged characters (Leliana and Zevran) as well as spell casters and position them inside the tower against the wall at equal distances from one another. The dragon should land in the middle of the tower, using only flame breath on your characters. You just have to protect your team members with warmth balm or any other fire resistance means and use range attacks (and heal regularly). With the right strategy commands the fight is effortless. It may even happen than the dragon stumbles on one character and then get stuck in this position. Finish the dragon with range attack.
 * There is a glitch outside the circle on the mountain side that can actually make the game think you have left the area. This means that if your party is dead, they will suddenly appear next to you alive and at full health. Eventually, the game seems to recognize what you are doing and stops (Confirmed on Xbox, untested on PC and PS3).
 * Similar to the crumbled circle tower ranged method - using your ranged character, ring the gong and run towards the entrance to the Gauntlet. Just before there, on your left is a wall with an opening. Position yourself against the cliff wall so that you can see the dragon (once he comes after you) and launch arrows (etc) into it. Using health poultice tactic at 50% health can keep your comrades alive and you will need to heal yourself from time to time. This method can take quite a while (especially if your teammates die) and may use a lot of poultices but has been proven successful at lvl 8 on Hard.
 * another strategy is to get all the melee except Wynne (preferably Oghren and shale plus the warden) and have Wynne heal them through the fight as much as possible. once the melee characters die after doing as much damage as they could to the dragon take control of Wynne and run between the lower portion where the gong is and the higher portion where the bridge is. when the dragon flies up to change sides quickly run then side he flew away from and vice versa. Wynne can cast things like stonefist and arcane bolt to slowly but eventually taken the high dragon down to 0 health. this is not a preferred strategy but is a VERY useful one if the player has lost everyone except Wynne. This can also be done with Morrigan, without any health potions, using drain life on the dragon to replenish health. In running back and forth, be careful to ensure that the rocks will prevent the dragon from pulling you into her clutches, so the only way to be damaged is via the occasional fireball. The dragon will spend most of her time flying back and forth while your lonely mage slowly whittles her down.
 * The petrify spell also works on the dragon approximately 1/2 the time in my experience, but combined with melee and non-fire elemental attacks this can come in really handy!

Note: keeping many health and lyrium potions on hands is a good way to ensure that Wynne doesn't die and can cast arcane bolt and stonefist when needed