Thanks for the kind words, russell :D
Barbas was instrumental in keeping tough enemies occupied. He usually would shoot right past me to engage, and so 80% of the time the enemy's AI was riveted on the dog! While tough enemies were thus engaged, I would usually pound away at them with Fire Runes until the tank ran dry--if they weren't dead by then, they were usually pretty softened up.
As for dragons, they are a bit tougher... runes are incredibly difficult to cast near dragons: too close, and the spell won't even come off, but casting them as close as the game would allow was oftentimes too far away to set them off. When that happened I would manually set them off with a single world of Unrelenting Force. I tended to take dragons on with a sword only if they were fully engaged with Barbas. If you go a bit to the side and start swinging away you're usually okay. Do NOT power attack! I found that the stagger often breaks the dragon's (actually any enemy's) AI, and cause it to be fixed to on you... that's usually bad (especially with dragons ;D).
That first dragon, though! I cast a Fire Atronach to distract and pelt him with ranged attacks. As for me, I either picked up a guard's bow, or might have even cast Bound Bow (if I had it at that point... I don't quite remember). I kept behind walls and took pot shots at him until the guards, Niraleth, and I grounded him. Then went at him obliquely while he was distracted by the other guards hammering away at him. First dragon battles are always a bit on the epic side! xD
Thanks for the kind words, russell :D
Barbas was instrumental in keeping tough enemies occupied. He usually would shoot right past me to engage, and so 80% of the time the enemy's AI was riveted on the dog! While tough enemies were thus engaged, I would usually pound away at them with Fire Runes until the tank ran dry--if they weren't dead by then, they were usually pretty softened up.
As for dragons, they are a bit tougher... runes are incredibly difficult to cast near dragons: too close, and the spell won't even come off, but casting them as close as the game would allow was oftentimes too far away to set them off. When that happened I would manually set them off with a single world of Unrelenting Force. I tended to take dragons on with a sword only if they were fully engaged with Barbas. If you go a bit to the side and start swinging away you're usually okay. Do NOT power attack! I found that the stagger often breaks the dragon's (actually any enemy's) AI, and cause it to be fixed to on you... that's usually bad (especially with dragons ;D).
That first dragon, though! I cast a Fire Atronach to distract and pelt him with ranged attacks. As for me, I either picked up a guard's bow, or might have even cast Bound Bow (if I had it at that point... I don't quite remember). I kept behind walls and took pot shots at him until the guards, Niraleth, and I grounded him. Then went at him obliquely while he was distracted by the other guards hammering away at him. First dragon battles are always a bit on the epic side! xD