Are dragons specifically designed to require a horse to fight?

[Hit by a Parked Car]

Title. Are dragons just never meant to be fought on foot? The AoE is so wide and comes out so often. Even Darkeater Midir can be dodged perfectly, but you are literally guaranteed to get hit by more than one attack per dragon. Even with some Ashes people regard as busted for most fights like Bloodhound's Step, you can't avoid them.

[Juno Brier]

Most dragons can be done on foot just fine once you know their moves, aside from using the horse to catch up when it flies far.

Just don't try on foot for the rot dragon in Caelid, unless you enjoy dying to the attack where it covers the 30 foot radius around it in a huge rot cloud that will certainly kill you.

[BirdDinosaur]

I use an INT build with the dark moon greatsword, you can do it on foot.

[D. Flame]

No, but riding your horse to chase them down, then jumping off to fight them on foot is the easiest way of dealing with them. Same is true of the Fire Giant.

Chasing them down on foot is suffering.
Fighting them on horseback is suffering.
Chasing them on horseback then fighting them on foot is just right.

[DDDHunter]

Αναρτήθηκε αρχικά από Hit by a Parked Car:

Title. Are dragons just never meant to be fought on foot? The AoE is so wide and comes out so often. Even Darkeater Midir can be dodged perfectly, but you are literally guaranteed to get hit by more than one attack per dragon. Even with some Ashes people regard as busted for most fights like Bloodhound's Step, you can't avoid them.

I like fighting them on foot actually. The only time I get on a horse is to close in, or when the dragon flies into the air

[tallgeese]

Αναρτήθηκε αρχικά από D. Flame:

No, but riding your horse to chase them down, then jumping off to fight them on foot is the easiest way of dealing with them. Same is true of the Fire Giant.

Chasing them down on foot is suffering.
Fighting them on horseback is suffering.
Chasing them on horseback then fighting them on foot is just right.

give this man an award

[Vahnkiljoy]

I beat every dragon on foot, horse isn't even needed.

[randomguy01542]

I say specifically yes just because they jump away and without the horse you aren't going to catch them in time to dodge the breath, if they actually stayed grounded than foot combat isn't that hard.

Although I guess you could roll through the fire... but they fly so far away the fight itself would just be a giant chore to run back and forth the entire fight.

[NeonRed]

Easiser on foot; foot stomp, wing slam, and air dive bomb attacks are massively punishable by being on the ground and slamming the head for downs; I never bother attacking anything other than head.

Honestly if you want to massively clown on a dragon use a spear with spectral lance and aim head for down (can also hit them during dive bomb start up and still get possible air down); should've called the AoW dragon slayer.

[Lucifer_]

I always beat them on foot because I hate fighting on horseback. If you stick close to their ankles they won't do the massive fire breath all that much just stomps, bites and tail swipes.
If you have an int build, Rock sling ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ shreds every dragon. Lock on to the head and hurl rocks. 3-4 volleys and they'll get staggered. Repeat until dead.

[Hiphoptimus Rhyme]

The horse is a liability so I don't use it for combat in most cases. I can just tank a breath attack and save myself the extra horse stagger.

[Kraft51]

Αναρτήθηκε αρχικά από Lucifer_:

I always beat them on foot because I hate fighting on horseback. If you stick close to their ankles they won't do the massive fire breath all that much just stomps, bites and tail swipes.
If you have an int build, Rock sling ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ shreds every dragon. Lock on to the head and hurl rocks. 3-4 volleys and they'll get staggered. Repeat until dead.

i was landing headshots with my Bloodhounds Fang easily enough to break Poise. only jumped on my horse to avoid the fire breath attacks. no spirits, just patience and calculated attacks. idk why but i personally have zero interest in a caster toon, it was similar for me in Skyrim too as i tend to ONLY use magic/shouts as needed. mostly just healing and stamina regen spells. but definitely headshots are key to taking down dragons quickly.

[ressenmacher]

I have killed every dragon save Placidusax so far, all on foot. It is more difficult than doing so mounted, but it's also significantly faster. I suspect the dragons were meant to be fought on foot, with horseback riding used to pursue them when they reposition or use breath attacks, but all of that stuff could just be dodged with good movement anyhow.

Flying dragon model enemies can be dealt with fairly easily by standing at the head, which prompts them to stomp and swoop very frequently. Both attacks can be punished with jumping heavies to the nose, and knockdowns leave massive openings where you can land a charged heavy + a regular heavy + a riposte for massive damage. The forwards breath can be strafed diagonally, the flying backhop-breath can be run from, and their strafing firebreath can be dodged by just running to the left. Those are the only attacks that pose major danger (two exceptions: Borealis's ice roar and Ezyke's downwards rot breath, the latter of which is the only attack that requires Torrent to dodge.)

Wyrms are tougher, but it's a lot of getting in their armpits, strafing to punish the lava spew, and rolling through their slam. Phase 2 is probably easier because you can just punish the roll and the massive two handed slam for most of it, and no longer have to worry about the dumb decision to give them virtually identical tells for two attacks with opposite responses.

Ancient Dragon model enemies are incredibly easy if you just run under them and hack at the legs. You can also play them like a normal dragon, standing in front and punishing the head, but it's a lot of very precise double rolling and sprinting and camera-wrestling for less damage than just ankle chopping.

I'm not sure about Placidusax, but Torrent isn't available there and frankly the dude looks like he just got dragged behind a bus for an hour; I doubt he would pose enough threat to encourage you to mount up anyways.

Edit: yeah, just beat him and stand by my previous conclusion. Placidusax has one or two attacks where the horse would be useful, but he would be a far far easier fight on foot than mounted because he's so vulnerable to being hammered with charged heavies into poisebreak punish after poisebreak punish ad nauseum.

[Lucifer_]

Αναρτήθηκε αρχικά από Kraft51:

Αναρτήθηκε αρχικά από Lucifer_:

I always beat them on foot because I hate fighting on horseback. If you stick close to their ankles they won't do the massive fire breath all that much just stomps, bites and tail swipes.
If you have an int build, Rock sling ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ shreds every dragon. Lock on to the head and hurl rocks. 3-4 volleys and they'll get staggered. Repeat until dead.

i was landing headshots with my Bloodhounds Fang easily enough to break Poise. only jumped on my horse to avoid the fire breath attacks. no spirits, just patience and calculated attacks. idk why but i personally have zero interest in a caster toon, it was similar for me in Skyrim too as i tend to ONLY use magic/shouts as needed. mostly just healing and stamina regen spells. but definitely headshots are key to taking down dragons quickly.

slinging rocks at a dragon's head just looks cool as ♥♥♥♥

[MundM]

You do get more melee attacks that are easy to dodge out of em, thoug. You usually just have to start to run into the right directiong, when you see they start flying, so you won't get burned.

[Gigadesu!]

I think they're easier off the horse myself. They aren't good at dealing with a little dog biting at their ankles.