Can't beat Sky Dragon at level 13

[joseph.mcpeak]

I can't beat the Sky Dragon even though my party is at level 13 on Normal, with the "higher level" option selected upon arrival at Elmshore.. She destroys us each time, and I feel like I've tried all of the recommended strategies. Can't even get her past "barely injured", and my characters all seem to miss or do almost no damage, even when switching out weapons for crush damage and focusing spells on fire damage, which I see she's less resistant to.
My party is Eder, Maneha, Pallegina, Kana, Duarance, and myself (wizard). All level 13, all wearing armor with DR of at least 16 (except for wizard). Also tried and failed on level 12 w/Grieving Mother in place of Maneha.
Tried using 1 or 2 tanks to distract it while others attack with ranged weapons and magic...no go, even when using guns and concussive missles for crush damage. Durance's burn damage seal spell doesn't do much, and gaze of the adragan spell almost always misses...think I successfully petrified her once in my many tries and it wasn't for long enough. Kana's hold person spell also often has no effect. I did see a video of someone taking her down quickly with a combo of the adragan gaze trap plus Durance's seal spell, but I'm doubtful that will help me much here because of the above. Also tried using wall of force and wall of fire to contain her, no result. Durance's prayer against fear spell is a little helpful for a short period, but it doesn't help me when my guys get shock/stunned.
I also notice that she's accompanied not just with her wurmling but a few wind and rain blights, too. I'm curious as to whether they're the ones shock/stunning my guys (they get stunned with little lightning bolt symbols above them), or if it's the dragon, or both. At any rate, I'm not having much luck dealing with them before the dragon, but I feel like they're also left out of any strategy/videos I've come across.
I do remember beating the dragon when I was about this level, perhpas less, during an earlier playthrough, without resorting to any kind of tricks...did they beef her up after white march 1 and 2?
Oh, and I know that I can do this without killing her. But I want to kill her. Because she's a dragon : )
Any tips appreciated!

[ancientfire]

Sky Dragon is weak to Crush/Burn/Will.

1. The easiest way is to use cipher's "Whisper of Treason" or Druid's "Charm Beast" to control the dragon from beginning to end. Chanter's "The Lover Cried Out XXX" works too but it needs 4 phrases and has no +10 accuracy vs Will thus useless.
2. Always avoid the Frightened/Terrified state since it lowers accuracy a lot which is very critical, so priest's first spell should be "Prayer against Fear"(Dragon's Fear aura functions every 3 second).
3. Priest's ability "Holy Radiance" (after "Inspiring Radiance") adds 10 accuracy to your allies and it stacks with Paladin's Zealous Focus!
4. Try to deal crush and burn damage. Chanter's +25% Burn Damage phrase could be useful here. You can also use Zahua here since unarmed damage is crush.

Hope it helps!

[joseph.mcpeak]

Thanks, I'll remember all of that for the future!
I ended up beating her with lots of scrolls of paralysis....another thread recommended them. For some reason I was way more accurate with them than with gaze of the adragan spellcasting...not sure why. So I was 2 for 2 on my first scrolls of paralysis against her and from there my characters just did a full frontal assault (along with my own random critters that other party members summoned with figurines...or at least those guys provided a nice meat shield/distraction for a few seconds). Protection against fear and inspiring radiance did help much as well.

[ancientfire]

Scroll of Paralysis is Accuracy(+15) vs Will while Gaze of the Adragan is Accuracy(+10) vs Fortitude. And Sky Dragon's Will is 87, Fortitude is 101. So you get why the former is more accurate.

Basically, you can use all spells against Will to assault Sky Dragon so long as she's not immune. If you want to use Gaze of the Adragan, you need to use spells to lower her Fortitude first and these spells should target Will. Fortunately, Sky Dragon is not immune to "Sickened" or "Weakened" so this can be done by Wizard's VI-tier spell "Arkemy's Capricious Hex" to cause "Sickened"(-10 Fortitude) or V-tier spell "Ryngrim's Enervating Terror" to cause "Weakened"(-20 Fortitude)

Of course, you can also use Wizard's II-tier spell "Bewildering Spectacle" or IV-tier spell "Confusion" to cause "Confused" which Sky Dragon is also not immune. But it doesn't lower her attributes.

[joseph.mcpeak]

Didn't notice the "will" issue before. Interesting! Would not have thought to attack that angle...assumed that charming especially wouldn't work because, well, it's a dragon.
Were the dragons in Baldur's Gate 2 any good vs charm/domination?

[ancientfire]

It's written out what affliction is immune on the creature profile, Sky Dragon is not immune to Charm/Confuse.so are Alpine Dragon and Adra Dragon, but the latter two have higher will so more difficult to cause it. I never played Baldur's Gate 2, so I don't know the case there