The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim is primarily known for its dragons. Long-time players and even gamers only vaguely familiar with it will know this. After all, every player created character walks the path of a "Dovahkiin" or Dragonborn, and getting stronger means fighting and killing a lot of dragons. But whether it be against a base dragon or the Legendary dragons introduced in Dawnguard, battle tactics vary from player to player. One trick involving ward magic is particularly useful for mages, but can be mastered by pretty much any class that wants to feel powerful fighting Skyrim's famous flying reptiles.
Wards act like magic shields in Skyrim, but not everyone uses them often or has experimented with them enough to learn this trick. While wards may not always block incoming damage completely, especially if it's a powerful attack, good timing with a cast can completely negate damage from dragon breath attacks. In a clip uploaded to Reddit, user Darkurn uses some specific Skyrim mods while demonstrating exactly how wards can keep players at full health as they duel dragons.
Darkurn is apparently using the Archmage Artifacts and Ordinator Perk mods on this character build. These mods and some dedicated level grinding provide a large magic pool to put to good use. In the clip, Darkurn uses the Restoration school's Steadfast Ward spell to completely block the incoming fire breath from a Blood Dragon. The reason this works is because dragon breath attack damage in Skyrim is considered a magic effect, and wards naturally block magic damage. Players wanting to try out this technique will want to make sure they have plenty of Magicka to burn through.
Other experienced Skyrim explorers in the comments were quick to point out pros and cons of this strategy. One player noted that no matter what level of dragon released the breath attack, a simple Novice level ward would still stop it. Still, other players felt wards were too risky and preferred the classic strategy of using a shield. The Spellbreaker heavy shield, one of sixteen Daedric Artifacts in Skyrim, has a ward effect on it that completely blocks the damage from incoming breath attacks.
Though Skyrim's Restoration magic won't be used in every playthrough, this ward trick serves as a smart way to use it beyond healing up or blasting enemies with sunlight. The spells Lesser Ward, Steadfast Ward, and Greater Ward are the only three ward spells. Tomes for them can be found through different means, such as purchasing them from Court Wizards or finding them in chests scattered throughout the world.
The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim is out now for PC, PS3, PS4, Switch, Xbox 360, and Xbox One.
