Alduin the World-Eater is a time-traveling dragon that eats the souls of the dead, and appears twice in Bethesda's game, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, to fight against players. For both of these fights, you'll have access to a powerful “Dragonrend” scream that will force it to the ground so you can fight it at close range (this is necessary even if you're using a ranged weapon). The strategy for these two fights is very similar, but the final fight has some limitations due to its location in Sovngarde.
Step
Method 1 of 2: Fighting Alduin in Throat of the World
Step 1. Get ready to climb
Buy or make a number of healing potions and fire resist potions in any city. You should also recruit followers to help you.
- Solid melee fighters, such as Lydia or Mjoll are good tanks (players whose job it is to take on enemy attacks) when Alduin lands. Ilia is also good for being strong in ice magic.
- You'll be met with some Ice Wraiths while climbing so prepare some frost resist potions as well.
- If your character is proficient with Restoration magic, use it instead of a healing potion or a resist potion.
Step 2. Learn the cry “Dragonrend”
When you reach the top, you'll talk to Paarthurnax and watch a lengthy scene to learn Dragonrend's screams before the fight against Alduin begins.
Paarthurnax will guide you in the fight against Alduin and act as bait, but you will still have to take some damage
Step 3. Use “Dragonrend” to lower Alduin to the ground
Tap and hold the scream button to "fill it up". Follow Alduin's flying direction with the camera while charging to get your shot right. If you miss, you'll have to wait for the scream to finish recharging.
- Install the Amulet of Talos if you want to speed up the charging time for screams.
- Although Paarthurnax will fight Alduin in the air, Alduin doesn't take any damage until you take him down with Dragonrend.
- Tapping the scream button once will produce a quick version of the scream that can still effectively incapacitate Alduin after being dropped. You can use it to prevent Alduin from flying back.
Step 4. Use “Clear Skies” tactically
Alduin had his own scream that caused meteors to fall from the sky. If this happens, you can use Clear Skies to counteract it.
- You can learn this scream from The Greybeards before being invited up the mountain so it's impossible to miss.
- If the Clear Skies scream is still in the cooldown period, use a fire resist potion.
- Remember, using Clear Skies means that the scream will go into a pause and you will need to recharge it before you can use Dragonrend again.
Step 5. Avoid Alduin's front
When it falls to the ground, Alduin will use a powerful fire breath attack that deals massive damage to everyone in front of him, and a powerful tail whip behind. Try to attack from the side, regardless of your attack distance.
- Eventually Alduin will spin around to bite you, which puts you back at each other so try to stay by Alduin's side as much as possible.
- Fire resist potions can be helpful if you want to challenge Alduin from the front, but are best avoided in the first place.
Step 6. Use ice magic
If you practice destructive magic, magic like Ice Spike and Ice Storm can do a lot of damage to Alduin because he's a bit weak against ice.
- Ice Storm magic can injure your teammates so use it wisely.
- If you have one, the Marked For Death scream will drastically increase your magic power, but it's going to be hard to control its use between Dragonrend and Clear Skies.
Step 7. Apply poison to the weapon
The effect of the poison would be just as good on Alduin as any other non-undead being. Poison can be made or obtained from the alchemy shop in any city.
Poison is most effective when you use bows and arrows, while tank mates attack Alduin at close range
Step 8. Keep the pressure on
Keep Alduin on the ground with Dragonrend, use health potions when needed, and eventually Alduin should be overwhelmed and run away.
Method 2 of 2: Fighting Alduin at Sovngarde
Step 1. Get ready to fight
If you're already in Sovngarde, you won't be able to return so make sure you have enough health potions and fire resist potions in stock. Consider using armor that can withstand fire and weapons that heal you when attacking (such as the Ebony Blade or other weapon that has the power of Absorb health), if you have them in your inventory.
- You will no longer be able to return once you have the option to leave Whiterun for Skuldafn. You will lose all progress in the dungeon if you want to return to the previous game save to go to town and prepare supplies.
- If your character is proficient with Restoration magic, use it instead of healing potions or resist potions.
- You can't bring followers to Sovngarde without modding, but you'll be assisted by NPCs during battles.
Step 2. Use the shout “Clear Skies” three times
Fellow NPCs will automatically use it to get rid of Alduin's mist. Alduin will recover his mist after you get rid of him 3 times.
Step 3. Use “Dragonrend” to knock Alduin to the ground
Tap and hold the scream button to charge it up. Follow Alduin's flying direction with the camera so your shots are precise. If you miss, you'll have to wait again until the scream refills.
- Install the Amulet of Talos if you need to speed up the screaming pause.
- Even though the NPCs would shoot Alduin while he was flying, he couldn't actually take any damage before being forced to descend to the ground with a scream.
- Tapping the scream button once would release a single version of the scream that could still effectively immobilize Alduin after falling to the ground. You can use it to prevent Alduin from flying back.
Step 4. Let the teammates take the damage
Each time Alduin lands, wait for your partner to attack Alduin and grab his attention.
Step 5. Avoid Alduin's front
Once on the ground, Alduin uses a fire breath attack that deals massive damage to everyone in front of him and a tail lash to enemies behind him. Try to attack from the side, regardless of your attack distance.
- Eventually, Alduin will spin around to bite you so he's back in front of you. Keep trying to be beside Alduin.
- Fire resist potions can help if you want to challenge Alduin from the front, but it's best to avoid them in the first place.
- If you have to choose, it's best to take the tail whip attack instead of the fire breath. The resulting damage is less.
Step 6. Use ice magic
If your character is strong in destructive magic, attacks like Ice Spike and Ice Storm will deal a lot of damage to Alduin as he is somewhat weak against ice.
- Ice Storm can also hurt your teammates so use it with care.
- If you have one, the Marked For Death scream will drastically increase your magic damage, but it's best to use Dragonrend as much as possible to keep Alduin on the ground.
Step 7. Apply poison to the weapon
Poison can be an effective weapon to defeat Alduin, like other non-undead creatures.
You can use poison effectively by shooting arrows from a distance while your fellow NPCs endure Alduin's attacks
Step 8. Keep the pressure down
Keep Alduin on the ground with Dragonrend, let your teammates get his attention so you can heal when needed. In the end, Alduin would run out of steam and lose.
Tips
- You can meet Alduin as you explore the game world of Skyrim. He will appear to be in the vicinity of the dragon's lair animate other dragons. You can attack him, but he won't lose in this scenario.
- The fight at Sovngarde is the final battle in the story. If you're still having trouble even after reading this article and don't want to go back to your previous game save, try lowering your game's difficulty level (which can be done at any time).
- Alduin is very resistant to fire and weak to frost.
Warning
- Monitor your partner's blood. A close-combat comrade like Lydia died easily from Alduin's breath attack. Try an essential (perpetual) follower companion like J'zargo.
- Even if you surround Alduin when he is near him, he will follow you with a gust of fire.
- Skyrim has a lot of bugs. Although rare, sometimes Alduin remains invulnerable throughout the fight. If this happens, try reloading the game from the save point. These ticks are rare in recent versions of Skyrim and the game will auto-save just before you fight. These fleas can be triggered by using Dragonrend before being ordered by Paarthurnax. So remember, first of all, only use Dragonrend screams when prompted.
