As part of the main storyline, I'm tasked with slaying a dragon outside of Whiterun. I follow Irileth and a bunch of other NPCs outside to confront the dragon, but I'm not sure how I'm supposed to kill him.
What's the trick?
How to kill the first dragon encountered
the-elder-scrolls-v-skyrim
Best Answer
It sounds like you're asking about the first dragon you fight, outside of Whiterun, as part of the quest Dragon Rising: you follow Irileth outside Whiterun and upon completing the quest:
If so, it's supposed to be an introductory dragonslaying encounter: if you followed Irileth around town before heading to the watchtower, you should have a fairly decent posse of guards to help you out.
To be honest, I was still learning how to use the controls on the PlayStation 3 version of the game at this point, and I essentially ran around the watchtower like a chicken with its head cut off. The guards and Irileth will do most of the work. I was a Conjuror build, so I summoned a Flame Atronach for good measure.
After a few minutes, the dragon will die pretty easily, whether you made a significant contribution to the fight or not.