Tutorial:Dragon Fights Guide

The Dragon Fight is a boss fight in Skyblock. It is located in The End in Dragon's Nest. The Dragon Fight starts when player(s) place down 8 Summoning Eye in the end portal frames located in the middle of the Dragon's Nest. This will then summon a Ender Dragon. Players will then have to fight the Ender Dragon to gain powerful loot such as the Ender Dragon Pet that can be used for the most difficult tasks such as killing the Voidgloom Seraph, or to be sold on the Bazaar or the Auction House for high profit.

This guide will focus on how to kill the dragon with weapons/tools, as well as its underlying mechanics should the player attempts to grind this part of the game extensively.

Basics
Fighting dragons is popular among players for its drops and seen by many as a contest of. While the latter is partially true, damage alone should be less of a concern for late-game players. While early and mid-game players should definitely do their best to increase the damage they do, the damage dealt to the dragon is ultimately capped at various points, where players dealing above 0.4% of the dragon's would see a large decrease of damage all the way up to a hard cap of 1% of the dragon's health. Below is how the damage is calculated as seen in the patch changelog:
 * Any damage below 0.4% of their total health remains the same.
 * Damage between 0.4% and 0.6% is reduced by 90%,
 * Damage between 0.6% and 0.8% is reduced by 99%
 * Damage between 0.8% and 1% is reduced by 99,9%.
 * Damage above 1% of their health is reduced by 100%.

For example, in the case of the Old Dragon with 15M, a player who normally deals 200k damage will only deal 72k damage to dragons. Doubling their damage to 400k will only increase damage dealt to dragons up to 94k damage.

This is where stats such as and  (for shortbows) become more valuable for fights, as well as the act of dealing rapid melee damage to the dragon in melee range, as dragons do not have any invincibility frames like other mobs. Landing multiple hits in a second should be the interest of late-game players rather than high-single hit attacks.

Summoning Eyes Placement
While fighting a dragon can be a rewarding challenge, the best items are only available if the player places some Summoning Eyes into the altar themselves, as individual eyes provide the Dragon Weight necessary to receive the finest items. In this case, the player may find themselves fighting mainly against luck as their Summoning Eyes or coins are rapidly drained away.

Thus, it is important to have the knowledge of how many eyes you should place in respect to how much  you could do, or if you are mainly focusing on  and/or  for better drops. Below are some different ways where players should place down eyes.


 * 4 - 4 ("4 eyes dp"}: Two players will place down four eyes each:
 * Placing 4 eyes alone will give the each players 400 Dragon Weight, and doing even minimum damage to the point of being placed in the bottom in terms of damage will still reward them with 75 weight. Combined with the weight from placing down eyes, this is the easiest way to achieve max weight for a party.
 * In this case, the player could focus simply on getting high and/or, mainly by using armor sets such as Sorrow Armor or Superior Dragon Armor alongside a Black Cat Pet equipped. Though it is still recommended for these players to do high damage towards the dragons for better armor rewards. These armor sets can be swapped into towards the end of the fight.
 * The main disadvantage with this strategy is that is that it is the most expensive one to do in multiple rows, with most type of dragons providing a net loss.
 * End Crystals should be destroyed to mitigate some of the potential loss, as the dragon would be distantly paid attention to.
 * 2 - 3 - 3: Two players will place down three eyes, and another stronger player will place down two:
 * Assuming the player who places two eyes can consistently get 1st place in damage, while the other two players who placed three eyes could place 2nd and 3rd, all three players will be able to achieve max Dragon Weight
 * For this to be consistent, the three players must be able to outperform the entire lobby in terms of damage, as being bested by a player who didn't place any eyes will surely void any chance of receiving the best loots.
 * 2 - 2 - 2 -2 ("2 eyes dp"): Four players place down two eyes each.
 * Whereas the other methods provide equal chance for all players to receive max Dragon Weight, this on the other hand will only allow the those who placed 1st and 2nd to receive max weight, while the lower 2 players will end up losing potential goods, assuming all 4 place players reach top 4 in damage.
 * Thus, this method is less of a collaboration and more of a competition on who can do the most damage.
 * It is possible for the 3rd place player to reach exactly 450 Dragon Weight by landing the final blow, but with how many arrows flying towards the dragon at any given time, it is unlikely for them to land it.

Bows
Bows are the main source of Damage for the large majority of the fight. Dragon Tracer is a mandatory enchantment on Bows as to keep up with dragons flying at high speeds. Dragon Hunter as the name suggests, is also a mandatory enchantment if the player struggles with damage.

Swords
Swords in the context of a dragon fight serve as a secondary means of damage, only practical on certain situations. Still, some swords may have a use in Dragon Fights more than other purposes. Note: Dragon Hunter while can be applied onto swords, does not increase the damage towards dragons.

Armor Pieces
The armor sets discussed will mainly attempt to cover the ones where the have special uses in the Dragon Fight or in the End. Generally, high DPS and Effective Health armor sets would be valid choices. The player must choose wisely on what set to wear as to fit their playstyle. The ones covered below are mainly chosen for unique attributes that help with Dragon Fights.

Pets
Pets provide helpful support in terms of stat boosts mainly, and different pets can have varying levels of impact in a dragon fight. Generally, any pets that boosts the player's Damage will do. This list shows off pets that can specifically help in a dragon fight in terms of added damage or loot drops.

Support Items
These items are optional by nature, but provide many buffs to help with fighting dragons if it suits one's style and setup.

Drops/Weight System
Each player that damages the Ender Dragon will receive individual loot, including Ender Pearls and Enchanted Ender Pearls.

Major loot received is governed by Dragon Weight , which determines a player's eligibility for major loot. Note that achieving a weight requirement does not guarantee the respective drop.

Dragon Weight is determined in the following manner: Dealing the final blow also gives +50 weight.

While players will be ranked in damage regardless of whether they damaged the dragon, they must deal damage to the dragon to receive Dragon Weight.

Players will only receive one major loot item from a dragon. Reaching the weight requirement for an item grants eligibility to receive it, but does not guarantee it will drop. Items are rolled in the order shown by the loot table, meaning the player has a chance at receiving the item of the highest weight requirement they achieved first, followed by items after it in descending order.

Every Summoning Eye placed will increase the chances of obtaining an Aspect of the Dragons and Ender Dragon Pet.

The drop chance of the pet is 0.04% with  and 4 Summoning Eyes placed.

Dragon Scale, Dragon Claw, Dragon Horn, Aspect of the Dragons, and Ender Dragon Pet all have a chance to drop when reached 450 Dragon Weight. Dragon Scale, Dragon Claw, Dragon Horn, and Ender Dragon Pet won't subtract the weight when drop looted.

Players will receive a Dragon Fragment for every 22 remaining Dragon Weight after the weight of the item they received is subtracted from their total weight.

Players will achieve a minimum of three fragments if they dealt at least one damage.

Strategies

 * When initiating the fight, the player should look for a place to shoot down the dragon from. The summoning alter itself is the ideal place to stay at. By climbing up the obsidian spikes, the player can get a clear view of the entire Dragon's Nest area.
 * Be wary of the knockback when the dragon spawns. The closer you are to the egg, the higher the knockback. Use the Aspect of the End/Void to reset your momentum to zero just as the explosion occurs, and head back to the spikes.
 * If the player chooses an area near the edge such as the gate, the dragon may appear invisible when it goes out of render range.
 * The dragon has multiple attacks that players should be wary of. As some of these attacks get stronger the longer the fight is, players with low Effective Health will risk dying when the dragon attacks in successions:
 * The fireball attack is indicated when the dragon stops flying and has flame particles around its head. The fireballs are not all that hazardous by itself, but the massive knockback that follows can cause fatal fall damage if one does not have high Feather Falling on their boots. Fortunately, this attack usually favors a single direction in which players can just move out of the way. Even if they do get launched, a quick use of the Aspect of the End/Void completely resets one's velocity.
 * A Lightning Strike attack is indicated by the thunder noises and lighting emanating from the dragon. Shortly after, it strikes lightning onto all players in a large radius, but can miss if the player is far away, for example if the dragon and the player are on opposite edges of the arena. This attack can easily kill anyone who have not healed to max health especially when it does it a second time, such as the more volatile and rapidly-attacking Unstable Dragon. Thus, when it does the attack, all players should heal back up to max health to avoid death.
 * Similar to vanilla minecraft, the dragon can charge towards a player, dubbed the Rush attack, and deal massive damage and knockback. Usually it isn't fatal unless it occurs when the player is not close to full health. The dragon will stop flying after hitting the player and fly away at high speeds shortly after.
 * While not an attack on its own, when the dragon is on low health, it will call upon the zealots to aid it in combat. All zealots in the Nest will become hostile towards all players. For those who stand on the pillars or spikes, this should not worry them as the zealots cannot reach them.
 * Typically, death should not be too much of a worry for players with some Remnant of the Eye in their inventory, which would be the case for players who placed down the eyes.
 * When shooting arrows, it is advised to shoot ahead of the direction the dragon is moving as shooting directly at the dragon at high distances would cause the arrows to miss. This is especially true for the Young Dragon which can go fast enough that even the arrows with Dragon Tracer V can't keep up and fall down.
 * Ender Crystals will spawn randomly around the Nest on top of the obsidian spikes. They need to be destroyed as they rapidly heal the dragon. More will spawn throughout the fight.
 * It is easy to lose track of the dragon especially when it starts to go out of bounds and into the walls, simply too fast like the Young Dragon or teleporting around like the Unstable Dragon. If one isn't able to track it, the arrows that saturate the sky should tell them where the players are aiming the dragon at, as well as looking over where other players are pointing their bows towards. Audio cues with headphones would also help.
 * Melee is only recommended when the dragon stops in its tracks. As it does not have invincibility frames like other mobs, the more the player swings their weapon, the higher the damage.
 * The dragon will stop flying on these occasions, but only some allow for ample chance for melee:
 * When the dragon start firing fireballs. This is the best chance for melee as it lasts for around 6 seconds.
 * When the dragon strikes a player with its Rush attack. It stops flying shortly after hitting the player and lasts about 5 seconds.
 * When the dragon casts its Lightning Strike. This only lasts around 2 seconds and is not recommended for player to charge in for melee.
 * When the dragon calls in the help of zealot when at low health, lasts for about 3 seconds and also not recommended for melee.
 * While difficult, the player could try getting the final blow by getting closer to the dragon and fire volleys of arrows at close range to maximize the chances of landing it.

Other tips

 * Even if players who place down 4 eyes can give them max weight for the Ender Dragon Pet, usually better armor pieces (e.g. chestplate compared to leggings) comes from one's position in damage too.
 * Fighting dragons with Diana's Lucky! perk which gives +25 is recommended to boost the odds of dropping the Ender Dragon Pet.
 * It's even better to do it when Candidate Jerry becomes mayor with Diana's perks, as Jerry boosts most of the player's stats by 10%, including Pet Luck and Magic Find.
 * Placing 1st without placing an eye gives a max Dragon Weight of 300, which means they are eligible for the boots to drop. A weight of 350 is possible if they also land the killing blow, granting them a chance to get the helmet.
 * If one were to try going for the highly priced Ender Dragon Pet, then be prepared to use up hundred of millions of coins or spend dozens of hours hunting for Summoning Eyes.
 * Players who disconnected right as the dragon dies or throughout the entire fight will miss out on the loot and waste millions on the eyes. To combat this, a party between the collaborators should be formed as to warp the affected players back in as soon as possible.
 * When forming a dragon party, warning must be taken however, especially for "2 eyes dp (dragon party)" that is seen in hubs. The 3 other players could potentially warp you out right after the 8 eyes are placed down as to remove you from getting in their way of getting max weight. Services such as the Jerry the Price Checker bot on discord can be used to check for scammers.
 * If you are only willing to place down eyes for one fight only, then leave the party right before placing the eyes.

Trivia

 * In any case, parties that centers around trusted players such a guild members and friends prove to be much safer.
 * Similar to the Magma Cube Boss, players will see their ranking for how much damage they dealt to the boss.
 * The Ender Dragon was the second Boss added to the game.
 * There is currently a bug in which in certain lobbies, summoned dragons will disappear after a player hits it with the Aspect of the Dragons ability. The boss bar and Gregory the Opportunist is still present, but the dragon itself is missing. Ender Crystals still spawn around a minute after the disappearance, and it stays like that until the lobby resets.
 * Ender Crystals will stop spawning after a few minutes if the Ender Dragon still has not been killed.
 * When a Dragon is defeated, mobs, including Voidgloom Seraphim, in the lower areas of the Void Sepulture (between layers 10 and 26) will also be despawned.
 * The Old Dragon has the 6th highest health of all non-dungeon mobs, at 15M.
 * Holy Dragons do not exist, even though Holy Dragon Armor, Holy Fragments, and Holy Lost Adventurers do.
 * Sarite has killed the most dragons in the game totaling over 20,000 dragon kills as of 07/22/21.