Speak with the Dragonforged
Make for the Tainted Mountain
Answer the Dragon's Query
Respond to the Onslaught
Fight back
Pursue the dragon
Head to the top of the tower
Fire the ballista
Target the Dragon's Heart
Fell the Dragon by your own hand
First, travel to Hillfigure Knoll and talk to the Dragonforged to receive a Dragonleather Vest and Draconic Scroll. When used, this scroll will grant your pawns knowledge how to deal with the dragon. Make your preparations. Finish all the quests that you need to finish and come prepared. Stock on a lot of party and self-healing curatives and distribute them wisely to your pawns. Leave the important and better quality curatives with you to prevent your pawns from needlessly wasting them.
To reach the Tainted Mountain, you have to go to the ruins of the Greatwall Encampment and take the stairs to the north, leading to a secret path to the mountains. As soon as you enter the area, you’ll encounter more powerful Geo Saurians. Take them out then continue until you reach a cave with a riftstone. You’ll encounter several succubi here. They attack more fiercely and can easily put your characters to sleep. Further on, you’ll encounter even more nasty hellhounds. The path is really straightforward so just continue forth and fight your way through various enemies.
Once you’ve reached the Grand Hall, you’ll have to face off a much stronger gorechimera. This is a much stronger version of the chimera and the goat can cast healing spells, making it a dangerous threat. The tactics pretty much stays the same though you may want to prioritize taking out the goat first instead of the snake to prevent the gorechimera from healing itself. After defeating the gorechimera, stand on the pressure plates around the room to open the door. Enter it afterward to face the dragon.
During the conversation with the dragon, you’ll be given an option to face him in battle (correct choice) or sacrifice your beloved (see notes above). In exchange, the dragon will leave and fulfill your desires.
Missable Trophy: (Solitude, Bronze) For the first time around, choose to sacrifice your loved one to unlock this trophy.
For the first part of the battle, you have to escape the collapsing temple ruins. Failing to do so will result in instant death. After reaching a safe spot where you can engage it, target its heart and keep dealing damage until it flies away. Give chase and run across the ruined bridge. Continue to the tower and loot the chests/ destroy crates along the way. Recover your health and stamina then continue to the top. Use the mounted ballista on top of the second tower to aim for its heart and shoot it.
After the scene, you’ll be riding at the back of the dragon. Keep crawling and making your way to the glowing spot on its back. Sometimes, you have to shake your left analog stick to prevent yourself from being whisked away. Once you reached the glowing spot, land a hard strike to trigger another cutscene.
After that sequence, the dragon’s heart will be completely exposed and you have to fight it for real. Engage it in battle and keep targeting the heart. The dragon is weak against dark and ice elements. Melee vocations can effectively latch unto the dragon and attack the dragon’s heart while they’re holding on. After a while, it will start flying to the far end of the tower ruins. Look for the nearest ballista in the area and use it to shoot the dragon down.
Once it’s down, go back down and resume attacking it. Keep repeating the process until you finally vanquish the enemy. Take note that the arisen must land the finishing blow to the heart. Every piece of equipment you have will be dragonforged, regardless of level/stars and you’ll obtain a Dragonic weapon based on the weapon you used to land the finishing blow.