[Top 10] Best Skyrim Dragon Mods We Love!

Updated:

27 Oct 2022

Give the dragons in your game the power they should've had all along.

Aside from the Dragonborn themself, dragons are arguably the most important thing in Skyrim. They are the center of the story, and your main questline begins and ends with dragons. However, after years of modding, dragons seemed to end up forgotten somewhere in the background. Fighting them started to feel like a chore, so much so that I had a passive dragon mod to avoid dealing with dragons. Had I known about these mods, I wouldn’t have gotten tired of dragons! Check them out for yourself.

10. Bellyaches HD Dragon Replacer Pack

An up-close look at the details on this shouting dragon.

Starting with some smaller details, we have a texture replacer mod for dragons. If you’re reading this list, you know that Skyrim’s textures are outdated. These dragons may have been acceptable in 2011, but these days they look silly. Try out this mod to give your dragons an updated look!

Features:

Coloring tweaked to look more vibrant and realistic, down to small details including mouth coloring
New eye textures for the majority of dragon types, horns, and spikes have been given less spotty coloring
Corrected bad texture/mesh seams to improve the overall look of all the dragon types

Get the mod here./se version.

9. Cinematic Dragon Soul Absorption

This mod will make absorbing a dragon soul feel as powerful as it should be!

If you imagine physically absorbing the soul of a dragon, you’d imagine a lot more happening than just some cool lighting effects. So aside from adding to your total of dragon souls, why doesn’t absorbing a soul seem more exciting? This mod can seem a little intense when you’re used to vanilla soul absorption, so luckily there are tons of options so you can tweak this mod to your liking.

Features:

New sounds, visual effects, and animations that are fully tweakable to your preferences
Animations to float when you absorb a soul, different shouts and screams, or you can opt for music and no voices
Scripted and non-scripted versions allowing you to control when and how everything happens

Get the mod here./se version.

8.Talkative Dragons

Add more immersion and variety to your dragon battles with this mod.

Dragons in Skyrim are extremely intelligent creatures with their own language. Dragons speak in their tongue, Dovahzul, in many story cutscenes and quests. So why would they not speak in anger when they are in combat? If you’re looking for a mod to really up the immersion factor in your game, give this mod a try!

Features:

Dragons no longer just roar in combat, dragons voice lines from the game are re-used to be spoken in combat
Some dialogue is in English (patches available for other languages), while others are fully dragon-tongue as they are repurposed lines already in the game
Most of the dialogue lines have a 20% chance of being played to keep them from constantly talking through the whole battle

Get the mod here./se version.

7.Immersive Dragons

A side by side comparison of the wing sizes: left (modded) and right (vanilla).

Some fans have pointed out that the size of dragons’ wings in the game just isn’t large enough for them to realistically fly. This sounds like a very silly detail, but you will notice the difference the first time you come across a dragon in your game! If you’re looking to improve any aspect of your game for the sake of maximum immersion, give this mod a shot!

Features:

Replaces the vanilla dragon skeleton with a custom skeleton featuring much larger wings that could realistically support a dragon in the air
This mod has kept everything in mind to make sure that things like dragon-riding, combat, and kill moves still work fine
Compatible with anything that doesn’t directly resize dragons, and the mod applies to all dragons in the game

Get the mod here./se version.

6. Fully Flying Dragons

One of the 58 dragons this mod has to choose from taking flight.

If you’ve ever wished for a more MMO-style approach to dragon mounts, this is the mod for you! With this mod, you can summon the dragon of your choice and fly wherever you please. There are lots of dragons to choose from, and lots of helpful features that make this mod easy to use.

Features:

Choose from 58 dragons (two are optional downloads) including characters like Alduin and Paarthurnax
The spell used to summon each dragon is available from spell vendors throughout Skyrim
Summon your dragons in any open area and fly them with the mouse and ‘wasd’ keys

Get the mod here./se version.

5. Ultimate Dragons

Introduce new features and challenges into your dragon battles with Ultimate Dragons.

This is the part of the list where we get into mods that go above and beyond to really change how dragons behave in the game. Ultimate Dragons really focuses on combat behavior, adding new behaviors and animations. It is compatible with the other dragon mods in this list as long as it's loaded after the others in your load order.

Features:

20+ new attack animations and behaviors, including two special attacks, made just for Alduin
New locational damage feature: different durability for the head, each wing, and tail
Tons of new settings that are fully customizable through in-game MCM menus

Get the mod here./se version.

4. Bellyaches New Dragon Species

A look at some of the beautiful new dragon species added with this mod.

We’ve already covered mods that make the existing dragons in Skyrim look better, but what about brand new species of dragons? This mod adds new dragons to the game, with their own varying difficulty levels. Due to this, you’ll want to load this mod after any other mod that alters the difficulty of any dragons (unless you prefer the effects of your other mods over this one).

Features:

13 brand new species of dragons, totaling around 50 new dragons throughout the world
Lots of optional versions available so that you can pick and choose the features you prefer
These new dragons aren’t leveled to the player, so lower-level characters will have to pay attention to the new aggro-warnings to avoid battles they can’t win

Get the mod here./se version.

3. Diverse Dragons Collection

The majestic Lunar Dragon, one of the 28 new dragons included in this mod.

I placed this mod and the previous one back-to-back as they both add new types of dragons. As these mods add their own content instead of replacing anything, they are fully compatible. Diverse Dragons kicks it up a notch, adding many more dragons as well as new features and attacks. This mod is also highly customizable which is always a plus!

Features:

28 brand new dragons, all with unique models and textures, and 7 difficulty levels for each dragon that scale to your level
16 new attacks and 19 new abilities to keep combat new and exciting with each encounter
Fully customizable with in-game MCM menus, you can deactivate any dragons you don’t want appearing in your game

Get the mod here./se version.

2. Deadly Dragons

The Blackwing Dragon, who’s difficulty can be fully tweaked with this mod.

Deadly Dragons adds a few dragon types as well, but the main focus of this mod is having full control over your difficulty. You can make your dragon encounters as difficult as you want, or just give them more health so your battles aren’t over as quickly. If you’re looking for a challenge, or to truly fear the outcome when a dragon flies your way… this mod is for you.

Features:

14 new dragons, ranging from level 10 to level 65 and getting cooler as your character levels up
In-game MCM menus allow you customize everything from health, melee damage, breath damage, armor values, and resistances however you please
Configurable dragon souls-to-perk-points system, lore-friendly version available that doesn’t add any new dragons

Get the mod here./se version.

1. KS Dragon Overhaul 2

A dragon falling to its death, a brand new death added with this mod.

This mod truly deserves the ‘overhaul’ part of its name. Nearly every aspect of these creatures is changed and expanded on. None of the mods in this list are incompatible with this mod, but some mods need a patch to work alongside this one, so be sure to check and patch as needed. This mod offers tons of customizable options as well.

Features:

Completely reworked combat behavior: injury effects, varying combat styles, improved ai will check things like how far away enemies are before attacking with a shout
New deaths, including dragons falling to the ground if they reach zero health in mid-air
Customizable difficulty, new random encounters separate from vanilla, and tons of effects regarding soul-absorption

Get the mod here./se version.