Skyrim:Dragon Riding

thumb|Riding a dragon

Dragon riding is a new gameplay mechanic added by the Dragonborn add-on. In order to ride a dragon, you must acquire all three words of the Bend Will shout and use it on a dragon. The dragon will then land and allow you to climb onto its back and ride it. You cannot directly control the dragon while riding, but can give it certain instructions. Unlocking the third word of the Bend Will shout starts the final quest of the Dragonborn main questline, in which you're likely to ride your first dragon. After you do this, a help section will be added in the menu for dragon riding.

You can lock on to a single enemy which causes the dragon to attack that target. The dragon will then use a standard aerial attack pattern and can be assisted by you via shouts and spells. Area of effect spells or summons cannot be used while riding a dragon. The use of weapons (such as bows and melee weapons) are mostly limited as well.

To fast travel to different areas, simply select the location on your map as you normally would. In terms of in-game time, fast traveling on a dragon is almost immediate. Once given the command to land, the dragon will return to ground level where you can dismount. The dragon will then either aid you in combat, attack you, or simply leave. You cannot fast travel on a dragon to a different worldspace. This means you cannot travel to and from walled cities, or between Solstheim and Skyrim.

Commands
It's impossible to directly control the dragon while riding, but they will follow the following commands:
Lock Target: Lock onto any potential targets on sight, hostile or non-hostile. If you give this order while a target is already locked, you can unlock from the previous target.
Switch Target: Switch target from all locked ones and decide which one to attack. The health bar of the target will be shown on your screen. You can order your dragon to do so even in combat. Any target in sight can be chosen in this way, regardless of whether it has been found before.
Attack: Attack the chosen target. Your dragon will keep attacking the target with its own means until the target dies. You can cancel the attack by switching to another target.
Land: Find a potential area to land and dismount your dragon. You can order your dragon to do so even in combat. If you give this order again before landing successfully, the previous landing command will be canceled and you can fly with your dragon back to the sky.

Detailed key set information can be found here.

Combat
During combat, you are allowed to give your dragon commands. If you have given it an attack command and locked onto a target, it will attack the target until its attack has successfully hit the target or until the dragon is called off. It might take some time for the dragon to actually kill the target, as it will continuously circle until it is in the correct position to attack. If the target moves too fast or finds cover, the dragon may be unable to attack; in this case, it will fall back and continue to circle until the target is vulnerable. If there are several enemies around, the dragon will first dispatch its primary target, then select another automatically.

If the dragon you're riding takes too much damage during combat, it can be killed; if this happens, you will plummet to the earth and most likely die. Should your dragon be struck by the Unrelenting Force‎ shout, you may get knocked off, which will probably also result in your death.

While riding a dragon, you can only use certain spells and shouts. You are limited mainly to Destruction, Restoration, and Alteration spells while mounted. When casting, you need to pay attention to the effective range of your spells and other factors such as the landscape. The dragon has a fast movement speed, so you must remember that it may be hard to actually hit the enemies.

The following is a list of spells and dragon shouts which may be cast from the back of a dragon:

Other spells can be equipped while riding a dragon for the first time after loading a save, however, they cannot be used and the game will remind you "You cannot cast that type of spell while riding a dragon."

Dragon Speech
When mounted, dragons will give various responses to your commands.
Bend Will is used
''" . I am at your command."
"Hail,  . Shall we fly together?"
"How can I serve you, thuri?"
General Response
"As you command."
"Yes, thuri."
Attack Command
" ."
"At once.  ."
No targets available
" . There is no prey here."
"I sense nothing nearby."
" , the land below us is empty of prey."
" . That is impossible."
Land Command
"As you command.  .
"I will look for a spot to land."
"Yes, Thuri.  . I will land at once."
Landing Command Canceled
" . Better to fly."
Dragon Dismounted
"I must leave you now."
"I have served you for long enough.  ."
''" . You cannot command me forever."
" . My service to you is over."

Achievements
One achievement is related to dragon riding:
 

Notes
Sahloknir and Durnehviir are unaffected by the Bend Will shout, and therefore cannot be ridden.
Dragon taming is only allowed in the worldspaces of Skyrim, Solstheim, and Apocrypha. Because of this, Alduin, Vulthuryol, and the skeletal dragon encountered in Labyrinthian cannot be ridden.
The Throat of the World is listed as a bad location for dragon taming and so Paarthurnax cannot be ridden. Odahviing can be tamed and ridden there though.
Your horse will follow you if you fast travel on a dragon to a different location.
If a hostile dragon is encountered, the tamed dragon will proceed to fight it and will continue to climb higher into the sky until one of the dragons is reduced to 30% health and flies down to crash land.
If you order a dragon you are riding to kill an NPC, you incur a bounty for the death.  
In Survival Mode, dragon riding is the only way to use fast travel.

Bugs
 
 
Reload a save before riding the dragon to fix this.
Reading an Elder Scroll may also fix this.
 
 The "Dragonborn.bsa" file edits the "skeleton.nif" file for dragons. Deleting any extra'' "skeleton.nif" file for dragons which may exist may resolve the issue. If this won't help or you don't have any "skeleton.nif" in your meshes/actors/dragon path try to remove some of .bsa from your skyrim/data path from other mods related with dragons (like FDR - Burning Skyes (100% conflict was detected)).
 
Getting off and then getting back on the dragon may resolve this.