We’re celebrating the Year of the Dragon by ranking our favourite dragons in gaming.
Chinese New Year beckons the return of the Year of the Dragon - believed to be an auspicious time for people born under the same Zodiac sign, as the Dragon symbolises power, luck and success. This year, we’re celebrating the festivities by counting down our favourite dragons in gaming history. While the Year of the Dragon generally brings good tidings to those who celebrate it, however, dragons in our favourite videogames aren't typically harbingers of prosperity. Until they’re defeated, that is.
Dragons make up some of gaming’s most memorable antagonists and boss fights, but a few of them aren't too bad. They can be a source of good loot in Tears of the Kingdom and Breath of the Wild, and your best friends in the Pokemon franchise. Sometimes, however, their sole purpose is to test your mettle. These are our 10 favourite dragons in gaming, in no particular order:
Deathwing (World of Warcraft: Cataclysm)
World of Warcraft has loads of dragons, but Deathwing has made the strongest impact on players bar none. This dragon has an entire expansion themed after his apocalyptic return to Azeroth, after spending decades healing himself in the elemental plane of Deepholm. Unfortunately for the player (and Azeroth as a whole), he returns by tearing through the land’s dimensional barrier and kicking off a massive cataclysm in the process. Players will always remember Deathwing as a herald of change in Azeroth, inciting chaos that rippled through the next few story expansions for the MMORPG.
Ansur (Baldur’s Gate 3)
Ansur is an interesting one, because I can’t specify what truly makes him great without spoiling the hell out of Baldur’s Gate 3’s main campaign. Players meet this great dragon a fair bit into Act 3, tens of hours into the game when they’re (hopefully) at a solid level to take the battle on. What starts as a simple sidequest revolving around your good-natured companion Wyll, the Blade of Frontiers, ends with juggernaut story revelations that recontextualise everything you know about the Emperor, the Elder Brain and the city of Baldur’s Gate itself.
It’s a brilliant little - and totally optional - twist in the game’s story, and one of the best examples of its extensive worldbuilding and all-around fantastic storytelling.
Alduin (The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim)
If you actually managed to push through Skyrim’s many, many sidequests to complete the main campaign, you should be well-versed in Alduin’s antics. This dragon is the game’s big bad and the Dragonborn’s ultimate enemy. Alduin ruled over a world populated by dragons before he was overthrown and cast back in time by three humans, only returning when the player is being marched to their execution to launch a violent attack. After gathering the powers and allies they need, the Dragonborn will face off against Alduin in Skyrm’s climactic battle; slaying the dragon that inadvertently saved their lives to begin with.
Dragonlord Placidusax (Elden Ring)
Elden Ring - and Souls games in general - are full of seemingly impossible challenges to surmount, and these usually take the form of bossfights. Dragonlord Placidusax isn’t even the only dragon you can fight in Elden Ring, but he certainly is one of the most fearsome. This gargantuan two-headed dragon was an Elden Lord before the reign of Marika and the Golden Order, and is a completely optional boss players can go off the beaten path to face if they choose. This boss strikes hard and fast, and the second you step into his arena, you just know you’re not leaving alive - not on the first try, anyway.
Bahamut (Final Fantasy 16)
The powerful winged beast Bahamut has been in almost every Final Fantasy game (and spin-off) to date, so picking one Bahamut out of the many is a task in and of itself. Final Fantasy 16's rendition immediately sticks out however, as Bahamut typically just acts as a fleeting - if awesome - battle summon in other games. Final Fantasy 16 turns the franchise's summons into Eikons, legendary kaiju whose specific Dominants have the ability to transform into at will.
Bahamut is the Eikon of Dion Lesage in the Square Enix action-RPG, used in service of the Holy Empire of Sanbreque as leader of the Knights Dragoon. He also provides a rare bit of great LGBT+ representation to Final Fantasy at long last. In Final Fantasy 16, Bahamut isn’t just a dragon - he’s a prince sworn to protect a land that’s slowly falling apart, and even with his complex ties to protagonist Clive Rosfield and Sanbreque itself, his morals take precedence over blind loyalty.
Spyro (Spyro Reignited Trilogy)
Spyro might just have the most iconic design a dragon has had in gaming ever, and it’s so simple: small purple dragon, jagged horns, big heart and charm to spare. Spyro Reignited Trilogy is a largely faithful remake of three classic Spyro games, reintroducing the classic juvenile dragon hero to a modern audience after many years spent in slumber. Spyro platformers might not be as popular today as they were back then, but they’re just as fun.
Ender Dragon (Minecraft)
Fighting the Ender Dragon is the closest you can get to actually ‘finishing’ a sandbox game like Minecraft. The Ender Dragon is a monstrous obsidian dragon that players have to go through a lot of trouble to fight. This boss mob is one of a kind and extremely fearsome, requiring players to be kitted out in endgame gear lest they be slayed immediately. While the Ender Dragon might not be the most interesting dragon on this list, it does represent a natural and iconic stopping point to one of the most-played games in the world.
Hraezlyr (God of War)
Hraezlyr is perhaps the first real moment God of War (2018) felt like God of War (2005). The original trilogy is well-known for its epic scale, but God of War (2018) gave us a more grounded adventure with Kratos, his son and yes - maybe a large troll or two. Hraezlyr is one of the many intelligent dragons Kratos meets in this game, but while he frees the others from imprisonment, he is forced to take Hraezlyr on in an all-out battle to the death. This mountainous thunder dragon flings Kratos and Atreus off a mountain and onto craggy cliffsides, using its full might to put the father-son duo into the ground.
To his credit, Kratos has faced worse odds.
Rayquaza (Pokemon Emerald)
Dragons are an entire Pokemon type in this game franchise, but one of them is a lot grumpier than the rest. In Pokemon Emerald, the villainous Team Magma and Team Aqua plot to awaken the legendary Pokemon Groudon and Kyogre to cause natural disasters in the Sinnoh region, and they actually succeed to an extent. Towards the end of the game, both teams steal mystical artifacts that summon Kyogre and Groudon, only to find that both legendary Pokemon refuse to bend to their will and end up putting the world in mortal danger.
The player is then tasked with summoning the legendary Pokemon Rayquaza, who rises from a restful sleep atop its tower to find the quarreling Pokemon and slap some sense into them. Groudon and Kyogre immediately stop fighting and retreat, and Rayquaza returns to its tower in peace. An elder sibling if I’ve ever seen one.
Rathalos (Monster Hunter Rise)
If you’re buying a Monster Hunter game, you’re mentally preparing yourself to fight Rathalos for the millionth time. This monster is iconic to the Monster Hunter franchise, returning in every entry to wreak havoc on players (and bestow good loot) and even starring in the recent Monster Hunter Rise. It helps that Rathalos is a classic dragon: a big red-and-black dragon that flies around and spews fireballs at unwilling prey, providing a worthy hunt indeed.
