(Warning: Storm King's Thunder Spoilers Inside) How to battle yor very first dragon?

[Foff]

Hello everyone,
me and my friends are about to finish the SKT storyline, we just saved Hecaton and we're back to the Storm Giant Throneroom. We've been greeted by one of the King's advisors saying that the traitor who had Hecaton kidnapped was a shapeshifted blue dragon all along.
For plot purposes our DM made the dragon kidnap Serissa and flee from the palace as soon as our adventuring party left the Maelstrom.
So here we are, being tasked with hunting the dragon and saving the oversized princess.
Our party (UA allowed all books inclueded) is composed by: my very own Rock Gnome AbjurerWiz(9)FeyWarlock(1), a warforged storm herald (lightning) barbarian(10), a gnome Artificer(10) with his pet mechanical giant eagle, a Halfling Bard from College of Glamour(10) and a half drow cleric with tempest domain (10), we also have a hired goon ( the DM's mute PC) a Goliath Ranger Hunter (10).

So we're setting off to fight this dragon and I have little idea on how to prepare myself for the ensuing fight.
Until now my wizard has basically been a damage sponge with utility and support spells, using arcane ward and Armor of Agathys to tank most hits, throwing the occasional counterspell or dispel magic and mostly polymorphing our dumb ranger in a Giant Ape for face smashing (which sadly enough ended up being our strongest strategy until now, throw the 2h wielding ranger with horde breaker in the middle of the fight, watch it go low on hp then turn him into a giant ape).
Now, I seriously doubt a giant ape or even a T-Rex could do much against a dragon, even if for some reason he's dumb enough to stay indoors so we got his "I fly around and stuff" covered
I just hit Wiz lvl 9 with the last levelup and havent selected my 5th level spells yet, is there anything I could pick that could be useful in fighting such a foe? Most midtier spells are really powerful and flavorful but I really can't seem to find anything that makes me wanna say "now THAT'S a good way to spend a turn against a dragon, EVEN if you're being shocked to a pile of dust by his electric Breath"

any suggestions?

[Unoriginal]

Do you have anything to protect against electricity?

[Throne12]

Did the giants give you anything to fight the dragon with?

[TheCount]

idk what wil happen or where when/if you fight the dragon, but dont let them fly!!! try to keep them on the ground, limit thier movement and for the love of the gods, do NOT stand at its tail!!!!!

[Biggstick]

I actually just finished DM'ing Storm King's Thunder last night, and it was an absolute blast. Here are some things a Wizard could do to help with the fight.

MAJOR SPOILERS AS TO THIS STK ENCOUNTER TO FOLLOW

Absorb Elements is a spell that you almost certainly need to have. It will save your bacon. If you don't already have it, you're GOING to have to spend one of your spells learned on it. It is truly that powerful of a spell for the encounter you're about to embark upon.

You're going to want to try and prevent damage against your allies while keeping yourself safe from harm. She does have some spell-casting, but nothing you truly need to worry about Dispelling or Counterspelling, so using terrain for cover is ideal. She has an opportunity to make herself visible upon your approach of her Lair, but you will end up facing her within. If the DM is playing it by the book, she has decided to entrench herself within her Lair, and will fight to the death.

Another point if your DM is going by the book, you should have received some Potions of Giant Size. These things are phenomenal, and make the fight much more doable.

Like most Dragons, Intelligence is their weakest mental stat regarding saving throws, while Dex is their weakest physical stat. If you want to impose an effect on her, it should target her Intelligence. If you're looking to do damage to her with spells, it should target her Dexterity. If you're targeting other stats, don't expect her to fail the saving throw.

Speaking of doing damage to her, your Tempest Cleric friend should note that Lightning damage will do zilch to a Blue Dragon. Thunder on the other hand will work just fine.

Like it will do against any Dragon, a Wizard is best at keeping itself behind total cover (to avoid breath weapons) and providing buff spells to allies. That will be the most consistent thing you can do that doesn't require the Dragon to make saving throws. Ensure you have Absorb Elements, as without it, even an Abjuration Wizard will go down quickly.

As an afterthought, I'm looking at your group again and I'm not really seeing any huge damage output. Who does a majority of your party's damage? A Dragon has a ton of HP; who is doing the significant damage in your party that needs to be able to consistently do damage?

[Foff]

I actually just finished DM'ing Storm King's Thunder last night, and it was an absolute blast. Here are some things a Wizard could do to help with the fight.

MAJOR SPOILERS AS TO THIS STK ENCOUNTER TO FOLLOW

Absorb Elements is a spell that you almost certainly need to have. It will save your bacon. If you don't already have it, you're GOING to have to spend one of your spells learned on it. It is truly that powerful of a spell for the encounter you're about to embark upon.

You're going to want to try and prevent damage against your allies while keeping yourself safe from harm. She does have some spell-casting, but nothing you truly need to worry about Dispelling or Counterspelling, so using terrain for cover is ideal. She has an opportunity to make herself visible upon your approach of her Lair, but you will end up facing her within. If the DM is playing it by the book, she has decided to entrench herself within her Lair, and will fight to the death.

Another point if your DM is going by the book, you should have received some Potions of Giant Size. These things are phenomenal, and make the fight much more doable.

Like most Dragons, Intelligence is their weakest mental stat regarding saving throws, while Dex is their weakest physical stat. If you want to impose an effect on her, it should target her Intelligence. If you're looking to do damage to her with spells, it should target her Dexterity. If you're targeting other stats, don't expect her to fail the saving throw.

Speaking of doing damage to her, your Tempest Cleric friend should note that Lightning damage will do zilch to a Blue Dragon. Thunder on the other hand will work just fine.

Like it will do against any Dragon, a Wizard is best at keeping itself behind total cover (to avoid breath weapons) and providing buff spells to allies. That will be the most consistent thing you can do that doesn't require the Dragon to make saving throws. Ensure you have Absorb Elements, as without it, even an Abjuration Wizard will go down quickly.

As an afterthought, I'm looking at your group again and I'm not really seeing any huge damage output. Who does a majority of your party's damage? A Dragon has a ton of HP; who is doing the significant damage in your party that needs to be able to consistently do damage?

Well, the Artificier averages 30 dpr with his rifle from a safe distance flying on his mechanical giant eagle, both the ranger and the barb are usually around 40 even more if polymorphed, the cleric has spammed maximised called lightning in almost every fight of the adventure (although that won't do against a blue dragon) and the bard is there mainly for crowd control and healing.
I usually just buff (haste, poly, protection from energy) and tank for my party, AoA upcasted (which recharges my arcane ward) + Arcane Ward + my 16cos managed to keep me up in the majority of fights, i took like 130 damage on the boat fight to save Hecaton and never went down once.
I mean, it won't be an easy fight for sure, but I'm not too worried about losing to the dragon, we're a VERY durable party, storm herald barbarian has resistance for most of the dragon's damage, i shield myself like crazy, and the others are usually out of reach
My main concern was finding an offensive spell which might actually tip the scales in our favour, i thought about Phantasmal Force but realised dragons must have stupid high Mental TS ( after reading your spoiler I reconsidered it but I doubt i can drop concentration on buffs for phantasmal force)
so maybe targetting his dexterity woudl be best, but the only dexterity spells are damage ones adn those wont' go a long way against it either

[seventh_soul]

Is the dragon young, adult, or ancient? You should be able to take anything but an ancient.

[gloryblaze]

Is the dragon young, adult, or ancient? You should be able to take anything but an ancient.

The last fight in SKT is an ancient blue dragon with Innate Spellcasting, the ability to polymorph into a storm giant, and the ability to summon gargoyles.