Three brand-new factions, a fourth sanctum tier that belongs to the alliance, and a campaign that asks for a lot more dragon. Here is everything that changes.
North, Centre and South are gone. There is no northern faction at all any more. In their place, three houses, each carried by a claimant to the Iron Throne.
The Vale
High above the realm, the Vale stands among soaring peaks and ancient keeps. Begin at the Eyrie or Blackmont.
Leader
Rhaenyra Targaryen
Capital
The Eyrie
Starting seats
The Eyrie or Blackmont
Outpost to hold
Starfall
Bonus at launch
Cavalry +5 %
End-of-campaign goals
Hold King's Landing
Hold Casterly Rock or Storm's End
Hold Dragonstone
Hold The Eyrie
Hold 35 Seats of Power
Hold 100 Castles
When my father named me heir, he did not do so in secret. The lords of the realm bent the knee and swore their oaths before the Iron Throne.
Westerlands
Gold runs through the hills of the Westerlands, where power is guarded with a lion's pride. Begin at Casterly Rock or Widow's Watch.
Leader
Rhaenys Targaryen
Capital
Casterly Rock
Starting seats
Casterly Rock or Widow's Watch
Outpost to hold
Widow's Watch
Bonus at launch
Shields +5 %
End-of-campaign goals
Hold King's Landing
Hold Storm's End or The Eyrie
Hold Winterfell
Hold Casterly Rock
Hold 35 Seats of Power
Hold 100 Castles
I was passed over once by men who feared what a woman might become with power in her hands. I accepted their judgment for the sake of the realm.
Stormlands
Beneath black skies and battered coasts, the Stormlands raise iron-willed lords. Begin in the Stormlands or the Rills.
Leader
Daemon Targaryen
Capital
Storm's End
Starting seats
Storm's End or The Rills
Outpost to hold
Ashenvale
Bonus at launch
Spearmen +5 %
End-of-campaign goals
Hold King's Landing
Hold Casterly Rock or The Eyrie
Hold Sunspear
Hold Storm's End
Hold 35 Seats of Power
Hold 100 Castles
I have spent my life watching lesser men inherit what braver men are made to take. They dress it in law.
New this season: each faction keeps an outpost at the far end of Westeros. It must hold it, and the other two are tasked with taking it. The Vale holds Starfall, deep in Dorne; the Westerlands hold Widow's Watch, on the north-east coast; the Stormlands hold Ashenvale, in the north-west, just south of the Rills. That is also why each faction can start in two places.
Kingdoms have been merged
The game announced it by mail: on 24 September, several worlds and their players were grouped into new reigns, right before the season started. Alliances stayed together. Part of your progress was reset; the exact list of what is kept or reset is in the game's guide to campaigns.
02
The bonus comes from the capital, not the faction
The +5 % is attached to the capital: it belongs to whoever holds it, and it changes hands with it. Here is the full table, and what each faction holds at launch.
Capital
Bonus to whoever holds it
The Eyrie
Cavalry +5 %
Casterly Rock
Shields +5 %
Storm's End
Spearmen +5 %
Riverrun
Archers +5 %
King's Landing
Dragon Initiative +5 %
Harrenhal
Dragon Strength +5 %
Dragonstone
Dragon Intelligence +5 %
Winterfell
Dragon Instincts +5 %
Oldtown
Build speed +5 %
Pyke
Pillage +5 %
Sunspear
Recruitment −5 %
Any held capital also grants +25 % march speed in its region and +10 % siege damage against tier-5 targets.
At launch, each faction holds a capital that gives a troop bonus: Cavalry for the Vale (The Eyrie), Shields for the Westerlands (Casterly Rock), Spearmen for the Stormlands (Storm's End). The Archer bonus is at Riverrun, which nobody holds: it's the objective everyone fights over from day one.
03
The campaign, stage by stage
Eleven stages then an epilogue, over eight weeks — the tempo does not move. What moves is what you are asked for: the previous season first, then the new one.
StagePrevious seasonNew season
1
Previous season
Upgrade Stronghold to Tier 5
New season
Upgrade Stronghold to Tier 6
Stage 1: Seize the Castles
2
Previous season
Raise any Dragon to Level 20
New season
Raise any Dragon to Level 30
Stage 2: Hold the Lesser Seats
3
Previous season
Conquer 1 Tile (Level 7+)
New season
Defeat 25 Encounters (Level 25+)
Stage 3: Hunt Down Resistance
4
Previous season
Defeat 500K Tile Defenders and Encounter Defenders
New season
Conquer 10 Tiles (Level 9+)
Stage 4: Storm the Stronger Castles
5
Previous season
Deal 300K Siege Damage
New season
Upgrade Stronghold to Tier 9
Stage 5: Hold the Strongholds
6
Previous season
Conquer 10 Tiles (Level 9+)
New season
Conquer 3 Tiles (Level 10+)
Stage 6: Purge the Holdouts
7
Previous season
Deal 1.3M Siege Damage
New season
Raise any Dragon to Level 40
Stage 7: Hold the Greater Seats
8
Previous season
Conquer 1 Tile (Level 10+)
New season
Conquer 3 Tiles (Level 12+)
Stage 8: Thin Their Ranks
9
Previous season
Defeat 75k Enemy Player Troops
New season
Defeat 75k Enemy Player Troops
Stage 9: Hold the Seats of Power
10
Previous season
Raise any Dragon to Level 50
New season
Raise any Dragon to Level 50
Stage 10: Breach the Gates
11
Previous season
Defeat 150k Enemy Player Troops
New season
Defeat 150k Enemy Player Troops
Stage 11: Take King's Landing
04
Three taps opened at once on dragon growth
Passive meat, skirmishes and the alliance sanctum all arrive together. That is no coincidence: across the table, the campaign demands a level-30 dragon at stage 2 and a level-40 at stage 7, where the previous season asked for nothing between 20 and 50. They open the taps because they raise the bar.
Towns pay out meat
A held town only paid its resource. Now it also pays meat, every hour, on top — for nothing more than holding it.
Town level
Resource
Meat
1
150
+2
2
450
+4
3
750
+8
4
1,100
+14
5
1,500
+22
per hour
Skirmishing
A new building lets you attack the defenders of tiles you already own. It costs Stamina, it pays experience, and you can run several at once on the same tile. Challenge rating applies as in combat: a higher-level tile is harder, but pays more.
Risk-free dragon experience, on your own ground.
A tier-4 sanctum, for the alliance
Dragonlord Sanctums pay scrolls every hour on a 24-hour cycle to whoever holds them — a king-of-the-hill objective. The amounts do not change. What changes is that a fourth tier appears, and it belongs not to a player but to an alliance.
15 Dragonlord Scrolls
a player
215 Dragonlord Scrolls
a player
350 Dragonlord Scrolls
a player
45 Dragonlord Scrollsnew
an alliance
Before this season, there were only three sanctum tiers, all held by players.
05
Four new stronghold upgrades
They join the existing upgrades, ten levels each. Three of them directly help you hold tiles.
Cartographer
Tile capacity: +2 at level 1, up to +30 at level 10.
Stronghold level 5
Rapid Reinforcement
Reinforcement march speed: +2% at level 1, up to +20% at level 10.
Stronghold level 8
Offensive Maneuvers
Damage dealt by the defenders of your tiles: +1.5% per level, up to +15%.
Stronghold level 8
Defensive Maneuvers
Damage taken by the defenders of your tiles: −1.5% per level, down to −15%.
Stronghold level 8
Costs were revised too: Dragon's Army III and IV cost almost four times less, the Stronghold about 20% less. On the other hand, the first damage and defense tiers cost more, and take longer.
06
34 Seats of Power change tier
A seat's tier commands three things at once: the size of its garrison, its size on the map, and the siege-damage bonus it grants to the faction holding it. Since the new campaign asks for seats by tier rather than by name, knowing which ones moved is a direct edge.
Moving up
Deep Den2↗3Crownlands
Bandallon1↗3Crownlands
Castle Cerwyn1↗3North
Stone Hedge2↗3Riverlands
Highpoint2↗3North
Acorn Hall2↗3Riverlands
Widow's Watch2↗3North
Ashen Vale1↗3North
Starfall2↗3Dorne
Honeyholt1↗3Crownlands
Brightwater Keep1↗3Crownlands
Ironoaks1↗2Crownlands
Horn Hill1↗2Crownlands
Coldwater Burn1↗2Crownlands
Snakewood1↗2Crownlands
Highgarden1↗2Crownlands
Deepwood Motte1↗2North
Cinderpeak1↗2North
Runestone1↗2Crownlands
Old Anchor1↗2Crownlands
Moving down
Cider Hall3↘2Crownlands
Blackhaven3↘2Crownlands
Vaith3↘2Dorne
Crakehall2↘1Crownlands
The Dreadfort3↘1North
Griffin's Roost2↘1Crownlands
Bronzegate2↘1Crownlands
Harvest Hall3↘1Crownlands
Silverhill2↘1Crownlands
Blackmont2↘1Dorne
Stonehelm3↘1Crownlands
Flint's Finger2↘1Riverlands
Saltshore3↘1Dorne
Skyreach2↘1Dorne
Overall, the split goes from 27 / 39 / 21 to 24 / 38 / 25 (tier 1 / 2 / 3): four more tier-3 seats. The four far outposts — Starfall, Widow's Watch, Ashen Vale and Honeyholt — all rise to tier 3.
Dorne is the big loser: Saltshore, Skyreach, Blackmont and Vaith go down. The North, on the contrary, gets stronger: six seats rise there, and only The Dreadfort collapses, from tier 3 to tier 1. The Crownlands are reshuffled: eleven seats rise, eight go down.
What a held seat pays
The siege-damage bonus granted to the faction holding it, by seat tier. A capital sits one tier above and grants +10 %.
Tier 1·+1.5 %
Tier 2·+2 %
Tier 3·+5.5 %
07
What this changes for your armies
The foundations of combat do not move: dragons, the power table, habits, commands and the troop triangle stay as they are. What changes for your armies is the troop bonus: it now comes from the capitals your faction holds, and it goes into every fight we simulate.
Our maths already takes it in, and three new models judge each army on what it destroys and what it keeps. Pass members get it first.
What are the three factions in the new Dragonfire season?⌄
The Vale, led by Rhaenyra Targaryen from the Eyrie; the Westerlands, led by Rhaenys Targaryen from Casterly Rock; the Stormlands, led by Daemon Targaryen from Storm's End. There is no northern faction any more.
Which faction gives the best troop bonus?⌄
None, strictly speaking: the bonus belongs to the capital, not the faction. At launch the Vale holds The Eyrie (+5% Cavalry), the Westerlands hold Casterly Rock (+5% Shields) and the Stormlands hold Storm's End (+5% Spearmen). The Archer bonus is at Riverrun, which nobody holds at the start.
Does the new season change combat?⌄
The foundations do not move: dragons, power, habits, commands and the troop triangle stay the same. What changes for your armies is the troop bonus, which now comes from the capitals your faction holds. Our maths already takes it in.
What is a tier-4 sanctum?⌄
A Dragonlord Sanctum owned by an alliance rather than a player. It pays 5 scrolls per hour on a 24-hour cycle. It did not exist before: it is new this season.
When does the new season start?⌄
On 24 September 2026 at 14:00 UTC, game time — Meleys opened at the same moment. The campaign runs eight weeks.
