Getting started

The Dragon Pit (Hatchery) is where you manage and grow your dragons. It's one of the most important screens in the game when you're starting out.

You do two things there:

1. Claim dragon relics. Relics are used to raise a dragon's Star Rank. Tip: 15 relics of the same dragon = it hatches immediately.
2. Open hatchery chests with keys (Dragonbone, Dragonglass, Dragonfire, or gold). Each chest gives 3 guaranteed rewards.

Star Rank is permanent (it never resets), so everything you invest here stays forever. It's one of the best places to put your energy as a beginner.

Yes. By linking your HBO Max account to the game, you get the dragon Vaeldra (Epic rarity) right away — you don't have to wait for the show to air.

Vaeldra is a Warrior dragon with the "Bait" ability: she applies Taunt, meaning she forces the enemy to hit her instead of your other dragons. She's an excellent tank to protect an army.

The game builds on the House of the Dragon universe, whose season 3 comes out on June 21, 2026. If you're starting out and you have an HBO Max account, link it early: a free Epic dragon is a starting gift that stays permanent in your collection.

Game of Thrones: Dragonfire is a mobile strategy game (iOS/Android, free-to-play) released on 2 June 2026 by WB Games Boston. The goal: dominate Westeros by leading armies of dragons into battle to take territory, capture castles and climb the rankings.

In practice you loop through 3 things:

1. You build up your Stronghold (buildings, research, resources).
2. You grow your dragons and assemble armies.
3. You attack tiles, beasts and other players to widen your influence.

The game is tied to the House of the Dragon universe, and linking your HBO Max account gets you a dragon (see the dedicated article). If you're starting out, remember just this: dragons + troops = your army, and everything revolves around combat.

Dragonfire runs in seasons called Reigns, each lasting 8 weeks. At the end of a Reign, a big chunk of your progress goes back to zero — that's intentional, it's the game's rhythm.

What resets each Reign: your dragons' Reign Level, all the buildings and research in your Stronghold, conquered territory, your base resources (Wood, Stone, Iron, Food) and your House level.

What stays forever: your dragons, their Star Rank, their Habits, your Gold, your Relics and your Heirlooms.

The most important beginner lesson: spend your time on the permanent, not the disposable. See the "reset vs permanent" article in the basics.

Three different group concepts, easy to mix up as a beginner:

1. Faction: you're sorted into a faction (e.g. North / Central / South). Factions are reshuffled every season and mainly serve collective objectives and leaderboards.
2. Alliance: it's the only group that persists from one season to the next. That's your real "clan" of players, the people you cooperate with long term.
3. Great House: purely cosmetic — it doesn't change your faction.

Worth noting: the Mercenary option gives you a random faction plus gold, once only — it isn't a 4th faction. As a beginner, the main thing is to join an active Alliance: that's where the mutual help and the lasting rewards are.

This is THE idea that drives all your priorities. The game runs in 8-week Reigns.

🔴 Resets every reign (you re-grind it each season):

• The reign level of your dragons
• All Stronghold buildings and research
• The territory you conquered and influence
• Your resources: Wood, Stone, Iron, Food, Meat
• Your House Level

🟢 Permanent (stays forever):

• Your dragons and your eggs
• The star rank and the Habits of your dragons
• Gold, relics, keys
• The Heirlooms you've unlocked and their mastery bonuses

Golden rule: every bit of Gold / relic / star / Heirloom you invest is permanent. At the start of a season, re-grind your House Level fast to switch back on the Heirloom bonuses you've already paid for.

The 4 troop types counter each other in a loop. The wheel to remember:

Cavalry → beats → Shields → beat → Archers → beat → Spearmen → beat → Cavalry (and back round).

In plain terms:

• Cavalry beats Shields
• Shields beat Archers
• Archers beat Spearmen
• Spearmen beat Cavalry

Siege is weak against every type, but deals extra damage to durability (the HP of tiles and structures).

The advantage gives +7% to the one who has it and −7% to the one who suffers it: a 14-point swing, applied to every single hit, for the whole fight. That's no detail — it's one of the steadiest multipliers in the game.

The trap is elsewhere: the enemy type is often unknown (beasts, knights, big tiles, and your opponent in PvP). Picking your troops to counter something you haven't seen is a low-expectancy bet: a solid army beats a well-typed one. But the moment you can see the enemy's troop — a scout, a tile, a battle report — take the one that beats it: there, the 14 points are yours.

There are 4 breeds of dragon, each with a role:

• Champion (Suppressor) → the aura hub, belongs at the Center. It spreads team bonuses (cutting enemy damage, lifting Initiative…).
• Warrior (Enhancer) → the offensive hitter (physical damage, key stat: Strength). It carries useful auras too.
• Hunter (Debuffer) → fire damage and debuffs (key stat: Intelligence), best on the flanks.
• Sentinel (Buffer) → tank and support (key stat: Instinct), tactical damage and healing.

Rarities run Rare → Epic → Legendary.

One thing to know as a beginner: the breed does NOT decide troop affinity — they're two independent things. A balanced army usually means a Champion at the Center with hitters and debuffers on the flanks.

Troops are both the fuel and the durability of your dragons. Each dragon has a troop pool: as long as it has troops it fights; at zero it withdraws from the battle.

Two simple ideas to hold on to:

1. Always fill to the max. More troops means more hits absorbed, which means more rounds held. With 3 dragons at around 5,000 capacity, you start with roughly 15,000 troops.
2. Losses carry over. Across a fight (up to 10 rounds) and across successive waves, the defender never gets its troops back. That's exactly why chaining waves eventually breaks a target.

Maximum troop capacity per dragon rises with its Reign Level and with research like Dragon's Army. But remember: troops make you last; it's the dragons that make the difference.

Every dragon has 4 combat stats. Here's what each one actually does:

• Strength → raises physical damage (the basic attack, 🩸).
• Instinct → raises tactical damage AND cuts the physical damage you take.
• Intelligence → raises fire damage AND cuts the tactical damage you take.
• Initiative → decides who strikes first (turn order) AND cuts the fire damage you take.

That forms a stat triangle: each damage type is raised by one stat and reduced by another. As a beginner, the one to remember is Initiative: striking first means weakening the enemy before it hits back.

These 4 stats climb with the dragon's Reign Level and Star Rank.

Power 🔥 is the game's native strength metric. It shows on every dragon (e.g. one dragon = 17,540 🔥) AND on every upgrade (e.g. Granary I = +2,800 🔥). Your player total is the sum of all those contributions.

The number is a decent "on paper" estimate: the higher it is, the stronger you theoretically are. For a dragon it's mostly driven by its level.

⚠️ But watch the trap: 🔥 doesn't capture everything. Real combat adds affinity (+20%), the matchup (±7%), auras and synergies. An example straight from our data: the dragon Jagadrix has the lowest Power, yet it's one of the best, thanks to its effects. So use 🔥 as a marker, not as absolute truth.

On a dragon's page, two key figures at the bottom of the card:

• 🔥 Power: the dragon's raw contribution (e.g. 17,540 → 25,620). Mostly tied to its level. A fine sorting criterion, but cross-check it against the abilities it has unlocked.
• Troop capacity (e.g. ~5,000-6,090): that's the dragon's fuel and durability. With 3 dragons at ~5,000 you're fielding about 15,000 troops.

Higher up you'll see the 4 combat stats: Strength, Instinct, Intelligence, Initiative (they rise with Reign Level and stars).

Beginner tip: always fill troops to the max, but never pick a dragon just for a big troop capacity. Pick it for its abilities and effects.

Every dragon has an affinity for each troop type, shown as a color:

• 🟢 Green (Positive) = +20% to the dragon's stats (and a boost to siege damage). Excellent.
• ⚪ Neutral = no effect, no bonus and no malus.
• 🔴 Red (Negative) = a penalty to the dragon's stats.

You see these colors on the Army Builder screen, to the left of each dragon's portrait, for the troop type you selected. That's the reliable source to check — don't eyeball it.

⚠️ Don't confuse affinity (+20%) with the troop matchup (±7%, see the troop triangle). Affinity is far stronger. Simple rule: when two dragons are equal on the right type, take the green one.

An army fights with 3 dragons placed in 3 positions: Left Flank, Center, Right Flank. Only those 3 dragons fight.

The position that matters most is the Center: it's the hub that spreads auras across the whole flank. An aura is a team bonus (e.g. cutting enemy damage by −27.5%, or boosting everyone's Initiative).

So the basic rule:

1. Put the dragon whose team effect gains the most from being spread at the Center — usually a Champion.
2. Put your big hitters / damage dragons on the flanks.

You don't steer the order of attacks during the fight (Initiative decides that). So you "play" beforehand, by choosing which 3 dragons you bring together and where you place them.

The Army Builder is the screen where you compose an army. The right method, in order:

1. Choose your 3 dragons (Left Flank / Center / Right Flank) — not the troop type first.
2. Choose ONE troop type for the whole army — all 3 dragons carry it. (You don't assign a type per dragon: it's one type per army.)
3. Look at the affinity (green/neutral/red) shown next to each dragon for that type, and favor the greens.
4. Fill troops to the max.

Good to know: changing the troop type doesn't change the army's "power number" — only the siege number moves (because affinity boosts siege). You can prepare up to 5 armies and leave them set, ready to go.

When you open the game for the first time, don't scatter your effort. A simple order to get going:

1. Follow the first Chapter Quests (the Heirs of the Dragon campaign) — they guide you and pay rewards.
2. Upgrade your Stronghold regularly: it's the foundation of everything else.
3. Start researches in the Stronghold, above all on your troops and your dragons.
4. Keep your 5 army slots full as soon as you can, and go hit tiles to level your dragons.
5. If you have an HBO Max account, link it to claim the free dragon Vaeldra.
6. Join an active Alliance.

Beginner's golden rule: don't sink everything into the look of your Stronghold. Combat and your dragons are the heart of this game.

On the map you send armies (a dragon leading, with its troops) at targets: territory tiles, beasts and wild dragons, Hedge Knights or Seats of Power.

In practice:

1. You pick your dragons first (up to 3 per army: Left Flank, Center, Right Flank), then the army's troop type.
2. You fill the troops to the max.
3. You send the army at the target. The fight resolves automatically, over up to 10 rounds.

Beginner's tip: damage carries over on a target. If a tile holds, send several waves in a row — the defender never heals, so you break it eventually (19,500 → 12,000 → 6,000 → 0).

Troops are the fuel of your dragons: with none left, a dragon withdraws. You recruit them from your Stronghold, and they mostly cost Iron and Food.

There are 4 main types — Cavalry, Shields, Archers, Spearmen — plus Siege, which stands apart. Early on, don't overthink it: recruit broadly to build volume.

Two researches help enormously:

• Rapid Recruitment: cuts training time (up to −37.5%).
• Bannerman's Bargain: cuts training cost (−30%).

Above all, remember this: always fill your armies to the maximum of troops. More troops means more staying power and more punch.

Your main screen is your Stronghold: the HQ where you produce resources, recruit troops and run research.

What to watch first:

• Your Stronghold Tier: you need to reach Tier 10 before a Reign ends to claim the campaign rewards.
• Your builders: they construct and upgrade buildings. You usually start with 2.
• Your production buildings: Granary (Food), Lumber Mill (Wood), Quarry (Stone), Foundry (Iron).
• The Research menu, which unlocks permanent bonuses for the season.

As a beginner, keep your builders always busy: a builder building nothing is time thrown away.

Your dragons have two separate progressions — don't confuse them:

1. Reign Level: it rises through combat (XP comes from enemy troops killed) or by feeding your dragon Meat. It raises the dragon's 4 stats and the max size of its army. ⚠️ It resets with each new Reign.
2. Star Rank: it rises with Relics at the Hatchery. It's permanent, makes the dragon bigger and stronger, and unlocks new Habits.

As a beginner: fight regularly to push your Reign Level (which serves you all season), and stockpile Relics for stars (which stay forever). Hit tiles, beasts and Hedge Knights for the XP.

The biggest mistake: investing everything in what's going to reset, and neglecting what stays forever.

A reminder: with every Reign (8 weeks), what disappears = Reign Level, buildings, research, resources, House level. What stays = dragons, Star Rank, Habits, Gold, Relics, Heirlooms.

So, all else equal, put your energy into the permanent:

1. Raising your dragons' Star Rank (Relics).
2. Upgrading Heirlooms and unlocking their Habits.
3. Keeping your Gold for lasting investments.

The disposable side (buildings, Reign Level) serves the current season, and it's normal to grind it — but it's a re-grind every season. The permanent makes you stronger forever.

Yes — a classic beginner's trap. Power 🔥 is an "on paper" estimate, mostly driven by the dragon's level — it does not measure the quality of its abilities and effects.

The perfect example in our data: Jagadrix has the lowest Power on its roster (19,750) yet is considered the best dragon, because its effects are so strong (it breaks enemy Instinct and Initiative, which amplifies the rest of the army).

The same mistake applies to troop capacity: never pick a dragon just because it carries a lot of troops.

The right approach: choose your dragons for their abilities, auras and synergies, and use 🔥 only as a secondary marker.

No, and it's a very widespread confusion. The troop type is chosen per army, not per dragon.

When you build an army you pick ONE type (Cavalry, Shieldbearers, Archers, Spearmen or Siege) and all 3 dragons carry it. You can't give cavalry to one dragon and archers to another in the same army.

What that means in practice:

1. An army is built around a single troop type.
2. You choose that type, then check which dragons are green (positive affinity) for it.
3. Ideally, you take the type that is both your most researched AND the one many of your dragons are green for.

If you believed the opposite at first, no panic — even some guides got this wrong. Just remember: 1 army = 1 troop type.

You can deploy up to 5 armies at once. A common beginner mistake is using only one or two and leaving the rest empty.

Two reasons to fill them all:

1. The more waves you send, the more big targets break. Damage accumulates on a target (which never heals), so chaining armies onto a stubborn tile eventually cracks it.
2. You don't reconfigure an army in the field. Swapping dragons or troops happens at the castle. So you prepare set armies in advance and send the one that fits the situation.

The good habit: keep a fixed set of 5 ready armies (say 2-3 "long fight" armies and 1-2 "fast burst" ones), and keep them all full of troops.

A costly mistake: letting a Reign end without having reached Tier 10 on your Stronghold.

Stronghold Tier 10 is required before the Reign ends to claim the campaign rewards. The "Heirs of the Dragon" campaign runs 11 chapters plus an epilogue, takes around 40 days, and demands exactly that Tier 10 Stronghold to be completed.

So, at the start of a season:

1. Re-grind your Stronghold Tier quickly (it reset).
2. Keep an eye on the campaign progress and its objectives.
3. Don't drag your feet: 40 days go fast when you also have dragons and armies to raise.

Missing Tier 10 means leaving rewards on the table that you'd almost earned. Plan your season around that goal.

An army is 1 dragon (up to 3, in fact) plus troops. But the dragon leads: its stats, its abilities and its auras decide how the fight goes.

Troops are mostly fuel: when a dragon runs out of troops it's forced to retreat. They make you last, but they aren't what creates the strategic difference.

What makes a dragon strong:

• Its 4 stats (Strength, Instinct, Intelligence, Initiative).
• Its breed (Champion, Warrior, Hunter, Sentinel) and its role.
• Its Order (its special ability) and its Habits.
• Its Star Rank, which unlocks stronger versions of those abilities.

So, as a general rule: pick your dragons first, the troop type comes after.

Combat is automatic: you compose your army beforehand, but you don't steer the attacks during the battle.

How it runs:

1. Formation: 3 dragons (Left Flank / Center / Right Flank) plus 1 troop type.
2. Preparations: the game applies all your global bonuses (research, breed, type). In PvP this screen also shows your opponent's sheet — a free scan of their research tree.
3. Auras from Champions are applied.
4. Turn order = Initiative: whoever has the highest Initiative strikes first.
5. Attacks: basic attack (physical) and abilities (tactical/fire), alternating automatically.

The fight lasts up to 10 rounds, with 3 possible outcomes: Victory, Stalemate (both sides still have troops after 10 rounds) or Defeat. Most fights play out over several rounds; only mini-fights end in 1-2.