Research & Stronghold

The "logistics" nodes of the War Tactics tree, often overlooked but useful depending on your style:

• Swift Stride: +3.5%/level march speed → your armies reach their targets faster, you react to attacks and farm more tiles per hour.
• Rapid Reposition: +5%/level → reinforcements arrive faster.
• Ruins Reinforcement: +1 garrison/level in ruins.

➡️ These are not raw combat priorities, but Swift Stride changes how comfortable the game feels and your farming pace. Level them once your damage/defense levers are in place.

In the War Tactics tree, the {Cavalry/Archers/Spearmen/Shields} Damage researches boost the attack of the matching troop type:

• {Type} Damage I: +0.8% per level (level 5 = +4%).
• {Type} Damage II: +1.2% per level (level 1 = +1.2%).

Same logic on defence: {Type} Defence I cuts the damage you take by −0.8% per level.

⚠️ These percentages are small in the early game. In a real early-game fight from one of our reference accounts, Spearmen Damage was only worth +5.2% — comparable to the ±7% matchup, and far below the +20% affinity or the auras at −27.5%. In the late game (stacked levels plus the seasonal layer) that same bonus climbs into the hundreds of percent and dwarfs everything else.

➡️ Concentrate this research on the ONE type you field most.

Army Expansion gives +1 army slot per level. You can deploy up to 5 armies at once on the map and in combat — every extra slot is one more army hitting at the same time.

Why it's central: combat calibration shows that a single army can't empty a full defender (it stalemates over 10 rounds without killing it). You need several waves — so you need several army slots.

➡️ Army Expansion is a high priority in War Tactics: more slots = more waves = more tiles and seats taken. Level it early in the Reign.

{Cavalry/Archers/Spearmen/Shieldbearers} Defense reduces the damage taken by your troops of that type:

• {Type} Defense I: −0.8%/level damage taken.
• {Type} Defense II: −2%/level.

It's the defensive wing of the War Tactics tree, mirroring the Damage nodes.

When to prioritize it:

• You defend a lot (seats held, garrisons) → defense offsets attrition.
• Otherwise, in pure attack, the type's Damage usually comes first.

As with damage, focus defense on your main type — spreading it over 4 types dilutes the effect. One type maxed beats four half-done.

Relentless Assault increases your damage against non-player (PvE) targets: AI tile defenders, bridges, Seats of Power, beasts.

• Effect: +1.5%/level (level 10 = +15%).

It's a global bonus (all troop types), so it applies to every PvE fight — and PvE is most of what you do for the campaign and for seats.

➡️ Excellent value: unlike the per-type Damage nodes (which only pay when you field that type), Relentless Assault helps all your armies the moment you hit a non-player. In one of Adel's early fights it was already worth +18%. High priority for a map/campaign-focused player.

Stalwart Defense reduces the damage you take from non-player (PvE) targets:

• Effect: −1.5%/level.

It's the defensive mirror of Relentless Assault. Global (all types), it applies in every PvE fight.

Why it counts: the attrition math shows an army loses ~300-600 troops per round against a full defender. Less damage taken = your troops last longer, you get more rounds in before retreating, and you melt more of the enemy before having to send the next wave.

➡️ Level it alongside Relentless Assault for an effective offense/defense pair in PvE farming.

Siege Precision boosts your Siege damage: +3%/level (level 9 = +27%). That's the biggest % per level in the whole War Tactics tree.

Siege is weak against troops but deals increased damage to Durability (the HP of tiles and buildings). So Siege Precision shines when your goal is to break structures: taking tiles, capitals, King's Landing (+20,000 siege points!).

➡️ If you play the siege leaderboards (faction/alliance) or territory capture, it's a priority. If you mostly do troop-versus-troop combat, it comes after your main type's Damage and Relentless Assault.

Combat Training increases the XP your dragons earn in PvE: +2.5%/level.

More XP = your dragons climb in Reign Level faster, and Reign Level sets the max army size plus the dragon's 4 stats. So it's an indirect progression multiplier.

Worth knowing: XP depends mostly on the type and level of the target. Basic bridge/tile defenders give little XP; wild dragons, Hedge Knights and high-level tiles give far more.

➡️ The winning combo: level Combat Training AND go for high-XP targets to level your dragons quickly early in a Reign.

Your Stronghold is the heart of your account: its Tier unlocks everything else — new buildings, higher research levels, army slots, troop capacity.

Going up a tier means building/upgrading the prerequisite buildings and then paying for the Stronghold upgrade itself (wood + stone, and a lot of time).

⚠️ Crucial point: Stronghold levels and all research RESET every Reign (the 8-week cycle). You re-grind everything each season. So there's no point mourning the loss — that's the game's normal rhythm.

The real target: reach Tier 10 before the Reign ends (see the dedicated campaign article).

The "Heirs of the Dragon" campaign (11 chapters plus an epilogue, ~40 days) requires Stronghold Tier 10 before the Reign ends to claim the campaign rewards.

If you finish the Reign at Tier 9, you lose those rewards — and since everything resets, you start from scratch the following season.

Concretely:

• Plan your tier climb from the start of the Reign, don't linger at Tier 7-8.
• Keep an eye on the campaign's day counter.
• Prioritize wood + stone (construction resources) and the third builder to move faster.

Tier 10 is your non-negotiable seasonal deadline if you want the campaign loot.

Builders are your construction queues: 1 builder = 1 upgrade at a time. By default you have 2 (2 sites in parallel).

The more builders you have, the more you advance in parallel — buildings plus tier climb — so the earlier you reach Tier 10 in the Reign.

With 2 builders, the trick is to always keep both queues busy: never leave a builder idle. Start the longest job while you sleep, and the short ones during the day.

The third builder (a paid offer, around €9.99) is permanent (it doesn't reset between Reigns) — the only durable lever on the Stronghold side. See the dedicated article.

Yes, if you play seriously over time. The third builder (an offer around €9.99) is one of the rare PERMANENT purchases: it doesn't reset between Reigns, unlike buildings and research.

What it changes:

• +50% build capacity (3 queues instead of 2), every Reign, for life.
• You climb toward Tier 10 faster, season after season.
• The compounded effect over dozens of Reigns is enormous.

The Dragonfire investment rule: anything permanent (Gold, Relics, the third builder, Heirlooms) deserves your money; anything that resets (resources, temporary levels) never does. The third builder ticks the right box.

Four levers to speed up your tier climb:

1. Keep your builders always busy (and take the Lifetime Third Builder if you can).
2. Stack Efficiency (E): the game's formula is `cost = 1000/(1000+E) × original cost`. Every source of E cuts both time AND cost (see the Efficiency article).
3. Store your resources: level your Storehouse so you don't lose production above the cap, and level production (Granary/Lumber Mill/Quarry/Foundry) to have the wood and stone you need.
4. Ride the "Upgrade Stronghold" event for reward points while you're progressing anyway.

The constant goal: Tier 10 before the campaign deadline.

The Dragon Care tree acts directly on your dragons — so on the core of combat — whereas War Tactics acts on troops.

It contains:

• The 4 "all breeds" stats: Might of Valyria (Strength), Wisdom of Valyria (Intelligence), Conqueror's Instinct (Instinct), First Flame (Initiative).
• Dragon's Army: +troop capacity per dragon.
• Damage / Defense per breed: Champion, Warrior, Sentinel, Hunter.

➡️ Since these bonuses touch all your dragons (for the all-breeds stats) or your dominant breed, it's often the best research return in the early game, when the per-troop-type percentages are still small.

They're two of the four "all breeds" research nodes in Dragon Care — they boost a stat on ALL your dragons, whatever their breed:

• Might of Valyria → Strength (physical damage/defense, the Warrior breed's stat).
• Wisdom of Valyria → Intelligence (special abilities / Fire damage, the Hunter breed's stat).

Values:

• Level I: +2%/level, max +10% (level 5).
• Level II (tier 7): +3%/level, out of 10.

➡️ Because the effect applies to your whole dragon army, these nodes pay off even early. Prioritize the stat matching your dominant breed: Strength if you mostly play Warriors, Intelligence if you play Hunters.

Conqueror's Instinct boosts the Instinct stat on all your dragons, across every breed.

Values:

• Level I: +2%/level, max +10% (level 5).
• Level II: +3%/level, out of 10.

Instinct is the primary stat of the Sentinel breed (the buffer/tactical role). In the stat triangle, Tactical combat scales with Instinct (and is reduced by Intelligence).

➡️ Prioritize it if your roster leans Sentinel or if your key dragons rely on tactical Orders/auras (many auras boost allies' Instinct). Otherwise it's one of the 4 all-breeds stats: level the one that matches your dominant breed first.

First Flame boosts the Initiative of all your dragons:

• Level I: +2%/level, max +10% (level 5).
• Level II: +3%/level, out of 10.

Initiative does double duty: it raises combat stats and sets the turn order (who strikes first each round). Acting first means landing your Orders, auras and damage before the enemy, which can decide a close fight.

➡️ As an all-breeds node (+2%/level, cheap), it's always worth it. It's one of the research nodes Adel levels first (First Flame I at level 5). A solid default pick in the early game.

The 4 all-breeds nodes are each worth +2%/level (max +10%) — so the right order depends on your roster:

• Warrior roster (Physical) → Might of Valyria (Strength) first.
• Hunter roster (Fire) → Wisdom of Valyria (Intelligence).
• Sentinel roster (Tactical) → Conqueror's Instinct.
• In every case → First Flame (Initiative) is a good universal first pick: it helps stats and turn order.

General rule: identify the dominant breed among the 3 dragons in your formation, level its primary stat, and keep First Flame going alongside. Spreading all 4 evenly dilutes the effect — concentrate.

Dragon's Army increases the troop capacity per dragon — how many troops each dragon can take into a fight. The tiers give:

• I: +250 · II: +500 · III: +1,000 · IV: +250 capacity.

Why it's huge: a dragon that drops to 0 troops retreats. More capacity = your army survives more rounds before retreating and deals more (damage depends on troop volume). The attrition math (−300 to −600 troops per round) makes every thousand of capacity precious.

➡️ High priority, especially tiers II and III (+500 and +1,000). It's one of the best "survival plus damage" levers in the whole tree.

In Dragon Care, each breed (Champion, Warrior, Sentinel, Hunter) has its own Damage and Defense research, which applies only to dragons of that breed:

• {Breed}'s Damage I: +0.8%/level (up to level 5).
• {Breed}'s Damage II: +2%/level (level 1 = +2%, out of 10).
• {Breed}'s Defense I: −0.8%/level damage taken.
• {Breed}'s Defense II: −2%/level.

➡️ Unlike the all-breeds stats (which touch everyone), these are targeted. Only level them for the breed you actually field. In one of Adel's early fights, per-breed Damage was worth about +2.58% — modest, so early on prefer the all-breeds stats and Dragon's Army first, then refine on your dominant breed.

The Infrastructure tree runs your economy (all of it resets each Reign). The production buildings, maxed at level I, give +6,000/h each:

• Granary → Food (feeds armies) · Lumber Mill → Wood · Quarry → Stone (construction) · Foundry → Iron (elite troops + gear).

Why it matters: without resources you can neither climb your Stronghold toward Tier 10 nor recruit troops for your waves. Production feeds everything.

➡️ Early in a Reign, level production early so it isn't your bottleneck. Balance it by need: wood + stone for the tier climb, iron + food when you move into the troop recruitment phase.

Yes. The Storehouse raises your storage capacity: +500,000 per resource at level I.

Two roles:

1. Storage ceiling — beyond it, production is lost/wasted. If your Storehouse is small, you cap out fast and throw away resources overnight.
2. Protection — part of your stored resources is shielded from other players' raids.

➡️ Before launching a big Stronghold tier upgrade (which costs a lot of wood and stone at once), level your Storehouse so you can accumulate the needed amount without overflowing. A quiet building that unlocks your whole construction logistics.

Two Infrastructure nodes that speed up and cheapen troops — crucial, because combat demands several waves (so a lot of troops to replace):

• Rapid Recruitment: −37.5% training time (at level 11). You replace losses faster between waves.
• Bannerman's Bargain: −30% troop training cost. You produce more troops from the same resources.

➡️ If you actively farm the map and seats, these two nodes pay for themselves: less waiting and fewer resources to rebuild your armies after each round of attrition (−300 to −600 troops per round).

Troop type is chosen per army (one type, carried by all 3 dragons). Since the per-type Damage/Defense research is targeted, concentrate it on the type you field most:

• Mostly playing Spearmen? → level Spearmen Damage (and Spearmen Defense if you defend). That's exactly Adel's main type.
• Same for Cavalry / Archers / Shieldbearers.

⚠️ Don't spread your research over all 4 types: +0.8%/level diluted across 4 is almost nothing. One type maxed > four half-done.

Alongside that, level the global levers that help all your armies: Relentless Assault, Dragon's Army, Army Expansion. Those don't depend on the type.

Look at the dominant breed among your 3 formation dragons and line your Dragon Care research up with it:

• Warriors (Physical/Strength) → Might of Valyria + Warrior's Damage.
• Hunters (Fire/Intelligence) → Wisdom of Valyria + Hunter's Damage.
• Sentinels (Tactical/Instinct) → Conqueror's Instinct + Sentinel's Damage.
• Champions → Champion's Damage (they carry the strongest auras, −27.5% / −8% damage taken).

Universal picks whatever your roster: First Flame (Initiative, turn order) and Dragon's Army (capacity).

➡️ Rule: all-breeds bonuses plus targeted ones on your dominant breed pay more than watering the whole tree.

True, and combat calibration confirms it. In the early game, research percentages are small — in one of Adel's real fights, Spearmen Damage was only worth +5.2%, comparable to the ±7% matchup and far behind other levers.

What dominates early:

1. Dragon↔troop affinity (+20% to stats) — pick a dragon with positive affinity for your type.
2. Auras — Champions (−8% damage taken), Rhysarion (−27.5% damage) weigh far more than research.
3. Your dragons' level and stars (raw stats).
4. The triangle matchup (±7%) — field the type that beats the enemy.

➡️ In the late game (research in the hundreds of percent), it's the reverse: research on the type you field crushes everything. So weight accordingly: early = dragons/affinity/auras; late = research.

Since everything resets each Reign, you re-grind this order every season. The recommended order:

1. Base Infrastructure (production + Storehouse) — without resources, nothing moves.
2. Army Expansion + Dragon's Army — more slots and more capacity = more waves, the sinew of war.
3. All-breeds stats (First Flame plus your dominant breed's stat) — profitable because they're global.
4. Relentless Assault + Stalwart Defense — global PvE multipliers.
5. Damage/Defense for YOUR troop type + Siege Precision if you take seats.
6. Breed-targeted Dragon Care plus logistics (Swift Stride) to finish.

➡️ And hold the line: Stronghold Tier 10 before the Reign ends for the campaign loot.

Efficiency (E) reduces both the time AND the cost of actions (construction, research, recruitment) through the game's formula:

`New cost = (1000 / (1000 + E)) × Original cost`

Key points:

• +1,000 E ≈ −50% cost/time (1000/2000 = 0.5).
• +2,000 E ≈ −66% (1000/3000 ≈ 0.33).
• It's diminishing: the first points of E are worth a lot, the later ones less and less.
• E stacks from several sources (research, buildings, buffs).

➡️ The practical consequence: stacking Efficiency early speeds up everything else (Tier 10, recruiting your waves). But don't over-invest beyond roughly 1,000-2,000 E on one axis — past that, returns drop sharply.