Whether your dragon is still young or a huge terrifying beast casting its shadow on the keeps and castles of Westeros, the real power added to your march or holdfast comes from the additional boosts it gives to your troops themselves! Whether it’s adding to your march size or the strength of your military, even small dragons can give your soldiers meaningful improvements.
Knowing how to optimize these benefits is key gameplay. With Dragons you can do this through several ways, mainly through Research, and Talent Point distribution.
Talent Tree Overview
As you feed and grow your Dragon, they gain Talent Points that can be used to train them in the Dragon Pit as you see fit. There is no one right way to allocate your talents, but they can be catered to your gameplay style and preferences to help maximize what you can do!
While you can reset your talents as frequently as you like for 1500 gold, it can be a tedious & time-consuming task to retrain your beast. Many players put off looking at whether they have maximized their talents, but it can make a huge difference, so it’s definitely worth your time!
This is arguably the most beneficial branch overall since it gives you numerous boosts that apply to your troops at ALL times (not only when the dragon is with them!)
In addition to battle stats, you have options as well to boost Training Speed & Capacity, Wounded Capacity, Defense vs Creatures, and March Speed in various situations.
Unique buffs to note in this tree:
Troop Health: Seat of Power 
is a difficult statistic to increase in this world! Health is precious to making your troops last longer in battle.
Troop Attack / Defense / Health
at the bottom of this tree apply to all of your troops in all circumstances!
This is a very specialized tree! It is the most beneficial for resource farming, but also offers some quick extra Defensive troop benefits at the top & additionally some heavy defensive talents for dragons further down as an option, including Healing Speed!
The Troop stats in this tree only come into play when the Dragon is present with them, so this is mainly beneficial for smaller keeps being constantly defended by their Dragon and for those big beasts able to reinforce Seats of Power along with their owners’ armies.
Unique buffs to note in this tree:
Dragon: Defender Defense 
increases your Defensive strength of your entire Army when the Dragon is present!
Resource Production 
talents increase your Farms, Sawmills, Quarries, & Mines in your keep.
This branch offers the most diverse benefits, including the largest gains for March Size with your Dragon, Health & Regeneration Rate boosts for your Dragon, Repel Strike & Tenacity boosts, Dragon Attack vs other Dragons, and plentiful boosts for your Troops both in Battle and against Creatures but only when accompanied by your Dragon.
This is the MOST useful branch for creature farming and creature centric events! Aside from that the Dragon benefits are plentiful and very useful toward your PvP game as well.
Unique buffs to note in this tree:
Dragon Attack vs Dragons 
buff the Dragon’s Attack strength vs it’s fellow Dragons.
Dragon Repel Strike Damage 
buff the damage that Repel Strike does to your opponents. See the nurturing section below for more details on how this is unlocked and utilized.
Dragon: Tenacity & Cooldown Efficiency 
increase your Dragon’s Tenacity bar and how quickly you can return to charge it.
Dragon Health & Regeneration Rate 
increases your Dragon’s Health bar and how quickly it heals when depleted.
The Adult tree is a game changer for PvP play. The talents available here for your troops are mainly Vs Player Troop Type stats and offer bigger gains for much fewer points than other branches. They offer additional gains as well in your Dragon’s Attack Skills and Wall Damage when accompanying Siege. However, they only take effect when your dragon is with your march and only against other players.
Unique buffs to note in this tree:
Dragon Attack & Defense 
increase the strength of your Dragon itself.
Fire Breath & Repel Strike Damage 
increase the effects of these skills when learned through Nurturing Research. See the nurturing section below for more details on how these are unlocked and utilized.
Breach the Wall 
increases the Wall Damage of your Siege troops when marching with the Dragon.
Dragon Attack vs Dragons 
at 15% is an additional gain when completing the last Fire Breath Damage in this tree.
Optimizing Talent Points
Once you understand what each Talent Tree offers you, you can begin to choose what your Dragon should specialize in from each based on your own gameplay style & goals. Making sure you utilize them to support the appropriate statistics for your goals is the most important part of rearing your Dragon.
Tip: When branches split, you may want to choose only your Primary Troop type to train in, so the points go as far as possible! Once you’ve done all the training you would like to get to you can then go back and use any extra points on those Secondary Troops, or on picking up additional talents that would be beneficial but weren’t your priority on the first pass.
Research Overview
Further support in these Dragon skills can come to you through Research!
Dragon rearing and training is an ancient art. It requires study, patience, & foresight. Much of the Lore you gain should be dedicated to Nurturing it through its growth stages and learning new abilities. However, fine-tuning those abilities can also majorly contribute to your success.
Dragon Lore 
and Dragon Secrets 
as well as Red Gold Flake 
are key components to Dragon Research which are rare and can only be obtained through rewards and Expeditions from the Maester’s Tower. Additional rare materials Scholarly Fragments 
and Pale Steel 
can also be farmed through special Caravans which populate the map once a week. Basic Resources that you can cultivate and gather are also used in this research.
Tip: Learn more about how to obtain these through our Farming Resources guide!
You can feed it as much as it likes and grow it into a giant but it will remain wild and won’t defend or follow you into battle unless you learn how to nurture your Dragon properly.
This tree focuses on progressive research that unlocks special abilities, allowing your Dragon to accompany your troops in different combat situations. This is the most important tree of Dragon Research so be sure to save up Dragon Lore & Dragon Secrets for these special abilities when planning its growth throughout your gameplay experience!
Unlocking New Phases & Skills Through Nurturing
Nurture: Hatching 
unlocks your Dragon’s Hatchling phase (it is able to hatch from its egg after this is completed!) This allows for further growth.
Learn: Defender Combat 
unlocks the ability of your Dragon to defend your keep. Once this is unlocked any troop buffs requiring the Dragon’s presence will also take effect!
Nurture: Whelp 
unlocks your Dragon’s Whelp phase. This allows for further growth and Talent Points.
Learn: Attack Creatures 
unlocks your Dragon’s ability to accompany your troops on the hunt! You will find you are able to kill bigger creatures and camps with them along.
Nurture: Adolescent 
unlocks your Dragon’s Adolescent phase. This allows for further growth and Talent Points.
Learn: Repel Strike unlocks a special Defensive skill! This counter attack from your Dragon cuts through enemy troops before they hit.
This is fueled by Tenacity and will increase in effect with the Dragon’s level, research (more info below) and amount of Tenacity filled.
Learn: Attack Player 
unlocks the ability of your Dragon to attack other players’ keeps. This will give not only the power of the Dragon itself to your march but also the effect of your additional “Dragon:” troop buffs when attacking keeps.
Nurture: Adult 
unlocks your Dragon’s Adult phase. This allows for further growth and Talent Points.
Learn: Fire Breath unlocks a special Attack skill! Like Repel Strike this works to cut through your opponent’s troops before the battle ensues, but this only works when on the offensive.
This is fueled by Fire Breath Charges gained with Fire Stone 
a precious material which can only be gained through event rewards and packs.
Learn: Seat of Power Attack 
unlocks the ability of your Dragon to attack Seats of Power. .Learn more about the benefits of holding these seats in our Seat of Power guide coming soon.
Learn: Seat of Power Rallies 
unlocks the ability to send your Dragon into a rally with your Allegiance when attacking Seats of Power together.
Learn: Rally Against Creatures 
unlocks the ability to send your Dragon into a rally with your Allegiance in Hunting Events, helping your teammates to hit higher Creatures together! Learn more about these Creatures in our Farming Resources guide.
Learn: Rally Against Player Keeps 
unlocks the ability to send your Dragon into a rally with your Allegiance when attacking other players’ Keeps. This can greatly reduce your losses when faced with a formidable Army.
Learn: Reinforce Owned Seat of Power 
unlocks the ability to send your Dragon to defend your own Seat of Power. This can greatly reduce your losses when defending your well-earned castle.
Learn: Occupy Seats of Power 
unlocks the ability to send your Dragon into battle at Seats of Power in Takeover Marches. Learn more about Takeover Marches in our PvP guide.
Learn: Reinforce Allied Seats of Power unlocks the ability to send your Dragon to defend your Allegiance members’ Seats of Power. Be an asset to your teammates in their defenses as well!
The boosts in this tree offer major gains in Defensive stats but only take effect when your Dragon is with your troops. The skills with Defender in the title additionally only take effect when you are being attacked, so plan wisely when spending your resources and understand the gains in your gameplay.
Buffs in this tree:
Defend the Masses 
increases your troop’s defenses in all situations when the Dragon is present.
Dragon Defender Health 
increases your Army’s Health when Defending.
Dragon Defender Defense 
increases your Army’s Defenses when Defending.
Dragon Defender Attack 
increases your Army’s Attack when Defending.
Dragon Health Regeneration 
increases the speed at which your Dragon heals when its Health bar is depleted.
Dragon Health 
increases your Dragon’s Health bar.
This tree offers three separate branches to specialize your abilities. One offering troop attack defense and health on hunts, one march size and speed on hunts as well as speed toward gathering resources, and one offering additional speed in gathering them. All of these boosts are only effective with your Dragon in the march.
Unique buffs in this tree:
Fast Gather: Resources 
increase the speed at which your troops gather.
Army Support: March Size 
and Speed buffs 
vs Creatures & Resources help you farm resources from Creatures and Resource Tiles quicker and with fewer losses. For more information on these see our Farming Resources guide.
Attack / Defense & Health from the Air 
give your troops additional strength when attacking Creatures accompanied by your Dragon. This can both allow you to hunt larger Creatures than with just your soldiers and also cut down your healing bills from wounded men & women after a hunt.
This tree offers skills such as March Size & Speed, Repel Strike strength and the Tenacity that Fuels it, Dragon Attack vs Dragons, Wall Damage, and many additional boosts for your troops when the Dragon is with them.
Unique buffs in this tree:
Dragon Tenacity increases your Dragon’s Tenacity bar.
Dragon Attack vs Dragons 
buff the Dragon’s Attack strength vs it’s fellow Dragons.
Repel Strike: Max Damage increases the damage done by Repel Strike when active.
Breach the Wall increases the Wall Damage of your Siege troops when marching with the Dragon.
This tree offers additional March Size & Speed, Tenacity, and Troop boosts as Adolescent, but adds Fire Breath intensity as well as Dragon Attack, Defense, and Health boosts for your Dragon itself.
Unique buffs in this tree:
Dragon: Fire Breath Damage increases the effects of Fire Breath when active. This is the only research which actually makes your precious Fire Stone go further in its effectiveness! Much less costly than the additional charges you can gain from the Nurturing tree.
Tenacity is the same buff as explained in the Adolescent tree above but the boosts gained here are far greater!
Dragon Attack 
buffs your Dragon’s attack power permanently.
Dragon Health buffs your Dragon’s health power permanently.
Dragon Defense 
buffs your Dragon’s defense boost permanently.
Dragon Level Base Statistics
We’ve touched on the buffs you can gain in Dragon Attack, Defense, & Health through Research and Talents. Below, you will see that as your Dragon grows these effects also increase. You will see the effects of your work on these buffs more and more as they gain base strength!
10% Increase on Dragon Attack vs Dragons at Level 45:
171,214 x 110% = 188,335
A gain of 17,121
10% Increase on Dragon Attack vs Dragons at Level 65:
451,239 x 110% = 496,363
A gain of 45,124 for the same 10% buff!
Overall, the benefits you gain from your Dragon can be quite tailored to your own needs! Through careful training & research, you can increase the likelihood of attaining your goals in Westeros.
“Dragons are intelligent, more intelligent than men according to some Maesters. They have affection for their friends and fury for their enemies.”
–Tyrion Lannister