Quick Answer
- To survive a dragon that is not yours, lower your eyes. Meeting its gaze, approaching confidently or drawing a weapon is how most cadets die.
- The most reliable bond: Continue to Valley Center → Is your dragon → You’re sure → Continue approach → Touch its talon (Red).
- Black and Blue dragons only appear by luck, through a random shadow option after you climb the tallest tree. See the Black dragon guide.
- Every death locks Threshing for 4 hours.
§1 The Route Map
Every Threshing run moves through the same stages. Who you enter with and which way you walk only change which dragon you meet first, and that first dragon is almost never yours. The decision that really shapes your bond comes after an hour of walking, at the fork in the forest.
Each answer below is tagged with how well it has been tested. Tested means we ran it ourselves. Community-mapped comes from the pathway chart a r/fourthwing player built across 30+ accounts. Player reports means several players on r/fourthwing describe the same result. Single report means one player said it worked.
1 Entering the Valley
Your first choice is whether to enter the Threshing Valley alone, with one squadmate or with two. Then you pick a direction. This decides which pool your first dragon sighting is drawn from. You will meet one dragon from that pool at random.
| You enter | Direction | Possible first dragon | Confidence |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alone | East, towards the roar | Red (A) Orange (A) | Community-mapped |
| West, towards the scent | Red (A) Brown (A) Green (A) | Tested | |
| Towards the forest center | Red (A) Brown (A) | Community-mapped | |
| With one squadmate | East | Green (B) Orange (B) | Community-mapped |
| West | Red (B) Brown (B) | Community-mapped | |
| With two squadmates | East | Red (C) Orange (C) | Community-mapped |
| West | Green (C) Brown (C) | Community-mapped |
If you leave your squadmates behind, you continue as if you had entered alone. Entering alone gives the encounters that behave most like the book, where Kaori teaches cadets to keep their eyes down.
2 First Dragon Sighting
Your goal here is simply to survive. This dragon walks away if you show respect. The safe answers are below; anything marked with a skull got cadets incinerated.
| Scene | Safe choice | Avoid |
|---|---|---|
| Red (A) lying on the ground | Hide behind a tree · Lower eyes in respect | Meet its gaze untested, likely death |
| Red (B) stalking towards you | Lower eyes in respect | ☠ Hide behind a tree |
| Red (C) lying on the ground | Jump behind the boulder | ☠ Stand your ground |
| Orange (A) slinking towards you | Hide behind a boulder · Lower eyes and retreat | Approach confidently |
| Orange (B) landing in front of you | Lower eyes and retreat | ☠ Hide behind a boulder |
| Orange (C) slinking towards you | Lower eyes and retreat | ☠ Lock arms ☠ Approach from the left |
| Green (A/B) growling in the brambles | Lower eyes & hold ground (A also: drop weapon) | Approach from the left |
| Green (C) two greens sunning | Lower eyes & hold position | Approaching either one |
| Brown (A) landing behind you | Lower eyes and hold still · Lower eyes and face it Tested | Run |
| Brown (B) baring its teeth | Lower eyes in respect | Approach confidently · Run |
| Brown (C) landing in front of you | Help your squadmate | ☠ Stand on your own |
The pattern is consistent across players: lowering your eyes keeps you alive; meeting a dragon's gaze, walking up to it or reaching for a weapon is what gets cadets burned. When the dragon leaves, the game tells you it was not your dragon. That is good news. Keep walking.
3 The Scream
Twenty minutes later you pass the ash of other cadets and hear voices and a scream. You choose to investigate or keep walking.
Investigate: a squadmate is being attacked
- Leave them to find your dragon: safe, you move on. Tested
- Help them → Put yourself in the middle: ☠ Killed in combat
- Help them → Charge the other cadet: usually killed, with a low chance of success.
- Help them → Assess the situation → Engage the smaller cadet: you win the fight. Ignoring the dagger gets you killed.
- After winning you decide the bullies' fate: your squadmate's revenge, kill them yourself or let the dragons sort it out.
Keep walking: an injured cadet
You trip over a cadet who has lost a leg. You can use their belt as a tourniquet, leave them to die or take their weapons. All three let you continue.
Why this matters later: the player who mapped 30+ accounts found that every successful Green or Brown bond had either let the dragons judge the bullies or applied the tourniquet, while every successful Red or Orange bond had killed the bullies, handed them to the squadmate or left the injured cadet. An Orange will burn you for roaring at it if you saved the cadet. Community-mapped
4 Fork in the Forest
You walk for the better part of an hour without meeting another dragon. A thorn cuts your hand and you smell burning from the north. Now comes the choice that decides your bonding scene:
| Choice | Then | Leads to |
|---|---|---|
| Find the tallest tree and climb | Climb down slowly to pursue the green | The two greens → Green Orange Brown |
| Descend quickly | The red below you Tested | |
| ★ Follow the shadow (only appears sometimes) | Blue, then Black | |
| Continue toward the center of the valley | Red bond or the meadow | |
From the treetop you see branches moving like a wave as dragons prowl below, and a large green in the nearest clearing. Usually you get two options. On lucky runs a third option appears: a shadow. That is the only known entrance to the Black dragon.
5 The Two Greens
Climb down slowly and you enter a clearing with two green dragons. This is the scene that kills the most players, almost always for indecision.
- Stay neutral: ☠ Incinerated
- After turning to one green, glancing at the other: ☠ Incinerated
- Turn to a green, then Don't move a muscle → Hold your ground. The green asks you a question.
| You turned to | Answer | Result | Confidence |
|---|---|---|---|
| The right dragon | Greens have the best magic | Green bond | Community-mapped |
| You respect their nature | Green bond | Community-mapped | |
| Intellect match | ☠ Incinerated | Community-mapped | |
| You don't know | ☠ Incinerated | Community-mapped | |
| The left dragon (asks your weakness) | You struggle with temper | Green bond | Community-mapped |
| You always overextend | Green bond | Player reports | |
| You're always right | An Orange swoops in: Orange bond | Community-mapped | |
| You lack flaws | Usually ☠; some players were rescued by an Orange or Brown | Player reports |
Players also describe a Brown dragon swooping in to save them from an offended green, calling them an idiot and bonding them anyway. If the green raises its tail, do not step back.
6 The Red Below You
Descend the tree quickly and a red dragon is prowling ten feet beneath you.
- Jump now and land on its back: ☠ Incinerated Tested
- Jump in a few seconds, closer to its tail, then lower your eyes: ☠ Incinerated. Holding its gaze is untested.
- Reds are too hot-tempered, take your chance with the green (or wait and pursue the green): you go to the two greens. This is the safest way out.
7 Valley Center: the Red Bond
Skip the tree and continue toward the center of the valley. A red dragon appears and you are moved by an instinctual feeling. This is the most reliable bond in the game.
- This is your dragon
- You're sure
- Continue approach
- Touch its talon or run to mount its foreleg → Red bond Community-mapped
Choosing on second thought or exit gracefully is untested. If you decide it is not your dragon, it leaves and you walk on to the meadow.
8 The Meadow: Orange & Brown
Pass on the red and you reach a meadow with an Orange and a Brown. On lucky runs a Blue appears as a third option. Players report it shows up more often if you killed the bullies earlier.
Brown
- Follow the brown → Your heart is sure → Mount the brown's tail → Throw your weight → Brown bond Community-mapped
- Waiting for a better angle, chasing it indecisively or having second thoughts: ☠ Incinerated
- Shouting at it to stop leads to a mud fight. Throwing mud back gets you burned; players who wiped it off describe being bonded.
Orange
- Absolutely sure → Roar right back at it → Mount (run up the claw) → Orange bond, but only if you killed the bullies or did not save the injured cadet earlier. Community-mapped
- Running, fleeing or having second thoughts: ☠ Incinerated
- Oranges are the most unpredictable dragons. Players report they burn cadets at random more often than other colors.
§ Common Deaths
- Meeting a dragon's gaze or approaching it confidently during the first sighting.
- Putting yourself between your squadmate and the bullies.
- Staying neutral, or looking at the other green, in the two-green clearing.
- Jumping onto the red's back after descending the tree quickly.
- Second thoughts, hesitation or indecisive chasing in any bonding scene.
Each death means a 4-hour wait. There is also a small chance a dragon refuses you no matter what.
§ Sources & Confidence
This route map combines three sources. Our own runs at dragonkind.com. The community pathway chart shared on r/fourthwing by a player who mapped more than 30 accounts. Their notes say it is a work in progress with possible errors, and full credit goes to them. And reports collected from the r/fourthwing Dragon Bonding Megathread. Scene descriptions are paraphrased. Choice labels match the game so you can find them on screen.
Found a route we are missing, or a result that contradicts this page? The game has a random element, so every new report helps. We update this map as new runs come in.
§ FAQ
What is the easiest dragon to bond in Dragonkind?
Red. Choose to continue to the valley center, say the red is your dragon, confirm you are sure, keep approaching and touch its talon. The community-mapped chart marks this as one of the most reliable bonds.
Do my choices matter, or is Dragonkind random?
Both. Choices decide which bonding scene you reach and whether certain bonds succeed, but there is a random element. Players with identical choices on different accounts report different outcomes, and Black and Blue dragons only appear by luck.
Why did a green dragon burn me?
The two greens punish indecision. Choosing to stay neutral, or glancing at the other green after you turned to one, gets you incinerated. Pick one, do not move, hold your ground and answer honestly.
Does helping my squadmate get me killed?
It can. Standing between your squadmate and the bullies gets you killed in combat. Assessing the situation and engaging the smaller cadet is the tested way to win that fight. Leaving them is safe but may affect later bonds.
Can I undo a choice?
Choice screens show a Back button, but we have not confirmed whether it lets you change an answer you already locked in. We will update this page once tested.