Skip to Content

Reigns: Game of Thrones Advanced Guide: Tips, Tricks & Cheats to Unlock Special Abilities and Finish the Game

A little over a week after its launch on iOS, Android, and Steam, Nerial and Devolver Digital’s Reigns: Game of Thrones continues its rule over several gaming platforms with steadily increasing downloads and massively positive reviews. As this simple swipe ‘em up masterpiece has proven to hold several hours-worth of gameplay, it has similarly demonstrated to contain tons of contents that you can unlock to further enhance your gameplay. While some of it may actually be chanced upon within regular gameplay, some may take several playthroughs and a bit of trial and error.

As we have established in our Reigns: Game of Thrones beginner’s guide, unlocking all playable characters is not the end of your journey as there are still some cards you would want to unlock and of course, finishing the game with all characters is a must if you want to see the true ending. If you haven’t read our beginner’s guide yet, please do so and if you are not familiar with any of the Reigns games be sure to check out our Reigns tips and tricks, as well as our Reigns: Her Majesty guide.

As we have already uncovered how to have Daenerys Targaryen survive winter in our previous guide, we will continue on guiding you through finishing the game with the rest of the characters. Before doing so, however, we will go through unlocking each character’s special ability card to help them make it through winter a little easier. If you have played Reigns: Game of Thrones long enough, you should be familiar with the 8 common ways to die in the game as a result of excessive or deficient levels in any of the 4 factions. As each of the 8 regular characters can acquire immunity from one of these perilous fates, unlocking those special abilities becomes an important and almost necessary feat to raise your chances of surviving the winter.

Though, considering that you will have a lot of cards once you unlock all the characters, there are still instances left to chance in terms of them happening before you fall victim to some random event that may prevent you from even making it to 25 moons in power which is the start of winter. Keep in mind that the Reigns series is banked on having patience as you play, so don’t give up if you missed the required events on your first few tries. As everything you’ll see below is obviously filled with spoilers, be warned! If you want to try and unlock abilities on your own then stop right here, else feel free to read beyond our Spoiler Alert!

1. Unlocking Each Character’s Special Ability

Daenerys Targaryen

One of the easiest special ability to unlock in Reigns: Game of Thrones is the Dracarys card exclusively for Daenerys. It reads, “Drogon is awake! The great Houses are afraid of him. The people’s love is no longer a threat to the throne.” As you may very well know at this point in time, tending too much to your subjects even with all good intentions can lead them to turn against you and revolt. As you make decisions in favor of the people time and again and maximizing the level of the people’s satisfaction, it will always lead you to your death. Apparently, though, with Drogon awake and at your side you will be permanently immune to this cause of death and no matter how many times you max out the subject’s icon, you can always just summon Drogon instead of opting for the “what” as your famous last word.

reigns game of thrones daenerys targaryen special abilities

To unlock Dracarys, be sure to keep an eye out for when the one of your subjects inform you that something is wrong with Drogon. You can choose to have the grand maester tend to him or go see him yourself. When it comes to the point where you choose to visit Drogon in the dragon pit where he has been sleeping for days, choose to say, “Dracarys” instead of “Drogon” to awaken him and unlock your special ability.

Tyrion Lannister

Perhaps a common way to meet your doom in Reigns: Game of Thrones is going bankrupt and having the Treasury go after your head. As there will be many expenditures arising from a lot of the decisions you need to make not just to maintain balance in your kingdom but also to prepare for winter, being able to disregard running out of funds can be great “cheat” on its own, and that is what Tyrion’s Debtless ability card is all about. Unlocking this card gives Tyrion a permanent ability to have expertise in money matters in such a way that he will always find a way to replenish the treasury.

To unlock the Debtless permanent ability card as Tyrion, wait for the banker Brachar Ostion approach you and tell you about your superb expertise as a Master of Coin. In a sort of role-play, choose to not be flattered and don’t show as much respect to the banker. It is important to impose your character as someone not afraid of the Iron Bank less care for what they think. Once he offers a contribution for your kingdom, simply asking him what would happen if you refuse to accept will lead to unlocking the Debtless ability card. From here moving forward, you can spend as much as you like without worrying about bankruptcy.

Jon Snow

Another easy ability card to unlock is King Crow, which grants Jon Snow immunity from the perils of tyranny. With this permanent ability card, no one will doubt Jon’s authority or his honor even if he hoards as much power as possible. Once unlocked, you are free to decide in favor of the army and not be worried about them having too much power to try and overthrow you. As a lot of decisions you make will involve raising the army’s power along or in contrast with one or two other factions, having one less thing to worry about will be a great aid to further stretch your rule.

To unlock the King Crow ability card, simply wait for a chance to speak with Daenerys, which will probably happen every time you play as Jon Snow. Simply act like Jon Snow (with how much you know him in the TV series) and ask where she has been, and that you need her. She will however tell you otherwise and that you are a legitimate heir and the future of Westeros. After your conversation with Daenerys, you will unlock the permanent ability card and can muster as much military power as you want moving forward.

Sansa Stark

Sansa’s permanent ability card grants you immunity opposite to that of Jon Snow’s. The North Remembers makes Sansa’s bannermen support her claim to the throne, no matter the situation. As such it is no longer necessary to amass military power and having no power at all will not lead to her death. With your army’s reduction in strength one less concern, then acquiring this ability can make you focus on the other factions you need to tend to. Although there are a variety of situations that will come to test your prowess in constantly keeping things in balance, it will still be handy to have this up your sleeve.

To unlock Sansa’s The North remembers, simply choose to visit Winterfell when your Hand or adviser suggests so. There are various secision points along the way but none of that matters much as long as you get to meet Jon Snow when you reach Winterfell. Jon Snow will welcome you and tell you that your father’s bannermen are all there to welcome you as well. Simply respond by saying that they are your bannermen and that will automatically unlock your permanent ability card.

Arya Stark

As the governance of your kingdom requires keeping a good enough relationship with the church, balancing between doing what they favor and what they despise can be a very difficult task sometimes, especially when you are uncertain how an action which impacts the church will be a positive or a negative one. If you’ve played enough of Reigns: Game of Thrones, then surely you would have encountered several deaths at the hands of faceless assassins hired by the church to kill you when you max out favoring them. Arya Stark’s permanent ability card, Faceless, grants you permanent immunity from deaths resulting from this common scenario as you become untouchable and will have no assassin to dare and approach you once you unlock it.

Acquiring this ability card may take a while and there are also playthroughs when the scene may not take place immediately. As assassins always say, “valar morghulis” which means “all men must die”, be sure to pay close attention to Lord Rylon or your hand when he tells you that he heard rumors about a septon hiring faceless men as assassins in Westeros. Once you see this statement, be sure to respond with “valar dohaeris” which means “all men must serve”. Immediately after that, you will unlock Arya’s Faceless ability card and need not worry about maxing out favors for the church.

Gendry

This is perhaps one of the trickiest permanent ability cards to unlock in the game and one which should also be cherished. As you may not typically see playing as Gendry would relate to immunity from showing little love to the people of Westeros, that is exactly what the Bastard King ability card is all about. Once unlocked, the people of Westeros will consider Gendry as one of their own and will never overthrow him, even if they have been mistreated again and again. With this card, you can forget about playing as the righteous people-loving ruler and completely disregard the welfare of your loyal subjects and instead focus your efforts more on keeping all other factions within manageable levels of power.

reigns game of thrones gendry special abilities

After playing Reigns: Game of Thrones several times over, you have surely been into the tavern trying to eavesdrop on some random people. While playing as Gendry, be sure to take any chance to visit the tavern when presented with an opportunity to do so. Don’t listen in on anyone unless someone starts talking about you. Once you do, keep on choosing to continue to listen and be ready to reveal yourself once presented with an opportunity to do so. After revealing yourself, you will unlock Gendry’s Bastard King ability card and moving forward, you can freely choose to put the people’s best interest as your least priority.

Cersei Lannister

You probably wouldn’t role-play that much as a mad queen when playing Cersei in Reigns: Game of Thrones as trying to stay true to her character will most likely get you killed in the game sooner than what you would want it to be. While playing as Queen Cersei, like the rest of the characters, there will be numerous decision points involving the church and pleasing them can be as much deadly as going against them. In the case of Cersei, however, acquiring the Baelor’s Bane ability card can make you veer against the church’s preference and show dominance over them again and again. Just to give you some trivial information, Baelor refers to the ninth Targaryen king who was also a priest and was much loved by the people of Westeros and the Great Sept of Baelor refers to the central place of worship for the Faith of the Seven which was destroyed by Queen Cersei using wildfire. As such, Queen Cersei’s ability card is named so since it makes her untouchable regardless of how poorly she treats the institution of faith.

There will be several instances when you will encounter septons playing as any of the characters in Reigns: Game of Thrones. In some cases, they will offer forgiveness for your sins and accepting their offer will be favorable for them. As Queen Cersei, this is the perfect opportunity to role-play and be as defiant and manipulative in expressing your willful disregard and disrespect for the septon’s offer. Once you show dominance, you will ceaselessly have the church under your thumb and continuous disregard for what’s favorable for them will not harm you in any way.

Jaime Lannister

It’s probably not as useful as the rest of the permanent immunity cards but Jaime’s The Faithful ability card can still come in handy at times. Since you can also die in Reigns: Game of Thrones as a result of having too much wealth, immunity from such should be appreciated and welcomed as well as this card will prevent you from being killed by your lover when you max out the wealth level of the treasury, granting you one less possible death to worry about while playing as Jaime.

reigns game of thrones jaime lannister special abilities

While playing as Jaime, you will be presented with an option to have Hela work in the castle for you. Once that happens, be patient and be sure to try your best to stay alive as it may take several moons for you to be able to finally unlock the ability card. To be sure, proceed with Cersei’s trial if presented to do so and decide based on what any ruler would do since you may need to be lonely to trigger the next set of scenarios. At some point, Hela will confront you and ask about how much you trust your brother, Tyrion, to which you must respond that you trust him enough. Hela will then confess that she was hired by Tyrion to seduce you and you will express your dismay over this by telling her that Tyrion is an interfering little shit. You will then confront Tyrion and discover that he had no ill intentions as he is merely worried about you and thought that what cheers him up will also cheer you up. After telling him, “You should know…” he will apologize and when you say, “Indeed” you will finally unlock the ability card.

With that, you will have unlocked each of the normal characters’ ability cards which can be very helpful if you want to stay in power long. Although having these abilities doesn’t guarantee that you will survive winter, they will still be of great help in at least reducing the things you need to worry about in the game. Once we have all these ability cards unlocked we move forward to the last hurdles of the game which is surviving winter with each of the characters.

2. Surviving Winter And Reaching The True Ending

As we have discussed on our Reigns: Game of Thrones beginner’s guide, paying attention to the clues provided by the ravens will lead you to acquiring yet another important card, an ability that is essential for you to defeat the white walkers and make it through winter. Keep in mind that you can still fail to do so even if you acquire the necessary card, so be sure to do your best to survive, as it is not permanent and you will again need to acquire the card when you fail on your first attempt. As we have already presented how to survive winter with Daenerys in our previous guide, we will now proceed with the other characters.

Tyrion Lannister

For you to survive winter ruling as Tyrion Lannister, you need to acquire The Trap card which grants you tons of wildfire hidden underneath the lake which you will detonate once white walkers come for you during winter. To acquire this card, be sure to keep an eye out on Balerion the tomcat and try to catch him when he shows up. As you follow him down the dungeon, you will discover a door that you would never find with any of your previous playthroughs. When you meet the pyromancer, keep talking to him until he tells you that he can produce enough wildfire in six moons, so exert your best effort to survive till then. Once he comes to tell you that it has been produced and asks what you want to do with it, choose “Lake” despite contradicting opinions.

You will then travel to Harrenhal and there will be several dichotomous choices you need to decide on. Feel free to choose what you feel is best and once you arrive at the destination, you will obtain the special ability card, The Trap. Be sure to take extra care from here on as you need to survive until winter before you can meet your end. Once a death causing incident occurs, choose, “FIRE!” and you’ll be sure to make it to summer.

Jon Snow

Following the hint “The raven flies a way as a failed Maester grabs a handful of glittering dust” you will need to acquire the Valyrian Dust ability card for Jon Snow to survive through winter. While playing as Jon Snow, you will almost always have communication with Daenerys. Be on a lookout for when a raven arrives bearing a message from Daenarys and take note of a rumor about the Warlocks of Qarth being robbed with the thief being in King’s Landing. Following how rumors go in Reigns: Game of Thrones, take the first opportunity you can to get into the tavern grab some more rumors or so. Be sure to have a good enough level of gold as well before doing so. Pay no attention to everyone else and start listening only when Elrin Thicketh, the pirate, begins to talk.

reigns game of thrones jon snow

Someone will pay interest as well but the pirate will say that only a king can afford to buy it. Offer to buy the precious powder and later on your Hand, Samwell Tarly, will suggest taking the powder and studying it. About two moons later, he will be ready with a recipe that you will hand to Rylon Hunt, the blacksmith, so he can forge Valyrian steel for you and your army. As it takes 8 moons for the blacksmith to forge Valyrian steel weapons, be sure to thread very carefully and survive through that period. Once the blacksmith returns, you will unlock the Valyrian Dust ability card and should only wait for winter to face the white walkers and hack through them.

Sansa Stark

To survive winter with Sansa, you need to obtain the One Kingdom ability card which unites all the kingdoms of Westeros under your rule. If you have played as Sansa many times over, you will know that you are on the right track when you begin to see cards, or story ecenarios you have never encountered in your previous playthroughs. The right path towards acquiring the special card begins when you are asked by a Queensguard if you wish to capture Jaime Lannister. While he is captive, be sure to visit him in his cell and offer your hand in marriage to which Tyrion will respond that it won’t be possible until you are at peace with all your enemies. You will then attend a council meeting and you have to choose diplomacy, following Tyrion’s hint of advice.

In pursuit of peace, be sure to exert effort in making peace with enemies you have as you may already have an idea on how to do so considering all your previous playthroughs. Once the High Septon tells you that there will be a grand ceremony in front of the Seven, be sure to respond by saying, “Not just the seven” which means that everyone will witness the ceremony. Meria Sand will speak with you and you should ask her to come closer. After that, you will finally obtain the One Kingdom ability card and you are practically halfway through this long journey. Once winter has come, you will have to provide a speech and what matters here more is how each decision will impact the 4 factions you need to maintain at a good enough level. Afterwards, you need to lead the battle against the white walkers and just like other battles you have engaged in on your past games, choosing the correct unit on the given scenario can spell your victory. To be sure, choose archers against the monstrous creatures and save Drogon for Viserion. After winning the battle, winter will end and summer will ensue.

Arya Stark

reigns game of thrones arya stark

The raven’s hint for Arya provides that a blonde queen strikes an unexpected alliance. This should serve as a reminder that when ruling Westeros as Arya Stark, you are actually disguised as Cersei Lannister. For you to survive winter with Arya, you need to obtain The Pact, which is basically similar to Sansa’s ability card. To begin your quest towards acquiring this card, wait for Balerion the tomcat to show up and try to chase him down into the dungeon.

Although very tricky, it seems you won’t be able to leave the dungeon until you catch the cat. Just follow the fishy smell, and break through walls if you have to. You’ll soon discover that Bran Stark is using his warg ability to talk to you through the cat and he’s telling you to visit Winterfell. Choose what you would normally do when travelling to Winterfell. When you meet Jon Snow and Sansa Stark in Winterfell, reveal who you truly are to unlock your exclusive ability cards. After you obtain The Pact, you will go through the speech and lead the battle against the white walkers as Sansa did on her playthrough. Survive and the summer season is yours to revel in.

Gendry

For Gendry to survive winter, you must first acquire the Horn of Winter card which wakes slumbering giants to fight against the white walkers. While playing as Gendry you may notice that following your Master of Whisperers when she asks you to will lead to a unique choice not available with any of the other characters. Selecting “Game” from the available choices will reveal Arya Stark, and choosing yes at this point will show 4 face down cards. From left to right, top to bottom, choose card #3. On the next set of choices, pick card #5. Lastly, pick #7 and you will win Arya’s little game. Arya will then tell you that she needs to find a famed horn that has come to the attention of the Iron Bank of Braavos. Agree to have her retrieve it and six moons later, she will return initially disguised as Stefon Ridman. You will now have the Horn of Winter and will only need to survive to 25 moons for winter to start. Once white walkers appear, use your newfound ability and win instantly. You will see through winter’s end and bask in the summer sun.

Cersei Lannister

As one of the easier characters to make it through winter, the raven hints of a great war machine for you to survive through winter with Cersei. To accomplish this feat, Cersei needs to acquire the War Machines ability card which grants her a wildfire-powered arsenal to destroy white walkers. To obtain this, choose to attend a small council meeting at the first opportunity to do so. Pick winter and wildfire as the focus of the council meeting to order the pyromancer to do their research on wildfire.

A couple of moons later, the pyromancer will inform you that he discovered a new way to store wildfire and that’s your cue to order him to start production. As it will take 10 moons for him to be able to finish production, you need to be very careful and make sure you keep everything balanced until the pyromancer returns and you acquire the ability card. It may or still may not be winter at this point in time, so be sure to thread carefully till then. Once winter starts, you can rest easier as an attack from the white walkers will prompt you to use your War Machines to decimate them. With this, you are guaranteed to survive through winter.

Jaime Lannister

reigns game of thrones jaime lannister

Last, but definitely not the least of the playable characters, Jaime Lannister can survive through winter once you obtain The Sword ability card. Following the raven’s hints on this, the mention of a shiny sword alone should be enough to send you towards the right direction especially if you know more than the usual lore surrounding the Game of Thrones world. According to the books, Azor Ahai was a legendary hero who forged the sword Lighbringer to use against the darkness. Unleashing its full power, however, required great sacrifice and Azor Ahai was forced to kill his wife with the sword. To relate this to our game, your quest towards acquiring this great power starts when Tyrion informs you that Cersei has been captured.

As difficult as this should be for Jaime, you should choose to start Cersei’s trial and sentence her to death. Later on in your game, Lord Varys will tell you that people believe you to be their savior, Azor Ahai reborn. This will then unlock Jaime’s The Sword ability card and all that is left for you is to survive until winter. Similar to Sansa and Arya’s climactic winter stages, there will be a speech and a battle. Use the same tactics although you will have the Scorpion instead of Drogon in the battle. Win this battle and its goodbye winter, hello summer for Jaime Lannister.

Dragonglass

Following each playable character’s survival through winter, only one thing remains, surviving through winter with any character with the Dragonglass ability card. While playing through any of the characters, you will surely encounter numerous scenarios about a shaft of dragonglass being discovered and you will be given an option to begin mining it. With whomever you feel you are most comfortable doing it, feel free to do so, just keep in mind that you will need to allocate a lot of your funds for you to mine 10,000 shards of dragonglass so it’s going to be a challenge.

Additionally, as you will already have a lot of cards unlocked at this point in time, the needed scenario may not be available soon enough. In any case, just be sure to select the affirmative decision when mining dragonglass is presented. Once you have mined enough, you will unlock the Dragonglass ability card and the remaining task is to survive until winter. Following the usual speech and battle like we have gone through before, the same exact tactics will work. After the battle, your survival through winter has reached its end and summer will reign.

Once you survive through winter with all nine possible ways, you will finally be able to see the full image of the Weirwood formed from the then images of the nine ravens. See the short ending and you will be given a choice to reset everything or continue on with your game.

Whew! That sure was a long but enjoyable journey through our Reigns: Game of Thrones advanced guide! We’d like to think that we pretty much covered everything in this game with both our Reigns: Game of Thrones strategy guides, but then again it’s pretty huge and there may still be a lot of secrets to discover. Hopefully, you were able to read through the entirety of our guide and still had some things left for you to discover on your own. We would really appreciate knowing if we still missed anything, so if you do find additional tips or tricks, be sure to share it with us!