Fan guide

How to Approach Each Dragon Color in Fourth Wing and Dragonkind

In the books, riders are taught a few rules for how to approach a dragon of each color. Many Dragonkind players are testing whether the game follows them. This page lists the book rules as fan sites summarise them, then what players report from the game. It is an unofficial fan guide.

The rules from the books

In Fourth Wing, riders learn a few warnings about dragon colors from Colonel Kaori's field guide and from class. We have paraphrased them rather than copying the text. The book gives specific advice for three colors only.

Red: never look a red dragon in the eye. In a class scene, cadets say reds are best approached from the left and from the front, if you must approach at all. Reds have the shortest tempers.
Green: never back down from a green. The narrator also recalls that you should lower your eyes in supplication and wait for the dragon's approval. Greens are the most rational line.
Brown: do not show fear or hesitation. Browns are steady and honest.
Blue: the book describes blues as huge and the most ruthless, but it gives no approach rule that we could find. Some fan sites say riders are told to avoid blue dragons. We could not find that in the book.
Orange: no approach rule that we could find. Oranges are the most unpredictable.
Black: no simple rule. Blacks are the rarest and the most discerning.

What players report from Dragonkind

Nobody outside the game's makers knows how closely the game follows the book rules. Some players report that lowering your eyes seems to help with green dragons and that avoiding a red dragon's eyes helps, but these are single reports, not a tested rule. The game also burns roughly one run in ten whatever you choose, as Rebecca Yarros has said, so one bad result proves very little. See our Dragonkind game guide for the basics.

The blue dragon in Dragonkind

If you are here for how to get a blue dragon on Dragonkind, this is what players report. Two places come up, and the reports disagree about which is the main one.

The shadow route (a bond confirmed by moderators). Climb the tallest tree at the fork, then take the random "follow the shadow" option if it appears. Players report holding still and bowing to the blue dragon, and leaving the injured cadet alone for now. The shadow option does not appear on every run.
The meadow (reported by several players, no moderator confirmation). Several posts in the r/fourthwing bonding threads say the blue dragon appears in the meadow beside the orange and brown dragons, and at least one says it is always there.

Both cannot be the only place, so at least one of these reports is wrong or incomplete. We do not know which is the main route.

The black dragon uses the same shadow option, but the choices after it are different: players report letting the blue dragon pass and helping the injured cadet instead. See how to get a black dragon: what players report. Moderators have said there is no guaranteed way to get a blue or a black dragon. It depends on whether the shadow option appears.

What we do not know

Whether the game uses the book rules at all. The official sources have not said.
Whether orange, brown and blue have approach rules in the game.
How often the shadow option appears. Players report needing many attempts.

Practise without the wait

After a burn the official game keeps you out for about four hours. Our free practice run has no wait. Its dragons and story are invented, so it is a rehearsal, not the official game. To learn the words on your screen, see Dragonkind terms explained. For the dragons from the books, see every named dragon in Fourth Wing.

Practice the Threshing, no wait Which book dragon would bond with you?

Dragon Rider HQ is an unofficial fan site, not affiliated with Rebecca Yarros, Entangled Publishing or the makers of Dragonkind. Details are from the books, fan summaries and player reports as of October 2026 and may change. Play the official game at dragonkind.com.