Quests of the Known World

This is a very difficult and time-consuming task. You will probably need to spend hundreds of thousands and even over a million silver stags, and obtain thousands or at least several hundred, troops. Although not strictly necessary, you will also want access to the obsidian deposits on Dragonstone, either by owning Dragonstone or being friendly with its owner.

White Walkers and their wights can be killed only by special weapons and troops wielding them. These include: Any Valyrian steel weapon, any obsidian weapons including obsidian arrows and fire arrows, and any weapon blessed with fire, such as Thoros of Myr’s sword. Additionally, giants can kill them with their clubs and stone axes. Some unique weapons like Dawn, Bloodbringer, and Lightbringer are not made from Valyrian steel or obsidian, or blessed by fire, and therefore cannot be used to kill wights. (The dagger Silence can kill wights but not White Walkers.)

As a result, troops that can kill wights and White Walkers include at least the following: Any giants, including Dongo and Wun-Wun. Any troops hired from the Obsidian mine, such as axemen and spearmen. Any troops with fire arrows, such as Night’s Watch Rangers. Elite R’hllor troops with weapons blessed with fire, such as the Fiery Scimitars of Fireborn and Fireborn Guard. Some other troops, like the Old Gods Shield Guard and its upgrades, which have obsidian weapons. Some troops such as Thenn Chosen Axemen have obsidian daggers, but these are very ineffective.

The main obsidian troops can be hired only from the Obsidian mine (Obsidian Deposits) found on the island where Dragonstone is. The deposits need to be developed into a mine first. As of version 11.5, you don’t need to own Dragonstone, but it can make doing this easier. Talk to the Village Elder of Aenar’s Rest to gain permission to build the mine. You need to pay 70 000 stags to get the permission. Additionally, you need to have 12 stone, 12 timber, and 7 tools in your inventory to start building the mine. Household inventory accessible from your Master of Coin or other officials can be helpful with storing these items while you gather them. Points in the inventory management skill help you have enough space in your inventory. Once the mine is completed, you can walk around the mine and speak to Duncas to hire different obsidian troops, at a cost of 35,000 stags per 50 axemen or spearmen. Mounted troops are slightly more expensive, archers slightly cheaper. The mine produces a limited number of obsidian per day, and troops can be hired only if there is enough obsidian in the stockpile. The mine can be upgraded to increase the obsidian production rate.

You will likely need at least a thousand obsidian troops to defeat even one of the White Walker parties, which typically have over 4000 troops. Bridges could be a useful location for the fight, as controlling the bridge can funnel the wights into a chokepoint and allow archers to shoot at them safely while melee troops stop them from leaving the bridge. However, because the wights are very fast, reaching the bridge in time to control it can be difficult. Bridges also limit player mobility.

In theory, in addition to the obsidian mine troops or even instead of them, you could amass troops such as Fireborn or Old Gods troops, but troops other than the obsidian mine troops are generally much more difficult and time-consuming to amass in sufficient numbers.

The player can contribute to the fight by riding around, distracting the wights and shooting at them with obsidian arrows, and by hitting them with a suitable weapon, but be careful not to be injured, as battles using autoresolve will heavily favour the wights.

Unlike in the Game of Thrones show, killing the White Walkers or the Night King does not affect the wights; they act simply as slightly stronger troops mixed in with the wights. Alongside Wight giants, they should therefore be a priority for the player to kill personally if possible.

If the player has Free Folk heritage and over 600 renown, giants can be hired from Mortik, who is found in the lord’s hall of Frostfang’s Camp. Giants are very powerful, and a large enough group (e.g., 20 or more) can potentially take on hundreds of wights with no losses, especially if shielded with a mix of other troops like axemen.

As of version 11.5, the following strategy is known to be successful with battle size set to 300: Gather at least 20 giants and 500+ obsidian troops (you probably need less if you have a lower battle size or can kill many wights yourself). Having high tactics skill on yourself or a companion also helps. Assign the giants and obsidian troops into the same battle group (e.g., infantry). At the start of each battle with White Walkers, order them into a shield wall (Using commands F4, F5 during battle). Ordering them to stand closer might also help (F2, F4). The obsidian troops will form a frontline that protects the giants, while the giants do damage from behind them. Some obsidian troops will be killed or wounded, but the giants should survive. If you have the natural leader trait, press U periodically to “rally your troops,” which will partially heal your giants.

Some amount of normal troops can be brought as padding for better battle advantage, even though they cannot damage the wights. Order your troops in your party list from top to bottom in the order of priority for them to show up in the battle, e.g. Giants at the top, obsidian troops after them, normal troops and your healer and tactics companions at the bottom.

The White Walker parties can initially be found north of the Wall and near Castle black, but will eventually migrate south. Parties can end up, for example, in the Vale or as far south as the Reach. A White Walker party is known to sometimes get stuck near the village of Fingers in the Vale.

Some time after the Night King’s party and all the White Walker parties are defeated, you will meet again with a messenger of R’hllor. He will tell you that the White Walkers have been defeated, and will tell you to visit the Temple of Light, which is found near Volantis. Enter the temple and talk to Benerro to receive your reward, which is a two-handed flaming Valyrian steel sword.