Age of Wonders 4 Obsidian Dragon: Unlock and Evolve

How to Unlock the Obsidian Dragon

The Age of Wonders 4 obsidian dragon starts with Young Dragon research and Very Evil alignment. Research alone won’t make the young Obsidian variant available in your cities. Reach the required alignment, recruit it, and raise it into an adult dragon.

The Tome of Dragons provides the Young Dragon research used for this route in Dragon Dawn. Your alignment determines access to the Gold and Obsidian variants:

Young Dragon variant	Alignment requirement
Fire	Available by default through Young Dragon research
Frost	Available by default through Young Dragon research
Gold	Very Good or higher
Obsidian	Very Evil or lower

Pure Evil is unnecessary; Very Evil is sufficient. Likewise, Gold requires at least Very Good rather than Pure Good.

Your alignment when research finishes does not permanently determine which variants you can recruit. Completing Young Dragon research while Neutral leaves the alignment-dependent variants accessible later, once you meet their requirements.

If the Obsidian option is missing, check your current alignment category before restarting your campaign. A slightly evil empire has not reached the required threshold.

Official page: Age of Wonders 4 (paradoxinteractive.com)

How to Evolve Your Young Dragon

Recruiting a Young Obsidian Dragon is the beginning of the process. It needs to gain ranks and evolve into its adult form.

Image: www.paradoxinteractive.com

Protect it while it develops. Bring it into manageable battles alongside an army that can keep it alive, and avoid risking it in a difficult siege simply to chase experience. Losing a young dragon means replacing the unit and repeating its development.

For an achievement run, check the unit’s actual form rather than counting recruitment as completion. Draconic Connoisseur involves adult dragons, so having all four young variants is an intermediate milestone.

There is also a recruitment alternative at Hoard of the Fallen, the landmark marked by a giant dragon skeleton. A city next to this landmark offers another route to obtaining the dragons, including an achievement route using recruited adults. Gold and Obsidian still require the corresponding alignment thresholds. Use this option when the landmark is available in your realm rather than building your entire campaign around finding it.

Getting Draconic Connoisseur in One Game

Draconic Connoisseur concerns dragon units rather than your Dragon Ruler’s appearance. Plan to keep Fire, Frost, Gold, and Obsidian adult dragons alive together in the same game. Collecting different types across separate campaigns does not complete the collection.

Image: Steam / Triumph Studios

For a deliberate achievement run, get Gold before turning evil:

1. Reach Very Good alignment. Forgive grievances and choose opportunities that improve alignment.
2. Complete Young Dragon research. Recruit a Gold dragon while you meet its requirement, along with Fire and Frost.
3. Keep those dragons safe. Recruit a spare Gold dragon if you want insurance before changing alignment.
4. Shift toward Very Evil. Pillaging and razing cities provide ways to lower alignment.
5. Recruit the Young Obsidian Dragon. Finish developing the collection into adult dragons and keep every type alive until the achievement unlocks.

Starting with Gold avoids having to rebuild a strongly evil empire’s alignment while protecting an existing collection. Pillaging creates a practical route downward once your Gold dragon is secured.

Recovering an Evil-to-Good Run

If you already have Obsidian and still need Gold, preserve opportunities to gain positive alignment. Release captured heroes, forgive grievances, and release resource-guarding marauders when the encounter offers that choice.

Watch your military actions during the climb. Continued pillaging can undo progress toward Very Good, even while you are making positive diplomatic choices.

Keep your captured heroes available until you decide whether you need the alignment from releasing them. Executing them removes that option, making the return toward Gold’s recruitment threshold harder.