Five items.
Two upgrades.

The rule: five becomes two.

In Dragon & Elfs, merging five identical items produces two upgraded items. The objects must match; five different pieces from the same chain are not five identical items.

A simple illustration of the merge rule.

Think of a merge chain as a sequence of forms. A five-item merge takes matching objects at one stage and produces a pair at the next stage.

A small planning example.

Imagine you have ten identical items and want to use them in groups of five. Here is the result of making two separate five-item merges:

Those four upgraded items are still one short of a new group of five at their stage. This example counts separate five-item merges; it does not describe what every larger batch or automatic chain reaction will do.

Plan one chain at a time.

1. Choose an object you want to develop. Pick a chain whose next form interests you.
2. Look for matching copies. Count items at the same stage rather than combining every related object into your count.
3. Decide what to keep working on. After a merge, look at what remains before starting the next group.

You can use a small part of your home to keep your current project easy to see. This is a suggested way to organize your play, not a requirement for every stage.

When the pieces are hard to find.

As your collection grows, Black Hole helps gather matching items. Wormhole organizes items across a merge chain. That difference is useful when you need either more copies of one object or a view of the related stages.

Read the Black Hole and Wormhole guide →

Tool access requirements are shown in the game. Neither tool changes the five-to-two rule described here.

Keep the next discovery in sight.

The arithmetic is only part of the appeal. Elves, plants and other objects develop as you play, while your home gradually grows. Choose the collections you enjoy working on and use the merge rule to plan those projects.

For exact stage layouts and player walkthroughs, visit the community stage guide.