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  ===Critical reception===
  "The Spoils of War" received widespread acclaim from critics, who listed the battle between Daenerys Targaryen and Jaime Lannister, Arya's return to Winterfell and interaction with Brienne, and Daenerys and Jon Snow's conversation at Dragonstone as high points of the episode. It has received a 97% rating on the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes from 43 reviews with an average score of 9.2 out of 10. The site's consensus reads "'The Spoils of War' delivers arguably the greatest battle sequence of the series so far, in exciting, epic, fiery spectacle." The episode also currently holds a 9.8 out of 10 community rating on IMDb, making it one of the highest-rated episodes on the website.
  Matt Fowler of IGN wrote in his review for the episode, "The past three ''Thrones'' episodes now have ended with big action set pieces, but the Dragon/Dothraki battle down in The Reach, in "The Spoils of War," was one of the most gripping and magnificent ones to date. It may even rival "Hardhome" in terms of spectacle." He continued, "''Game of Thrones'' pulled no punches and showed no quarter this week as we witnessed one of the fiercest and most engaging battles the show's ever produced, featuring major fan-favorite characters on opposite sides of the fight. On top of that, Arya, after seven years, made her way home to Winterfell and managed to best Brienne of Tarth in a friendly training session. There are three Starks in Winterfell right now, but with Littlefinger there poisoning the well, things still aren't quite right." He gave the episode a 10 out of 10. Myles McNutt of ''The A.V. Club'' similarly praised the concluding battle sequence: "The Spoils Of War" lives up to its title by reinforcing how much more fruitful war is as a storytelling mechanism at this point in the series' life." He also compared the episode to the previous episode, "The Queen's Justice", which had two battles that largely took place off-screen, writing "Here, the battle is told through multiple perspectives, each vested with meaning and purpose: our point-of-view shifts between Dany and Drogon and Jaime and Bronn, before eventually adding Tyrion watching from afar, and the direction from first-time Thrones director Matt Shakman uses those POV very carefully." He concluded his review by saying "The Spoils Of War" anchors itself on characters whose stories are far from over, and crafts a reunion and a battle sequence that end no stories and yet draw meaning from the fact that technically, at this point, any story could end at any moment." He gave the episode an A-. James Hibberd of ''Entertainment Weekly'' gave the episode an A, writing in his review, "All the leaks in the world couldn't wreck 'The Spoils of War'. ''Game of Thrones''' shortest episode ever — and part of the show's fastest-paced season ever — didn’t feel rushed at all, and the story's impact remained incredibly strong no matter what you knew ahead of time."