The Faction System
Table of Contents [+]
- Shadowlands Faction
- Clan
- Omni-Tek
- Clan
- Omni-Tek
- Note: It doesn't matter which faction Neutral players align themselves to; however, all players should seek to gain Guardian faction.
- Guardian Faction
- Gaining Sided Faction
- Creature Faction
- Where to get Faction
- Effects of Faction
- Shadow Knowledge (SK)
- Operator and Conserver Faction
- Viewing Your Faction
Class: All Classes
Faction: All Factions
Level: 100-220
Item Links:
Quicklink (copy this):
Feedback: Feedback-Thread
Faction: All Factions
Level: 100-220
Item Links:
Quicklink (copy this):
Feedback: Feedback-Thread
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Shadowlands FactionOne of the features of the Shadowlands expansion is the Faction System.
As you progress through the Shadowlands, your actions in how you treat Factioned creatures will affect how those creatures of the Shadowlands see you, and after level 200, how you gain Shadowland Experience, (called Shadowknowledge (SK).
The main factions in the Shadowlands are: Redeemed, Unredeemed, Conservers, Operators, and Guardians.
It's fairly easy to distinguish between members of each faction by their appearance:
 |  |  |
| Unredeemed | Redeemed | Guardian |
 |  |
| Tempterus-Unredeemed Operators | Hai-Tempterus-Redeemed Conservers |
Your faction will be affected by which creatures you kill. Killing creatures opposite your faction will benefit you and raise the faction you are associated with. On the opposite, killing creatures associated with your faction, damage your standing within your faction.
Clan players should align themselves with the Redeemed faction, while Omni-Tek players should align themselves with the Unredeemed faction.
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Clan will want to kill Unredeemed to gain faction with the Redeemed⇑
Omni-Tek will want to kill Redeemed to gain faction with the Unredeemed⇑
Clan will want to kill Operators to gain faction with the Conservers⇑
Omni-Tek will want to kill Conservers to gain faction with the Operators⇑
Note: It doesn't matter which faction Neutral players align themselves to; however, all players should seek to gain Guardian faction.⇑
Guardian FactionThe Guardians are followers of Ergo (basically the Yuttos), and their purpose is to hold back the creatures of Chaos that have invaded the brink areas of the Shadowlands, which consist primarily of Hecklers and Horrors. Therefore, in order to gain favor with the Guardian faction, you can kill Hecklers and Horrors. Also doing missions in the Shadowlands will gain you favor from the Guardians.
The higher you Guardian faction, the easier it is to progress to the next ShadowLands level.
There is a minimum amount of Guardian Faction needed in order to progress through the Shadowlands areas.
| Minimum amount of Guardian Faction you must have... | ...in order to enter this zone |
| 1 | Elysium |
| 1,001 | Scheol |
| 5,001 | Adonis |
| 10,001 | Penumbra |
| 18,001 | Inferno |
| 30,001 | Pandemonium |
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Gaining Sided FactionFactioned mobs in the Shadowlands that are aligned with a particular faction, (IE Redeemed or Unredeemed) will award a fixed amount of faction, determined by the creature involved.
As you kill opposing factioned mobs, your faction raises. The amount of faction you earn for killing a creature depends on how much faction you already have. So, the more you kill, the higher amounts you get.
Killing creatures for faction will be easy at first. At least until you reach about 10,000 faction. After that, it may become more difficult to gain further faction. Don't give up!
As your faction reaches certain levels, you will no longer receive faction from certain mobs and lower mobs. At this point you will need to move on to the next zone(s) of the Shadowlands to continue to gain your faction by killing mobs of higher-level.
- Note: This is similar to when regular mobs are "grey" to you and you stop receiving XP for killing them. However, faction is NOT the same in that it is independent of the creature's level. So, if you have low faction, and even though killing a grey fractioned mob will not give you XP, you will still get faction.
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Creature FactionWhen in the Shadowlands, you can target a creature and press the 'T' key to open the information window. The information window will show which faction the creature is aligned with and how that creature perceives you based on your faction standing.
Infomation Window
Clan players should align themselves with the Redeemed faction.
Omni-Tek players should align themselves with the Unredeemed faction.
Neutral players may align themselves with either faction. (Guardian is most important for Neuts).
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Where to get FactionFaction is only available in Shadowlands. Each zone in Shadowlands has Factioned Temples with mobs inside and/or faction mobs outside. Remember, Killing creatures for faction will be easy at first, and may become harder as your level and move through the Shadowlands.
When you need to start considering gaining Faction, you should work on killing bosses in:
- Killing random opposing mobs at temples located in Shadowlands (Redeemed and Unredeemed)
- Spawning opposite faction bosses inside opposing temples located in Shadowlands
- Opposing Faction missions pulled from the Gardens located in Shadowlands
- Random missions with opposing faction in Shadowlands
- New Inferno missions in Shadowlands
How and at what level you decide to start gaining faction is a personal choice. Some rarer items can be gained starting from the lowest of Factioned mobs, so to obtain them, you will need to kill those mobs, thus starting your journey in gaining faction. Others feel waiting until level 200 is best to worry about gaining the majority of faction.
One of the most useful items you will find, and need starting at lower levels are the Specializations, or Specs. These are books dropped by faction mobs, which you need to collect the chapters of in order to use some nanos and equipment.
| Nascence | Elysium | Adonis | Penumbra |
- Note: The named Shadowland zones are the main areas where corresponding chapters for each book may be located readily. However, you will find chapters for lower books in every SL area except Nascence.
Unsure of what Specs are and how/where to find them? Check out the Specializations guide to learn that and more!
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Effects of FactionThe most fundamental effect of your faction standing is that when your faction becomes "wanted" by an opposing faction, they will attack you on sight when within your level range. This will eventually make it impossible for you to freely travel through temples and towns controlled by the opposing faction the Shadowlands.
- Note: Factioned mobs on either side are social, so be careful when attacking these creatures when they are within your own level range, (IE not gray). Gray mobs (much lower level), do not *usually* attack you.
Additionally, faction mobs in Redeemed and Unredeemed temples will not attack you unless first attacked (with the exception of spirits in spirit rooms).
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Shadow Knowledge (SK)There is an additional complication for players who have reached level 200. The amount of Shadow Knowledge (SK) that you will receive for killing a creature will be affected by how much faction you currently have.
The game basically offers one type of faction per side, (Faction alignment) that will dictate the amount of SK you get per kill.
- If you're Omni you want to max Unredeemed
- If You're Clan you want to max Redeemed
- If You're Neutral you want to max Guardian
The formula for gaining Shadow Knowledge is based on the maximum faction score of 50,000. It is computed as follows:
| 1.0 - ((50,000 - Your faction score) / 50,000 ) * 100% |
- Therefore, if you have only 10,000 faction then your SK gain will only be 20% of the maximum. You would thus receive only 20 SK for a creature whose maximum SK award value is 100.
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Operator and Conserver FactionYour faction score has a third implication on your gameplay.
An interesting aspect of Faction is the Operator and Conserver Faction. This faction is obtained by two mobs.
The Unredeemed orange birds, Tempterus. Clan kills these to gain favor with the Conservers.
The Redeemed white birds, Hai-Tempterus. Omni-Tek kills these to gain favor with the Operators.
If you want to switch factions side, either from Omni-Tek to clan, or Clan to Omni-Tek, you must have enough favor in whatever faction you are changing to. Though at higher levels regular-sided faction usually causes an issue, Operator and Conserver Faction also matters! If you need this, just go kill some birds!
- Note: These birds also drop Spec 1 The Mariner's Father book chapters.
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Viewing Your FactionYou can see what your current faction standings are in the faction window. Use the following command to open the faction window:
/open faction
You can left-click on the window to choose between viewing your faction standings as a text or numeric standing.
Last updated on 05.03.2023 by Cariadast
Written by Llie
Do you have questions about this article or found an error? 7 comment(s) - Click here to view them!
Written by Llie
Do you have questions about this article or found an error? 7 comment(s) - Click here to view them!
