Balthazar faction
From Guild Wars Wiki
Balthazar faction points are awarded to players in PvP battles. Faction is spent at a Priest of Balthazar who unlocks skills, weapon upgrades and runes to be used by PvP characters on the account.
Faction can also be spent in the Zaishen Menagerie at Helena to unlock various pets.
Once a player has unlocked every pet, skill, rune, insignia and weapon upgrade, the only things left on which to use Balthazar Faction are Tournament Tokens and Zaishen Keys.
Faction is recorded per account and can only be kept up to a limited cap, initially 10,000 faction. Once the cap is met the account stops earning faction. The cap may be increased by gaining ranks in the Gladiator, Hero, Champion, Commander or Codex title tracks.
Maximum faction cap is 250,000 = 10,000 (initial) + 60,000 (max Gladiator) + 60,000 (max Hero) + 60,000 (max Champion) + 60,000 (max Commander or max Codex).
You can see how much faction you have towards your cap by pressing the 'H' key in game. By hovering the mouse pointer over the faction bar you can see how much faction you have earned - this total does not include any faction you may have earned while at the faction cap.
[edit] Earning faction
Each of the different PvP types offered in Guild Wars has different faction rewards for unique kill and victory. There is also bonus faction awarded for flawless victory and in some cases consecutive victories.
| PvP Arena | Unique kill | Victory | Flawless victory | 5 consecutive | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ascalon Arena | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | You must be between levels 1 and 10 to play. |
| Shing Jea Arena | ? | ? | ? | ? | You must be between levels 1 and 10 to play. |
| Sunspear Arena | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | You must be between levels 1 and 10 to play. |
| Shiverpeak Arena | 20 | 20 | 20 | 20 | You must be between levels 1 and 15 to play. |
| Zaishen Challenge | 40 | 50 | 50 | N/A | No more than 2000 faction per 24h can be earned here. |
| Zaishen Elite | 40 | 50 | 50 | 50 | No more than 6000 faction per 24h can be earned here. |
| Codex/Random Arenas | 40 | 50 | 50 | 50 | |
| Heroes' Ascent | 40 | 200 to 800 | 200 | - | Reward depends on the map, early maps award 200 faction, later maps (the so called "Gold Maps") 400, and the Hall of Heroes awards 800 faction for victory. |
| Guild versus Guild | 40 | 1,000 to 4,000 | 200 to 800 | - | Actual reward depends on guild rating, the minimum given at rating 1000, the maximum at rating 1600. Faction gain is restricted for two weeks after joining a guild. Faction earned increases by 1/14 of the full reward each day until full faction reward is given. |
| Hero Battle | 20 | 0 to 100 | - | - | Faction given for each kill or for holding a shrine. Faction for victory is awarded at 5 faction for every morale point you have. |
| Competitive Mission | 5-10 | - | - | - | Faction is given per kill not unique kill. |
| Alliance Battle | 10 | - | - | - | Faction is given per kill not unique kill. |
| Training Arenas | 40 | 50 | 50 | 50 | This covers Training Arenas, Zaishen Challenge and Zaishen Elite. The faction earned from these arenas is capped, only 2000 faction may be earned from the Training Arenas and Zaishen Challenge, and only 6000 faction from the Zaishen Elite each 24 hours. |
| Costume Brawl | 40 | 5 per point | 0 | ? | Halloween only. Both teams are also awarded 20 faction per point scored. |
| Dragon Arena | 40 | 50 | 50 | 50 | Only during the Canthan New Year, Dragon Festival and Shing Jea Boardwalk events. |
| Dwayna Vs Grenth | 100 | 50 | 50 | 50 | Wintersday only. |
| Rollerbeetle Racing | - | 50 | 50 | 50 | Only during the Canthan New Year, Dragon Festival and Shing Jea Boardwalk events. First place counts as a flawless victory, second place or worse counts as a loss. |
[edit] Items
There are also two tradeable items that award Balthazar faction when used:
- Flame of Balthazar - 1000 faction
- Golden Flame of Balthazar - 3000 faction
[edit] Notes
- Faction was not in the original Guild Wars on release. It was added to the game in June 2005 after player feedback about not wanting to play PvE to unlock skills for PvP. The rate at which faction is awarded has been increased several times since its introduction.
- Once you have reached your faction cap, instead of a normal message informing you that you may receive an award, you receive a message that says you have reached perfection in the eyes of Balthazar. This message simply indicates that you cannot receive any more faction points for Balthazar and has no other effect.
- If you plan to farm the Zaishen Challenge, there is a faction cap at 2,000 a day, and a faction cap of 6,000 with Zaishen Elite.
- See Zaishen Challenge for farming suggestions.
