Faction War ​

Faction War Game mode · Sandbox

★★★☆☆

Statistics

Entry	Faction banner (consumed)
Loadout	Empty kit
Waves	None — open brawl
Loot	Only from hostile factions
Mutators	Yes
Difficulty	★★★☆☆

See also

• Faction War Guide
• Mode-Exclusive Items

What Is It? ​

Multi-faction sandbox chaos. Pick a faction, watch Bosses from different factions rip each other apart, and profit from the carnage. No waves, no win condition — just pure, beautiful mayhem.

Entry ​

• Naked — no equipment
• Carry a Faction Banner (consumed on entry)

Factions ​

• Random — Surprise assignment to 1 of 5 NPC factions
• Scav / USEC / Lab — Standard factions, balanced Boss pools
• BEAR — The base game has no BEAR units, so allies are filled in from regular enemies and get a x2.5 stat boost to compensate. Beefy allies
• Wolf — Prioritizes all unique Wolf Bosses; extras become promoted minions
• Lone Wolf — No allies. Every faction is your enemy. Are you sure about this?

Core Mechanics ​

Friendly Fire ​

• Same faction = can't hurt each other
• Different faction = auto-hostile
• Lone Wolf = hostile to everyone, no allies

UI ​

• Health bars show a faction tag so you can instantly tell friend from foe
• Your own bar shows your name + current faction

Growth ​

• Boss growth: Per-Boss tracking. Each same-faction death after spawn = +1 stack (+5% HP / +5% gun damage / +5% melee damage). New respawns start at 0
• Player growth: Land the final hit on an enemy Boss = +1 stack (+0.1% HP / +0.1% gun / +0.1% melee). Stacks accumulate indefinitely
• Each player stack pops a bubble showing total bonus

Starting Gear ​

• Same random kit as From Scratch
• Snow maps add cold-weather gear
• Lone Wolf gets extra supplies

Boss Spawning ​

• All Bosses spawn at once when the mode starts
• Your faction gets the closest spawn points
• Dragon Descendant: max 1 per session
• Boss Filter also applies here; disabled Bosses will not enter the Faction War Boss pool
• Skyburner Dragon Lord: doesn't appear

Arena NPCs ​

All three NPCs present:

• Awen — Storage & retrieval, plus Sweep Loot for fast cleanup of tracked BossRush lootboxes in the current scene
• Dingdang — Reforge & shop
• Yuori — Healing

Run-Only Shells ​

Faction War category shops no longer spend your account cash. They use a run-only Shell balance instead. Shells are a number on this run's ledger, not inventory items, and they do not return to base with you.

• Only hostile-faction deaths can pay Shells
• A direct player kill earns the full reward; otherwise, being within 8 meters when the Boss dies earns half
• Your first positive reward of the run includes 10 bonus Shells, so the economy can get moving
• A standard Boss is valued from its maximum health at spawn: 500 HP is roughly 10 Shells, and each health doubling adds about 3, with a minimum reward of 1
• Promoted minions pay 70% of the standard Boss value

Stay close and contest kills if you want purchasing power. Watching the whole war from a distant hill does not pay a spectator fee.

Mystery Merchant: Spending Shells ​

Spawns in front of you with a Repair option + 13 categorized shops:

• Shell price is the original cash price divided by 2,500 and rounded up, with a minimum of 1 Shell
• Ammo is delivered as a full stack; its displayed Shell price already reflects that stack
• Selling backpack items still pays cash into your normal account, not Shells
• Shell balance appears beside cash and bank balance; the shop shows price, held balance, and insufficient-funds state directly

The merchant is on your faction with extreme HP and is effectively unkillable. Every shop adds a Sell All button for batch-selling backpack items while protecting locked and wishlisted items. Large categories load their rows over multiple frames and reuse existing UI when switching.

Category Lottery ​

Every category shop has a lottery button:

• It only draws from the currently open category
• The price is the median Shell price of all items in that category
• Quality weights gradually improve during the first 30 minutes of the run
• The reward uses the normal delivery path; the button is disabled while funds are insufficient or another transaction is active

Use it when you are flexible and want a surprise. If you already know the exact item your build needs, a direct purchase is the reliable option.

Hiring Bosses ​

Bosses from every faction can be hired. When you can afford a living Boss, approach it to reveal the Hire interaction:

• Base price scales from maximum health: roughly 200 Shells at 1,000 HP, clamped from 50 to 2,000 and rounded up to the nearest 10
• Every currently living hire doubles the price of all later offers
• There is no gameplay cap on hires; your Shell income is the practical limit
• A hired Boss joins the player faction, follows you, and keeps its weapons and abilities
• Its killing blows count as player kills for experience, quests, and Faction War player growth
• A hired Boss no longer pays a Shell reward on death; you cannot collect both the mercenary and the bounty

Summon Coalball ​

Main interaction with the merchant lets you summon Coalball — a pet combat companion on your faction. Follows you and fights hostile Bosses. On the field it carries its vanilla name, Coal Briquette.

Tactical Consumables ​

4 exclusive items (Mystery Merchant "Other" shop):

• Taunt Smoke Bomb — Spawn Bosses at 10 nearest points
• Chaos Detonator — Spawn Bosses at ALL spawn points. Total chaos
• Hunter's Whistle — All hostile Bosses within 50m chase you
• Blood Hunt Beacon — ALL hostile Bosses on the map chase you. Brave souls only

Every 10 Boss kills auto-grants 1 Taunt Smoke Bomb.

Taunt Smoke Bomb and Chaos Detonator have no active-Boss population cap. The former always attempts the nearest 10 points and the latter attempts every point on the map. A second respawn task cannot begin until the current one finishes.

End Condition ​

None. It's a sandbox. Leave the scene when you're done.

Tips ​

• Faction choice matters — Boss pools vary wildly in strength
• Lone Wolf is the ultimate challenge. No allies, everyone wants you dead
• Use Smoke Bombs and Detonators to make factions fight each other
• Spend early Shells on a weapon, ammo, and survival gear; lottery and expensive hires make more sense once your core build is stable
• Because every living hire doubles later offers, recruiting a cheap, useful Boss first is often better than immediately chasing the most expensive one
• New Boss respawns don't inherit old stacks — fresh meat
• Secure final hits yourself to build your player growth
• See the Faction War strategy guide for detailed tips