Factions are a crucial component to a smooth HC playthrough, but isn’t explained too much in Beginner’s Guides. Nery created a Factions Guide when FG came out, and I’d like to expand it further and explain the leveling route.
As listed in the Grim Dawn website, Bounties can only be obtained when you reach “Respected” with the particular faction. Each of these bounties has you killing a particular Hero monster or groups of regular monsters in exchange for either Iron Bits or crafting materials. The downside of choosing Bounties right away is that clearing areas over and over again will raise your infamy status with the enemy factions, reaching Nemesis faction quicker. Ideally, you want to get through all the content (AoM & FG) in Elite before you reach Nemesis status with any group, and then target-farm specific areas to maxmize your MI farming while minimizing your chances of getting ganked by the area’s Nemesis.
Enemy Faction Guide
Beast faction is the easiest to obtain Nemesis status, as the Beast faction includes both plants and animals while encompassing nearly all of the zones in the game. Unfortunately, the Beast Nemesis Kubacabra has 96% Vitality Resistance, making it the “Nemesis” of Vitality builds like this one. It makes its home in Ugdenbog and Ancient Grove - the latter is a pity because it takes away a prime purchasing spot with Vinelton. For this reason, I recommend doing the AoM content - including Ancient Grove - in Normal & Elite before tackling FG content, as FG content contains beasts as well, and Barrowholm is going to be one of your best factions to reach Revered as soon as you can.
Ch’thonics are unique in that granting Nemesis faction grants 2 Nemeses to fight. Benn’Jahr covers the base game content and outside of hitting hard with Physical attacks and watching out for groups of 2-3 Chaos crystals clumped together, he’s widely considered the easiest Nemesis. Grava’Thul is in charge of the AoM chaotic rifts, and when it raises its hands, it shoots out purple Arcane orbs which strip your buffs; all because the developer whom which the Nemesis is named after constantly forgot to put on his buffs and got killed during the dev streams because of it. Its other attacks don’t hit very hard, but you cannot afford to get stuck in a narrow hallway with other enemies because the Arcane orbs will kill you.
Aetherials are the next faction you’ll get Nemesis status with, and thankfully the Nemesis Valdaran doesn’t venture outside of the Warden’s Cellar or Port Valbury that often, so you can handle the content you need to without much risk of fighting him. Aetherial Vanguards are similar to Aetherials, but they are confined to AoM content. Malmouth Resistance is a hugely important faction to max, but Aleksander provides the most opportunities to KO a player out of the Nemeses in the game. Between teleport + Panetti’s, multiple Crystals that shoot mortars at you, and the giant meteor which has OHKO’d plenty of brave adventurers, you’ll have to take particular caution once you reach Nemesis status with the Aetherial Vanguard.
Undead faction is the most common outside of Beasts and Eldritch in FG areas, but gaining infamy with them is not nearly as fast as Beasts and Aetherials. As a plus, Moosilake rarely ventures outside of Arkovian City and the Steps of Torment. That means that once you reach Act 3 of Ultimate, you’ll have little to worry about with regards to running into a Nemesis while farming.
Kymon’s faction you’ll have to grind to reach Nemesis status, but both the strongholds do not carry any other factions, so you can grind them to your heart’s content. As long as you have sufficient Physical Resistance (which you will thanks to being a Shield build), Bleed Resistance, and Regen to counter the DoTs, Iron Maiden is a pushover, and her MI grants points to Aegis of Menhir.
The greatest Bounty grind will be between Elite and Ultimate - and unfortunately you need Revered status with a faction to obtain Armor augments to get the resistances you need to begin Ultimate. Thankfully, you’ll get Revered first with Devil’s Crossing and the Black Legion (as long as you do AoM content), and DC gives Bladeward Powder (Pierce Resistance) and BL gives Mankind’s Vigil (Aether and Chaos Resistance).
You can get Writs for each character once you reach Honored status, but at 88,000 iron bits each, they’re too expensive to purchase if you’re using this as your first character. I’d rather save the bits for creating relics and components, as you can use the grind to hunt for essential MI’s for your character. Here’s the Bounty groupings for each Act:
Crafting Bounties: Because I could not find any information on this, I looked into whether the relics created for Bounties are consumed when you hand in the quest. Unfortunately, the answer is yes, meaning you can’t create the relic, hand in the bounty, and then use the relic to create something else (probably to avoid cheesing the bounty system for infinite gain). In which case, the only crafting Bounties worth doing are:
- Mistborn Talisman (Coven of Ugdenbog): Only requires a Troll Bonecrusher which can be easily farmed, rewards you with a Blood of Ch’thon.
- Corruption (Barrowhelm): Requires a Blood of Ch’thon, but those can be easily farmed in Ch’thon areas (which give more faction points to Barrowhelm) and the reward is a Manticore Eye, which is a very rare crafting material.
Bounty Guides based on Act Number
Act 1
- Sunken Reliquary: High Priest Rolderathis - Rovers + Order of Death’s Vigil
- East Marsh: Outcast (first quest) and Order of Death’s Vigil (Honored Quest) are located right next to each other
I’d avoid the Aetherial bounties since you’ll have high infamy once you reach Ultimate and you’ll easily get Nemesis status if you do a lot of Warden’s Basement runs for more Aetherial Crystals.
Act 2
- Old Arkavia + Cronley dungeon: Any Cronley bounty (Devil’s Crossing) + Bandit Forges (Rovers) Cronley’s area is one of the most reliable sources of Dynamite in the game, especially as there is a Boss in Cronley’s dungeon which gives 2 guarateed Dynamites every time you kill him.
- Insect Hives: Once you’re no longer worried about Beast Nemesis, you can exterminate the Insect Queens to farm their Royal Jelly.
- Undead Farming: Any Arkovian City quest (Rovers) + Kirian’s Shattered Soul (Black Legion)
- Steps of Torment: Secrets of the Lost (Outcast quest) + Alkamos (Outcast Bounty) + Steps of Torment bounties (Rovers)
- Mountain Deeps: Trog Flesh Rippers (best chance of Vampiric Bonewall MI) + Glugrog Lifedrinker (Homestead) + The Ravener (Black Legion); also has a relatively easy Treasure Trove Location
Make sure that any Beast Bounties are completed after you’ve run through the Ugdenbog region (including Ancient Grove) in Elite so that you run as little risk of facing Kuba on your Ugdenbloom farming runs as possible.
Act 3
- Infested Farms: Ravna’s Blade (if you’re doing Acid Retaliation) + Gollus or Royal Hive quests (Homestead)
- Blood Grove: Cripple the Cult (farm Bolvar for his MI pendant) + Voidtouched Totems (Obsidian Defender MI) *Blood Grove is also where Benevald’s shop is, so you can set a waypoint there after running Fort Haron for Kymon’s infamy
The Sorrow’s Bastion to Blood Grove to Darkvale Village route is one of my favorite farming routes for this character as the Treasure Trove in Darkvale Village is the easiest to find; just look in all the abandoned buildings and the Trove is bound to come up. Darkvale Gate has a guaranteed Dynamite drop, so the farming route is self-sufficient. Additionally, this is the best spot to farm Chthonic Seals of Binding; multiple rare components require 12 of them, and each farming route gives you roughly 8 or so.
Act 4
There aren’t any bounties between Karroz and Loghorrean, just focus on clearing the base game as quickly as possible to unlock Act 5. While it is recommended to ally with the Outcast, remember that quests with the Outcast take away points from the Black Legion. The best way to counteract the faction loss is to run a Black Legion bounty, hand in the Outcast quest, then hand in the Black Legion bounty to make up the lost faction points.
- Log’horrean: Bloodlord Thalonis can be farmed repeatedly for his “12% for cooldown reset on Possession” MI as well as Bounties for the Black Legion and Order of Death’s Vigil
- Bastion of Chaos: Black Heart of the Void (Outcast quest) + Shar’Zul (Outcast Bounty) + Obsidian Defender MI Treasure Trove in the Bastion of Chaos before the Rogue dungeon
Act 5 (AoM Content)
- Ugdenbog: Some Coven quests like Sylvarria and Janaxia also have Bounties, so complete the bounty with the quest to get more XP and faction rep. The Sylvarria bounty can also be paired with the Swillius bounty for Barrowhelm and can be used to farm more Ugdenblooms as well as Vine rings which are one of the few MI items which give points to Aegis of Menhir.
- Barrowholm: Chillpincer is a Coven Bounty which can be done when you go into Barrowhelm and do the quests for the first time. Additionally, Barrowhelm mine is a source of guaranteed dynamite and you can find a Treasure Trove. A plus since there’s little chance of meeting Kuba in the route to get there.
- Cinder Wastes: Ekket’Zul is a Barrowhelm Bounty you can go when you proceed in the main quest. Otherwise, Cinder Wastes in Mourndale has Treasure Troves as well as a chance to farm Lunal’Valgoth for the Elemental to Vitality MI belt for Occultists. Also note that taking the route from Malmouth Outskirts south on the way to Cinder Wastes will provide 8-10 Aether Crystals and a chance of Shards for creating Dynamite.
Act 6 (AoM Content)
- Sewers: The Crognoth Bounty (Coven Witches) + Bollag Keeper of the Gates (Malmouth Resistance) can be combined once you get out of the sewers. The bounty targets are next to Treasure Troves as well.
- Crown Hill: Torraxteria is a Malmouth Resistance Bounty who also gives a very good chance of dropping an Ascendant Source MI - a great way to boost your Sigil’s power. Several of her spawn sites are right next to Treasure Troves, making it even better. Aetherial Spellbreakers also have a chance of dropping this MI.
- Theodin: Unfortunately, you do not need the Krieg’s Set for any reason, so those Bounties are not particularly useful. Otherwise, focus on Bounties as you continue through the Fleshworks such as the Fleshwarped Guardians once you’re comfortable with fighting Theodin.
Act 7 (FG Content)
- Cairan Docks: This is where the majority of Eldritch Armor farming will be; they have the chance to drop both the Korvan Helm (a great boost of Vitality damage in early-mid game) and Korvan Pauldrons. A Razorfeather Gryphon Bounty is fulfilled here as well, and a Treasure Trove isn’t too hard to find in this area either.
- Infernal Wastes: Two bounties - Reynar & Varnox - are very close to the Infernal Wastes riftpoint. Additionally, if you go backwards from the riftpoint (towards the Ruins of Abyd), you can find an Ancient Eldritch totem for a chance at Gargoyle MI’s as well as a chance to fulfill the Grimmaw, Pack Alpha Bounty.
Unfortunately, Kaisan spawns pretty much everywhere in FG content and he can hurt you with his resist shred crystals. The Witch God factions are one of the last factions you’ll likely max out, so if you get Nemesis status during Ultimate, you can always switch back to Elite and see how he fights.