Balthazar faction

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.

Earning faction

Each of the different PvP types offered in Guild Wars has different faction rewards for unique kill and victory. Additional faction is awarded for flawless and, in some cases, consecutive victories.

PvP Arena	Unique kill	Victory	Flawless victory	5 consecutive	Notes
Ascalon Arena Shing Jea Arena 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.
Random Arenas Codex Arena	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.
Competitive Mission Alliance Battle	10	-	-	-	Faction is given per kill not unique kill. You can also exchange 3 Imperial faction for 1 Balthazar.
Training Arena Zaishen Challenge Zaishen Elite	40	50	50	50	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.
Dragon Arena	40	50	50	50	Only during the Canthan New Year, Dragon Festival and Shing Jea Boardwalk events.
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.
Costume Brawl	40	5 per point	0	?	Halloween only. Both teams are also awarded 20 faction per point scored.
Dwayna Vs Grenth	100	50	50	50	Wintersday and Wintersday in July only.
Dwayna Vs Grenth (automated tournament)	40	1,000 to 4,000	200 to 800	-	Wintersday and Wintersday in July only.

Items

There are also two tradeable items that award Balthazar faction when used:

• Flame of Balthazar: 1,000 faction
• Golden Flame of Balthazar: 3,000 faction

Spending faction

Unlocking items

Faction can be spent to unlock the following:

Heroes

• No cost: Acolyte Jin, Koss, Dunkoro: Unknown, can be unlocked for free after completing the training arenas
• 3,000 faction: Norgu, Acolyte Sousuke, Melonni, General Morgahn, Zenmai, Olias, & all Eye of the North heroes
• 6,000 faction: Goren, Tahlkora, Master of Whispers, Zhed Shadowhoof, Margrid the Sly, Razah
• 7,777 faction: Keiran Thackeray

Runes

• Minor runes: 1,000 faction each
• Major runes: 1,500 faction each
• Superior runes: 2,000 faction each

Weapon upgrades

• Lowest levels: 1,000 faction each
• Highest levels: 1,000 faction each

Skills

• Standard skills: 1,000 faction each
• Elite skills: 3,000 faction each

Acquiring items

Faction can be spent to obtain the following:

• Tournament Token: 1,000 faction each
• Zaishen Key: 5,000 faction each

Notes

• "You have reached perfection in the eyes of Balthazar" is the note you receive after reaching your total faction cap. (You do not receive any message for reaching the daily cap from Zaishen Elite or Challenge.)

Trivia

• After intense player feedback, faction was added to the game in June 2005 to allow PvP players to unlock skills without engaging in PvE play. Many game updates have since altered the rate and the sources for earning faction.

• Balthazar is the god of war and fire in Guild Wars.