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-only 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 viewing the Hero panel. 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	Your character must be between levels 1 and 10 to enter.
Shiverpeak Arena	20	20	20	20	Your character must be between levels 1 and 15 to enter.
Random Arenas Codex Arena	40	50	50	50	Your character must be level 20 to enter.
Heroes' Ascent	40	200 to 800	200	-	Your character must be level 20 to enter. 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	-	Your character must be level 20 to enter. Actual reward depends on guild rating, the minimum given at rating 1,000, the maximum at rating 1,600.
Competitive Mission	10	-	-	-	Your character must be level 20 to enter. Faction is given per kill not unique kill. You can also exchange 3 Imperial faction for 1 Balthazar.
Alliance battle	20	-	-	-	Your character must be level 20 to enter. 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 (only possible in Zaishen Elite)	The faction earned from these arenas is capped: only 2,000 faction may be earned from the Training Arenas and/or Zaishen Challenge combined, and only 6,000 faction (only 4,000 if 2,000 has already been earned from Training Arenas and/or Zaishen Challenge) from the Zaishen Elite each 24 hours.
Dragon Arena	40	50	50	50	Only during the Anniversary Celebration, Canthan New Year, and Dragon Festival.
Rollerbeetle Racing	-	50	50	50	Only during the Anniversary Celebration, Canthan New Year, and Dragon Festival. First place counts as a flawless victory, second place or worse counts as a loss.
Costume Brawl	40	5 per point	-	?	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 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

Faction can be spent to obtain the following:

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

Faction can also be spent to unlock heroes, certain items, skills, and charmable animals.

Notes

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

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.