Factions in RAID: Shadow Legends are more than lore. A champion's faction decides which modes they can enter and which passive bonuses apply to them. Plenty of accounts ignore Faction Guardians and Faction Wars for months, even though both hand out free stats to the whole roster.
What hero factions actually are
Every champion belongs to one faction — Barbarians, High Elves, Dwarves, Lizardmen and a dozen more. Think of a faction as an alliance, with two separate systems running inside it. Faction Guardians give passive bonuses in exchange for duplicate champions, while Faction Wars are PvE crypts open only to champions of that faction.
Neither system costs silver or gems — only champions and time. Both also scale forward: guardian bonuses apply to every champion of that faction, including ones you pull later. That makes filling slots worthwhile even in alliances where you currently field only one or two champions.
Faction Guardians: passive stats from duplicates
Each faction has a grid of slots split by rarity. A slot takes a copy of a champion, so you need a duplicate. Your only copy cannot be slotted, which means the system never pulls your main damage dealer out of the roster: the main champion stays usable and the spare copy goes into the grid.
Which stats go up
Bonuses land on core stats — HP, ATK, DEF and SPD first, with some slots adding more; the exact list is always shown on the Faction Guardians screen. The higher the slot rarity, the bigger the number. A fully filled faction adds up to a few percent across the board — small, but free, permanent and applied to every champion of that faction.
| Slot | What it takes | What it gives |
|---|---|---|
| Rare champion | A duplicate Rare | Small stat bump |
| Epic champion | A duplicate Epic | Medium stat bump |
| Legendary champion | A duplicate Legendary | Largest stat bump |
How to fill slots without regret
- Do not feed duplicate Epics and Legendaries into skill upgrades while a guardian slot is empty — check the bonus first.
- Start with the factions you actually play: Clan Boss, Arena, your main dungeons.
- Rare duplicates are the cheapest way to open the early slots — you get plenty of them and have little else to do with them.
- Check the guardian grid after every big summoning session; there are usually free slots sitting there forgotten.
Faction Wars: bonuses through progress
Faction Wars is a set of crypts, one per faction. Each run uses a team of five champions from that faction only, and clearing stages earns stars. Accumulated stars unlock reward chests: glyphs, silver, gems, shards, and clearing every crypt rewards a Legendary champion.
Glyphs are the real reason to be here — they upgrade gear, which upgrades the whole account. Don't try to clear everything at once: crypts open up naturally as decent champions of the right faction arrive. Stuck on a stage? Park the crypt and come back once the faction pulls an Epic or a Legendary.
Putting the bonuses to work
- Close stat thresholds. If a build is a couple of percent short on accuracy or speed, check Faction Guardians before you re-gem gear.
- Prioritise the factions you fight with. Fill the alliances behind your Clan Boss, Arena and dungeon teams first.
- Plan the crypt five in advance. One or two damage dealers, a tank and a support with control works for almost any faction; five pure nukers rarely survive.
- Don't build junk for a crypt. If a faction gives you nothing you need and has no real champions, skip it without guilt.
- Rebuild after filling slots. The extra stats can push you past a threshold and free up glyphs for other stats.
Common mistakes
- Hoarding duplicates "just in case" in the vault instead of slotting them as guardians.
- Feeding your only copy of a champion and then wondering why the slot stays empty.
- Expecting faction bonuses to replace proper gear and masteries — they are a bonus, not a base.
- Ignoring Faction Wars: the glyphs there are the cheapest way to top up accuracy and speed.
Summary
Hero factions are two free sources of power. Faction Guardians give passive stats for duplicates, and Faction Wars pays out glyphs and rewards for progress. Start with the factions you actually play, slot spare copies instead of feeding them, and don't try to clear every crypt in your first month. A small but permanent bump across the whole roster pays off faster than yet another gear upgrade.
20/10/2026