After a long forced break, the Faction Rally is back in Destiny 2. With its return comes numerous innovations. One big question mark was the Renown system. We explain everything you need to know about it.
One of the biggest changes was the Loyalty Oath. Now, you can only join a single faction during the week-long event – across all accounts! Only during the subsequent group fight can you pledge your loyalty to another faction.
If you want to reach rank 50 with several or even all three factions and thus grab the most coveted rewards like masterwork catalysts and exotic ornaments, you need to actively collect faction tokens. Because with that, you rank up with the individual factions. 20 tokens are needed for a rank-up. Thus, for level 50, you need to collect a whopping 1,000 tokens.
To simplify this mammoth task a bit, Bungie has introduced the so-called Renown system. Here’s how this new mechanic works.
Get more famous and earn more tokens
What is Renown? Renown is essentially a modifier that can stack up to five times. This modifier increases the yield of faction tokens in Lost Sectors as the level increases. In short, it’s about building up Renown and then looting a Lost Sector.
How do you earn and increase Renown? Building up Renown is very simple. Players can increase their Renown level by defeating high-value targets, completing public events, or participating in faction rally supply events. Each of these activities awards different amounts of Renown:
- Public Event = 2 Renown
- Heroic Public Event = 3 Renown
- Patrol = 1 Renown
- Valuable Target = 1 Renown
- Supply Event = 1 Renown
Guardians can increase all these values by another 1 Renown if they are wearing a complete armor set from their faction.
What else should be noted? As Renown increases, players are affected by some negative effects. These remain permanently active at the respective Renown levels.
For each stack of Renown, outgoing damage is reduced while incoming damage is increased. Additionally, at rank 3, agility is reduced, and at rank 5, shield and health regeneration is significantly reduced.
Players will thus have to collect appropriate Light Spheres to restore their health. The hand cannon Crimson and the Warlock’s Devour ability are particularly useful here.
If you die, you lose 1 Renown. The penalty is not all that draconian. However, if you use the fast travel function during an ongoing event, you will lose all your Renown. The game makes this clear to you.
How do you use Renown for more tokens? Once you’ve built up Renown (ideally 5), you head into a Lost Sector. These mini-dungeons become more challenging with increasing Renown levels, but they represent the currently most effective way to earn lots of faction tokens and thus boost your faction rank. Here’s how the token yield from the Lost Sectors breaks down:
- 0 Renown = 1 Token
- 1 Renown = 2 Tokens
- 2 Renown = 4 Tokens
- 3 Renown = 6 Tokens
- 4 Renown = 8 Tokens
- 5 Renown = 10 Tokens
Path to Level 50: Most other activities – including daily challenges – also grant faction tokens during the group fights. If you combine this with the Lost Sectors using the Renown system, it should be quite feasible to reach faction rank 50 within a week if you work towards it.
What experiences have you had so far? Is reaching faction rank 50 achievable within a week with the new mechanics?
