Faction War is the endgame seasonal feature: think of it as a full-season war between two merchant factions, the Compagnie and the DMC, fighting for control of 21 territories across the Indian Ocean. It runs for an entire season and it turns the endgame into something genuinely dynamic: convoy raids, fort defences, cargo runs, open-sea fights, all feeding into which faction comes out on top.
It's also one of the best ways to earn exclusive gear, weapons, and cosmetics that you can't get anywhere else. So even if you're not fussed about the faction politics, the rewards alone make it worth jumping into.
HEADS UP
You need to be in World Tier 2. If you're still in WT1, Faction War won't show up for you at all.
To get into Faction War, you need to find Two-face Turner: the Faction Broker. He's available at two locations:
If you're not sure where he is, here's the exact route from the dock:
You've got two options now: the Compagnie Royale or the DMC,
Dutch Merchant Company. Honestly? It doesn't matter which one you pick. They're both exactly the same in terms of gameplay: neither has an advantage over the other.
The only real reason to prefer one over the other is if your friends are already on a side. Jump in with them. Otherwise just pick one and move on.
HEADS UP
Once you pick a side, you're locked in for the rest of the season: no switching.
The moment you pledge allegiance, the opposing faction hits you with Level 1 Hostility permanently. Their ships will attack you anywhere in the world, not just inside contested zones. Just something to be aware of.
Open the world map and tab right twice to get to the Faction War screen: it's just below the Seasonal Journey tab. This is where you'll track everything: contested territories, your asset progress, and the current battle period.
| COLOUR ON MAP | WHAT IT MEANS |
|---|---|
| Red | Currently contested: this is where you need to be |
| Orange | Won by the DMC |
| Blue | Won by the Compagnie |
| Grey | Not contested yet: coming in a future period |
War Assets are the core resource of Faction War. Everything you do inside a contested zone contributes to your faction's total: and your own reward track. The more you earn, the better the gear you unlock.
The good news: once you earn assets, they're yours forever. Nobody can steal them from you and you can't lose them as the season goes on. Every bit of effort counts.
HEADS UP
Assets ONLY count inside contested zones. If you finish a fight outside the red zone border , even by a tiny margin , you get nothing. This catches a lot of people out.
You also won't earn any assets from your own faction's ships or properties. Only attack the enemy.
When you sink an enemy ship, those assets don't auto-collect: you need to physically pick them up off the water.
Sink enemy warships: Roaming enemy ships inside contested zones carry assets. Kill them, grab the loot off the water.
Plunder enemy settlements: Enemy faction POIs (Points of Interest) in contested territories drop assets as part of their plunder loot.
Random events: Things like Hostile Waters Ambushes that pop up in contested zones reward assets on completion.
War Events and Contracts: The main method: and the fastest.
Each battle period has 10 reward tiers. Hit the asset threshold for each one and it unlocks automatically: these aren't competitive, they're guaranteed just for putting in the effort. Think of it like a mini battle pass per period.
| BATTLE PERIOD | ASSETS PER TIER | TOTAL FOR ALL 10 TIERS |
|---|---|---|
| 1 & 2 | 400 | 4,000 |
| 3 & 4 | 560 | 5,600 |
| 5 | 840 | 8,400 |
| 6 | 1,500 | 15,000 |
TIP
Don't leave it all to the last minute.
Two-face Turner's shop has cosmetics from previous seasons: ship sets, vanity items, all that good stuff. And here's the thing that a lot of players don't realise: you won't miss out on them. They stay available in the shop as long as you hit the required War Effort level and buy them with Gildmarks.
Unlock requirement: War Effort Level 30: roughly 6 weeks of play (around Battle Period 3), or about 30,000 total War Assets contributed totally across the season, with first cosmetic items being available at 10,000 War Assets.
There's no single obvious place to check your total, but here's how to find it:
TIP
This works while the achievements (Warlord I ->
Warlord III) are still active. Once they're done, you lose that tracking view: so check it regularly while you still can.
Two-face Turner has 5 repeatable contracts that refresh every hour. Make it a habit: always grab all 5 before you head out. Two of them complete while you're doing other things, so there's no reason not to have them running.
Pick both of these up first thing. Season Supply ticks off automatically once you earn 500 War Assets: it'll happen on its own. Contested Tides needs you to sink 5 Volatile Captains from the opposing faction. They're all over contested zones and come in pairs, so you'll knock this out without even trying.
This one sends you after the opposing faction's big flagship. For DMC players that's the Mighty Soleil (or Soleil Imperial in Y2S3). Compagnie players are after the Mighty Opwelling.
HEADS UP
These elite ships are tough, especially if your ship rank is low or your build isn't sorted yet. They hit hard and they don't miss much. If you're getting smashed, come back when you're stronger: or bring a mate.
Plunder a military relic from an enemy fort, then run it over to your faction's capital. Straightforward once you know the route.
| YOUR FACTION | RAID THESE FORTS | DELIVER TO |
|---|---|---|
| DMC | Fort Du Lys | Oosten Capitol |
| Compagnie | DMC-controlled forts | La Bastide (west of Megafort Wolvenhol) |
TIP
For Oosten Capitol
There is a way to kill 3 birds at once: Ah Pak contract submission, Hunting the Past contract submission and a fort plunder next door at Megafort.
Stack a Helm fort contract on the same run. Take the Helm contract, plunder the fort, grab the Military Compagnie Relic, sail next door to the Oosten Capitol, hand in both at once. Buy water and repair kits while you're there. Save every trip you can.
Complete either a Fort Defense or a War Convoy to tick this off. War Convoys are way more common and faster to finish, so start there. If a Fort Defense pops up nearby, those work too. Both events are covered in detail in the next section.
An enemy convoy loaded with War Assets is trying to get back to safety. Your job is to intercept them and sink the whole convoy before they get there. These are the most frequent events in Faction War and the quickest to finish: they're your bread and butter for racking up assets efficiently.
TIP
A good build in World Tier 3 can knock out a convoy in 30–60 seconds. That's the sweet spot for earning assets per hour. More on this in the Tips section.
Enemy ships are coming in waves to take one of your faction's forts. Survive all 5 waves and keep the fort's health bar from hitting zero.
PRO TIP
Enemies always spawn on the opposite side from where your camera is facing. You can use this: face one direction intentionally to funnel spawns to a spot you're already aimed at.
A War Asset chest spawns on the water. Pick it up and deliver it to a marked outpost before a captain from the other faction does. This is a 1v1 PvP event: you're opting into a fight when you join it.
HEADS UP
Fair warning: the people who frequent War Cargo events tend to be serious PvP players with optimised builds. Flooding is particularly nasty: it prevents you from repairing yourself and can end your run before you can respond. Don't jump into this one until you're confident in your build.
When there are no forts in the contested zone, Raids appear at settlements instead. These are PvE: no opposing players: and anyone from your faction can join.
Similar to a Fort Defense, but centred on a settlement: usually one you or your faction owns. Waves of enemies try to raid it, you defend it.
These are the things that my friends and I worked out over a lot of hours of Faction War. Some of them make a significant difference to how many assets you can earn per session.
Can't say this enough: if you're not inside the contested zone border, you're earning nothing. Don't let elite ships or convoy escorts drag you over the edge chasing them. Open the map regularly and make sure you're still inside the red area before you engage.
When you've got an elite ship down to low health, don't finish them off with weapons: board them instead. You get significantly more assets for a successful boarding than for just sinking. The key is not to accidentally kill them first: avoid flammables and crew attacks once they're close to going down.
TIP
When it comes to maximum hostility elite ships (Estienne and Geervliet), you can use the following strategy to maximise the War Assets.
You can get them to respawn frequently, 30 seconds after killing them, or you jump (fast travel) to another contested zone and they will spawn again. In a group of 3 people (teamed up) you get 135 assets EACH.
Once you're at max hostility, elite ships will spawn on you frequently. You can force this to happen almost on demand: fast travel to any non-contested area, then immediately fast travel back into the contested zone. The elite Captain Estienne for Compagnie players, Commodore Geervliet for DMC will respawn on you within about 10 seconds. Rinse and repeat for a steady stream of assets, Pieces of Eight, and
Gildmarks.
WT4 sounds better but it's usually not worth it unless your build is seriously optimised. The asset reward only goes up by about 100 per event, but the difficulty jumps a lot:
| WORLD TIER | CONVOY DURATION | ASSETS EARNED | VERDICT |
|---|---|---|---|
| WT3 | 30–60 seconds | ~400 | High efficiency: stay here |
| WT4 | 3–5 minutes | ~500 | Only worth it with a Rank 30 optimised build |
TIP
If you can clear a WT4 event in under 2 minutes, go for it. If not, you're actually earning fewer assets per hour than you would in WT3. Run the numbers before committing.
💥 Mega Corpse Bomb
"On target death: cause an explosion dealing 114%Explosive damage and applies Shell Shock to all targets within 300m."
When one ship goes down, it chain-explodes into everything nearby. Absolutely lethal in War Cargo against the Imped clusters, and great for clearing wave events fast. This is the one I run on practically everything.
Both the Compagnie and DMC have community-run Discords where players coordinate during war periods.
EXTRACTION
If you own properties inside contested territories, you can switch them from producing Pieces of Eight over to producing War Assets instead. With several properties in play this adds a steady stream of passive assets on top of everything you're earning from active play.
HEADS UP
Collect everything before you switch. If you change production while items are queued, the queued Pieces of Eight are gone: permanently.
Sail out to the property in person and collect it all first. It grabs everything in storage, not just what a fleet ship can carry.
When a territory gets contested or captured by the enemy, the required ship rank to safely collect from properties in that zone goes up: for example from Rank 12 to Rank 14. If you ignore this, your cargo ship can get attacked and lose everything it's carrying. Check your fleet assignments at the start of every new battle period and upgrade or swap ships as needed.
The faction with the most territories at the end of the season wins the Faction War.
But even if your faction loses, you're still earning rewards from the other two tracks the whole time: so it's always worth playing regardless of how the war is going.
| REWARD TRACK | HOW YOU EARN IT | WHAT YOU GET |
|---|---|---|
| Personal War Contribution | Hit asset thresholds across the 10 tiers each period | Weapons, furniture, ascended items, crafting materials |
| Territories Controlled | Your faction wins contested zones | CR: |
| End of War Result | Be on the winning faction at season end | 10,000 |
Run through this every time you log in during a Faction War period:
Guide by Platinum God Games: Ubisoft Partnered Creator & Twitch Streamer
The video version of this guide and many other Skull and Bones guides are available on Platinum God Games' YouTube channel.