Destiny 2 Faction Rally: January event kicks off this week, check out the hot new armour Ornaments
Destiny 2 players can participate in Faction Rally, a PvE and PvP event that challenges them to win glory for one team above the others.
Faction Rally is a regular Destiny 2 event, and on this page, part of our Destiny 2 guide, we'll always post the latest details.
The next Faction Rally has been announced for January 16 through January 23. The even start following the weekly maintenance, which ends at 12pm PT, 3pm ET, 8pm UK, 9pm CET.
This is the same Faction Rally that was supposed to go live in December, before Bungie pushed it back.
If you're new to Destiny 2's Faction Rally event you can scroll down to learn the basics, but we'll start with a look at this month's loot since that's what the diehards are here for.
January 2018 Faction Rally loot: armour ornaments
As well as the usual array of weapons and armour displayed below, the first Faction Rally of Destiny 2 Season 2 delivers armour Ornaments. You can see how these alter the basic Faction Rally sets for each faction in the images below; gotta say, New Monarchy's looking sharp.
You'll also get a look at the weapons on offer at each faction this month. Interestingly, it looks like all three factions are offering the same type of weapon - is it an auto rifle? - so that your choice this time is aesthetic and ideological rather than because grenade launchers are crap, or whatever.
As ever, Destiny 2 players can pledge to one faction per character, and the most successful faction will offer their weapon for sale. Those who pledged to the winning faction will pay a tiny fraction of what others will be charged.
Just as a reminder, in November, Bungie changed the Faction Rally formula a little bit with Destiny 2 patch 1.0.6. Scroll down to see the changes to how Faction Rally tokens are earned.
Here's the loot on offer in Destiny 2's January 2018 Faction Rally.
Dead Orbit Faction Rally victory weapon - December 2017
Dead Orbit Faction Rally Season 2 armour Ornaments
Dead Orbit Faction Rally loot
Future War Cult Faction Rally victory weapon - December 2017
Future War Cult Faction Rally Season 2 armour Ornaments
Future War Cult Faction Rally loot
New Monarchy Faction Rally victory weapon - December 2017
New Monarchy Faction Rally Season 2 armour Ornaments
New Monarchy Faction Rally loot
How to pledge to a faction in Destiny 2
If this is your first Faction rally you may be wondering how to pledge allegiance to a faction. The short answer is that you have to wait for it to actually start.
During a Faction Rally, Destiny 2 players are directed by a Milestone to speak to each of the three faction leaders, and only then can you return to any of them to make a pledge.
Once you have pledged to a Faction, you'll earn reputation tokens for that faction during a number of activities, which you can then cash in for Legendary Engrams as you would at any vendor.
As our Destiny 2 guide notes, vendor engrams are a great way to level up and get more Power fast, especially before you hit about 260 Power, so it's nice to have another source of loot - as well as some different-looking sets of gear.
You can only pledge to one of the three during each Faction Rally, so make your choice wisely. Ideology aside, your Faction Rally choice depends on what kind of loot you'd like to receive. Each faction has its own collection of gear and shaders, much of which is available in other engrams but is most easily obtained as Faction Rally loot.
Additionally, at the end of the Faction Rally the group with the greatest support will offer a unique weapon for sale. Those who pledged to the winning faction will be able to purchase this weapon for 1,000 Glimmer - and everyone else will be charged a whopping 50,000 Glimmer.
The winner is announced when the event ends - at reset the following week - and Bungie does not provide updates on the competition while it is live. Tokens earned during a Faction Rally can be cashed in after the event ends, so don't worry if you don't make it back to your faction leader in time with your pocket full of coins. Any engrams you have not collected will auto-decrypt and appear in your inventory.
The victory reward weapon will go on sale immediately after the event ends at weekly reset.
Incidentally, Faction Rally gives you a chance to earn Loot-a-palooza Keys and start a Dance Party in Destiny 2.
How to earn Faction Rally loot
It's very easy to earn loot in a Faction Rally. You only need 20 tokens to receive a new Legendary Engram, and tokens are awarded for a variety of standard Destiny 2 activities. You can easily earn hundreds of tokens an hour with focused play, and plenty just by continuing your usual habits.
One of the easiest ways to fill your boots is to participate in the new Faction Rally Public Event. As you're wandering around a destination you may notice clusters of Public Event symbols. Approach and you'll find stacks of crates surrounded by capture circles. Stand inside the circles, fending off the baddies who come for you until the meter hits 100 and you get the message that "supplies have been seized for the city". Then simply move onto the next one. There are generally three or four sets of supplies per event, and once every set has been captured or lost, a loot chest will spawn with a stack of rewards.
Each day, check your Director menu for a new Faction Rally Daily Milestone. This will guide you to a particular Activity that rewards bonus faction tokens. For example, the very first Faction Rally Milestone challenged players to enter Lost Sectors in the European Dead Zone and destroy marked crates. Your reward for completing the Daily Faction Rally Milestone is a big whack of faction tokens, too.
You also earn Faction Rally tokens for the following activities:
- Completing Strikes
- Completing Public Events
- Completing Lost Sectors
- Complete the Leviathan Raid
You can farm Faction Rally tokens by finding a short Lost Sector near a fast travel zone, clearing it and fast travelling outside to reset it and starting again. Do this too often and you'll trigger a cooldown, but even so it's a quick way to stock up - especially if the Challenge for blowing up supplies is active.
From the November 2017 Faction Rally onwards, Bungie altered token drop rates so that Strikes are now more worthwhile in terms of acquiring Faction Rally tokens, while easily farmed activities like Public Events are less lucrative. Meanwhile, you no longer get Faction rally tokens for destroying resources in Lost sectors, but you do get them for opening the chest at the end.
That said, Faction Rally tokens seem to rain down as you just fool about on any Destination, to be honest. Fill your boots by doing whatever you want.
There is a limit on Faction Rally engrams, though; after you've nabbed 30, you'll find they only drop shaders, not equipment. This is probably to stop you collecting so many Legendary Shards you clear Xur out for the rest of his life.
Which Faction is best?
As a reminder, Dead Orbit believes humanity should abandon Earth, and fancies black, white, grey and silver shaders. New Monarchy thinks the answer to humanity's problems is to elect a single leader, and likes red, white and gold. Future War Cult is pretty convinced apocalyptic conflict is inbound so we should all fight all the time to prepare for it, and likes red, blue, and yellow.
Supposedly your feelings about these philosophies should affect your Faction choice ... but there doesn't seem to be any story content attached to the factions whatsoever. The real difference between the factions is their gear and shaders, which you can check out above.
If you really can't decide, there's good news - your Faction Rally pledge is character-bound, not account-wide, so you can send your alts to support the other teams if you fancy.