Introduction To Factions

There are 7 default factions in Battle for Wesnoth. Here is a short guide to them, with links to longer articles.

Loyalists is a faction of humans and mermen. They have mighty knights, powerful mages and multiple proven units for every situation.
Good faction for beginners. There is a complete guide on How to play Loyalists.

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Loyalists are great on flat plains outside of deserts.
Loyalists are lawful (stronger during day).
They have both quick and slow, powerful units, and they can fight with first strike and charge and have access to leadership, healing and skirmish.

Rebels is a faction of elves, mages, woses and mermen. Many of them have mastered the bow.
Good faction for beginners. There is a complete guide on How to play Rebels.

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Rebels fight great in forests, but they are fragile outside of them.
Elves are neutral (same strengh any time), mages, woses and mermen are lawful (stronger during day).
They manage ranged combat very well, they can fight with slow and marksmanship and have access to healing, leadership, ambush and regeneration.

Northerners is a faction of orcs, trolls, goblins and nagas. They can fight in superior numbers compared to others.
Best for experienced players. There is a complete guide on How to play Northerners.

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Northerners are cheap, close-range warriors and they can advance easily.
Northerners are chaotic (stronger during night), with exception of nagas which are neutral (same strengh any time).
They are resilient, they can fight with poison, slow and marksmanship and have access to regeneration and leadership.

Undead is a faction of numerous undead creatures immune to poison and plague, dark mages and bats.
Best for experienced players. There is a complete guide on How to play Undead.

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Undead have resistances to common attacks, but are vulnerable to more specific ones.
Undead are chaotic (stronger during night).
They are dangerous, they can fight with plague, poison, drain life and backstab and have access to submerge, nightstalk, skirmish and feeding.

Knalgan Alliance is a faction of dwarves, gryphons and human outlaws.
Best for experienced players. There is a complete guide on How to play Knalgans.

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Dwarves moves on difficult terrains as fast as on flat plains. They are strong but slow, outlaws are quick.
Dwarves and gryphons are neutral (same strengh any time), outlaws are chaotic (stronger during night).
They are strong in difficult terrain, especially mountains, they can fight with backstab or as berserk and have access to steadfast and skirmish.

Drakes is a faction of drakes and saurians, who differ in many ways but are very strong together. Drakes are quite expensive and their losses are painful.
Best for experienced players. There is a complete guide on How to play Drakes.

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Drakes are the most mobile faction and they can cross difficult terrains easily. They have the largest number of flying units.
Drakes are lawful (stronger during day), saurians are chaotic (stronger during night).
They can quickly attack and retreat, they can fight with firststrike and marksmanship and have access to skirmish, leadership and healing.

Dunefolk is a relatively new faction with sand people, who chose to not use magic at all, and nagas.
Best for experienced players. There is a complete guide on How to play Dunefolk.

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Dunefolk is well adapted to sand terrain and they can heal their warriors.
Dunefolk are lawful (stronger during day) or liminal (strong during dusk and dawn), nagas are neutral (same strengh any time).
They are very versatile, they can fight with marksmanship, first strike, charge and slow and have access to healing, skirmish and regeneration.

Comments by players

Comment by Dreadnough: Loyalists. They have a great core with versatile Spearman and fast Cavalry. Depending on the situation they can add highly specialised units such as Heavy Infantry, Mages, Mermen and Horseman. Finally their fencers can slip through enemy ranks and enable breakthroughs or disrupt the enemy's movement. As a lawful faction, they depend very much on the time of day, which results in dynamic unit movement.

Comment by ForestDragon: Rebels. Well, female elves are certainly quite attractive. For example, the marksman line.

Comment by Elven: Northerners have simple strategy. Kill weak guys, poison and kill strong guys. You can have a lot of units, make some a level 2 units and never retreat, never surrender!

Comment by patience_reloaded: Undead due to their reliability when used correctly: Ghosts are very hard for most normal units (especially melee ones) to kill quick, most of the faction is poison-resistant, and due to having fixed traits, you know exactly what you get when you recruit them.

Comment by Hsaelt: Knalgans i like because they can take punishment and deliver punishment. Good HP, good damage outputs on units like gryphons and those guys with firearms. No real weaknesses in res good defence on hills mountains and those are commonplace

Comment by Knightmare: (Plays Drakes) Fire and Blood.

Comment by Computer_player: I love dunefolk because they bring something different to the table and out of the factions closest to being mainlined, they are the one with the most work done. I really like the dynamic of the Dunefolk (Khalifate long ago) faction, however I am waiting to play Dunefolk proper with the next stable version.

Factions of the Default Era
Description: Loyalists • Rebels • Northerners • Undead • Knalgan Alliance • Drakes • Dunefolk How to Play: Loyalists • Rebels • Northerners • Undead • Knalgan Alliance • Drakes • Dunefolk