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v1.0 · checked 2026-09-18
Factions
All six major factions at 1.0
| Faction | Signature mechanic | Battle affinity | Status in 1.0 | Evidence |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sandshapers | Terraform Saiadha back toward the desert it was before the oceans | Not published | Added in 1.0 as the sixth major faction | Official |
| Kin of Sheredyn | Defensive builders. Developing city fortifications fills a Strength of Our Zeal gauge that unlocks passive bonuses and Holy Commandment actives | Stand United — each unit gains a shield for every adjacent ally at the end of its turn | Returning; playable in the current demo | Official |
| Last Lords | Population is bought with Dust instead of grown from Food; no Food on tiles and no farms | Gifts of the Fallen — adjacent units recover health whenever any unit falls | Returning; playable in the current demo | Official |
| Aspects | Coral spores are placed first; coral then spreads across tiles, feeds cities, extracts Dust, heals and speeds armies, and lets them cross water containing coral | Harmonious Tactics — a unit that prepares to defend empowers its allies' attacks | Returning | Official |
| Necrophage | Nests and burrows for traversal and ambush; expands by spawning | Not published | Returning; economy retaken in The Gathering (2025-12-16) | Official |
| Tahuks | Scientists. Observatories and glass-tile regions | Illuminated Foes — a choice between a defensive and an offensive boost | Returning | Community |
Swipe the table sideways to read every column
Two notes on that table, because a table like this is where a site is most tempted to bluff.
The Sandshapers row is deliberately short. The studio's 1.0 announcement describes who they are and confirms the standard major-faction package — faction quest, units, heroes, technologies, traits — but does not list the trait names or the battle affinity. We would rather leave two cells reading Not published than invent them.
The Tahuks row is graded Community because its mechanics are described in player reports and a faction trailer we could not corroborate against a 1.0-era official page. Every other row in the table is first-party: faction spotlights published by the studio for the Kin of Sheredyn and the Last Lords, an official faction trailer for the Aspects, the 1.0 announcement for the Sandshapers, and the publisher's own update notes for the Necrophage economy change.
New in 1.0, and what a rogue faction is
1.0 added one major faction, Sandshapers; two rogue factions; and one minor faction, Mangrove of Harmony. Rogue factions are a new category in 1.0, described by the studio as a spin on existing factions: a splinter group that shares much with its predecessor but carries its own faction quest, story and gameplay. Both that exist so far are variants — Order of Zelevas, a conquest-focused Kin of Sheredyn, and The Severed Claw, a Necrophage that can only replace losses by enslaving other factions. Their names and positioning are official; their individual mechanics are not yet published. More on the minor and rogue faction layer is on /minor-factions/.
Build your own
The custom faction creator is in the game at 1.0: you mix and match affinities, traits, units and populations drawn from across the roster to make your own faction and explore Saiadha with it. The custom creator is also where the Sandshapers' new units, heroes, technologies and traits become available.
The two factions with their own pages
- Last Lords — the Dust economy in full: Knightly Husks, the three faction traits, the Lord's Estate and Soul Repository buildings, and the complete unit roster → /factions/last-lords/
- Kin of Sheredyn — the Devout Force gauge in full: the six faction traits, the Holy Commandment actives, the Stand United battle affinity, and why the Chosen are capped → /factions/kin-of-sheredyn/
What players said during Early Access
Community, Early Access build, superseded
These are player impressions from the Early Access period, kept here because they explain what each faction feels like to play, not because they are current numbers. Treat every figure in them as superseded.
- Aspects were widely described as snowballing fastest, partly because their population bonus generates influence, influence can buy out production queues, and minor-faction assimilation comes free — which removes the early choice between an assimilation bonus and a first camp.
- Kin of Sheredyn players liked the global effect of the Devout Force gauge but questioned whether the top-tier ability's damage matched its cooldown at the point it unlocks.
- Last Lords players reported that population cost scales steeply, that some population types hurt approval, and that the faction has very little ranged reach until late.
- Tahuks players found the faction's charge-and-penalty loops self-cancelling, and reported that observatories are singletons limited by ridge count and stop working during monsoons.
- Necrophage players pointed out that a single-city faction cannot reach the top city-hall level, that district industry costs then scale badly, and that larva management becomes heavy after the last Tidefall.
Sources read for this page
Every source this page was written from, checked 2026-09-18.
- Amplitude official blog — ENDLESS Legend 2 releases into 1.0 on September 17
- Reddit — EL2 factions so far
- Official Aspects Faction Spotlight (YouTube, transcript)
- Hooded Horse press release — The Gathering multiplayer update
- Amplitude official blog — Last Lords Spotlight
- Amplitude official blog — Kin of Sheredyn Spotlight
- PlayStation Store listing
- Xbox Store listing