Once you start to reach the later stages of Last Epoch, you are required to make a decision on what faction to join: the Merchant's Guild or the Circle of Fortune. Once you join a faction, you're able to build reputation and become a higher-ranking member of whatever faction you chose to be a part of. In this guide, you can see the best faction to join in Last Epoch, a comparison between the two, and whether or not you can change factions at any point.
The differences between the Merchant's Guild and Circle of Fortune
For starters, let's go over what each faction offers in Last Epoch. They are vastly different from one another, so it's important to understand what benefits each one offers before making a decision.
The Merchant's Guild gives you the ability to trade with other players in Last Epoch as well as trade with the Bazaar, the hub location for the faction. This trading system applies to Legendary loot as well, so you're not just limited to lower-tier items. If you don't join the Merchant's Guild, you're only able to sell or salvage the loot you get throughout the game.
On the other hand, the Circle of Fortune enhances your loot drops, giving you a higher chance to receive Legendary or Unique items. You can also complete Prophecies to earn better loot if you join the Circle of Fortune.
Should you join the Merchant's Guild or Circle of Fortune?
In my opinion, the Circle of Fortune is the best faction to join without much question. While the Merchant's Guild does open up Last Epoch in more ways with the trading system, the Circle of Fortune allows you to build your character much faster for the endgame content. By increasing your loot drops and drop rarity, you can equip your character with Legendary and Unique items rather easily as you progress through the endgame. Completing Monoliths and participating in other content after you complete the main story will reward you with plenty of high-tier loot to keep you engaged.
With the Merchant's Guild, you're able to gain access to an entirely new system in Last Epoch, but the system itself is quite volatile. You are relying on online markets with other players to make trading loot worth it for your character, which is an inherently risky endeavor. If you have experience with in-game economies from other MMORPGs or ARPGs, then the Merchant's Guild could be right up your alley. However, for most new players, I recommend the Circle of Fortune.
Can you change factions in Last Epoch?
Fortunately, you are able to swap between factions at any time in Last Epoch. Changing factions does come at a cost, though, as you have to restart your reputation and rank every time you swap. It's also worth noting that every character you make on a certain difficulty level will be a part of the same faction. So if you make two characters on Normal difficulty and one of them joins the Circle of Fortune, both of them will belong to that faction.
If you decide to make a new character on a different difficulty level or mode, they are free to join whatever faction you want.
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