AFK Journey Factions guide: Bonuses and best factions

AFK Journey has six playable Factions in total, with four of them engaging in a sort of rock-paper-scissors interaction of strengths and weaknesses, and the other two serving as wildcards for team compositions. Here’s our full guide on how to work with these Factions.

All factions in AFK Journey, ranked

The six factions in AFK Journey are Celestial, Graveborn, Hypogean, Lightbearer, Mauler, and Wilder. Due to the differences in their playstyles and general theme, they have different fits in the game’s meta. For example, Maulers have tankier characters than the average, while Wilders have several utility and support characters. Here’s how each faction ranks in AFK Journey.

1) Hypogean and Celestial

Hypogean and Celestial are the best Factions in AFK Journey due to their unique trait. Both feature the game’s four rarest heroes: Berial, Dionel, Reinier, and Scarlita, exclusively available through the Stargaze Station.

What sets these Factions apart as the best is their wildcard status, allowing their Faction to transform into the one most represented in your party for Faction bonus purposes when deployed in battle. For example:

• If your party has four Graveborn heroes and one Celestial hero, you’ll get the faction bonus for five Graveborn heroes.
• If you have two Lightbearer, two Wilder, and one Hypogean hero, you’ll get the three-two faction bonus.

This alone makes Hypogean and Celestial heroes fit in literally any team composition and give them a boost, which what makes them so powerful.

2) Mauler

Maulers are a standout Faction in AFK Journey, known for their characters’ tankiness and utility. For example, Smokey & Meerky serve dual roles as healers and buffers, similar to Koko. Antandra and Brutus create a formidable frontline with their combination of attack and defense reductions, letting them withstand many attacks. Odie shines as one of the top damage carries, especially after his EX Weapon unlocks, allowing him to instantly eliminate enemies below a certain health threshold.

This Faction’s varied and robust hero lineup makes it unique today, enabling players to effectively use a five-Mauler team composition that is competitive in both PvE and PvP contexts.

3) Lightbearer

Lightbearers in AFK Journey boast some of the best damage dealers like Korin, Marilee, and Vala, who all deal true damage, bypassing defenses and excelling against Dream Realm bosses like Skyclops. However, despite their early game strength, some heroes like Lucius and Valen become less effective later on, making them inferior to Maulers in longevity.

4) Graveborn

Graveborn features powerful characters like Thoran and Cecia, with Thoran’s resurrection ability and Cecia’s formidable minion, Mr. Carlyle, standing out. Yet, most Graveborn heroes, including Viperian, Niru, and Carolina, only peak at Mythic+ levels. Additionally, the absence of healers in this Faction makes fielding a full Graveborn team challenging.

5) Wilders

Wilders are considered the weakest faction in AFK Journey because of their limited damage output. Their Marksman and Rogue characters primarily support other heroes rather than excel as top-tier assassins or damage dealers. Although Eironn and Arden can form a strong PvP team, they are less effective in other game modes. Consequently, assembling a full-Wilders team or integrating them as main tanks or damage dealers in mixed teams is challenging, despite having excellent supports like Hewynn and Lyca.

Monster Factions

In AFK Journey, some computer opponents are classified under Others, a faction separate from the six available to playable characters. These factions receive the same bonuses as player factions when they meet unit count requirements but have no specific strengths or weaknesses against player factions.

Faction bonuses

Faction bonuses in a battle are awarded when a certain number of heroes from the same Faction are deployed. Meeting these conditions grants every hero on that side bonus HP and Attack, regardless of their Faction affiliation. The bonuses are:

Faction strengths and weaknesses chart

Hero damage in AFK Journey is influenced by Factions. For instance, Graveborns inflict more damage on Lightbearers and resist their attacks but deal less and receive more damage from Wilders. These damage modifiers are independent from Faction bonuses and are always active, even when a faction bonus isn’t. Below is the complete Faction strength and weakness chart.