Reputation Exploration: Eriador Factions

 

 

In this edition, we will be discussing the reputation factions located in the Eriador region. Beginning with the starter areas, the zones include a vast amount of land, generally from early-to-mid level. The exceptions include Enedwaith and Dunland, which span levels 60-75.

However, before we jump right into the Eriador factions, let’s take a quick look at the available reputation tiers, and how to access your specific character’s reputation panel.

The chart below depicts the available reputation tiers, and the reputation amount required to reach that tier. You will notice that there are two negative amounts – these are specific to those factions. Those that live in Forochel, the Lossoth, see visitors as “Outsiders.” While they will not act in hostility upon arrival, you will need to accrue 10,000 reputation before you may reach Neutral (and then progress normally). The festival factions, The Inn League and The Ale Association, are in direct opposition, and as such progress toward one will often result in detraction from the other (eventually reaching Kindred with one and Enemy with the other – though positive gains are greater, allowing you to conceivably become Kindred with both).

Another nice perk about increasing your reputation tiers are the Turbine Points (TPs) that will be attained per tier increase after Neutral, thanks to tying most factions with deeds. Upon reaching Kindred, you will be able to gain 50 TPs with each faction that falls under this umbrella.

 

Reputation Tier	Amount Required	Turbine Points Attained
Enemy (Festival factions only)	-10,000	—–
Outsider (Forochel only)	-10,000	—–
Neutral	0	—–
Acquaintance	10,000	5 TP
Friend	20,000	10 TP
Ally	25,000	15 TP
Kindred	30,000	20 TP

 

Viewing your current reputation with any of the factions is simple. While in-game, press “C” to open up your character panel. At the bottom of that screen, there should be a button that reads “Reputation.” Click on this tab to open up your reputation panel. The text under each faction is your current standing, and the blue bar represents your progress toward the next tier.

Finally, please take note that you may have an extra faction in your reputation panel that I will not be discussing in this guide series – your crafting guild faction. Assuming you have taken up a crafting vocation, and have reached a certain point at which you were permitted to choose a respective crafting guild based on your vocation, you will likely have another entry in your reputation panel for this guild.

It will tier up like any other faction. However, the means of doing so is a little different, and the tiers (of which there are a couple extra, as the game updates and includes more crafting tiers) utilize different titles. For the purposes of this reputation guide, I will not delve into these differences, as the resulting rewards fall more so under the crafting mechanic.

 

Enough with the Intro – let’s jump into the Eriador Factions!

Anyways, the core intention of this episode is to discuss the various reputation factions to be discovered in the Eriador region. These factions include:

                            *WR = Factions needed to complete the “World Renowned” reputation deed

                            **AtE = Rivendell faction needed for “Ambassador to the Elves” reputation deed

 

As mentioned in the introductory guide, a majority of the factions that utilize consumable reputation will be found in Eriador. As I run through each faction, those that include some extra italicized information underneath encompass that group, and list the specific items and reputation values. I will then do my best to include locations that seem to facilitate the gain of these consumable reputation items. Please note that these locations do not always fall within the border of that faction’s “headquarters”. Also, know that consumable rep doesn’t need to be the end-all rep gainers for those zones – while I will not be running through each regular quest that offers rep, complementing questing with finding rep items is extremely time effective in maxing out those factions.

Originally, consumable reputation did not have any level requirements, so a low level could conceivable use any faction’s reputation item to quickly accrue a bevy of Turbine Points. In Update 15.1.2 (released January 7, 2015), a change was made to add on a level requirement to consumable rep items. I have included the requirements in each respective section, and a table can also be found in the Odds & Ends article.

For you steed collectors, completing kindred with all of the Eriador factions (with the exception of The Eldgang, Men of Dunland, and Theodred’s Riders) will complete the “World Renowned” meta-deed, rewarding you with 50 Turbine Points, the title of “World Renowned”, and the Steed of Eriador (68%, 250 morale). Additionally, the Elves of Rivendell also fall under a second meta-deed, “Ambassador to the Elves” (shared with two Rhovanion elvish factions), which reward the Steed of the Elf-Lords.

Skirmishes and Tasks offer ways to increase reputation with several of these factions, and will be discussed in a later guide.

Several of the original factions in the game also offer a crafting option to gain reputation. Essentially, these are special bound-to-character items you can craft and consume, with the faction that facilitates your profession. For example, The Elves of Rivendell offer Scholar recipes for Scholars to create consumable scholar rep items. Once crafted, they can only be used for that character, and will only add reputation with the Elves of Rivendell.

 

Men of Bree (Bree-land)

Barrow-Treasure (30 rep each) – Level 20 required
Cardolan Trinkets (700 rep each) – Level 20 required
Woodworker Recipes

Barrow-Treasure and Cardolan Trinkets are fairly common drops (moreso the Treasures than the Trinkets) in any of the Haudh Iarchith dungeons in the Barrow Downs. My personal favorite is the one located at 35.1S, 55.1W in the South BD (it has a loop shape), as there are a ton of spawns and plenty of killing to go around. You may also find a couple of Mathoms and Well-Kept Mathoms along the way, but don’t expect it to rain them. Enemies are roughly level 20 signatures, so it might prove a slight challenge on-level (unless you are with a group of friends – remember that each enemy has its own loot table for each party member/participant, and these dungeon levels tend to drop a lot of loot). Beware the Barrow-Bree…it does go well with crackers, though.

If you are a woodworker, you may consider picking up the crafting recipes from Maggie Smallwood in Bree (31.8S, 51.4W, right near the hunting lodge) and creating some of those for consumable rep. There are also some NPCs right there that offer repeatables for rep, if you are really struggling to get more (they are solo/small fellowships in the Barrow-Downs).

 

Mathom Society (The Shire)

Mathom (30 rep each) – Level 20 required
Well-Kept Mathoms (700 rep each) – Level 20 required
Gift Mathoms (700 rep each) – Level 8 required
Cook Recipes

This is an interesting faction, as you’ll probably get a lot of the Mathoms without even trying to get them. They will drop off humanoids 35+, so you will probably end up finding plenty more than you actually need in the long-run. You will only get the Gift Mathoms via certain quests in the Shire (this includes a decent amount you should aquire by travelling through the North Cotton Farms questline in Oatbarton).

You should be able to find some regular/WK Mathoms if you decide to farm the Haudh Iarchith dungeons in the Barrow Downs, but not a ton. If you are out to collect Well-Kept Mathoms (WKMs), Evendim has some nice groups of 35+ Tomb-robbers. One such location is Rantost in Evendim (7.2S, 69.6W), an island north of Tinnudir littered with robbers (around level 36). Another area that has quick-respawning Tomb-Robbers is the Haudh Earendur dungeon in Men Erain (first one on right on the path toward Annuminas, starting from the ally camp in Men Erain). Basically, look for areas with large amounts of 35+ humanoids.

If you are a cook, you may consider picking up the crafting recipes from Baldwin Foxtail in Michel Delving (33.4S, 75.5W, right next to the Mathom House) and creating some of those for consumable rep. The only effect upon consumption is a reputation boost – your belly may not be appeased.

 

Thorin’s Hall (Ered Luin)

Dourhand Crests (30 rep each) – Level 35 required
First Age Relics (700 rep each) – Level 35 required
Jeweler Recipes

If it’s Thorin rep items you’re looking for, it’s Sarnur you want. This dungeon (20.6S, 103.3W), which is located SW of Noglond (the entrance is in the back of the Orodost encampment), should have what you need. Note that you will need Ancient-Dwarf damage if you should decide to enter any sub-dungeons inside Sarnur (the main hallway is just fine for rep gathering, though, and does not require any special damage types). Traffic may by heavy at times, as this is basically THE spot to gather rep for this faction.

If you’re feeling more adventurous, you can check out Icereave Mines in Forochel (8.9N, 81.9W). This dungeon drops both Thorin and Forochel rep, so it can be nice if you are working on both reputations. However, I’d keep away from this place if you want to focus on one faction at a time.

If you are a jeweler, you may consider picking up the crafting recipes from Israth in Thorin’s Hall (right near the entrance to Blue Stone Garrison, straight back and to the left from the entrance to Thorin’s Hall) and creating some of those for consumable rep. There are also several NPCs in the same location that offer solo/group repeatables for TH reputation – coincidentally, also in Sarnur.

 

Rangers of Esteldin (North Downs)

Orc Battle Medallion (30 rep each) – Level 30 required
Orc Campaign Medallion (50 rep each) – Level 30 required
War-Master Lash (700 rep each) – Level 30 required
Tailor Recipes

The Orc Battle Medallions can be a bit of a pain to accrue – fortunately, the change from bartered reputation to consumable rep removed prior requirements of turning in lower-tiered rep until you were factioned enough to turn in the higher-tiered rep. However, for the sake of posting a location, you can find some non-signature Ongburz Berserkers outside the gates to Dol Dinen (in the North Downs), who may have some Medallions in their pouches.

To score what I found to be the best cache of Campaign Medallions and Lashes, leave North Downs. That’s right, get outta there and head over to Angmar. You’ll be heading to an area that has level 47-48 non-signature orcs. It should be noted that reaching this encampment by yourself will require that you have completed a certain epic book in V1B6, allowing you to cross a line of watching stones (otherwise, you will die again and again trying to pass them).

Once you can pass those stones, find an orc encampment NE of Gabilshathur called Ongbishuk (1.0S, 25.7W) and grind away. You should find yourself getting plenty of the Lashes and Campaign Medallions. If this zone happens to be crowded, you can always head up north to another orc encampment, Mor Maudhu (3.1N, 27.7W), which should share the same drop rate. Both encampments, along with Gabilshathur, are marked here.

If you are a tailor, you may consider picking up the crafting recipes from Techeron in Esteldin (9.7S, 40.6W, close to the Craft-Hall of Esteldin) and creating some of those for consumable rep.

 

The Eglain (Lone-Lands)

Pilfered Arnorian Coin (60 rep each; via lootbox only) – Level 20 required
Stolen Arnorian Heirloom (300 rep each; via lootbox only) – Level 20 required
Multiple Vocation Crafting Quests

Depending on your cash situation, gaining reputation in this zone can either be done pretty quickly through crafting, or can slowly be grinded via killing and questing (and less taxing on your wallet). There are consumable reputation items, as listed above, but the only source of these items are via lootboxes (likely the appropriate level 20 boxes, Barrow-ironbound) and will not be rewarded via quests or enemy loot.

If you have enough cash and crafting materials, each vocation has a crafting recipe that is consumed on use. This recipe may repeatedly be purchased from the reputation vendor in Ost Guruth (near Fredric the Elder), and you will earn 700 reputation per crafting order completion. Paired with questing, this should help you hit Kindred quickly enough.

The slower route can probably be attained most efficiently by running through any of the three Garth Agarwen (GA) instances (Arboretum, Barrows, Fortress), focusing on completing the quests offered. Arboretum and Barrows are 3-man instances, while Fortress is a 6-man instance. The quests you are offered inside are dailies, with the main quest rewarding 1.2k Eglain rep and the other dailies offering 700 Eglain rep. After picking up that 1.9k rep, you can keep leaving the instance and re-entering to get the other 700 rep dailies (just know that you may need to reset the instance if it involves killing enemies that are no longer in the instance, so it’s best to try and save the location/item discovery quests for last).

Also, simply killing goblin/orc/wight enemies in the Lone-Lands should offer a small reputation bonus per kill. Fortunately, wights are a common type of enemy found in the GA instances, which provides extra inventive to utilize these instances to boost your reputation with the Eglain. When paired with doing perhaps some of the crafting quests, and just questing in the zone alone (“Stand at Amon Sul” skirmish also offers 700 rep upon completion each time), this faction should not be too big of a problem.

 

Elves of Rivendell (Trollshaws)

Signet of Rhudar (30 rep each) – Level 35 required
Goblin-Town Tabard (50 rep each) – Level 35 required
Elvish Relic (700 rep each) – Level 35 required
Scholar Recipes

Both of my ideal farming locations for Rivendell are located in Misty Mountains. The Bitter Stair (17.9S, 2.2W), is located up at the top of Northern Bruinen Source (right before Helegrod), and is the easier of the two areas to navigate. You will find Signets and Relics here, and there are enough Concur to make a nice constant sweep up and down the hill. Be aware that the two group pulls at the top will generally pull at least three enemies at a time.

An alternate farming location for Rivendell rep involves heading over to Goblin Town (around 21.0S, 6.1E) in the Northern High Pass. After entering G-Town from the entrance near the summoning horn/campsite, a decent route is to skip the first room as a favor (for those who need it for Epic book questing), and proceed straight back, farming the goblins, until you hit a wall. See this image as a visual for my suggested route (the red circle is the first room I suggested to skip). This covers about four rooms or so with various amounts of gobbies. After hitting the wall, just keep on going back and forth between those rooms.

If you are a scholar, you may consider picking up the crafting recipes from Cachunir in The Last Homely House (the ever-still Elrond’s shelter in Rivendell, enter and look to your right) and creating some of those for consumable rep. Also, it is worthwhile to note that the reputation reward vendor for this faction can be found in a tucked-away corner of Rivendell, Imlad Gelair (30.5S, 3.7W, near the bottom of a waterfall, as well as down a small path from the rez circle in Rivendell).

 

Wardens of Annuminas (Evendim)

Tomb-Raider’s Sash (30 rep each) – Level 30 required
Black Badge (50 rep each) – Level 30 required
Band of Numenor (700 rep each) – Level 30 required
Weaponsmith Recipes

If so desired, you can get your share of Sashes from Barad Tharsir (15.5S, 60.5W), east across the river from the beach from Barandalf. As for the Badges and the esteemed Band of Numenor, you can pick them up inside Annuminas (watch out for signature mobs) fairly easily. Once you reach areas that seem to have a large number of signature enemies, turn around and continue your grind.

If Annuminas isn’t your cup of tea, or are getting lost easily, check out the epic instance “The Eye of Angmar” (V1, Book 10, Ch 14), and repeat it at the Reflecting Pool (in Tinnudir) when possible. You can pick up a decent amount of Badges/Bands, and you get inspiration for the whole instance. I usually get roughly 10 Bands and 20 Badges per run, which takes me about 10 minutes, give or take, to do. (Tip: After returning the palentir to the start, don’t leave instance – go and kill the couple of mobs still left in the level before leaving). Note that higher-level characters may quickly run across the message where you may only do ten instances an hour, so you may want to pair this with taking a trip into Annuminas.

After doing a revamp to Evendim, Turbine created additional quests and reputation for directly killing some of the mobs (additional rep gained if certain points are controlled by the Wardens inside Annuminas, after killing certain lieutenants of the enemy at those points). Thus, you’ll likely need to spend less time gathering reputation items as long as you are questing in the zone (which is a suberb place to level if you are in your 30s).

If you are a weaponsmith, you may consider picking up the crafting recipes from Cannasgam (12.1S, 68.1W, sitting on the steps to the building in Tinnudir) and creating some of those for consumable rep.

 

Council of the North (Angmar)

Bone Amulet (30 rep each) – Level 40 required
Wicked Dagger (50 rep each) – Level 40 required
War Dispatch (700 rep each) – Level 40 required
Metalsmith Recipes

You can pick up any Bone Amulets along the eastern outskirts of Imlad Balchorth, along with the chance of finding the other rep items. Any mob in this area should drop them, so if you’re having difficulty killing some, try the easier, slow-moving crawling arms.

As for the Daggers/Dispatches, I’d recommend moving up north into the Himbar region. There should be some humanoids in the area of Bail Catharnakh (10.5N, 27.1W) that should be dropping the Daggers/Dispatches at around a 2:1 ratio. Watch out for elite trolls, the cargul, and any other signatures in the area. However, if you are able to take on some of these signatures, the trolls and Screeching Cargul in the area should have the possibility of dropping twice the Dispatches, along with other goodies from the Cargul (these drops used to rank right at the top during the Shadows of Angmar days, so if you happen to be creating a SoA 50-capped character with the XP-disabling Stone of the Tortoise, these Cargul might be useful).

If you are a metalsmith, you may consider picking up the crafting recipes from Hroar (head inside Gath Forthnir in Angmar, and bank off to the first right) and creating some of those for consumable rep.

 

The Eldgang (Angmar)

Essentially, gaining reputation with this faction involves one instance – The Rift of Nurz Ghashu. This will require the Angmar quest pack and a group of buddies (12-man instance, level 50+) to run the instance. There are several repeatable quests inside the instance that will allow progression with this faction.

Also note that the skirmish, Rescue in Nurz Ghashu (opened via Epic questing), offers a 700 reputation bonus upon completion. This skirmish is the only current reliable way for a solo player to gain reputation with the Eldgang. Fortunately, there is no reputation requirement with the Eldgang to become World Renown (nor are there any deeds associated with tiering up your reputation here).

 

Lossoth of Forochel (Forochel)

Lossoth Spear-head (30 rep each) – Level 40 required
Guaradan Claw (50 rep each) – Level 40 required
Lossoth Luistin (700 rep each) – Level 40 required

It is helpful to own this pack if you wish to gain reputation more quickly with this faction. Being a distant zone in the north, you begin as an Outsider and will need to complete an additional tier (10k rep requirement) to hit Neutral. Most quests will offer rep with the Lossoth, and you will be able to gain rep items while doing the quests. There are no options to gain reputation through crafting (on the flip side, there are several recipes that can be used to make various crafted items, including cosmetic versions of light/medium/heavy Lossoth armor sets, once you have the proper reputation).

The Spear-heads can essentially be found off most all wild creatures in Forochel, and there are plenty to go around. For the Claws/Luistins, a personal favorite farming location is at Barad Guarhoth (12.0N, 82.8W), NW of Zigilgund. It offers a simple path through a nice helping of Guaradan, and by the time you reach the end of the path, you can drop down the cliff toward the right and continue the slaying in that camp. The Icereave Mines (8.9N, 81.9W – just southwest to Zigilgund – you’ll first pass a couple of mammoths, and then head across a small bridge)  also may offer some reputation drops, but the loot tables in the Mine is shared with Thorin’s Hall reputation, so it may not be the best choice if you are focused on just finding Lossoth rep.

 

The Grey Company (Enedwaith)

As most later-game factions follow, gathering reputation with this Enedwaith faction will require doing quests. You can gain some through the epic story line, but inevitably you will need to own the pack and do quests (and eventually the four repeatables).

The below image illustrates the reputation repeatables for both the Grey Company and the Algraig, in Enedwaith.

Special thanks to Tomeoric for helping to provide me with data for the Enedwaith rep repeatables – a classy hobbit, indeed!

 

Algraig (Enedwaith)

Another Enedwaith faction (both factions share the same zone – much like Moria, except that here you are required to quest for your reputation rather than the choice to also utilize consumable rep), you will need to follow the same procedure as The Grey Company. Do Enedwaith quests that offer rep with the Algraig, and afterwards do repeatables when possible. The above image illustrates the seven Algraig repeatables (along with those of the Grey Company).

An important note concerning the repeatable quests – after you complete the “Feeding the Company” and “A Matter of Warmth” quests from Andreg in Saeradan’s camp, you will have to choose to either do “Feeding the Company” or “A Matter of Doubt.” If you choose “A Matter of Doubt,” you will unlock an extra Algraig repeatable quest (that will also give golden tokens). If you choose “Feeding the Company,” you will end the quest chain, and will NOT have that extra quest. I would recommend for you to pick “A Matter of Doubt” for a bonus Algraig-rep repeatable that can reward you daily with an extra golden token.

 

Men of Dunland (Dunland)

Released with the Rise of Isengard expansion, this faction follows the recent trend of the bulk of reputation being received via questing in the zone (no reputation consumables here). Combined with the epic quests in the zone, you should have enough to reach Kindred without too much of a problem. If need be, there are repeatable quests in Galtrev to accrue more reputation (see the image below for these repeatables).

Another complimentary way to gain reputation is by completing tasks via taskboards in the zone. However, the final level to complete a task for the Men of Dunland is about 72 or so, with the Mucky Filth task (tasks are only available to the player within four levels of their minimum offering). A nice location to farm Mucky Filth is southeast of Lhan Rhos (in the Dunbog), in an area with a bunch of Bog-Beetles sitting (or whatever beetles do) around rocky protrusions. You’ll normally score around 1-2 pieces of Mucky Filth per beetle, and can turn those in at the nearby town’s taskboard.

 

Theodred’s Riders (Gap of Rohan/Nan Curunir)

Just like the Men of Dunland, you will need to complete quests (and the epic) to gain most of your reputation with this faction. If quests are exhausted, there are repeatables available in Galtrev, Pit of Iron and Isengard (see the surrounding images for more info).

Completing tasks in this area (which will reward you with Theodred’s rep) is a bit more flexible, as there are still five tasks available at level 75. You can pick up these tasks from any of the boards in the Gap of Rohan. You may go out and farm for any of them as you please.

One tactic, if you enjoy grinding level 75 mobs, is to go for the Decorative Sword Sheaths and Punctured Shields tasks (remember, you can wait until you grind all of your daily task “trash” before starting the quests). A nice spot for getting these (and other level 75 stuff, like various legendary items) is to enter Isengard (via the sewer entrance, or risk getting through the gate trolls), and just keep making a wide circle around the tower, killing and looting everything. Blackmarch Fort, just across the river northeast of Dagoras’ Camp, also proves to be an excellent spot to farm for these task materials.

 

Conclusion

The Eriador factions spread out among a huge expanse of land and a variety of levels. The consumable reputation found in several of the zones here allow for a more diverse approach toward reaching Kindred than that of the later zones. Not only can you find them yourself, but they can also be received from friends or purchased from skirmish camps/Auction Houses. I figure they probably wanted to try something different for later zones, in that reputation gains required a greater effort and immersion toward your character actually earning their notoriety with any given faction.

In the next guide, we’ll take a look at the factions that fall in the Rhovanion region. Until then, I hope you enjoy your journeys through Middle Earth, and don’t put all your lembas into one basket (especially when Smeagol is nearby).

If you have any comments or suggestions to share with the community, please feel free to leave them below. It’s a huge world, so there are likely other nice locations which you enjoy searching for consumable rep items, and you are more than welcome to leave your two coppers!