In Dune Awakening, Factions play a key role in the mid to late game. With two major options to pick from, which one will you decide to join, or will you be tempted by the third alternative pick?
While the choice of faction won’t affect players day one, it will quickly become a major thing for you to consider. Your choice comes down to Arteides and Harkonnen. This will act as your “Horde or Alliance” pick, but it’s something you will decide later in the game.
However, there is also an elusive third faction that is being kept secret until the game releases. This third faction will act as a “balance” between the other two factions.
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Dune Awakening – Which Faction Should You Pick? Atreides, Harkonnen, or the Mysterious Third Faction
Choosing a faction in Dune Awakening isn't just about picking a team. It's about who you are on Arrakis. The game throws you into the War of Assassins, a brutal fight for spice and power, and your faction choice shapes how you play, what rewards you get and even how your guild can act.
Right now, you’ve got two main choices: House Atreides or House Harkonnen. A third faction is on the way, but it’s a different beast entirely. Here’s what you need to know.
House Atreides – Honour, Strategy, and Big Numbers
If you're into noble ideals, honourable warfare and tight leadership, Atreides might suit you. Led by Duke Leto Atreides (he survives in this timeline), this faction believes in order and long-term planning. They fight with focus, not chaos.
Their base, still unnamed, gives off a clean and disciplined vibe. It’s a proper hub for roleplay and building alliances. You'll meet figures like Duke Leto and learn from structured teachers.
Atreides players seem to have flooded the beta. Reports say it’s about a 7-to-1 split versus Harkonnen. That means a bigger community, which is good for teamwork, but could also lead to more internal competition when it comes to rewards and recognition.
House Harkonnen – Chaos, Strength, and Style
Now, if you prefer aggression, raw ambition and power at any cost, you’re looking at House Harkonnen. Based out of Harko Village, which reflects their dark homeworld of Giedi Prime, these guys are all about fear and dominance.
Beast Rabban leads the charge. If you like a more brutal, direct approach, this is your crew. Their missions feel harsher, their aesthetics are louder (some even say the ‘drip’ is better), and they don’t care much for honour.
In the Landsraad system, the political backbone of the game, Harkonnen guilds have been outnumbered. That might sound bad, but it actually opens up more space to stand out. Less competition means your work is more likely to matter.
The Third Faction - Into the Unknown
For now, we know very little about the third faction. We know from developer streams that they will be a “balanced force,” seemingly used to balance out faction imbalance, but very little else is known about them.
How the Factions Actually Work in Gameplay
You don’t start in either camp; you’ll begin as a survivor in the desert. As you play, you’ll meet both factions. You can do missions for either one; you’re not locked in straight away, you can test the waters. But later on, you will need to pick a side if you want to progress further in their questlines.
Each faction offers unique cosmetics, items, and eventually, gear and vehicles. Some cosmetics (like building stuff) are neutral, but the flashier stuff requires loyalty.
Guilds can also pledge to a faction, and doing this lets them join the Landsraad. If you stay neutral, your guild can’t influence server-wide decisions. And here’s the thing: once a guild joins a faction, any players not aligned with that faction get kicked out. So it’s serious.
The Landsraad – Politics and Power
The Landsraad is where the real game plays out. It’s a political system where factions (and the guilds within them) compete to complete major goals, like spice quotas. The faction that wins gains the power to vote on Decrees, which affect the entire server.
If you contribute more to your faction’s win, you get more voting power. That means it’s not just about showing up. It’s about putting in real work.
But here’s where it gets messy. Even guilds in the same faction will fight for influence. Backstabbing, bribes, shifting alliances, that’s all part of it.
The Third Faction – A Wild Card Enters
This is where the third faction makes an entrance. Before release, we don’t know what the plan is, but the idea is to have a faction to balance the power. It also won't join the Landsraad. Instead, it watches the main two main power brokers. Its goal is to balance the power.
Suppose Atreides starts steamrolling Harkonnen, the third faction steps in. It has its own set of goals, separate from the spice quotas and Decree votes. When it succeeds in keeping the two main factions close in the standings, it gets rewarded.
So if you're not into honour or brutality, but still want to influence the game, this third path might be for you.
We don’t know much yet about how it’ll play or what kind of cosmetics and gear it’ll offer, but we do know this: it’s designed to shake things up.
What Should You Pick?
Here’s the short version:
- Pick Atreides if you like large communities, structured leadership, and noble ideals. But be ready for more internal competition.
- Pick Harkonnen if you want a tougher, tighter-knit crew with ruthless missions and more space to make a name.
- Hold out for the third faction if you're into playing spoiler, balancing power and doing your own thing.
No matter what you choose, you're not locked in forever. You can visit the other faction’s city. You can switch things up. But for long-term progression and the best rewards, you’ll eventually have to pick a side.
Dune: Awakening is shaping up to be more than just a survival game. It’s political. It’s personal. And your faction choice won’t just define your missions – it’ll define your story.
