Windrose Faction Reputation Guide: Quests and Insignias

Updated 2026-10-20: Rewritten against the game's item and quest data. Insignia values were right; the level thresholds, the Letter of Favor rules, the faction unlock list and the biome names were not, and the sections built on them are gone.

What each item is worth

Insignias are badges from Blackbeard's crews, ranked from his newest hands up to his officers and his true sea-dogs. Sinking or boarding a Blackbeard ship drops them, and pirates on land carry them too. The item text says to "turn it in on Tortuga to any archipelago faction", and the rate is the same at every Bounty Agent.

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Rank thresholds

Every faction has four reputation levels and the same thresholds. You start at level 1.

Some launch-week guides list level 3 at 300 and level 4 at 600. Those numbers match the cost of each step (100, then 300 more, then 600 more), while the game data counts the running total. Plan on 1,000 reputation to max a faction.

Turning in insignias, from the pre-launch trailer. The badge shows the faction's current level; the trailer build paid 25 for this epic insignia, the current Veteran Insignia pays 20. Screenshot: Windrose: Early Access Release Date Reveal Trailer (official, 0:43)

The four faction quests and their Letters of Favor

Each faction has one quest arc, and all four pay Letters of Favor along with XP. Letters work like insignias: hand them to any faction.

That's 45 letters, or 450 reputation, for quests you'd want to do anyway for the XP. The Buccaneers arc opens with a delivery of 50 bags of gunpowder to Henri Boucher, so bring a stack of Homemade Gunpowder. Our max level guide covers how faction quest XP fits into the climb to 15.

YouTuber Dlonem, who finished the Buccaneers quest for its five letters, liked that "you can take them to any archipelago faction on Tortuga and you're able to get them from non-combat related actions."

Dlonem's walkthrough of the faction system: insignias, Bounty Agents, buyers and merchant contracts.

Other ways reputation rises

Besides turn-ins, game.wiki lists two more sources: Tortuga contracts posted on faction boards, which pay the issuing faction directly, and sinking Blackbeard ships inside a faction's home waters (Brethren of the Coast Waters, Buccaneers Waters or Smugglers Waters). Fighting in a faction's waters therefore pays twice: once in standing, once in insignias. The ship combat guide covers how to win those fights.

The quest tracker sits under the minimap; here it shows chapter 5 of the main story. Screenshot: Steam store page

Which faction to level first

Brethren of the Coast to level 2. The Brig design costs 1,000 Piastre at level 2. PC Gamer's faction guide says to get it first, and we agree: a bigger ship makes every later fight at sea easier. Our ship building guide covers the build.

Smugglers of Port Royal to level 2, then 3. Level 2 sells the hull bracings, including Keelhold, plus the Conquistador and Pikeman armor plans. Level 3 sells the five naval tactics. The Smugglers also sell Smithing Flux, which metal gear upgrades need.

Rogue Buccaneers next. Level 2 opens the 12-pounder cannon variants and the Flibustier and Tracker armor plans, and each later level opens the next caliber. If you already fight a lot at sea, swap this with the Smugglers.

People of Tortuga when you want their gear. They are not a cosmetics-only faction: level 2 sells the Privateer and Marksman armor plans and two merchant contracts, and higher levels add building plans and decorations. See the armor guide for what those sets do.

Reputation is never lost and the factions don't compete, so there's no wrong faction, only a slower order. The faction tier list ranks all four, and the faction overview lists every shop.

Co-op: reputation belongs to the world

Steam forum players report that reputation is stored per server, not per character. "Even when i was offline my homie turned stuff in and i got credit," one replied in a thread on the question. Another found the flip side: "the rep is tied to the specific server. I leveled a bunch of mine but when i go to my friends world they are only what we have given them there." In a shared world, pool insignias with one person rather than splitting them. The multiplayer tips cover the rest of co-op progress.

Our take

Do the faction quests as soon as their recommended level comes up; the letters are worth more than they look. Bank Newhand and Deckhand insignias rather than spreading them one at a time, and push one faction past each threshold instead of creeping all four forward. Brethren level 2 for the Brig, then Smugglers to level 3, covers the upgrades you'll feel in every fight. Once every faction is maxed, insignias have no other use, as players on the Steam forum have noticed.

Related Reading

• Windrose Endgame Guide: what to do once the story is done.
• Windrose Best Weapons Tier List: which weapons to upgrade.
• Windrose Talent Tree Guide: talent picks at the level 15 cap.
• Windrose Complete Guide: every Windrose guide in one place.

References

• game.wiki: Reputation: earning reputation, Bounty Agents and insignia tiers.
• Windrose Codex: Factions & Reputation: thresholds and item values.
• PC Gamer: Windrose factions: every faction shop with rank requirements.
• game.wiki: Catastrophe's Aftermath: People of Tortuga quest rewards.
• Steam forum: Is reputation shared in co-op?: players on per-server reputation.

Frequently asked questions

How do you get faction reputation in Windrose? Hand insignias and Letters of Favor to a faction's Bounty Agent on Tortuga. Insignias drop from Blackbeard's crews and ships, letters come from faction quests, and Tortuga contracts and fights in a faction's home waters add standing too.

How much reputation is each insignia worth? Newhand 1, Deckhand 4, Veteran 20, Old Salt 80. A Letter of Favor is worth 10. The rate is the same at every Bounty Agent.

How much reputation do you need for each level? Level 2 at 100 total, level 3 at 400 and level 4 at 1,000. All four factions use the same thresholds.

Which faction quests give Letters of Favor? All four: Buccaneers 5, Smugglers 10, Catastrophe's Aftermath 10 and Brethren of the Coast 20.

Is faction reputation shared in co-op? Players report it's stored per server: anyone's turn-ins count for the whole world, and your standing doesn't follow you to a friend's world.

Which faction should I level first in Windrose? Brethren of the Coast to level 2 for the Brig, then Smugglers of Port Royal to level 2 and 3 for hull bracings and naval tactics, then the Buccaneers for cannons.

Correction (2026-10-20): An earlier version gave the level thresholds as 100, "300 to 400" and "600+" (the game counts 100, 400 and 1,000 in total), said Letters of Favor come from a "bonus objective" on faction-icon Journal quests (they are fixed rewards of the four faction quests), and called the starting biome the "Coastal Islands" (it's the Coastal Jungle). It said the Brethren sell a "Brigantine" blueprint that needs a Richards boss kill first (the design is the Brig, and no source we found ties it to a boss kill), called People of Tortuga cosmetics-only (they sell two armor sets and merchant contracts), and linked the Cursed Swamps to the Ashlands page. Claims about "biome quest factions", "Site Clear" XP, islands 1 and 2, a per-session reward loss and better insignia drops at sea had no source and are removed. The hero alt text and both image captions described things the images don't show; the character-creation image is replaced.