WotLK reputation guide, the Northrend factions worth grinding and how to raise them

18 October 2026 · 8 min read · Leveling

If you only grind a few reputations in Wrath of the Lich King 3.3.5a, make them the Sons of Hodir for your shoulder enchant and whichever of the four big level 80 factions sells the head enchant for your role: the Argent Crusade for tanks, the Knights of the Ebon Blade for physical damage, the Kirin Tor for casters and the Wyrmrest Accord for healers. Most of the others come to you while you level or run dungeons. This guide covers every major Northrend faction, how to raise each one, and what they are worth.

How reputation works in WotLK

Every faction has the same ranks after Neutral, and each one takes more work than the last:

Going from Neutral to Exalted is 42,000 reputation in total, and Honored to Revered alone is half of that. That is why the order you work on factions matters. Humans have the Diplomacy racial, which gives 10% more reputation from every source.

Wrath gives you three main ways to earn it:

• Quests. Leveling quests in each zone give reputation with the faction behind them, often enough to reach Honored or more before you hit 80.
• Daily quests. Repeatable quests you can do once a day. They are the steady way to finish a faction off.
• Championing. At 80 you can wear a faction’s tabard in dungeons, and every kill in the dungeon gives reputation to that faction.

Championing with tabards in dungeons

Championing is the reason Wrath reputations feel so much lighter than older ones. Buy a faction’s tabard from its quartermaster, put it on, and run level 80 dungeons. Monsters and bosses give reputation to the faction on your tabard instead of the dungeon’s own.

Factions you can champion include:

• Argent Crusade
• Knights of the Ebon Blade
• Kirin Tor
• Wyrmrest Accord
• Alliance Vanguard or the Horde Expedition

Heroic dungeons are the usual choice, since you are running them at 80 for gear and emblems anyway. Swap tabards once a faction reaches the rank you need and keep going with the next one. You never have to stop running dungeons to fit reputation in. See our WotLK dungeons by level guide for the full list, and our WotLK gearing guide for how dungeons fit into gearing at 80.

The four big factions and their head enchants

The head enchants in Wrath are called arcanums, and the best one for each role is sold at Revered by one of four factions. Any of these four can be championed in dungeons.

Each of these factions also sells gear and other rewards at its higher ranks, which helps fill gaps when you first reach 80.

Argent Crusade

The Argent Crusade fights the Scourge across Northrend. You earn a lot of reputation from the quest chains in Zul’Drak and Icecrown, and there are dailies at the faction’s bases. The Argent Tournament in Icecrown also has dailies that raise it. Read our Argent Tournament guide for that side of it.

Knights of the Ebon Blade

The free Death Knights have bases in Icecrown, and most of their reputation comes from questing there. A quest chain unlocks the Shadow Vault, which has daily quests for the Ebon Blade. Since Icecrown is one of the last zones you quest in, many players arrive at 80 with a good head start here.

Kirin Tor

The mages of Dalaran are the one big faction with few dailies. You get some reputation from quests in the Borean Tundra and Dragonblight, but most players raise the Kirin Tor almost entirely by championing in dungeons. If you are a caster, put the Kirin Tor tabard on first.

Wyrmrest Accord

The dragonflights’ alliance is centred on Wyrmrest Temple in Dragonblight, and the Dragonblight quests give plenty of reputation as you level. At 80 there are dailies at Wyrmrest Temple and another in Coldarra in the Borean Tundra. At Exalted the Wyrmrest Accord sells the Reins of the Red Drake, one of the easier flying mounts to get from reputation.

Sons of Hodir and the shoulder enchants

The Sons of Hodir are the reputation every level 80 character should grind, because they sell the shoulder enchants, called inscriptions. There is one for each role: attack power, spell power, tanking and so on. The lesser inscriptions come at an earlier rank and the greater ones, the ones you want, at Exalted. The one exception is inscribers, who get their own stronger shoulder enchants through their profession and can skip this.

The Sons of Hodir are the giants of The Storm Peaks, and they do not trust you at first. You start the faction with a long quest chain that begins around Brunnhildar Village and leads up to Dun Niffelem. Once it is done, Dun Niffelem has a set of daily quests worth doing every day, and you can also turn in relics from around The Storm Peaks for extra reputation.

There is no Sons of Hodir tabard, so you cannot champion them in dungeons. The dailies are the way, which is why it is worth starting as soon as you reach The Storm Peaks rather than waiting until you are geared. At the higher ranks they also sell ice mammoth mounts.

Alliance Vanguard and Horde Expedition

These are your faction’s armies in Northrend. Each one groups several smaller factions you meet while leveling:

• Alliance Vanguard: the Valiance Expedition, the Explorers’ League and the Frostborn, among others.
• Horde Expedition: the Warsong Offensive, the Taunka and the Hand of Vengeance, among others.

You raise them simply by questing through Northrend, and their tabards can be championed in dungeons if you want more. They are not urgent for most players, but they have gear to offer and count towards reputation achievements.

The Kalu’ak

The Kalu’ak are the walrus people of the Northrend coasts, and they are friendly to both factions. You meet them in the Borean Tundra, the Howling Fjord and Dragonblight, and their quests there build a good start.

At 80 they offer three daily quests, one at each of their villages:

• Unu’pe in the Borean Tundra
• Kamagua in the Howling Fjord
• Moa’ki Harbor in Dragonblight

The rewards are aimed at collectors and fishermen: a penguin companion pet and a fishing pole among them.

The Oracles and Frenzyheart in Sholazar Basin

Sholazar Basin has two rival factions, the gorloc Oracles and the wolvar of the Frenzyheart Tribe. A quest chain in the zone makes you pick one side, and each side then has its own dailies.

• The Oracles are the popular choice because they sell the Mysterious Egg at Honored. It hatches after a few days into a random reward, and one of the possible rewards is the Green Proto-Drake mount.
• Frenzyheart has rewards of its own, and some players simply prefer the wolvar quests.

You can switch sides later, but you lose standing with the side you leave, so pick the one you want and stay with it until you are done.

The Ashen Verdict in Icecrown Citadel

The Ashen Verdict is the raid faction of patch 3.3. You earn their reputation mainly by killing bosses and monsters inside the Icecrown Citadel raid, so it grows as your group progresses.

Its best-known reward is a ring for your role that you upgrade at each new rank from Friendly up to Exalted, getting stronger each time. The Ashen Verdict also sells crafting patterns for high level gear, which makes it worth building for crafters. For the bosses and how the raid works, see our Icecrown Citadel raid guide.

Which WotLK reputations to grind first

A sensible order for a new level 80:

1. Your role’s head enchant faction. Wear its tabard in every dungeon until you hit Revered.
2. Sons of Hodir. Do the Dun Niffelem dailies every day alongside your dungeons until you reach Exalted.
3. The other big three. Swap tabards and keep running dungeons. The extra gear, mounts and achievements come with them.
4. Kalu’ak and the Oracles. Dailies when you have time, for pets and the chance at a proto-drake.
5. Ashen Verdict. It comes with raiding Icecrown Citadel.

Reputation is also behind a lot of mounts and achievements in Wrath. Our WotLK achievements and mounts guide covers the ones worth chasing.

Grind your reputations on Lasthavens

Lasthavens is a free Wrath of the Lich King 3.3.5a realm that runs in your browser, so there is no 17 GB client to download and no launcher. It plays on Windows, Mac, Linux, Chromebook, iPhone, iPad and Android, and with twice the normal experience you reach Northrend and its factions quickly. The AddOn Library at the character select screen includes Questie, which marks quest givers and objectives on your map, handy for tracking down dailies. Make an account with Create Account on the login screen and start playing.