Warbands League Guide

Introduction

Warbands was introduced as a softcore challenge league alongside Tempest in hardcore with patch 2.0.0 on 7/10/15 the July 10^th, 2015. They are a simple mechanic that adds Warbands to the Maps. Warbands are tight-knit groups of enemies who cooperate and use synergistic skills to take you down. They can include Elites and Leaders. Warbands are not a core game mechanic, but Warband Leaders (alongside their Unique Items) can be found as Map Bosses or in Unique Strongboxes. Warbands also drop Magic Blue Items with special uncraftable modifiers onto them, but these are completely irrelevant this day in age.

Warband Factions & Leaders

There is 4 different Warband Factions, each manipulating one specific element.

Redblade Warband
This Warband masters the Fire element and can be found as Lighthouse Map Bosses.
This Warband has 4 leaders with their own special abilities:

• Uruk Baleh
• El'Abin, Bloodeater
• Leli Goya, Daughter of Ash
• Bin'aia, Crimson Rain

Mutewind Warband
This Warband masters the Cold element and can be found as Iceberg Map Bosses.
This Warband has 3 leaders with their own special abilities:

• Yorishi, Aurora-sage
• Jeinei Yuushu
• Otesha, the Giantslayer

Brinerot Warband
This Warband masters the Lightning element and can be found as Shipyard Map Bosses.
This Warband has 3 leaders with their own special abilities:

• Musky "Two-Eyes" Grenn
• Susara, Siren of Pondium
• Lussi "Rotmother" Roth

Renegade Warband
This Warband masters the Chaos element and can be found as Acid Caverns Map Bosses.
This Warband has 8 leaders with their own special abilities:

Warband Modifiers

Each Warband can drop identified Magic Blue Items with a special Warband modifier:

• Redblade Warband : 10% of Physical Damage taken as Fire Damage on Helmets.
• Mutewind Warband : Cannot be Frozen on Boots.
• Brinerot Warband : (20-25)% increased Damage during any Flask Effect on Gloves.
• Renegade Warband : Damage Penetrates (6-10)% Fire/Cold/Lightning Resistance on Weapons.

Warband Unique Items

Each Warband has a set of exclusive Unique Items:

Sources

Even though the roaming Warbands mechanic is not core, the Warbands league mechanic can be considered core game since Warbands Leaders are easily accessible within normal gameplay:

Maps
As seen above, each Warband can be found as Map Bosses (by a random set of two) in specific maps:

• Redblade Warband in Lighthouse Map
• Mutewind Warband in Iceberg Map
• Brinerot Warband in Shipyard Map
• Renegade Warband in Acid Caverns Map

Strongboxes
Each Warband Faction has a Unique Strongbox spawning two leaders and normal Warband monsters:

Delve
Each Warband Faction has a Delve Room related to their element where you can find items with special Delve modifiers related to that element:

• Redblade Retreat/Base in Magma Fissure Zone.
• Mutewind Retreat/Base in Frozen Hollow Zone.
• Brinerot Retreat/Base in Sulphur Vents Zone.
• Renegade Camp in Fungal Caverns Zone.

Summary

Warbands are a simple Path of Exile mechanic that blend into the core game. They add some flavur to the Mapping experience and other League mechanics like Delve.

Credits

Written by Chewingnom.
Reviewed by Raxxanterax.