Atreides & Harkonnen Faction Quests in Dune Awakening

The faction questline (The War of Assassins) starts at The Anvil Tradepost, where Lt. Anton Tolliver (Atreides) and Levenbrech Maxim Kazmir (Harkonnen) compete for you. Take The Missing Spy from either one. Your House is locked in by the recruitment test, not by the spy report. The line runs to fealty to Duke Leto or Beast Rabban, then to rank 20.

Quick answers

An ornithopter makes this whole chain far faster: it crosses all of Hagga Basin several times. See how to get an ornithopter.

Join a House: The Missing Spy

Atreides tests: A Test of Loyalty

Lt. Tolliver's contracts:

• Test of Prowess (350 XP): kill 10 slavers.
• Test of Cunning (350 XP): question Lanov near Riftwatch without blowing your cover. Pose as a Harkonnen officer on inspection; no fighting is needed.
• Test of Loyalty (700 XP): find the Kirab semuta den in Imperial Testing Station No. 13 and take Kazmir's semuta trade logs. The logs sit past a purple pentashield, and the Purple ID Band is in the left wing. Hand them to Tolliver. This commits you to House Atreides (journey 100 XP).

Harkonnen tests: A Test of Treachery

Levenbrech Kazmir's contracts:

• Planting Evidence (350 XP): plant falsified logs at Helius Gate.
• Test of Might (350 XP): find the slaver base and kill 5 slavers.
• Test of Ruthlessness (350 XP): question Gloos Bohannon at Pinnacle Station without giving yourself away.
• Test of Treachery (700 XP): take the forged documents from the Kirab hideout in the testing station and blackmail Lt. Tolliver. This commits you to House Harkonnen (journey 100 XP).

Climb the ranks: sponsor contracts

Seeking Guidance is the step most players get stuck on. You salvage an Atreides missile guidance system from wrecks in the Hagga Rift: follow your contract marker through the Rift's wreckage and search each wreck it points to. Both "Den of the Deserter" and "The Trouble with Traitors" send you into Testing Station No. 29 for Harkonnen intelligence. Journey: 100 XP.

The Kytheria Wreck: Track Down Skorda

Deadly Intelligence: Sandflies, Tripp Yates, Red Scorpion

Four contracts, 700 XP each, from Ganan or Von Konig:

1. Investigate the Sandflies: find the Sandfly-held testing station in the Eastern Shield Wall and search the training camp. Follow your contract marker to it.
2. Interrogate Tripp Yates at the Crossroads Tradepost. He stands left of the contract board.
3. The Trail of the Red Scorpion: search Imperial Testing Station No. 142. The report is guarded by the red-armoured boss.
4. Secrets of the Stone Sentinel: enter the Sandflies base in the northern Eastern Shield Wall. The Purple ID Band lies on a table opposite the pentashield; the container is in the next room.

Journey: 100 XP.

Poisoned Spice: Thufir Hawat or Piter de Vries

Atreides: talk to Ganan, then Thufir Hawat in Arrakeen. In The War Profiteer you meet Ambrose Lucifera at the Salusan Bull and decide what to do with the poisoned bottle. The line continues either way, so pick the outcome you like.

Harkonnen: talk to Von Konig, then Piter de Vries in Harko Village. Finish A Secret Delivery (meet Piter's contact), then The Coup: poison Piter de Vries or betray Simone Von Konig. Either way you end up working for Piter.

Journey: 200 XP.

Hunting Skorda

Your Master of Assassins sends you after the deserter Tighe Skorda:

1. On the Tainted Trail: interrogate Raif Oslow at the Salusan Bull in Arrakeen.
2. A New Cultist: ask the Maas Kharet recruiter in Arrakeen.
3. A Center of Learning: search the learning centre at the House of Fiqh. The Blue band for its pentashield lies on a table next to the intel room.
4. The Hunt for Skorda: find the clue in Imperial Testing Station No. 163.
5. Skorda's Last Stand (700 XP): optionally catch the hunting party north-west of Mysa Tarill, then find Skorda in the western O'odham.

Journey: 200 XP.

The Doomed Delphis / Euporia Fallen

Contract The Tainted Spice (700 XP): recover the last tainted spice container from a wreck in the Sheol. Atreides go to the Wreck of the Delphis, Harkonnen to the Wreck of the Euporia. Bring a Radiation Suit and iodine pills. The Sheol is a PvP area, so fly in by ornithopter, grab the container and leave. Then pledge allegiance: Thufir takes you to Duke Leto, Piter to Beast Rabban (journey 200 XP).

Chapter 3: rank 5 to 20

• Called to Duty: go to your base or a settlement. Duke Leto summons you to the Arrakeen Residence, or Rabban to the Spire in Harko Village.
• The Art of Making Friends (200 XP): talk to your House leader, report to your handler, complete Of Politics and Recollection (one Landsraad mission) and Mnemonic Devices (craft an augmentation). Then run Landsraad missions to rank 19. See our Landsraad guide.
• Honorable Death (Atreides): Duke Leto's contract The Last Beacon. Fly to Arsunt Garrison on the Overland Map, sabotage three AA guns, find Captain Moser, free the prisoners and leave through the landing pad.
• Revenge Most Toxic (Harkonnen): Rabban's contract Rabban's Revenge at the same garrison. Plant three neurotoxin bombs, cure the informant, defeat Captain Moser and hang him under the sun.

Both final contracts pay a large Solari reward.

How to switch from Atreides to Harkonnen (and back)

Defecting is a one-time switch through Betray the Atreides or Betray the Harkonnen. Most faction journeys say "While this Journey is active, you cannot defect from your faction", so finish or wait out the active one first. Switching resets Landsraad progress, cancels the old House's open contracts and removes you from faction-pledged guilds, so talk to your guild before you defect.

Common problems and fixes

• The betray option doesn't appear at the other recruiter. Ask Thufir Hawat (Arrakeen) or Piter de Vries (Harko Village) instead, and check that no "cannot defect" journey is active.
• A faction contract is missing. Look in the Contracts and Journey tabs of your journal. The next contract usually comes from a new handler (Ganan, Von Konig, Thufir, Piter).
• Can't find Katrina Chloros. Her camp has no map marker. Use the pin above.
• Killed in the Sheol by players. A Radiation Suit makes you fragile. Scout the wreck from the air first.

Rewards

Each contract adds its own XP (150, 350 or 700). Some, like one version of Track Down Skorda, also pay 1,200 Solari and House standing.

What comes next

Faction rank feeds the Landsraad and your guild's House. The main story continues separately in The Assassin's Handbook and Book One's finale, Zanovar and Forty Fears.