Endless Legend 2 1.0: New Factions and What Changed

Endless Legend 2 reaches version 1.0 on September 17, 2026, ending the PC Early Access phase that began in 2025. Amplitude Studios announced the date alongside the game’s console release and a launch content expansion built around new playable factions.

For returning PC players, the clearest verified additions are faction content rather than a claimed performance overhaul. Amplitude says 1.0 adds the Sandshapers as a sixth major faction, the Order of Zelevas and Severed Claws as the first two Rogue Factions, and the Mangrove of Harmony as a new minor faction. The developer material reviewed for this report does not establish a new PC performance target, benchmark uplift, or system-requirement change, so none is inferred here.

Amplitude describes Rogue Factions as fully playable splinter factions that retain some foundations from an existing major faction while changing other mechanics, strengths and weaknesses. The first two are included with the base game at the 1.0 release rather than being presented by the developer as separate paid faction DLC.

The Order of Zelevas splits from the Kin of Sheredyn and shifts toward conquest. Amplitude’s launch-week faction breakdown says the Order gains a free cavalry unit when it constructs a Keep and can recruit units instantly with Dust. Those mechanics are specific to this faction; they should not be generalized into broader balance claims without post-launch testing.

The Severed Claws are a Necrophage splinter cut off from the main hive’s normal replenishment. Amplitude says their cities can contain minor-faction population, but that population does not grow normally. Rebuilding a pacified minor-faction village adds population, while destroying villages can provide units in the capital.

That makes the Rogue Faction concept more than a cosmetic branch of an existing civilization. The developer also says Severed Claws units do not receive the base Necrophage larva replenishment after battles and that a unit which destroys an enemy can attack a second time that turn. These are documented faction rules, not a claim that the faction is stronger or weaker overall.

The Sandshapers arrive as the sixth major faction. Amplitude characterizes them as Saiadha’s oldest civilization, seeking to return the changing world to the desert state they remember. As a major faction, they arrive with their own strategic identity rather than the shared-base structure used by Rogue Factions.

The important release distinction is therefore three different categories of new content: one new major faction, two playable Rogue Factions derived from existing factions, and one new minor faction. Treating all four as equivalent “new factions” obscures how differently they participate in a campaign.

The Mangrove of Harmony rounds out the verified faction additions. Amplitude says it was developed with community involvement and includes a hero, questline, villages, recruitable units and population. Unlike the Sandshapers and Rogue Factions, it is not another full empire choice for a standard campaign.

This distinction also prevents an easy counting mistake. Version 1.0 expands the set of playable empire choices through the Sandshapers and two Rogue Factions, while Mangrove of Harmony expands the minor-faction layer of the world.

The September 17 release is a clear lifecycle milestone: Endless Legend 2 is leaving Early Access and the faction additions above are part of the 1.0 launch. It should not, however, be treated as evidence for undocumented frame-rate gains, reduced stutter, new graphics features, revised system requirements, or universal balance improvements.

Those questions require final patch notes, measured testing, or explicit developer documentation. The launch material is strong enough to establish the release transition and new faction structure, but not to manufacture a PC-performance story where the available primary evidence does not support one.