The Scroll of Taiwu Faction Guide: Which Faction Should You Choose?

Okay, confession time. I went into The Scroll of Taiwu thinking, ‘How hard can picking a faction be? I’ve played a hundred RPGs.’ Reader, I was so wrong. The game humbled me within the first hour, and I’m still not over it.

If you haven’t touched it yet: this is a hardcore sandbox wuxia sim from Conch Ship Studio, and it is dense. There are 15 major factions, and each one is basically its own ecosystem with its own scaling, alignment rules, crafting gates and quirky mechanics. Choose badly and you’ll spend your evening staring at a death screen, wondering why you thought poison bugs were a good idea for a first run.

So here’s the guide I wish someone had shoved in my face before I clicked ‘Start.’ It’s built from my own suffering plus what the community, the Steam guides and the veterans on the forums keep repeating.

Scroll of Taiwu Beginner Guide: What to Do After the Prologue

What Your Faction Actually Controls (It’s Way More Than a Skin)

I assumed a sect was like a class in a normal game. Nope. Your choice quietly locks in four big things:

• Weapons and techniques: swords, staves, fists, flying needles. Your sect decides what you can realistically master.
• Attributes and scaling: some sects turn you into a tank built on Constitution, others into an Inner Breath (Qi) technician.
• Alignment: Orthodox, Neutral or Heretical. This changes how NPCs, regions and the whole world treat you. Go Heretical and people notice.
• Pacing: simple sects give you clear feedback in fights. Complex ones make you juggle poison, spacing and injuries all at once.

That last point is what got me. A sect isn’t just ‘what you hit things with.’ It’s how much homework the game gives you.

The Safe Picks: Where I Should Have Started

If you’re in your first 10 to 20 hours, listen to the veterans. Pick comfort and readability over flashy burst damage. You’ve got village management, exploration and the breakthrough loop to learn. You don’t need to die to one bad turn on top of all that.

Shaolin: The Ultimate Safety Net

Difficulty: 1/5 | Alignment: Orthodox | Weapons: Staff, Fist, Finger

Honestly? Shaolin is the ‘I made a mistake and nothing bad happened’ sect. Big health pool, strong outer armor, simple melee. When I mistimed techniques (constantly), Shaolin just shrugged and absorbed the hit. It’s not glamorous, but it gives you room to breathe and actually figure out how the inner systems work.

Wudang: The Classic Swordsman Fantasy

Difficulty: 2/5 | Alignment: Orthodox | Weapons: Sword, Fist, Whisk

If you want the elegant wuxia swordsman from day one, this is the one. Wudang is all about patience, balance and counters. Techniques like Taiji Sword Art feel so good when they land. You deflect the incoming hit, wait for the enemy to run out of stamina, then punish them. Mid-range control is excellent. Just don’t expect to mash buttons.

Emei: The Sustainable Hybrid

Difficulty: 2/5 | Alignment: Orthodox | Weapons: Sword, Needle, Fist

Emei is for people who like fixing their own mistakes mid-fight. You get great healing, support arts and flexible range: swing a sword up close, then back off and throw needles while you patch yourself up. It’s a long, grindy, satisfying attrition style, and it forgives you a lot.

Swordsmith Villa: For the Crafting Addicts

Difficulty: 2/5 | Alignment: Neutral | Weapons: Heavy Swords, Armor Forging

This one is a different kind of fun. Your progress comes from gear and crafting more than pure martial cultivation, and a weapon you forge yourself will beat common loot early on. Be warned, though: the entry barrier is higher. There are Disposition requirements and material gates, and the sect eats metal and jade like crazy. Pick a mountainous birthplace or you’ll be starving for resources.

The Middle Ground: Once You Know What You’re Doing

After a handful of runs, when clearing ruins, training heirs and juggling the spacing wheel stops feeling like a foreign language, these two open up.

Valley of Flowers (Difficulty 3/5, Orthodox). This is the slow, surgical, medicine-and-poison route. You outlast people rather than overpower them. It’s very safe in long campaigns because it can cure deep internal injuries and lingering debuffs better than anyone. The catch is that early burst damage is weak, and you really have to learn application timing, health markers and kiting. It’s patient gameplay, and I love it, but it’s not for impatient folks.

Yuanshan Sect (Difficulty 2/5, Orthodox). Think of it as Shaolin’s heavier cousin. Blunt weapons, Earth elements, big earth-shattering hits. It scales well with raw physical stats and the path is straightforward. If you want to smash things with a hammer instead of meditating, this is your guy.

The Danger Zone: Please, Just Don’t (On Your First Save)

Yes, they look incredibly cool. Poison, assassin vibes, blood magic, ultra-fast dancing around enemies. I get it. I was tempted too. But these sects sit at Difficulty 4/5 and 5/5, and without a strong legacy character to inherit from, they punish you hard and early.

Five Immortals needs a flawless grasp of the poison system. Misjudge toxicity or enemy resistances and you can end up with permanent, unhealable internal trauma before you even reach your first Sword Tomb boss. Ask me how I know. Actually, please don’t.

The Sanguine Sect deliberately makes you walk the edge of death to unlock maximum damage. If you don’t yet know how to deal with scars, old wounds and alignment decay, it ends in a fast, frustrating death.

Jade-Maiden is a pure dancer: elite movement arts, fast and accurate strikes, always outside the enemy’s reach. It’s beautiful when it works, but it’s a glass cannon. Defensive counters will shatter you instantly.

Quick Comparison Table (Screenshot This)

My Honest Take: Which One Should YOU Pick?

If you want my blunt recommendation:

• Total newcomer? Shaolin. No shame in it. Learn the game first.
• Want the classic wuxia fantasy? Wudang. It’s the most ‘movie’ feeling of the safe picks.
• Love healing and flexibility? Emei.
• A crafting nerd like me? Swordsmith Villa, but only if you’re ready to manage materials.
• Want a challenge on your second or third run? Valley of Flowers, then finally the scary ones.

The scary sects are absolutely worth playing eventually. They’re some of the most creative designs in the game. But they’re so much better once you understand the injury system, the spacing and the economy.

Pro Tip: Match Your Birthplace to Your Sect

This is the one that nobody tells you, and it makes a huge difference. When you set up your world seed, your birthplace should support your faction’s needs.

• Swordsmith Villa or Shaolin? Pick mountain or ridge biomes. You get a solid baseline of metal ores and stone, which these builds need constantly.
• Emei or Valley of Flowers (medicine and poison)? Go for forest or wetland starts, so your Taiwu Village gets a steady flow of herbs and plant ingredients.

I ignored this on my first run and spent hours begging for materials that a better starting spot would have handed me for free.

Final Thoughts

Commit to one route. Learn its basic weapon arts, stabilize your economy, and then think about the Sword Tombs and the legendary stuff. This game rewards patience and punishes ego, and I say that with love. Start safe, learn the systems, and save the dangerous sects for when you can actually enjoy their chaos.

Now tell me, which sect are you running? Did I miss your favorite? Drop it below. I’m always up for a debate about whether Wudang or Emei is the better opener. (It’s Wudang. Fight me.)