The choice between Circle of Fortune and Merchant's Guild is one of the most consequential decisions you'll make in Last Epoch. One faction puts you at the mercy of player-driven markets. The other lets you bend the loot gods to your will through a system of Prophecies, Telescopes, and Lenses. If you'd rather find your own gear than buy it, Circle of Fortune is where you belong.
Circle of Fortune faction hub
What is Circle of Fortune?
Circle of Fortune is one of two endgame factions in Last Epoch, headquartered in the city of Maj'elka. The faction is built around the idea that the best items are found, not bought. Members use a Prophecy System to target specific loot types, stacking bonuses as they climb through 10 faction Ranks. Unlike the Merchant's Guild, Circle of Fortune offers no trading access, but it more than compensates with passive loot multipliers that scale aggressively into the endgame.
The faction is particularly strong for players who focus on Uniques, Set items, and Exalted gear, since several Rank bonuses directly increase the odds of those item types appearing.
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Circle of Fortune is the recommended faction for offline and solo players. Since the Merchant's Guild's core feature (the Bazaar) requires online play with other players, it offers almost nothing to solo characters.
Where to find Circle of Fortune and how to join
Circle of Fortune is located in the northern section of Maj'elka, which you reach during the Divine Era portion of the main campaign. The faction becomes accessible after Chapter 9.
To start the joining process:
- Find Zerrick in the Upper District of Maj'elka.
- Accept the side quest "Merchants and Fortune Tellers" from him.
- Follow the quest to the Maj'elka Observatory, the faction's base of operations.
- Speak with Galila at the entrance. She serves as both the faction vendor and your main point of contact.
- Finish the conversation and choose to join.
If you want to leave the faction later, open the Faction menu with Y and select the leave option at the top. You can rejoin at any time without penalty.
Galila at the Observatory
Circle of Fortune ranks and rewards
Your Rank within Circle of Fortune determines which passive bonuses apply to your character. Ranks are earned by defeating enemies, completing quests, and participating in Prophecies. Rank progress is permanent (it never resets) and is account-wide, though characters in different game modes (Standard, Legacy, Hardcore) track Ranks separately.
Here's the full breakdown of all 10 Ranks:
Ranks 6 through 10 are where the faction truly accelerates. The Rank 10 bonus (doubling Prophecy rewards) stacks with certain Lenses to potentially quadruple your returns from a single Prophecy.
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Rank 8 is a major efficiency milestone. Once Rare items have a 25% chance to become Exalted, farming lower-difficulty content becomes significantly more rewarding than it looks on paper.
How does Favor work?
Favor is the faction currency used to purchase Prophecies and Lenses from Galila. You earn it by:
- Killing monsters (amount scales with the monster's experience value)
- Completing quests
- Finishing active Prophecies
Your Favor capacity increases as you progress further into the game. Endgame activities like Monoliths, Dungeons, and Arenas generate Favor at a much higher rate than campaign zones, so once you hit the endgame, accumulating it becomes much less of a bottleneck.
Favor can also be spent directly with Galila to boost your faction Reputation, which counts toward Rank progression.
How does the Prophecy System work?
Prophecies are the heart of Circle of Fortune. They function as targeted loot contracts: you spend Favor to unlock a Prophecy, complete its condition, and receive a specific type of item as a reward.
To access Prophecies, travel to the Observatory (press Y to open the faction menu, then select "Travel To The Observatory"). From there, you select a Lens to filter which Prophecy category you're working with:
- Arctus (Armor: Body, Legs, Helmets, Gloves)
- Eos (Weapons and Off-Hands)
- Mesembria (Jewelry: Rings, Amulets, Relics)
- Dysis (Crafting Materials and Idols)
Once you've selected a Lens, the Prophecy screen shows available options. You can unlock one directly or spend Favor to reroll for different options.
Prophecy conditions range from simple tasks (kill a specific enemy type several times) to demanding ones (clear a Tier 4 Dungeon or reach a certain Monolith corruption level). More desirable item rewards come attached to harder conditions.
warning
Don't assume you need to downgrade content to complete Prophecies with tiered conditions. A Tier 4 Dungeon run counts toward all lower-tier Dungeon Prophecy conditions simultaneously. The same applies to Monolith corruption thresholds.
What are the best Prophecies to prioritize?
Prophecies that share the same activity type as what you're already doing are the most efficient. If you're running Dungeons, stack every Dungeon-related Prophecy you can unlock. There's no reason to run separate content just for a single Prophecy.
For item type, Rare and Unique item Prophecies are generally the best value. Rare Prophecies cost less Favor and produce more loot volume. With Rank 8 active, those Rares have a 25% chance to become Exalted anyway, making them more efficient than spending extra Favor on Exalted Prophecies directly. For a deeper look at Prophecy mechanics and how they interact with game systems, the Circle of Fortune section on Last Epoch Tools covers the mechanical details thoroughly.
What are Lenses and how do they work?
Lenses are permanent upgrades slotted into the four Telescopes at the Observatory. Each Telescope holds up to 3 Lenses, with slots unlocking at Ranks 2, 5, and 9. You can swap Lenses freely with no penalty.
There are two categories:
- Regional Lenses: Specific to one of the four Telescopes (e.g., an Eos Telescope Lens can only go in the Eos Telescope)
- Greater Lenses: Can be slotted into any Telescope
Which Lenses are worth using?
After testing various configurations across Dungeon and Monolith farming, a few Lenses stand out consistently:
The Refracting Lens of Wealth is the standout pick for any character at Rank 10. The cost increase is real, but doubling rewards on top of the Rank 10 duplication bonus means a single Prophecy can yield four times the normal output. For a practical walkthrough of how experienced players build their Lens configurations, this Last Epoch Circle of Fortune guide on mmonster.co goes into useful detail.
Circle of Fortune vs. Merchant's Guild: which should you pick?
This comes down to how you want to acquire gear.
Circle of Fortune enhances what drops for you directly. Every Rank adds a passive multiplier to your personal loot. You don't need other players, you don't need gold, and you don't need to monitor a market.
Merchant's Guild gives you access to the Bazaar, where you can buy and sell items with other players using Gold and Favor. It's a legitimate path for players who enjoy trading economies, but it's entirely dependent on online play and an active player base.
For most players, especially those playing solo or offline, Circle of Fortune is the stronger choice. The loot multipliers compound across Ranks in ways that make endgame farming noticeably faster. The Merchant's Guild's Bazaar access (unlocked progressively through Ranks 1-10) is valuable only if you're willing to engage with player trading as a core activity.
danger
You can switch factions, but your Rank progress in the faction you leave stays frozen while you're away. Consider your long-term goals before committing to one path.
For more Last Epoch faction breakdowns and endgame guides, browse the full guide library at GAMES.GG to find strategies for every playstyle.