How does chaining work, and when does a new chain start?

A chain is a run of successful hits on players outside your faction, earning more respect as it grows, with 13 flat-value bonus hits^[1]. The faction must have unlocked chaining, and the first 10 hits must land within 5 minutes. After that, each hit must land within 5 minutes or the chain breaks and goes into cooldown^[1].

What a chain is

Chaining is a warring tool. Successive hits on players outside your faction build a chain, gradually earning more respect, with occasional bonus hits giving large flat respect gains^[1]. Chaining must be unlocked by spending respect. Once a faction has completed a chain of set length, it may unlock the next length. The purchases are non-refundable^[1].

Timer and when a new chain starts

• A new chain is built from successive hits on outsiders once chaining is unlocked. The first 10 hits must be made within 5 minutes^[1].
• Beyond that, each successive hit must be made within 5 minutes, or the chain enters its cooldown state^[1].
• Once a chain has broken, it is in cooldown. Cooldown-period hits are covered below, so a fresh chain begins only after the cooldown is over^[1].
• Chaining was completely redesigned in 2017 and unveiled in November as the first part of Warring 2.0^[1]. The 2017 patch notes also introduced fair fight bonuses of up to x3^[2].

Cooldown after a break

The wiki's Faction page says cooldown lasts 10 seconds for every hit made in the chain, for example 100 seconds for a 10-hit chain^[1]. The same page points to a separate Chain page, which TornLife's research records as giving 6 seconds per hit. That figure fits the bonus-hit cooldown table in the research (60 s at hit 10, 10 min at hit 100), so the Chain page looks like the better guide. The two sources disagree and this is unresolved.

Respect and bonuses

Respect per hit rises logarithmically as the chain grows. At 13 points in a chain, bonus hits give a large flat respect bonus^[1]. Warlord does not apply to bonus hits^[3].

Timer accuracy

The developer said in 2022 that it is very difficult to synchronize the attack timeout perfectly, and that a slightly longer timeout is preferable to one that expires early^[4]. In 2020 he suggested showing the chain timer beside the chain count on the attack screen, but expected it would not be simple^[5].

TornLife's research also lists these points, but the source documents for them are not in this pack. Any result after defeating a target (leave, mug, hospitalize) counts as a hit. Only full members contribute, so a new joiner waits out the 72 hour Recruit status. Failed hits do not affect the chain. Unlock costs run from 1,412 respect for a chain of 10 to 161,596 for 100,000. The chain multiplier is 0.25*log10(x)+0.75, from 1x to 2x, and does not apply at bonus hits. Player reports say you must be in the faction when the chain starts, and that the faction maximum forces a cooldown. TornLife could not establish any minimum respect per hit, or the exact chain save mechanics.

Where sources disagree

• The Faction wiki page gives chain cooldown as 10 seconds per hit^[1]; the research records the Chain page as 6 seconds per hit, which is not in the pack's documents.