At the heart of Warhammer Online is the Realm vs. Realm (RvR) Campaign that pits armies against one another in perpetual combat. Simply put, it's you versus actual opposing players, not NPCs (Non-player Characters). The campaign is an epic journey through the four Tiers of gameplay (detailed below), until you reach its culmination: the sacking of a capital city within the fourth Tier. Will you be defending or attacking?

Within most Tiers are Battlefield Objectives and Keeps: areas that are vital for each race to ultimately control. Claim and defend the Battlefield Objectives, and accumulate Renown for yourself and Victory Points for fellow warriors. Turn the tide of the war by having your Realm control the zones as you fight to win the campaign and dominate the world of Warhammer Online.

Players from the enemy Realm will not be able to engage you unless you are flagged for RvR. (Please note that this only applies to Core and Roleplay servers-players on Open RvR servers are always flagged for RvR.) You can elect to flag yourself for RvR combat at any time by right clicking on your character portrait and flagging yourself for RvR. You will also be flagged for RvR combat upon entering an RvR area (highlighted in red on the World Map), also called 'RvR Lakes'. You will be alerted by a red Warhammer Online skull symbol above your character, and the appearance of an RvR timer. The flag (shown on your character's head in the top left) is removed only when you leave the combat area and the RvR timer runs out. If you are flagged, you're fair game. Participating in RvR nets you powerful items, currency, Renown, and Experience.

As you participate in RvR in each Tier, you are protected against players who are above your Rank-range by the Coward's Reward. Players who choose to enter an RvR area or flag themselves for RvR combat, and are above the Rank Range of that Tier, will be turned into a chicken!

The Tiers are broken down by Ranks as follows. Prepare to do battle in all four!:

• Tier 1: Ranks 1 - 11
• Tier 2: Ranks 12 - 21
• Tier 3: Ranks 22 - 31
• Tier 4: Ranks 32 - 40

There are four types of RvR combat: open world RvR, instanced battle Scenarios, Campaigns, and capital city sieges. You can participate in open RvR and Scenario-play as soon as you enter the game. To join a Scenario, simply click on the Scenario queue button on your minimap and choose to "Join All" or select from the list of Scenarios available to you. The Scenarios you are allowed to join correspond with your current Tier. Once in a Scenario, you can leave by right-clicking on your character's health and selecting "Leave Scenario", but be warned that you'll get a temporary debuff if you do! You can read more about the individual Scenarios in our Scenarios 101 articles here.