Best Covenants for All Classes - Updated for Dragonflight Pre-Patch 10.0

Von Jaydaa Letztes Update: 27.10.2022 Änderungsprotokoll Patch: 10.2.6

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Covenant Changelog from Shadowlands Patch 9.2 to Dragonflight Pre-Patch 10.0.

Tanks:

Blood Death Knight removed Kyrian and Necrolord from Raid and removed Necrolord from Mythic+.
Guardian Druid removed Night Fae from Raid and Mythic+.
Protection Paladin removed Night Fae from Raid.

Healers:

Mistweaver Monk removed Night Fae and added Kyrian Mythic+.
Discipline Priest removed Venthyr and added Kyrian to Raid.
Holy Priest removed Kyrian and added Night Fae to Mythic+.
Restoration Shaman removed Necrolord from Raid.

Melee DPS:

Frost Death Knight removed Necrolord and added Night Fae to Raid.
Unholy Death Knight removed Night Fae and added Necrolord to Mythic+.
Havoc Demon Hunter removed Night Fae from Raid and Mythic+.
Survival Hunter removed Night Fae and added Venthyr to Raid Covenant.
Retribution Paladin removed Night Fae and Necrolord from Raid.
Assassination Rogue removed Night Fae & Necrolord from Raid. Necrolord was removed from Mythic+.
Outlaw Rogue removed Kyrian from Raid. Kyrian & Necrolord were removed from Mythic+. Venthyr was added to Mythic+.
Subtlety Rogue removed Venthyr Mythic+. Kyrian was added to Mythic+.
Enhancement Shaman removed Necrolord and Venthyr from Raid.
Arms Warrior removed Kyrian & Night Fae and added Venthyr to Raid. Night Fae was removed from Mythic+.
Fury Warrior removed Necrolord & Night Fae from Raid. Night Fae was removed from Mythic+.

Ranged DPS:

Balance Druid removed Night Fae from Raid and Kyrian removed from Mythic+.
Arcane Mage added Venthyr to Raid and Mythic+.
Fire Mage removed Venthyr from Mythic+.
Frost Mage removed Venthyr from Raid and removed Necrolord from Mythic+.
Shadow Priest removed Night Fae from Mythic+.
Elemental Shaman removed Necrolord from Raid and Mythic+.
Affliction Warlock removed Night Fae from Raid and removed Necrolord Mythic+.
Destruction Warlock removed Necrolord and added Kyrian to Raid. Venthyr was removed from Mythic+.

Best Covenants for All Specs in the Dragonflight Pre-Patch 10.0.We highly recommend reading the comments to understand why the selected Covenants are the best. Best Tank Covenants

Spec

Best Covenant
Raid

Best Covenant
Mythic+

Writer Comments

Blood Death Knight

Night Fae

Comments by Mandl

Vengeance Demon Hunter

Kyrian

Comments by Itamae

Guardian Druid

Venthyr

Comments by Pumps

Brewmaster Monk

Kyrian
Necrolord

Comments by Llarold

Protection Paladin

Venthyr

Kyrian

Comments by Lincoln

Protection Warrior

Necrolord
Kyrian

Comments by Llarold

Best Healer Covenants

Spec

Best Covenant
Raid

Best Covenant
Mythic+

Writer Comments

Restoration Druid

Night Fae

Necrolord
Kyrian

Comments by Voulk

Mistweaver Monk

Venthyr

Venthyr
Kyrian

Comments by JuneMW

Holy Paladin

Venthyr
Necrolord

Comments by HolyClarius

Discipline Priest

Kyrian

Comments by Jak

Holy Priest

Night Fae

Comments by Jak

Restoration Shaman

Venthyr

Kyrian

Comments by Niseko

Best Melee DPS Covenants

Spec

Best Covenant
Raid

Best Covenant
Mythic+

Writer Comments

Frost Death Knight

Night Fae

Comments by Bicepspump

Unholy Death Knight

Necrolord

Comments by Bicepspump

Havoc Demon Hunter

Venthyr

Comments by Shadarek

Feral Druid

Night Fae

Comments by Guiltyas

Survival Hunter

Venthyr (Single)
Kyrian (AoE)

Kyrian

Comments by DoolB

Windwalker Monk

Kyrian
Necrolord

Comments by Babylonius

Retribution Paladin

Kyrian

Comments by Bolas

Assassination Rogue

Venthyr

Comments by Whispyr

Outlaw Rogue

Venthyr

Comments by JustGuy

Subtlety Rogue

Venthyr

Kyrian

Comments by fuu1

Enhancement Shaman

Night Fae

Venthyr
Necrolord
Night Fae

Comments by Wordup

Arms Warrior

Venthyr

Kyrian

Comments by Archimtiros

Fury Warrior

Kyrian

Comments by Archimtiros

Best Ranged DPS Covenants

Spec

Best Covenant
Raid

Best Covenant
Mythic+

Writer Comments

Balance Druid

Venthyr

Comments by Tettles

Beast Mastery Hunter

Night Fae

Comments by Tarlo

Marksmanship Hunter

Night Fae

Night Fae
Kyrian

Comments by TheAzortharion

Arcane Mage

Kyrian
Venthyr

Comments by Porom

Fire Mage

Night Fae
Venthyr

Night Fae

Comments by Preheat

Frost Mage

Necrolord

Night Fae

Comments by Dorovon

Shadow Priest

Necrolord

Comments by EllipsisPriest

Elemental Shaman

Night Fae

Comments by HawkCorrigan

Affliction Warlock

Necrolord

Night Fae

Comments by Xyronic

Demonology Warlock

Night Fae
Necrolord

Comments by Not

Destruction Warlock

Night Fae
Kyrian

Night Fae

Comments by Loozy

Best Covenants for Tank Specs in Shadowlands Patch 9.0.5Best Blood Death Knight Covenant in Shadowlands patch 9.0.5Kyrian was the optimal choice for Blood Death Knights in 9.0.2, and the changes made to make this covenant more appealing for the two DPS specs has only made this choice stronger for Blood. With a 15% increase in damage and 3% increase (to 8%) in damage reduction while the effect of Fesseln der Unwürdigen up, we're looking at an easy winner for most encounters, with the few oddities being too early in the raid to justify changing over. As usual, the damage reduction only applies to effects with the source being the enemy and not environmental effects or similar, so there are cases where this won't actually have much value. That said, even in 9.0, we did not pick it for the damage reduction, or did not play around it.

The Phiole des Gleichmuts remains an additional amazing extra once-per-fight button, which adds a bit of self-healing when needed by functioning as a secondary health potion, and a couple of clutch debuff clears in Schloss Nathria.The choice in Mythic+ is a lot more muddled than the one in raids, with all covenants being close together in terms of raw performance. Venthyr is the preferred pick, thanks to Schwärmender Nebel, an ability on a short 1 minute cooldown, which, when used on 5+ enemies, yields 145 Runic Power over its duration. That said, thanks to the reshuffling of legendaries, there is a fair chance to see more; after all, with Blutrote Runenwaffe, anybody can have a 1 minute pull cycle!

In fixed, push groups, we've seen a gradual change where the Blood DK in the group may end up being a member of the covenant the rest of their comp would not otherwise be able to bring, with Kyrian, Necrolord and even some Night Fae in the top end of the leaderboard, highlighting clearly that it is less about what you bring, and more about whether you know how to optimize its usage.Best Vengeance Demon Hunter Covenant in ShadowlandsKyrian remains the best covenant for Raid in the 9.0.5 patch. All covenants other than Necrolord had their damage abilities reduced by 10% for Vengeance, while Necrolord was redesigned. Prior to the redesign, Necrolord was worse than not having a covenant, but it is now a fairly competitive option numerically. However, in practice it is unreliable for picking up adds or damage phases due to the randomness of the demon spawn. The damage reduction on Fleischformung is nice, but generally unnecessary. While all of them are competitive in raid, Kyrian pulls ahead due to being able to use Elysischer Erlass on demand, with a short cooldown that lines up with damage phases and add spawns. Phiole des Gleichmuts is also an extra health potion as well as removing some dangerous debuffs in Castle Nathria, which is currently more useful than any of the signature abilities provided by the other covenants.Kyrian also maintains its pole position for Mythic+, providing consistent high damage on a short cooldown, while generating souls for self-healing in a limited external healing environment. Phiole des Gleichmuts allows us to remove debuffs without relying on healers or DPS that have specific dispels. While all covenants are fairly competitive, none of them offer the control and snap aggro in a season that still requires kiting often. Necrolord was fully redesigned and is now numerically competitive with the other three covenants, but due to the randomness of spawns and limited use of Fleischformung, still remains behind as an option.Best Guardian Druid Covenant in ShadowlandsRight before the expansion launched blizzard buffed Night Fae back up to 16 spells for Guardian which saw it quickly rise to the top pick due to the massive amount of flexibility it provides in a raid environment, whether it be big dps, a massive raid healing cooldown or a huge defensive boost, Night Fae could do it all.

Necrolord is definitely on the rise for Guardian in 9.0.5 due to the buffs it has received, but outside of pure single target damage encounters i believe it will still fall short of Night Fae.Night Fae again, it is just incredibly powerful due to the immense flexibility Konvokation der Geister provides as a covenant ability, the Night Fae Soulbind trees work naturally well for Guardian, always allowing us to get everything we want and there are some huge power boosts in mythic+ like Korayn's Erstschlag.

It should however be mentioned that the gap between the other 3 covenants is quite small in mythic+ and the other 3 are definitely viable options which vary in power on a dungeon by dungeon basis.Best Brewmaster Monk Covenant in ShadowlandsBrewmaster Monk’s best Covenant option for raiding is pretty simple: Kyrian all day. Oh, you wanted more? Sure. The Provost beschwören’s Phiole des Gleichmuts is extremely helpful, especially in raids. The damage increase and major stat budget provided by Waffen der Ordnung is excellent, and unlike Necrolord and Night Fae Covenant abilities, which sim competitively, the Kyrian class ability is easy to use, and doesn’t plummet in value when you are forced to move around by bosses like Sire Denathrius, Stone Legion Generals, Sludgefist, Council of Blood, etc. Ultimately, it’s the easiest and strongest choice, and that’s a winning combination.
Brewmaster Monk’s best Covenant option for Mythic+ is also Kyrian. Again, Phiole des Gleichmuts is extremely helpful for removing nasty debuffs, or just simply as a third health potion. Waffen der Ordnung really helps Brewmaster deal burst damage on large pulls, and it provides another defensive cooldown layer, as well. It doesn’t have the short cooldown of Necrolord’s Knochenstaubgebräu, or the sustained DPS potential of Night Fae’s Faelinienstampfen, but it’s a bigger, stronger, and more reliable cooldown that fits better into the way that Mythic+ dungeons are typically handled than the smaller, less reliable alternatives. Ultimately, it’s the easiest and strongest choice, and that’s a winning combination.
Best Protection Paladin Covenant in ShadowlandsAscheweihung is the highest DPS covenant class ability for Protection and works best in raid situations. The ability scales very well with the number of targets and can serve as a healing cooldown when needed. Additionally, General Draven is a very powerful soulbind for progression raiding because he has a couple traits, namely Dienst in Stein and Standhalten that greatly increase survivability when a Protection Paladin needs it most. With Schattentor for some extra mobility, this combination puts Venthyr above the rest.With Kyrian comes Göttlicher Glockenschlag, which is a very strong ability for snap threat, utility and resource generation. Göttlicher Glockenschlag interacts well with legendaries and talents that will perform better in Mythic+ making it that much better to use in that environment. Phiole des Gleichmuts is just icing on the cake for all the bleed mechanics in Shadowlands Dungeons or even just as another healing consumable. Soulbind wise, Pelagos is a very strong soulbind as going into a pull with Schild der Rechtschaffenen and Kampfmeditation can provide a high amount of safety increasing the time you can face-tank a pull.Best Protection Warrior Covenant in ShadowlandsIn raids, Protection Warriors have a choice: The good of the group, or the good of yourself. Necrolord is the best group-oriented choice for Protection Warriors in raids. It is contingent upon having a good, organized group to perform competitively. Under the ideal circumstances, with skilled DPS players who you can overlap your Banner des Eroberers with their major offensive cooldowns, it’s the best overall choice. If you’re not playing with organized groups, then its value can suffer considerably, and Kyrian’s Speer der Bastion will be a more reliable personally-useful skill. Ultimately, the choice between Necrolord and the other covenants is one of group composition and the level of organization at which you’re playing.
Again, in Mythic+, Protection Warriors have to make a decision between a personal burst DPS cooldown or a major stat buff to apply to other players while they are using their offensive cooldowns. Necrolord is the best group-oriented choice for Protection Warriors in high-level Mythic+ pushing groups, but you are reliant on other players performing well to maximize its value. Under the ideal circumstances, with skilled DPS players who you can overlap your Banner des Eroberers with their major offensive cooldowns, it’s the best overall choice. If you’re not playing with organized groups, then its value can suffer considerably, and Kyrian’s Speer der Bastion and Night Fae’s Nachbeben der Ahnen will be more reliable choices that offer more personal value and more CC. Ultimately, the choice between Necrolord and the other covenants is one of group composition and the level of organization at which you’re playing.
Best Covenants for Healer Specs in Shadowlands Patch 9.0.5Best Restoration Druid Covenant in ShadowlandsNight Fae's Konvokation der Geister provides a fairly consistent and potent 2 minute burst healing cooldown and does so without any mana expenditure. Because it casts Restoration Druid-specific spell, there's a lot of synergy directly built in from legendaries or talents such as Seele des Waldes and Rasche Heilung. Add in the fact that we can get 1-3 Wildwuchss out of every cast and on the rare occasion a Gedeihen and we're looking at a very strong covenant ability overall that puts the others to shame.

Necrolord's Adaptiver Schwarm received a 25% buff both to the spell power coefficient and the HoT increase. While it definitely makes Necrolord more appealing than it was previously especially with the changes to Fleischformung, it still kinda falls flat in raid simply because the additional healing is relegated to a single target.

Our Venthyr covenant conduit Endloser Durst received a 60% buff to the amount of crit per stack of Unersättliche Raserei. While this does give some extra oomph to a conduit that was just okay before, this still doesn't bring enough extra throughput to Unersättliche Raserei to unseat Night Fae's Konvokation der Geister. Unersättliche Raserei must be used simultaneously with Inkarnation: Baum des Lebens in order to not be too far behind in terms of throughput gain. Used separately to fill gaps in throughput it quickly falls off in value. Having to pair it with another cooldown to be meaningful means this one is inflexible and has some larger issues. For all the same reasons Night Fae's Konvokation der Geister is good in raid, it's good in Mythic+. What really makes Konvokation der Geister shine is its versatility. Even if we don't necessarily need the healing in Mythic+, we can shift to our affinity shapeshift and use Konvokation der Geister as a fairly potent damage cooldown giving us one of the few ways to cast the high damage AoE Sternenregen as a Restoration Druid.

Necrolord's Adaptiver Schwarm buff is way more meaningful for Mythic+ simply due to the shear amount of single-target healing required for tank healing. If you're looking at solely prioritizing healing in Mythic+, then Necrolord will be a strong option, but if you're prioritizing damage even in the slightest then you'll generally get more mileage out of Konvokation der Geister simply because Adaptiver Schwarm still only provides single-target damage. Best Mistweaver Monk Covenant in ShadowlandsWith the updates to Fleischformung in 9.0.5, Necrolord has taken over the top spot in terms of covenant choices. While Kyrian and Necrolord have always been close in terms of overall output and usefulness, with the changes to Fleischformung Necrolord now overtakes Kyrian in terms of a recommendation. With no other changes to Mistweaver covenants in 9.0.5, this would be the only impacted change to the rankings.The balance in Mythic+ is still close in terms of covenant choices. While the updated Fleischformung does provide an additional damage reduction, Mistweavers are already fairly tanky healers in terms of available cooldowns. Kyrian and Waffen der Ordnung still benefits from a solid synergy with Chi-Ji den Roten Kranich beschwören, so they are by no means a poor choice in this scenario.Best Holy Paladin Covenant in ShadowlandsVenthyr provides slightly less healing, but significantly more damage and can be harder to coordinate/use correctly. However Kyrian provides a much more steady flow and higher healing potential. Venthyr’s Ascheweihung can be used as a very powerful raid cooldown, and if other healers play around this (do damage, or don’t use their cooldowns) can keep a raid group safe for prolonged period of time. Kyrian is good, due to how frequently useful 1min burst healing is. Being able to pool to 5 holy power, spend it, Göttlicher Glockenschlag, spend again gives you a large burst healing window on a frequent basis.Similar to the logic of raiding, both Venthyr and Kyrian are viable here. Venthyr in a coordinated group can be used to great success and open up new buff options if you do not already have a Venthyr. Kyrian provides you with an on-demand burst healing cooldown that is up very frequently which makes up for paladins greatest weakness (healing outside of wings).Best Discipline Priest Covenant in ShadowlandsDespite the nerfs Geisthülle, Venthyr's Gedankenspiele ability is still the top play to maximize the size of your shields. It is a simple massive single target damaging ability that converts into Abbitte healing (therefore Geisthülle shielding) and also reverses some of the damage that the affected enemy deals. Mass absorb events are still incredibly overpowered and the Geisthülle nerfs don't change the fact that preempting and absorbing incoming damage is often better than healing it. Gedankenspiele is still the top choice for raiding Covenant because of how well it synergizes with your ramp up windows and how low-GCD intensive that it is to perform.Stolz enemies often have a heavy amount of health and deal increasing levels of aoe damage to the group. The Faewächter can give huge damage reduction (20%) to one ally with the most recent buffs with very high uptime. This alone is incredibly valuable, as Discipline expends a considerable amount of mana sustaining the tank through spam, quickly eating away at your mana reserves. Extra damage reduction with high uptime saves a ton of mana, allowing you to spend more time dealing damage to heal through Abbitte. You also get cooldown reduction for a DPS like a Mage's Einäschern so they can more consistently kill the Stolz's rapidly and the Wrathful Faeries give substantial mana returns which is excellent on higher level dungeons.

Whether you are in a Pick Up Group or a coordinated team, I believe Night Fae will be the most optimal play for covenant selection for PRIMARILY Mythic+ focused Discipline Priests in 9.0.5 saving substantial mana with damage reduction frequently for your tank, more consistent mana regen from Wrathful Fairies and better cooldown reduction for your damage dealers to kill off enemies faster.Best Holy Priest Covenant in ShadowlandsThe Necrolord's Unheilige Nova has been a strong mainstay for Holy Priest's and 9.0.5 will bring buffs to Fleischformung giving the spec a more effective defensive. The soulbind in Emeni gives a strong Intellect boost with Mit gutem Beispiel vorangehen offering 13% bonus intellect on demand when casting Unheilige Nova. This can be ideal for pairing with Segenswort: Erlösung or Gotteshymne.

The patch however will also add more competition to the covenants with slight raid buffs to the Night Fae covenant. Gotteshymne is receiving buffs offering stacking healing increase from consecutive ticks of Gotteshymne and lasting longer which is the ability reduced by Faewächter for Holy Priests. While Faewächter's cooldown reduction is staying the same, the damage reduction is getting doubled to 20% (from 10%) and the Wrathful Fairy will now automatically jump to a nearby enemy when Faewächter is cast on an ally. The damage reduction will be excellent for self-defense value or for additional tank support (a weak spot for the spec in raids) and the automatic jump will save a global or two in having to apply said Wrathful Fairy before getting value from it, making for more consistent mana returns. Couple this with Blitzkonzentration gameplay that can efficiently consume excess mana for additional throughput, you have a power synergy building between resources. My recommendation would be to select Night Fae though I don't think the gap between Holy covenants is so vast as to be punishing.As discussed above Faewächter is receiving some buffs with 9.0.5. While extra damage reduction will have situational value in a raid with the wealth of external cooldowns a 20 man raid group can have, in a dungeon environment that damage reduction is absolutely nuts. Being able to grant your tank 20% damage reduction for 20 seconds and have the flexibility to swap it to another ally if they are taking extra damage is incredibly insane, shoring up a key weak point of the spec, saving mana, making Stolz enemies safer and easier. The cooldown reduction already saw play in the Mythic Dungeon International with the the support given to Mage players but it can always be used on a variety of specs, even tanks to get their defensives back more easily as well. While Holy Priest is very mana efficient in general in keys, having that backup of additional mana returns is never a bad thing, especially for the players who frequently use LFG for their key groups where DPS love to cleave each other during Stolz, making the healer's job that much more strenuous. Night Fae is the way.Best Restoration Shaman Covenant in ShadowlandsNecrolord, mainly due to Urzeitliche Welle being a fantastic ability. This kind of strong and impactful spot-healing is what I personally look for when it comes to progress raiding, on top of being really fun to play. Fleischformungs rework into providing damage reduction helps to round out the covenant.

However with 9.0.5 Necrolord isn't actually far and ahead the best anymore, due to buffs all of Kyrian, Night Fae and Venthyr are now completely viable choices and pretty much even with Necrolord, which means the only reason I'm still putting it as the best is due to the gameplay-changing impact and how it doesn't care about people being stacked or not. You won't be set back by your covenant choice for raiding.Any9.0.5 balancing brought all the Restoration Shaman covenants close together, which means that you can decide on playstyle, how much damage the covenant contributes or on which covenant is missing in your regular Mythic+ group. Healing and damage wise the only difference is how they deliver it -- Venthyr heals people within 20 yards of your target, Night Fae does it within 20 yards of yourself, Kyrian around your totem and Necrolord doesn't really care. When it comes to the offensive side Night Fae has the greatest single-target damage contribution but doesn't scale into AoE (at all), while Kyrian and Venthyr are both at home with AoE and Necrolord can throw a dot every now and then.Best Covenants for DPS Specs in Shadowlands Patch 9.0.5Best Frost Death Knight Covenant in ShadowlandsFrost Covenants are generally tricky to rank. They all bring something good to the table and the difference between them often isn't huge. The choice also depends on your weapon choice and talent build, further complicating the issue. For 2H Auslöschung, Kyrian is the go-to raiding choice. It simply brings superior single target throughput. For DW Auslöschung and Sindragosas Hauch builds, it's much more tricky. Every covenant brings something good to the party, making the choice a lot more about personal preference. Necrolord is solid in every scenario, Venthyr specifically excels in AoE with Sindragosas Hauch, Night Fae is great for cleave and Kyrian has a small edge in pure single target. If I had to say something, I think I'd go with Necrolord. You might think I'm overstating how close the covenants are but just take a look at the rankings yourself, all covenants are represented at the high-end.Mythic + is similar to Raid in terms of covenant power. I'd say that Kyrian falls behind slightly due to having a covenant ability that's mediocre in AoE. Between Necrolord, Venthyr and Night Fae, the choice is really difficult. Venthyr works really well with Sindragosas Hauch builds since you can leverage the runic power gain. Night Fae is also really strong due to the cleave, especially with Auslöschung builds but also for Sindragosas Hauch. Necrolord is again a versatile choice that works well in every scenario.Best Unholy Death Knight Covenant in ShadowlandsTo start off, Unholy covenants are really well-tuned. There isn't a large difference between the best and worst in most scenarios.
Given this, Necrolord is generally the best Raid Covenant. Picking up Emeni brings both high ST (essentially tied with Venthyr) throughput as well as the ability of buffing your raid with Mit gutem Beispiel vorangehen. I think the 9.0.5 buff to Fleischformung will further cement Necrolord as the raid covenant since you'll get an extra strong defensive!For Mythic+, the meta is slightly different. Venthyr with Schwärmender Nebel is considered the best covenant here. The low cooldown (1 minute), as well as the large runic power generation from the ability enables big burst on a high frequency. You also deal essentially tied single target damage so there's nothing you sacrifice.Best Havoc Demon Hunter Covenant in ShadowlandsBoth Night Fae and Venthyr provide similar damage increase for Raiding. They will both help our weak single target damage with short cooldown nukes. On demand burst is king in raid as the pressure point of many difficult encounters will be to kill an add or get out of a phase quickly and these cooldown will really shine in these situations.AnyThe large variance in M+ pathing, group comps, dungeons, affixes make all covenant fill a specific niche. They are all within a small margin and will edge out ahead in specific situations. Kyrian gives us access to an AoE nuke on a short cooldown very valuable for sustained AoE but lacks ST for bosses. Night Fae and Venthyr provide similar damage pattern with a powerful ST nuke alongside with cleave/aoe built in. Necrolord gives us a proc that will provide us with a damage boost that means it will not give us any increased burst per say but rather help our sustained damage throughout the whole dungeon. Overall all of the covenant will provide a similar damage increase but as we discussed all in a different way. If you play with a specific group picking the odd covenant might be the most beneficial as you will gain access to covenant specific powers in more dungeons but if you pug, simply going the covenant you chose mainly for PVP or Raiding will be perfectly fine as well.Best Balance Druid Covenant in ShadowlandsKonvokation der Geister is exceptional at burst single target DPS. As this is the predominant damage profile present in Schloss Nathria this makes Night Fae a very compelling option. There are also few situations where you play double on use trinkets and line up your Himmlische Ausrichtung with your Konvokation der Geister for massive damage. This is notable on stuff like Schlickfaust. Konvokation der Geister is probably superior at lower levels of keys as the on demand damage is easier to manage. This is amplified heavily with the Stolz buff as well. As for Seelenermächtigung, the AOE damage is really nice from Kyrian but the issue with Kyrian is that it is just AOE damage and is really nothing exceptional when Konvokation der Geister is a very unique and exceptional ability. Best Feral Druid Covenant in ShadowlandsWith 9.0.5 releasing soon and feral getting a couple of changes to covenants, some may be curious on if anything has shifted in terms of what you should be picking! the quick and simple answer is no.

Despite buffs to both Venthyr (via Endloser Durst) and Necrolord (a normal buff) Night Fae continues to remain supreme. All of the issues that currently and previously existed for the other two conduits still exist. For raiding, they're just numerically worse options, that also have worse damage profile set ups. When Necrolord, the sustained single target option, loses in both AOE and single target to a Burst option it will never be a viable choice. Venthyr for raiding continues to just be Night Fae but worse, or Kyrian but worse, while also being one of the only covenant abilities in the game to have an active downside.
For Mythic+ it's much the same. Adaptiver Schwarm would have to be so MINDNUMBINGLY better in single target due to how it works for it to a reasonable option that when it continues to just be worse it's not a real option. Venthyr buff simply isn't large enough for it to be a good option for Mythic+, it's certainly better in M+ than raiding but not by enough to make it an option.Best Beast Mastery Hunter Covenant in ShadowlandsWith patch 9.0.5, Night Fae still reigns supreme as the go-to raiding Covenant for Hunters. Even with the recent buffs to other Covenants, Wilde Geister is just too impactful and important of a cooldown to opt out of for Schloss Nathria. The most difficult encounters in the raid are designed such that bigger cooldowns carry you through the most difficult parts of the fight. Night Fae is also still the best single target Covenant, although it is closer now. More buffs to the other Covenants will not change anything however, as the current raid meta values cooldowns too much for it to change, so we will need to wait and see how the new raid in 9.1 plays out.Night Fae and Kyrian are both quite strong choices, but Night Fae is still the optimal choice if you are looking to do the most damage possible. Wilde Geister is an incredible burst cooldown that will allow you to slam the big pulls in a way that Resonierender Pfeil cannot match. Again, Kyrian is still a strong Covenant choice, but Night Fae is now numerically better than Kyrian in almost all situations.Best Marksmanship Hunter Covenant in ShadowlandsNight Fae simply does the most damage and offers the highest burst damage for both single target and AoE which is crucial for fights such as Stone Legion Generals and Denathrius.Despite the Täuschung des Schlangenpirschers bug fix, Night Fae remains the best option. That being said, the Schnellende Schüsse buff paired with the Täuschung des Schlangenpirschers bug fix closed the gap significantly and made Kyrian on par with Night Fae. We might start seeing more Kyrian Hunters that are focused on Mythic+ as it offers slightly less overall damage, but more frequent consistent damage which may be desired in certain situations.Best Survival Hunter Covenant in ShadowlandsHas access to generally strongest soulbinds for PvE in both Raids and M+. Venthyr and Necrolord changes still fail to address any kind of AoE scaling, and thus are still not competitive.Best Arcane Mage Covenant in ShadowlandsArcane's best raid Covenant is technically Venthyr, as Spiegel der Qual was buffed to provide Freizaubern on proc instead of mana. However, that really only applies to single-target fights; and while that does form the majority of raid encounters, it's not the only type of boss that exists in Castle Nathria: Jäger Altimor and Stone Legion Generals are good examples.

The Necrolord and Night Fae are very viable alternatives. I would put the versatility of the Night Fae's Machtverschiebung ahead of the pure damage Todesgeboren adds to the rotation.Mythic+ focuses around frequent multi-target; even on Tyrannical weeks, trash take up the majority of the time. With that in mind, the Night Fae are still our best Covenant for dungeons. Machtverschiebung's low cooldown lines up with most trash packs and also brings our other spells up faster. While Todesgeboren might seem stronger on paper, it's limited to three targets and the long cooldown means it's normally only up once or twice between boss fights.Best Fire Mage Covenant in ShadowlandsThe cooldown reduction of Machtverschiebung is beneficial for Fire since it has multiple short cooldowns, such as Feuerschlag, Phönixflammen, Rune der Kraft, and Drachenodem. This benefit becomes more impactful as the amount of targets is increased. With fights in Schloss Nathria like Schlickfaust, classes with cooldowns up every minute are at an advantage. Without Machtverschiebung, Einäschern is very hard to get down to the minute marker. None of the other covenant abilities have as much synergy with the spec as Night Fae.

With 9.0.5 Venthyr and Necrolord both narrow the gap significantly in Single Target, bringing them both within 3-4% of Night Fae. Kyrian also gains ground, but not as much as its peers.Same as raid. Night Fae becomes stronger as targets increase so the gap widens at higher target counts. Necrolord has gained a lot of value in 9.0.5 due to the Todesgeboren buff, but long cooldowns like this are not ideal in the Mythic+ environment.Best Frost Mage Covenant in ShadowlandsFrost Mages who are purely focused on raiding and don't plan to switch specs should go for the Venthyr Covenant. Hirnfrost is an incredibly strong proc in Shadowlands and Spiegel der Qual guarantees three uses (as long as the target lives long enough to activate all three stacks - about 20 seconds). The Kyrian, with Strahlender Funke significantly beefing up the power of Hirnfrost procs, are also a decent choice. Neither Covenant ability enhances cleave or AoE, but they reign supreme in priority damage, which is the majority of raid content.

For Mages who like to spec-swap, the Venthyr are also good for Fire Mages, but the Night Fae are by far the most versatile of any Covenant; great for single-target and AoE Fire and Arcane, as well as AoE Frost. Single-target Frost is the only situation where the Night Fae aren't our top choice due to Machtverschiebung not being worth pressing specifically against a single target.

In 9.0.5 Necrolord is now our second best covenant due to the change to Todesgeboren. Machtverschiebung's ability to lower the cooldowns of Blizzard, Gefrorene Kugel and Rune der Kraft is really strong against multiple enemies, even if it is weak on a single target (like Tyrannisch bosses).

The Venthyr are a reasonable Mythic+ choice, as most packs have a large mob that will live for the duration of Mirrors, especially on Fortified weeks. The Necrolord are also reasonable, with Emeni's strong Mit gutem Beispiel vorangehen trait and a class ability (Todesgeboren) that buffs our cleave. However, the cooldown is very long and you'll rarely get more than one use between bosses.

With the changes coming in 9.0.5 Necrolord is gaining a lot of value in AoE. I don't think it will be enough to shift the meta but it will perform much better in sims. Long cooldowns like this are not ideal in the Mythic+ environment. Best Windwalker Monk Covenant in ShadowlandsThe best Covenant for Windwalker in Raids remains Kyrian even after the change to Furorfäuste clipping in 9.0.5 that lowers its lead slightly. The burst damage that Waffen der Ordnung, Xuen den Weißen Tiger beschwören, and Freude des Beschwörers can put out every 2 minutes is just too much for the other Covenants to contend with for the time being. The flexibility of focusing on single target or AOE during Waffen der Ordnung make it a very flexible Covenant to use for the variety of encounters in Schloss Nathria.
The best Covenant for Windwalker in Mythic+ remains Kyrian in 9.0.5. Although a Covenant like Necrolord can use its ability, Knochenstaubgebräu, more often, the 2-minute cooldown of Waffen der Ordnung can be easily utilized by semi-coordinated groups that allow players to line up their abilities, or stagger them, for maximum efficacy. Waffen der Ordnung allows the Windwalker to pump out a lot of Wirbelnder Kranichtritt in a short window on trash and provides the highest burst damage to a single target for bosses.Best Retribution Paladin Covenant in ShadowlandsGöttlicher Glockenschlag is a versatile cooldown that works well in Castle Nathria, especially on later more difficult bosses like Sludgefist. It performs great in either single target oriented burst builds paired with Todesurteil and Letzte Abrechnung, or on AoE since its Holy Power generation scales with extra targets hit. Göttlicher Glockenschlag has no real weaknesses or drawbacks and can work with multiple different talent builds depending on the situation.Similarly as in Raid, Göttlicher Glockenschlag can be used either in combination with Letzte Abrechnung for strong AoE burst every minute or just as an extra AoE and on demand Holy Power generation ability. Its cooldown is short enough that it can simply be used on cooldown and still be available when burst AoE is required, and it's very easy to get a lot of additional Holy Power out of it without requiring much extra forward planning.Best Shadow Priest Covenant in ShadowlandsAnyIn much the same way as before Schloss Nathria, Shadow’s Covenant choices are still open-ended enough that you can make any of the four work without putting yourself at a significant disadvantage. Whilst one may prove the best in an individual fight for one reason or another, it won’t be by much, and it won’t be all fights.

That being said though, Night Fae has seen a considerable rise in play and looks to remain strong in 9.0.5. The mobility provided by Seelengestalt, as well as mastery from Niya’s soulbind trait Hainkräftigung are strong reasons to play Night Fae. The Night Fae Priest ability Faewächter has also received a defensive buff that might make the third component of the spell more appealing. While it’s not currently the case, there is also always the potential for niche strategies to emerge which incorporate Gütige Fee to reduce the cooldowns of key players in the raid.

Necrolord has also received a selection of defensive and quality of life buffs to its signature spell Fleischformung. Necrolord was a strong contender for its raw damage output before 9.0.5, and this remains the case, but again nothing is strong enough to be considered the universally best choice for raiding.
Shadow Priest has two major contenders for best Covenant in Mythc+, Necrolord and Night Fae, though Venthyr and Kyrian are not significantly behind. Necrolord continues to offer an effective out of the box AoE ability in Unheilige Nova which doesn’t struggle to pick up value in multi target, and Night Fae has risen in recent weeks due to the value of Hainkräftigung, and Faewächter providing additional Leerengestalts on trash.

Night Fae, as seen in the MDI, also opens up unique strategies involving Gütige Fee to reduce a teammate’s cooldowns. While this is effective in coordinated and practiced groups, it’s much worse for the majority of keys being done by players and should generally not be taken into consideration.
Best Assassination Rogue Covenant in ShadowlandsWith the rework to the Geißelung covenant ability and the big buff to the Peitschennarben conduit, Venthyr is looking to be the numerically strongest single target covenant as we go into 9.0.5. This should be the theoretical best for raids. That said, any covenant is fine and 9.0.5 makes the differences even smaller than they were before.Night Fae continues to be the best looking covenant for M+ situations. It's not that the alternatives are bad, but Night Fae soulbinds offer a good package and Korayn's Taktiken der Wilden Jagd and Erstschlag are really good for typical dungeons.Best Outlaw Rogue Covenant in ShadowlandsCovenants are so close that throwing a dart into a covenant wheel of fortune is as accurate as me declaring one the best. Venthyr are looking good for single target but don't carry that momentum into AoE situations. It is the other way around for Necrolord, they look very strong for AoE/add fights but not too special for single target. In my opinion, the best general recommendation would be Night Fae, due to the very flexible package from the entire covenant, as well as with potential multispeccing in mind.While Night Fae are good for the same reasons as for the other two specs, the reason I'm going with Necrolord here is the 9.0.5 buff to Gezackter Knochenstachel's initial damage. It is neat on its own but what makes the difference here is that this strong initial damage is translated into AoE via Klingenwirbel. This gives Necrolord an edge in AoE damage over the others.Best Subtlety Rogue Covenant in ShadowlandsWith the rework to the Geißelung covenant ability and the big buff to the Peitschennarben conduit, Venthyr is looking to be the numerically strongest single target covenant as we go into 9.0.5. This should be the theoretical best for raids. That said, any covenant is fine and 9.0.5 makes the differences even smaller than they were before.Night Fae continues to be the best looking covenant for M+ situations. It's not that the alternatives are bad, but Night Fae soulbinds offer a good package and Korayn's Taktiken der Wilden Jagd and Erstschlag are really good for typical dungeons.Best Elemental Shaman Covenant in ShadowlandsBoth Necrolord & Night Fae compete quite closely currently. While the buff to Faetransfusion is nice, the real strength of Night Fae is in the Niya & Korayn soulbinds. Additionally, while Night Fae does sim higher than Necrolord in most situations the fact that the strength of Night Fae is in those soulbinds is also what hinders it.

Niya with Niyas Werkzeuge: Kletten & Korayn with Erstschlag shine on single target & AoE respectively, but when you focus on one Necrolord will outshine them in the other. Necrolord also wins out for funneling damage into a priority target, target swaps, and is generally just a bit more versatile than Night Fae. As such, Necrolord receives the top spot for the moment.Both Necrolord & Night Fae shine here. Necrolord due to the versatility of both the soulbinds and the covenant ability, and Night Fae due to the raw power that the soulbinds provide you. With Flammender Untergang des Himmelsbrechers & Sturmelementar looking to make a comeback alongside a much more powerful Kettenblitzschlag in 9.0.5, the Korayn Soulbind on Night Fae shines as Erstschlag synergizes extremely well with our burst windows.

Night Fae does fall short to Necrolord a bit as the strength of the Night Fae is more concentrated in the soulbinds, and you must choose whether you're going to focus on AoE strength with Korayn or Single Target strength with Niya. Necrolord provides even strength in both, and a far more versatile covenant ability in Urzeitliche Welle.Best Enhancement Shaman Covenant in Shadowlands9.0.5 brought buffs to all but the currently dominant Venthyr Covenant in the form of flat gains, bringing them closer to the point of their mechanical benefits being the only deciding factor. Despite that, I would still currently recommend Venthyr (although there are stronger arguments for both Night Fae and Kyrian now, with Necrolord still lagging a bit behind as effectively a worse version of another option).

For Raids, the reasons are as follows:

While there are a lot of single-target encounters, the advantage that Night Fae + Faetransfusion provides is still contingent on a channel, and many of the burst windows are short enough that the displaced globals inside the still dominant Schicksalswinde means that it's not as cut and dry.
Of the final 4 more taxing bosses within Schloss Nathria, only one of them gives any room for another Covenant to shine (that being Schlickfaust and Kyrian with some clever Vespertotem pre-casting). On the other hand Kettenernte is overwhelmingly valuable as a burst tool on Council of Blood, Stone Legion Generals and Graf Denathrius.
The flexibility given by having an on demand burst, and some fairly simple but interchangeable Soulbind choices keeps Venthyr as a good option despite the much weaker signature skill.

With that said, Faetransfusion is now firmly the strongest pure single-target option and also has some better interactions via the Soulbind tree should a Wolfsknochen des Hexendoktors build end up dominating (though this remains to be seen, and relies a lot on how realistic the uptime requirements are on each encounter to capitalize on the recent 40% Lavapeitsche buff). Kyrian's Vespertotem is a less explosive but more flexible version of Kettenernte, but the Soulbind leaves a lot to be desired for raiding choices due to our weak Potency Conduits. Necrolord is sadly just a worse Night Fae in most situations now despite the buff it received, but the gap is less stark than at launch.9.0.5 brought buffs to all but the currently dominant Venthyr Covenant in the form of flat gains, bringing them closer to the point of their mechanical benefits and utility being the deciding factors for Mythic+. With that said, I would still currently recommend Venthyr (although there is an argument for Kyrian and possibly Night Fae as well here, but Necrolord remains a poor choice).

For Mythic+, the reasons are as follows:

Additional burst AoE is extremely useful, and the sheer strength of the frontloaded damage in each Kettenernte lets you open strong and layer extra cooldowns for larger pulls.
Venthyr provides a massive group heal especially for dealing with Stolz, or rough pulls that your healer may struggle with (or allow them to focus more on DPS). Kyrian also brings this to a lesser extent, which is a big reason it's still a fair consideration.
When it comes to Soulbinds Venthyr has some solid options but nothing exceptional, and is one of the areas it loses ground to Kyrian due to having access to Hammer der Genesis, a strong option to empower your Schicksalswinde opening.

Most of the things that are making Faetransfusion more appealing are not as vital for Mythic+, largely due to the unlikelihood of Schicksalswinde being dethroned as the legendary of choice. The additional healing from the second activation however may save it as an extra group cooldown, but given that Venthyr can just adjust their uses it's unlikely to make it preferrable. Vespertotem with the flat damage and healing bump in 9.0.5 makes for a good choice especially in terms of flexibility, but it's simply not as numerically explosive as Kettenernte. Necrolord providing no group utility and very niche damage profile gains still sadly languishes very far behind in Mythic+.Best Affliction Warlock Covenant in ShadowlandsFor most raid content, the main benefit of Kyrian's Geißelnder Obolus is that it counts as a DoT to increase your Unheilvolle Euphorie's damage, in addition to just being an extra DoT for a class that specializes in DoTs.

Night Fae is almost equally as strong as Kyrian, with the added benefit of a strong movement ability in Seelengestalt. Niya's Hainkräftigung is almost equal in strength to Pelagos' Kampfmeditation. In addition to this, Seelenfäule is way easier to use functionally than Geißelnder Obolus, as it's essentially just a cooldown you have to hit every minute, instead of constantly assessing which benefit you want to gain from casting it.Best Demonology Warlock Covenant in ShadowlandsDespite the adjustment to Venthyr's ability, Drohende Katastrophe, Night Fae and Necrolord are still going to be your primary options for raid. Typically most players will be continuing with Night Fae due to the flexibility it provides to play the other specs. The buff to Dezimierungsblitz (base 100% increase from 60%) should give you a bit more of a buffer between the two covenants and if you are looking to play only Demonology the difference between the two is minimal.Best covenant for M+ is tied very closely to the best raid covenant mostly since neither provide a huge benefit overall. You can play anything you want but the best options remain Night Fae/Necrolord.Best Destruction Warlock Covenant in ShadowlandsNothing has changed for Destruction in 9.0.5, the strongest covenant for both raid and m+ is still Night Fae. Necrolord has been buffed, but due to the difference in soulbinds and because of Seelengestalts utility Night Fae still looks to be the strongest.

That being said, this does bring both Necrolord and Venthyr much more into play. Specifically Necrolord is a strong option for raids now. The big downside of choosing Necrolord is limiting yourself from then playing Affliction, which looks to be the strongest spec in 9.0.5.Best Arms Warrior Covenant in ShadowlandsVerurteilen backed by Massaker replaces a great deal of the rotation, simplifying it, but also adding a great deal of increased damage and defensive value from the built-in damage reduction. Although it has a bit of a low period in between Execute phases, the damage at the beginning and end of the encounter makes it worth while, and Venthyr offers strong Soulbind options for single and multitarget content.

Schattentor is somewhat lackluster, as Warriors already have a lot of mobility. When it's useful, it's very useful, but those times tend to be few and far between in raid where the entire raid often needs to move rather than just one person. Generally speaking, any of the others will be better, but that is hardly the primary consideration when choosing Covenants.Verurteilen remains strong in multitarget due to its raw damage output, but loses value in AoE heavy content due to being limited to a single target outside of Sweeping Strikes. On the other hand, Night Fae's Nachbeben der Ahnen provides the highest multitarget burst and also a good deal of control due to the repeat knockdown - at least against targets susceptible to it. It does have some room for failure however, as the ground target effect can be misplaced or enemies can move out of it, making the Kyrian Speer der Bastion a weaker albeit easier to use alternative.

isn't particularly strong due to the inability to attack while using it, but can be useful for kiting or running back in areas which you cannot mount. On the other hand, the Kyrian Phiole des Gleichmuts is far more widely useful, and remains the best signature ability across all covenants.Best Fury Warrior Covenant in ShadowlandsVerurteilen is an extremely versatile single target and AoE attack which helps jumpstart the early rotation due to the increased rage generation. The defensive aspect is not quite as useful since Fury cannot spam the ability, but it's a nice supplement to Blutdurst healing when considering the amount of raid encounters which incorporate rot damage (G'huun and Queen Azshara both come to mind as recent examples).

Schattentor is somewhat lackluster, as Warriors already have a lot of mobility. When it's useful, it's very useful, but those times tend to be few and far between in raid where the entire raid often needs to move rather than just one person. On the other hand, Night Fae's is situational at best due to Warrior's high mobility the inability to attack while shifted, making it a very good pick for a handful of circumstances but often left forgotten on your bars.Verurteilen remains a useful option due to Fury's ability to innately cleave single target attacks with Wirbelwind however Night Fae's Nachbeben der Ahnen provides the highest multitarget burst and also a good deal of control due to the repeat knockdown - at least against targets susceptible to it. It does have some room for failure however, as the ground target effect can be misplaced or enemies can move out of it, making the Kyrian Speer der Bastion a weaker albeit easier to use alternative.

isn't particularly strong due to the inability to attack while using it, but can be useful for kiting or running back in areas which you cannot mount. On the other hand, the Kyrian Phiole des Gleichmuts is far more widely useful, and remains the best signature ability across all covenants.

Blood DKFrost DKUnholy DK

Havoc DHVengeance DH

Balance DruidFeral DruidGuardian DruidRestoration Druid

Devastation EvokerPreservation Evoker

Beast Mastery HunterMarksmanship HunterSurvival Hunter

Arcane MageFire MageFrost Mage

Brewmaster MonkMistweaver MonkWindwalker Monk

Holy PaladinProtection PaladinRetribution Paladin

Discipline PriestHoly PriestShadow Priest

Assassination RogueOutlaw RogueSubtlety Rogue

Elemental ShamanEnhancement ShamanRestoration Shaman

Affliction WarlockDemonology WarlockDestruction Warlock

Arms WarriorFury WarriorProtection Warrior

Best Covenants for All Classes - Updated for Dragonflight Pre-Patch 10.0

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