A core choice at the start of your journey in the Shadowlands will have you decide where your allegiance lies; would you rather support the Kyrian of Bastion, the Necrolords of Maldraxxus, the Night Fae of Ardenweald, or the Venthyr of Revendreth?
Choosing a covenant is the most important decision your character will make in Shadowlands, as the covenant abilities and Soulbinds will significantly impact your spec's gameplay and performance. Through this choice, your rotation changes, certain bonuses appear in dungeons for your entire group, and you are able to follow the story in different paths.
So without any further ado let's get right into it;
Single Target/Raid:
Due to the Sanctum of Domination raid being heavily single target based, Night Fae will be the best option for the raid when it comes to single target.
Night Fae is currently far ahead of any other covenants in terms of soulbinds damage boost from Soul Rot and the utility that Soulshape brings.
AoE / Mythic +:
With the recent changes to Night Fae and the the new covenant specific legendary, Korayn Soulbind and Sow the Seeds talent, Night Fae heavily out-performs all the other covenant making it also the only go to covenant when it comes to Mythic + and AoE scenarios.
PvP:
Who would have guessed, even when it comes to PvP Night Fae pulls way ahead of all the other covenants when it comes to Affliction Warlock pvp, the damage boost you get from Soul Rot and the amazing and much needed utility that soulshape brings makes Night Fae the best covenant for PvP as well.
To sum this up, due to the nature of the Sanctum of Domination raid being heavily on the single target side Night Fae will be your best choice if you want to get into Affliction Warlock, as it is the current best single target option and AoE option out there.
Single Target/Raid:
Due to the Sanctum of Domination raid being heavily single target based, and once again Night Fae will be our go to covenant when playing Demonology Warlock.
Due to the Mastery/HP % buff we get from using Soul Rot, and the naturally short CD makes the ability pair well with all the Demonology Warlock major cds
AoE / Mythic +:
Even on AoE scenarios there is no competition here, Night Fae pulls ahead again making it the most solid all around covenant for Demonology Warlock.
PvP:
However for Demonology Warlock PvP it is a bit different, Night Fae will remain a very solid and viable option for PvP, But Necrolord will take the lead here.
Due to the insane amount of burst Necrolord Demonology can do pairing the covenant specific legendary with the buff from Decimiating Bolt makes Demonology Warlock a scary opponent.
Also the tankiness you get from the Necrolord Soulbinds and Felshcraft shield makes it a very strong defensive covenant as well
To sum this up, due to the nature of the Sanctum of Domination raid being heavily on the single target side Night Fae will be your best choice if you want to get into Affliction Warlock, as it is the current best single target option and AoE option out there.
And in terms of PvP, Necrolord will be your best covenant, although Night Fae is not a bad second choice.
Single Target/Raid:
Surprise, surprise for single target or raid options you would want to opt into the Night Fae covenant as it has the best Soulbinds and single target damage for raid encounters. Although Necrolord Destruction Warlocks are completely viable we recommend going Night Fae in case you’d like to try some of the other warlock specs as well
AoE / Mythic +:
And for Mythic + / AoE Night Fae will still be your go to choice, due to the raw amount of passive stats you get from Soul Rot and the haste you get from the Dreamweaver soulbind makes Night Fae again the best covenant for Destruction Warlock
To quickly sum this up, Night Fae is the best covenant for Destruction Warlocks, and for Warlocks in general.
Soul Rot is a huge buff to every Warlock spec as well the mobility provided from Soulshape is something every warlock always wanted
Reminder:
Covenants have a major impact on the game, your playstyle, rotation and even character aesthetics. You should consider all your options before committing to one covenant.
But also remember you can switch between covenants so if you would like to change between them you can!
As of current there is a time gate on how you can switch covenants but with the release of patch 9.1.5 it will be much easier
Remember! You will lose access to all your previous Covenant’s abilities, transmogs, and soulbinds
It is a bit tricker to rejoin a covenant you have already left and it will require a bit more work. In this case, you will need to complete two consecutive weekly quests before you will be allowed to rejoin.
The leader will then give you a weekly quest to start the process of rejoining the Covenant by completing quests in the covenant zone or dungeons and you will see the progress bar fill up as you finish various tasks.
Once you finished the quest and the Weekly Reset has happened you will be given yet another quest, the objective of the quest is pretty much the same then you will be able to rejoin the covenant.
In total it takes about one weekly reset to rejoin a covenant you previously left, so make wise choices!
