The new expansion World of Warcraft: Shadowlands is finally live. One of the new major features is the Covenants. MeinMMO has compiled everything you need to know about them.
What are Covenants? Covenants are the main feature in the new WoW expansion Shadowlands. They allow players to align themselves with a specific faction in the Shadowlands and complete tasks for them.
They come with a type of endgame grind, where players can invest time to become stronger or further develop their character. Each Covenant has a unique endgame campaign that you can complete, as well as a sanctum that you rebuild, similar to the Class Halls from Legion.
The article was updated on November 25, after Shadowlands was officially released.
General information about the Covenants
What Covenants are there? The four Covenants each reside in their own area of the Shadowlands:
- Kyrians (Bastion): Angelic defenders of honor and justice.
- Nekrolords (Maldraxxus): Necromancers and the army of the Shadowlands.
- Night Fae (Ardenweald): Guardians of nature who have aided the demigod Cenarius.
- Venthyr (Revendreth): Vampiric nobles who cleanse sinful souls as “Punishers of the Unworthy”.
How do I join a Covenant? In the Shadowlands there is currently a significant lack of Anima, the “life blood” of the realm due to the backstory.
To join a Covenant, you need to complete the Shadowlands campaign, during which you will learn about all the Covenants and their abilities. At the very end, you can then choose a Covenant in the main city of Oribos.
For Twinks (alternative characters), it becomes easier to decide. These can choose a Covenant directly in Oribos from level 50 (after the level squish) after completing the intro quest in Shadowlands, if one of your characters has already joined a Covenant.
Right after the scenario, you can choose whether to join a Covenant and skip the story or play normally. Skipping the story is final. If you choose the story, you can still choose a Covenant later at any time. For that, visit the NPC Roh-Tahl.
What do they provide? Covenants offer you various rewards. In addition to the aforementioned story campaign, you will receive cosmetic rewards such as wings and halos, special armor, and mounts.
Additionally, each Covenant grants you access to special abilities that are unique to each Covenant and may even differ between classes. These abilities are likely to be an important deciding factor for many players.
Covenants’ Special Feature: The Abilities
What abilities do the Covenants bring? The abilities are divided into two types: general and class-specific Covenant abilities (also known as signature abilities). The general abilities are available to every member of the Covenant:
- Kyrians can summon a companion with “Summon Provost” who gives them a special potion and grants access to “useful amenities” once a day – presumably a bank or auction house.
- Venthyr have the ability to summon a “Shadow Portal”, a type of portal.
- Nekrolords have the ability “Flesh Shaping”, which gives them a shield that becomes stronger when cast on the corpse of an enemy.
- Nights Fae can transform into a fox with “Soul Shape”, which has increased movement speed and teleports forward a short distance on recasting.
While these abilities are independent of the chosen class, there are others that vary for each Covenant and each class. So far, there is not an ability for every combination yet, but the ones that are already known are sorted here for you. For clarity, we have collapsed them – just click or tap on the spoiler to see the content.
The Class Abilities of the Kyrians
Click here for the Kyrians’ skills
- Druid: Soul Bond – Connects with a partner and gains effects based on the role of the other.
- Demon Hunter: Elysian Decree – Places runes that explode and draw soul fragments from enemies.
- Warlock: Scourging Oblation – Deals instant and periodic damage. If the target dies, you receive a soul shard. If it does not die, the cooldown is reset.
- Hunter: Resonating Arrow – Marks an area. You ignore line of sight against enemies in the target area and have an increased critical hit chance.
- Warrior: Spear of Bastion – Deals instant and periodic damage in the target area and generates rage. Hit enemies will be rooted.
- Mage: Radiant Spark – Deals instant Arcane damage and periodic damage. Each direct damage spell cast against the target increases your damage against the target percentage-wise until a certain number of spells have been cast.
- Monk: Order’s Weapons – Increases mastery and resets the cooldowns of various abilities based on specialization. These are then enhanced.
- Paladin: Divine Toll – Instantly casts Holy Shock, Shield of Vengeance, or Judgment on multiple targets in range (depending on specialization).
- Priest: Blessing of the Ascended – Grants additional abilities and increases movement speed. After expiration, it triggers an explosion of damage and healing.
- Shaman: Vesper Totem – Places a totem that radiates damage and healing spells and abilities on nearby targets.
- Rogue: Resonant Rebuke – Deals damage and drains Anima to charge combo points. Damage-dealing finishing moves that consume the same number of combo points as your Anima-charged points will deal damage as though 7 combo points were consumed.
- Death Knight: Bonds of the Unworthy – Reduces the damage taken by the target and deals Arcane damage over time. Cooldown is reduced for each rune consumed on the target.
The Class Abilities of the Venthyr
Click here for the Venthyr’s skills
- Druid: Insatiable Frenzy – For a short time, Druid spells increase damage, healing, and haste (stackable). If you do nothing for a while, you lose stacks and health, and the effect ends.
- Demon Hunter: Sins’ Mark – Reduces melee attack and spellcasting speed and deals periodic damage to the target. During Metamorphosis, all nearby targets are marked.
- Warlock: Impending Doom – Moves towards the target and deals damage to enemies along the way. At the target, it explodes, dealing damage to enemies in an area and applying a random curse.
- Hunter: Chop Shot – Deals periodic Shadow damage to the target. Each time the shot deals damage, you have a chance to cast a Deadly Shot regardless of the target’s health.
- Warrior: Condemn (replaces Execute) – Deals damage to targets at 80% or more or 20% or less health. Damage dealt by the target is reduced. If the target survives, you gain a portion of the consumed rage back.
- Mage: Mirror of Torment – Summons mirrors that torment the target. Each spell and ability of the target consumes a mirror to deal damage and slow it down. The last mirror incapacitates it and silences it.
- Monk: Fallen Order – Summons Ox, Crane, and Tiger disciples to fight for you. The disciples of your specialization remain for longer and use additional abilities.
- Paladin: Ashen Hollow – Deals damage to enemies in the target area and restores health to allies. Deals additional damage to enemies while you remain inside it and grants you the bonuses from Consecration.
- Priest: Mind Games – Deals Shadow damage to the target and confuses it. Any healing of the target turns into damage for the duration and any damage into healing.
- Shaman: Chain Harvest – A wave that deals damage to enemies and heals allies. Bounces over and reduces cooldown with each critical hit.
- Rogue: Torment – Strikes the target three times, dealing damage. For the next 20 seconds, each combo point causes an additional strike. Reactivating it ends the torment and increases your haste by 0.5% per stack for 20 seconds (maximum 15%).
- Death Knight: Swarming Mists – Increases the chance to dodge attacks and deals Shadow damage to enemies. Damage dealt this way grants Rune power.
The Class Abilities of the Nekrolords
Click here for the Necrolords’ skills
- Druid: Adaptive Swarm – Heals or harms a target and amplifies periodic effects on it. Jumps to another target after a duration.
- Demon Hunter: Fuel for the Flame – Fights a demon from the Theater of Pain. If you defeat it, its soul is released and creates a pool of blood. In this pool, you have +20% attack speed and take 10% less damage. ‘Flesh Shaping’ treats the demon as a powerful foe.
- Warlock: Decimation Bolt – Deals damage and increases the damage from the next Incinerate, Soul Drain, and Shadow Bolt. The damage of abilities and Decimation Bolt increases as the target loses health.
- Hunter: Death Chakram – Deals additional Shadow damage for a short time. Each time the chakram deals damage to another target, its damage increases, and you generate additional focus.
- Warrior: Banner of the Conqueror – Increases movement speed and allows certain abilities to generate glory. Upon reactivation, you deploy the banner and increase the maximum health and attack speed of you and allies – duration increases with stacks of glory.
- Mage: Born of Death – Transforms you into a skeleton mage with increased spell damage and enhanced frostbolt, fireball, and arcane blast spells.
- Monk: Bone Dust Brew – Applies a debuff to targets. Abilities against the target have a chance to trigger various effects such as additional healing, Chi points, or cooldown reductions based on specialization. Hits have a chance to slightly trigger the effect again.
- Paladin: Hammer of the Conqueror – Deals Shadow damage and enhances the next “Word of Glory” or “Templar’s Verdict.”
- Priest: Unholy Nova – Heals nearby allies and infects enemies. Infected enemies take periodic damage and heal players who attack them.
- Shaman: Primordial Wave – Heals a target or harms an enemy and applies Flame Shock to it. Has additional effects depending on specialization:
- Elemental: The next Lava Burst hits all targets with Flame Shock
- Enhancement: The next Lightning Bolt hits all targets with Flame Shock
- Restoration: The wave triggers Flood. The next wave of healing hits all targets with Flood
- Rogue: Jagged Bone Spike – Deals instant and periodic damage to the target until it dies. Casting the spell causes every active bone spike to explode, hitting the target and increasing the initial damage.
- Death Knight: Monstrous Limb – Creates an additional limb that deals damage to enemies and pulls distant enemies to you.
The Class Abilities of the Night Fae
Click here for the Night Fae’s skills
- Druid: Convocation of Spirits – Channels 16 Druid spells and abilities for 4 seconds. The spells depend on specialization.
- Demon Hunter: The Hunt – Rushes towards a target, incapacitates it, and marks it. Demon Bite and Shear grant more Fury against marked targets. Can be cast again every 30 seconds to teleport to the target (ignores line of sight).
- Warlock: Soul Rot – Sacrifices health to deal Nature damage to a target and three others nearby for 8 seconds. Bloodsucker hits all targets with Soul Rot.
- Hunter: Wild Spirits – Summons a spirit that marks targets with ‘Wild’s Mark’ for 15 seconds. Each ability with marked enemies summons a spirit beast that deals damage.
- Warrior: Ancestral Aftershock – Casts a shockwave that stuns enemies and deals periodic damage. This damage grants you rage.
- Mage: Power Shift – Deals damage to nearby enemies and reduces the cooldown of your abilities while channeling.
- Monk: Faeline Stomp – Unleashes a Faeline that deals damage. It has a 10% chance to reset your own cooldown and triggers various effects depending on specialization:
- Brewmaster: Sets enemies on fire
- Mistweaver: Heals allies
- Windwalker: Drains Chi and energy from enemies
- Paladin: Blessing of the Seasons – Blesses allies with the blessing of a season for one minute or until the next season:
- Summer: Attacks deal additional Holy damage. Transitions to Autumn.
- Autumn: Abilities cooldown 10% faster. Transitions to Winter.
- Winter: Reduces movement speed of nearby enemies by 20% and attack speed by 10%. Transitions to Spring.
- Spring: Increases damage dealt and healing received by 10%. Transitions to Summer.
- Priest: Faesong – Enhances the next 10 spells based on specialization.
- Shaman: Fae Transfusion – Drains health from enemies in the target area and deals damage to them for 3 seconds. Recasting heals nearby allies for 25% of the damage dealt.
- Rogue: Sepsis – Poisons the target for 10 seconds and deals damage. If it survives, it takes additional damage and you automatically cast ‘Vanish’. If Sepsis does not last its full duration, the cooldown is reduced by 60 seconds.
- Death Knight: Death’s Right (replaces Death and Decay) – Enemies in the target area take periodic damage and deal reduced damage to you. You gain more strength, and various abilities affect all enemies near the target.
Additional Abilities: Soul Bonds
The Covenants offer you, in addition to the abilities listed above, the so-called “Soul Bonds”. This is a type of progression system with companions.
The Soul Bonds enhance your abilities and the Covenant abilities in various ways with new abilities and media that strengthen your class abilities.
These trees can then gradually be developed and are somewhat reminiscent of the progression tree from the Visions of N’Zoth from Patch 8.3.
The “companions” do not act as bodyguards, they do not accompany you in the world. Instead, you constantly benefit from their various bonuses. The bonds should allow you to switch quickly, similar to talents.
The Story of the Covenants in the “Afterlife” Cinematics
To get in the mood for the new expansion, Blizzard has released four cinematics titled “Afterlife”. These show the story of each individual Covenant as well as some important characters returning in Shadowlands:
- Revendreth shows the ruthless rule of the nobility
- In Bastion, you see the tragic fate of Uther and Arthas
- Ardenweald shows the fate of the Night Fae and the god Ursoc
- In Maldraxxus, you meet Thrall’s mother, Draka
Covenant Armors as Rewards
Each of the Covenant armors is adapted to the theme of the Covenant and comes with a complete armor set as well as several cool back options – including the mentioned stylish wings. In our galleries, you will find the armor for each armor class as well as the back templates that wowhead has already detailed. We also show you the mounts you receive. This helps you in your decision, especially if your appearance is important to you when choosing.
Kyrian Armor
The Kyrians feature golden armor and lots of glow – just as you would expect from angelic beings. Their mount is a kind of armored lion.
The mount of the Kyrians. 
One of the back templates. 
The cloth armor of the Kyrians. 
The leather armor of the Kyrians. 
The chain armor of the Kyrians. 
The plate armor of the Kyrians. 
One of the back templates. 
One of the back templates.
The armors are available in various variations. At the colleagues from wowhead you can see all the color variants found so far. For the standard variant (above), you just need to complete the Covenant campaign. For the variants, you need special requirements, such as leveling up in the Covenant’s glory and using Anima as currency to purchase them.
Venthyr Armor
The armor of the Venthyr matches their vampiric appearance and is usually in shades of red and black. The ornaments reflect their theme of sins and catharsis, featuring gravestones and blades. Their mount is a “Gargon”, a kind of bear gargoyle.
The mount of the Venthyr. 
One of the back templates. 
One of the back templates. 
One of the back templates. 
The cloth armor of the Ventyhr. 
The leather armor of the Ventyhr. 
The chain armor of the Ventyhr. 
The plate armor of the Ventyhr.
The armors are available in various variations. At the colleagues from wowhead you can see all the color variants found so far. For the standard variant (above), you just need to complete the Covenant campaign. For the variants, you need special requirements, such as leveling up in the Covenant’s glory and using Anima as currency to purchase them.
Nekrolord Armor
The Nekrolord armors resemble the necropolises of the Scourge, like Naxxramas, and contain plenty of bones and limbs. Their mount is an undead ram.
The mount of the Nekrolords. 
One of the transmog templates for the back. 
One of the transmog templates for the back. 
One of the transmog templates for the back. 
The cloth armor of the Nekrolords. 
The leather armor of the Nekrolords. 
The chain armor of the Nekrolords. 
The plate armor of the Nekrolords.
The armors are available in various variations. At the colleagues from wowhead you can see all the color variants found so far. For the standard variant (above), you just need to complete the Covenant campaign. For the variants, you need special requirements, such as leveling up in the Covenant’s glory and using Anima as currency to purchase them.
Night Fae Armor
The Night Fae are completely dedicated to nature, so their armors are made of wood and plants. Even the back ornaments are vines or even live moths. As mounts, they receive a stylish deer with large antlers.
The mount of the Night Fae. 
A transmog template for the back. 
A transmog template for the back. 
A transmog template for the back. 
The cloth armor of the Night Fae. 
The leather armor of the Night Fae. 
The chain armor of the Night Fae. 
The plate armor of the Night Fae.
The armors are available in various variations. At the colleagues from wowhead you can see all the color variants found so far. For the standard variant (above), you just need to complete the Covenant campaign. For the variants, you need special requirements, such as leveling up in the Covenant’s glory and using Anima as currency to purchase them.
After the release of Shadowlands, the Covenants are the feature that many players are currently working on. With daily and weekly tasks, they further advance their progress and try to quickly obtain the rewards.
More info on features and story of Shadowlands can be found in our overview.
