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In the realm of Ardenweald, where spirits of nature are reborn, you will help shape the fate of the night fae by protecting their sacred groves against the vile Drust.

If you choose to return to this twilit realm as an ally of the Night Fae Covenant, the friendships you cultivated during your time in Ardenweald will be ready to take the next step.

Night Fae Covenant Campaign
The cycle of rebirth in Ardenweald is teetering on the precipice of no return. Every grove that dies to the anima drought and is left to rot has been twisted by the Drust into a thorned gateway to Ardenweald, and its pestilence fuels their wicked magic. If you are to save these umbral wilds from a doomed afterlife under the Drusts’ blackened thumbs, you’ll need to restore balance in Ardenweald. To succeed, you’ll need Bwonsamdi’s help, which he’ll lend if you agree to a deal with him. Be wary; for the price of power can be ever shifting.

You’ll also work alongside the dragon Ysera, who has a plan to restore Ardenweald—as well as save Tyrande Whisperwind from the grim fate that befalls all who take up the Night Warrior’s mantle. However, changing the course of destiny is neither simple nor quick. Altering the strands of Tyrande’s fate will be an ongoing thread that runs throughout the story of the Shadowlands.


Renown Rewards
As you progress through the Night Fae Covenant Campaign and complete tasks for your new allies, you’ll build Renown. Increasing Renown will provide you access to unique rewards from your Covenant.


In your pursuit to earn Renown, you’ll go into the Maw to recover wayward souls and bring them to your Covenant Sanctum; some of these souls will even embark on Adventures on your behalf!

Learn more about Renown in our Covenant Systems article.

Covenant Sanctum: Heart of the Forest


When you join the Night Fae Covenant, you’ll have access to Heart of the Forest, a unique Sanctum available only to their members. As their seat of power, it’s here that you’ll meet with key figures, take on new quests, and store Anima. As you progress through the Night Fae campaign, you’ll also have the opportunity to work on additional feature upgrades within your Sanctum.

Each of the four Covenants have features that they share among them, but they also have a feature that is patently unique to them. For the Night Fae Covenant, it’s the Queen’s Conservatory.

Queen’s Conservatory


All members of the Night Fae Covenant can access the Queen’s Conservatory, a celestial garden where they will harness the power of rebirth that flows through Ardenweald to help the souls of ancient deities to return to life.

During your adventures in the Shadowlands, you will come across the preserved souls of celestial spirits from across the cosmos. Within the Queen’s Conservatory you will find the power to aid you in restoring those souls to their former glory.

To do so you will work with the Queen’s Warden to nurture the ancient souls back to strength using the magic of the Wildseeds of Ardenweald. Inside the garden of the Queen’s Conservatory you will have access to two types of plots—the Wildseed Pods themselves, and Catalyst Plots. You can plant different catalysts in the plots connected to each Wildseed to infuse that seed with extra strength. Each type of catalyst will provide a different type of bonus to the regrowth process.

One catalyst might reduce the incubation time required to restore a soul, while others may influence the amount or quality of the reward cache you receive from each restored soul. For once restored to their full strength, the restored deity will show their gratitude with a reward cache, which can contain anything from resources to special cosmetics, such as pets and mounts.

Managing the various Wildseeds and plots allows you to try to maximize the efficiency of your garden. Learning the best ways to use and place your catalysts will be the key to unlocking the true potential of the Queen’s Conservatory.

Travel System: Fae Circles

Night Fae players are able to enlist the aid of Marasmius, an ancient and venerable member of the Court of Night who serves as the living transportation network of Ardenweald. As you restore the Sanctum, you’ll help Marasmius repair himself, unlocking new transportation network tiers that grant access to mushroom rings around Ardenweald—including places that can only be accessed by the mushroom network.

There are three tiers of Anima Transport that you’ll unlock over time by increasing your Renown Level. Here are some examples:

Tier 1
Allows travel to Heart of the Forest, Stillglade, The Stalks, Forest’s Edge.
Can be used to reach a unique location: The Ring.

Tier 2
Allows travel to Banks of Life, Elder Stand, and Gormhive.
Can be used to reach travel to unique caves in Ardenweald.

Tier 3
Allows travel to Crumbled Ridge, Eventide Grove, Tirna Scithe.
Can be used to reach certain islands near Ardenweald.

Night Fae Adventures
You’ll put your tactical skills to the test by sending your allies into the Shadowlands and lending aid to the Night Fae Covenant. While this feature is available to each Covenant, the allies you recruit and the missions you send them on will be unique to the Covenant. You’ll need to get to know the strength and weaknesses of those you send out with the scouting map.

Anima Conductor
Players can enable additional content with their Covenant’s realm by investing Anima into specific areas in Ardenweald. When you restore Anima to a location, it revitalizes the area, allowing you to access new quests, making it easier for you to unearth wondrous treasures, or luring powerful foes which can be slain for rich rewards. Different areas are tied to different content unlocks.

• Glitterfall Basin – Find a unique Covenant treasure.
  
• Dreamsong Fenn – Fight an enemy champion.
  
• Tirna Vaal – Access a Covenant World Quest.
  
• Hibernal Hollow – Access a set of Covenant daily quests.
  
• Claw’s Edge – Get access to powerful kyrian enhancements.
  
• Tirna Scithe – Fight an elite enemy champion.

Meet Your Night Fae Soulbinds
Once you’ve proven your worth, you’ll unlock the ability to Soulbind with one of several select characters in the Covenant, who will share their distinctive powers with you in the form of a variety of traits and bonuses.

The cunning night fae you befriended in Ardenweald will form a special bond with you if you join their Covenant. Below are descriptions of each along with a few example powers they bestow upon you.


Niya is a sylvar who was tasked with guarding and caring for the wildseeds in her grove, whom you met in a time of tragedy as her grove was left to wither so that its anima could be reclaimed. As she journeyed with you, Niya learned the hard truths of survival admidst the drought. An expert hunter and tracker, her skills will aid resolving the drought, and the other threats to Ardenweald.
Sylvari Mantle: When Soulshape ends, you are concealed until you move.
Grove Invigoration: When you use your Night Fae class ability or spell, gain a moderate amount of Mastery, slowly fading over a few minutes.


Dreamweaver is a calm and serene faerie who’s adept at peering into the dreams of nature spirits who slumber within the forest’s wildseeds as they await their rebirth. Dreamweaver helped you form a bond with one particular wildseed whose sleeping spirit reached out. His healing powers provide support as Ardenweald is besieged by outside forces.
Field of Blossoms: When Soulshape ends, you increase the movement speed of nearby allies for a moderate amount of time.
Podtender: When you would take damage that would kill you, instead rejuvenate within a wildseed, regaining a moderate amount of your maximum health over a few seconds. If the pod takes more than a certain amount of damage during this time, you die. This effect may only occur once every several minutes.


Korayn, a huntress of the Wild Hunt, is a strong-willed leader and ferocious fighter. Tasked with protecting the forest from the most dangerous and elusive threats, she will not rest until her quarry is slain and Ardenweald’s safety is secured. When Hibernal Hollow came under attack, it is Korayn’s leadership and resolve that helped win the day.
Wild Hunt’s Charge: While out of combat, your Soulshape’s teleport becomes a charge, stunning your target for a few seconds and ending your Soulshape.
Final Moments: Your healing and damage to targets below at low health is slightly increased. When an ally dies, this benefit is significantly increased for a moderate amount of time. This enhancement may only occur once every few minutes.

Power of the Night Fae
When you join the Night Fae Covenant, you’ll gain two new unique abilities—one signature ability and one class ability.

Signature abilities are available to all Covenant members regardless of class, race, or specialization.

Soulshape
Turn into a Vulpin, increasing movement speed. You may reactivate Soulshape to teleport a short distance forward.
Additional cosmetic forms can be earned and collected through a variety of gameplay. While out in the world, this effect has a short duration before it wears off, but lasts indefinitely while in a rest area.

Unleash your Soulshape
As you grow in power and help your night fae friends, you’ll unlock new Soulshape forms that you can transform into at any time.

Covenant Class Abilities provide additional combat-oriented gameplay options that are tailored to the theme of that Covenant.

Covenant Class Abilities
Death Knight: Death’s Due

• (Replaces Death and Decay)
  
• Corrupts the targeted ground, causing Shadow damage over a duration of time to targets within the area.
  
• Affected enemies deal reduced damage to you (up to a maximum amount) and their power is transferred to you as an equal amount of Strength.
  
• While you remain within the area, your Necrotic Strike and Heart Strike will hit additional targets. Scourge Strike and Clawing Shadows will hit all enemies near the target.

Demon Hunter: The Hunt

• Charge to an enemy, inflicting Nature damage and rooting them. The target is marked for a period of time, increasing your Fury from Demon's Bite and Shear against them. You may reactivate The Hunt every 30 seconds to teleport behind the marked target and ignoring line of sight.

Druid: Convoke the Spirits

• Call upon the Night Fae for an eruption of energy, channeling a rapid flurry of 16 Druid spells and abilities over 4 seconds.
  
  The spells will be cast on applicable nearby targets, and the spells chosen will favor your Shapeshift form.

Hunter: Wild Spirits

• Evoke the energy of Wild Spirits at the target location, applying Wild Mark to all enemies within the areas for 15 seconds and increasing your damage against them by a small amount
  
  While the Wild Spirits are active, each ability you use against a target affected by the Wild Mark calls for a spirit beast to strike your target for Nature damage.

Mage: Shifting Power

• Draw from the ground beneath you for a period of time, dealing Nature damage over time to nearby enemies.
  
  While channeling, your ability cooldowns are reduced.

Monk: Faeline Stomp

• Strike the ground fiercely to expose a faeline for 30 seconds, dealing Nature damage and taking an action based on your specialization. Your abilities have a 10% chance of resetting the cooldown of Faeline Stomp while fighting on a faeline.
  
  • Brewmaster: Ignite enemies along the faeline with a Breath of Fire.
    
  • Mistweaver: Heal allies along the faeline with an Essence Font bolt.
    
  • Windwalker: Rip Chi and Energy Spheres out of enemies along the faeline.
    

Paladin: Blessing of Seasons

• We’ve listened to your feedback and are currently iterating on this ability.

Priest: Fae Blessings

• Surround yourself with helpful sprites, causing your next 10 spell casts to aid your target depending on your chosen spell.
  
  • Shadow Mend, Mind Blast, Flash Heal, Heal: Reduces an ally’s damage taken by 10% for 15 seconds.
    
  • Power Word: Shield: Invigorates your target with 2% mana or 20% resource.
    
  • Void Bolt, Prayer of Healing, Power Word: Radiance: Reduces the cooldowns of up to 5 allies’ major abilities by 3 seconds.
    

Rogue: Sepsis

• Infect the target’s blood, dealing Nature damage over 10 seconds. If the target survives its full duration, they suffer additional damage and you Vanish from sight.
  
• Cooldown reduced by 60 seconds if Sepsis does not last its full duration.

Shaman: Fae Transfusion

• Transfers the life force of up to 4 enemies in the targeted area, dealing Nature damage every 0.5 sec for 3 seconds.
  
• Pressing Fae Transfusion again within 20 seconds will release 25% of all damage from Fae Transfusion, healing up to 8 allies near yourself.

Warlock: Soul Rot

• Expend some of your health to wither away all life force from your current target and up to 3 additional targets nearby, causing them to suffer Nature damage over 8 seconds. Additionally, casting Drain Life will also hit any enemy affected by your Soul Rot.

Warrior: Ancient Aftershock

• Slams the ground with your weapon, releasing a shockwave dealing Nature damage and stunning up to 5 enemies for 1.5 seconds. Enemies struck take Nature damage every 2 seconds for 12 seconds and transfer it to you as 6 Rage.

We look forward to sharing more information as development continues, and we hope this preview gives you a taste of what the Night Fae Covenant has to offer. Learn more about Ardenweald in our previously published article.

Rewards, mechanics, and abilities are still in development and subject to change, so be sure to check back for periodic updates on worldofwarcraft.com as we approach the release of Shadowlands.

Among the necrolords, strength is rewarded and weakness cast aside. The souls of the ambitious and contentious are forged into an immortal army charged with the defense of the Shadowlands.

In the birthplace of necromantic magic, those who master the powers of death turn legions of ambitious souls into relentless armies. Should you join the Necrolords, you will take on the role of protector of the Shadowlands and carry the weight of a divided house upon your shoulders. But are you the one that prophecy has foretold?

If you’re a believer in the power of might? Then the Necrolords Covenant just may be where you place your loyalties within the Shadowlands.

Covenant Campaign (Spoilers Inside!)

The Necrolord Covenant Campaign finds famed warrior Draka and her forces outnumbered at the Seat of the Primus. Their tenuous control hangs in the balance as the combined forces of the House of Rituals, House of Constructs, and the House of the Chosen move against them. With your help, Draka undertakes a bold plan to bolster their forces. You’ll need to take steps to build alliances, steal a necropolis, and construct an army of abominations to face the true enemy behind all of the troubles that plague Maldraxxus.

Renown Rewards

As you’re put through your paces and prove your mettle to the Necrolords through their Covenant Campaign, you’ll build Renown. Increasing Renown will provide you access to unique rewards from your Covenant. Learn more about Renown in our Covenant Systems article.

In your pursuit to earn Renown, you’ll go into the Maw to recover wayward souls and bring them to your Covenant Sanctum; some will even embark on Adventures on your behalf.


Covenant Sanctum: The Seat of Primus


When you join the Necrolord Covenant, you’ll gain access to the Seat of Primus, a unique Sanctum available only to their members. As their seat of power, it’s here that you’ll meet with key figures, take on new quests, and store Anima. As you progress through the Necrolord campaign, you’ll also have opportunity to upgrade additional features within your Sanctum.

Each of the four Covenants have features that they share among them, but they also have a feature that is uniquely their own. For the Necrolord Covenant, it’s the Abomination Factory.

Abomination Factory


During the first weeks of the Necrolord Covenant Campaign, you’ll be introduced to Rathan and Emani, who you will work with to establish a small community known as the Butchers Block. It’s here that various constructs loyal to the Seat of the Primus gather and where you’ll unlock a new crafting system—Abominable Stitching.

You’ll need to gather a variety of resources to begin your journey into mastering fleshwork and bringing a variety of constructs to life. Each of these constructs will become residents of the Butcher Block, adding their own unique personalities, quests, and (in some cases) companionship on your adventures.

Mixing Pools

We hope you’re not too squeamish, because there’s literal buckets of slime in your future if you choose to join the Necrolord Covenant. You’ll work with other players to convey buckets of colorful slime to a mixing pool, which will summon a repeatable boss event based on which colors you’ve coordinated.

Abominable Transportation

The Necrolords have a truly unique method of traversing around Maldraxxus. With a little elbow grease and a few extra spare parts, you can utilize the Abomination Factory to create a friend to carry you wherever your adventures take you. Whether you want them to carry you on their shoulders (complete with their tiny top hat), or just want to tool around through the immaculately maintained fields of Bastion, you’ll travel in ultimate style.

If staying on the ground isn’t your thing, you may want to set your sights on the Necropolis high above. It makes a circuit around the zone and may inspire a little goblin ingenuity.

Necrolord Adventures

In Adventures, you’ll put your tactical skills to the test by sending your allies into the Shadowlands and lending aid to the Necrolords Covenant. While this feature is available to each Covenant, the allies you recruit and the missions you give them will be unique to the Covenant. You’ll need to get to know the strength and weaknesses of those you send out with the scouting map.

Anima Conductor

Players can enable additional content with their Covenant’s realm by investing Anima into specific areas in Maldraxxus. When you restore Anima to a location, it revitalizes the area, allowing you to access new quests, make it easier for you to unearth wondrous treasures, or lure out powerful foes to slay for rewards. Different areas are tied to different content unlocks.

• House of the Chosen – Find a unique Covenant treasure.
  
• House of Constructs – Fight an enemy champion.
  
• House of Plagues – Access a Covenant World Quest.
  
• House of Eyes – Access a set of Covenant daily quests.
  
• House of Rituals – Get access to powerful necrolord enhancements.
  
• Theater of Pain – Fight an elite enemy champion.

The Strongest of Soulbinds

Once you’ve proven your worth, you’ll unlock the ability to Soulbind with one of several select characters in the Covenant, who will share their distinctive powers with you in the form of a variety of traits and bonuses.

The warforged necrolords you assisted in Maldraxxus will form a special bond with you if you join their Covenant. Below are descriptions of each along with a few example powers they can bestow upon you.


Plague Deviser Marileth is as eccentric as he is brilliant, and created some of the most efficacious potions in all of Maldraxxus. When the House of Plagues was destroyed, Marileth was driven mad in the aftermath. Marileth’s creative solutions prove vital to the war effort . . . despite the occasional side effect.

Travel with Bloop: While standing still, you slowly build stacks of Bloop’s Wanderlust. At maximum stacks, your movement speed is increased for a couple of minutes.

Ultimate Form: Fleshcraft renders you immune to crowd control.


Emeni, the Slaughter Daughter was assembled in the stitchyards of Maldraxxus. In life, she was a powerful noble who slaughtered hundreds of her siblings to claim the throne. She respects your strength and prowess as you work together to exterminate their mutual enemies. A legend in her own right, her notoriety rises even higher as she binds her soul to the Maw Walker’s.

Emeni’s Magnificent Skin: When you use your Necrolord class ability or spell, gain a stack of Emeni’s Magnficent Skin. Using Fleshcraft consumes your Emeni’s Magnificent Skin to slightly increase your maximum health per stack for a significant duration.

Runescribed Bone: Each enemy you defeat grants you one stack of Runescribed Bone, slightly reducing magic damage taken per stack. At max stacks, your Soulbind traits are empowered for a moderate amount of time.

Emeni’s Magnificent Skin: Releasing stacks deals some Shadow damage to nearby enemies, slightly increased per stack.

Cartilaginous Legs: Shield amount doubled.

Hearth Kidneystone: Cooldown reduction doubled.

Gristled Toes: Movement speed now slightly to moderately increased.

Gnashing Chompers: Haste increase doubled.

Sulfuric Emission: Fear duration increased for a couple of seconds.


Bonesmith Heirmir is the Primus’s apprentice and among the oldest mortal souls in Maldraxxus. With eons of training and practice, she is the foremost expert on forging weapons and armor made of bone and steel. The arsenals she creates keep the House of the Chosen and you fully equipped to face the enemies that surround them.

Resourceful Fleshcrafting: Defeating an enemy slightly reduces Fleshcraft’s cooldown.

Forgeborne Reveries: Upon death, your armor continues to fight, allowing you to fight for an additional amount of time. During these seconds, your damage and healing done is reduced moderately and you cannot receive healing.

Might of the Necrolords

When you join the Necrolord Covenant, you’ll gain two new unique abilities—one signature ability and one class ability.

Signature abilities are available to all Covenant members regardless of class, race, or specialization.

Fleshcraft

Form a shield of flesh and bone that prevents damage equal to a portion of your maximum health. Standing near the corpse of a defeated enemy when the ability is cast will create a larger shield.

Covenant class abilities provide additional combat-oriented gameplay options that are tailored to the theme of that Covenant.

Covenant Class Abilities

Death Knight: Abomination Limb

• Sprout an additional limb for a limited time, dealing Shadow damage to nearby enemies. If an enemy is farther away from you, they are pulled to your location.

Demon Hunter: Fodder to the Flame

• Commission a duel to the death against a Condemned Demon from the Theater of Pain. Vanquishing your foe releases its demon soul and creates a pool of demon blood. Fighting within the pool increases your attack speed by 20% and reduces the damage that enemies deal to you by 10%. Fleshcraft treats the Condemned Demon as a powerful enemy.

Druid: Adaptive Swarm

• Command a swarm that heals or deals Shadow damage to a target and increases the effectiveness of your periodic effects on them.
  Upon expiration, travels to a new target within range, alternating between friend and foe up to a set number of times.

Hunter: Death Chakram

• Throw a deadly chakram at your current target which will rapidly deal additional Shadow damage.
  Each time the chakram deals damage, its damage is increased and you generate a small amount of Focus.

Mage: Deathborne

• Transform into a powerful Skeletal Mage for a period of time.
  While in the form of a skeletal mage, your Frostbolt, Fireball, and Arcane Blast hit a few additional enemies near your target, and your spell damage is increased.

Monk: Bonedust Brew

• Hurl a brew created from the bones of your enemies at the ground, coating all targets struck for 10 seconds. Your abilities have an additional 15% chance to affect the target a second time with 25% effectiveness as either Shadow damage or healing.
  
  • Brewmaster: Tiger Palm and Keg Smash reduces the cooldown of your brews by an additional 1 second when striking enemies affected by Bonedust Brew.
    
  • Windwalker: Spinning Crane Kick refunds 1 Chi when striking enemies affected by Bonedust Brew.
    
  • Mistweaver: Gust of Mist provides additional healing to allies affected by Bonedust Brew.
    

Paladin: Vanquisher’s Hammer

• Throw a hammer at your target, dealing Shadow damage and empowering your next Word of Glory or Templar’s Verdict:
  
  • Holy: Word of Glory automatically triggers Light of Dawn.
    
  • Protection: Word of Glory automatically triggers Shield of the Righteous.
    
  • Retribution: Templar’s Verdict automatically triggers Divine Storm.
    

Priest: Unholy Nova

• An explosion of dark energy heals nearby allies and infects nearby enemies with Unholy Transfusion.
  Unholy Transfusion deals Shadow damage over time. Your allies who damage this target receive healing.

Rogue: Serrated Bone Spike

• Embed a bone spike in the target, dealing Physical damage over time until they die. Deals additional damage and generates a Combo Point for each other active bone spike.
  A charge of Serrated Bone Spike is refunded to you when the target dies or is healed to full.

Shaman: Primordial Wave

• Blast your target with a Primordial Wave, healing an ally or dealing Shadow damage and applying Flame Shock to an enemy.
  
  • Elemental: Your next Lava Burst will also hit all targets affected by your Flame Shock.
    
  • Enhancement: Your next Lightning Bolt will also hit all targets affected by your Flame Shock.
    
  • Restoration: While an ally is targeted, Primordial Wave will cast Riptide. Your next Healing Wave will also hit all targets affected by your Riptide.
    

Warlock: Decimating Bolt

• Hurl a bolt of shadow magic at your target, dealing Shadow damage and increasing the damage of your next Incinerates, Drain Souls, or Shadow Bolts.
  Decimation Bolt's damage and the bonus to Incinerate, Drain Soul, or Shadow Bolt both increase as your target's health decreases.

Warrior: Conqueror’s Banner

• Brandish the banner of the Necrolords, increasing your movement speed and causing Mortal Strike, Raging Blow, and Shield Slam to grant you Glory. Killing an enemy grants additional stacks of Glory.
  Reactivating this ability plants the banner in the ground, granting an increased amount of maximum health and additional attack speed to you and your allies within range of the banner. Lasts additional time per Glory, up to a maximum amount.

We look forward to sharing more information as development continues, and we hope this preview gives you some insight on what the Necrolord Covenant has to offer—or what you can offer them. Learn more about Maldraxxus in our previously published article.

Rewards, mechanics, and abilities are still in development and subject to change.

As you journey through the Shadowlands, you will find yourself swept up in the dark tides of the war between the kyrian and Forsworn of Bastion—and your place in kyrian history will not be forgotten.

If you choose to walk in the path of service and pledge yourself to the Kyrian Covenant, the friendships you forged during your time in Bastion will be ready to take the next step.

Kyrian Covenant Campaign (Spoilers Inside!)
The battle for Bastion has come to a head. With many of the kyrian left dead in their fight against the Forsworn, the Archon has authorized the use of the last bits of anima to ascend some Aspirants—their final hope in the last stand against the darkness. You will come to their aid by traveling across the realms of Death, completing crucial tasks and bolstering their ranks so you can clip the Forsworn’s wings once and for all. With each victory under the Kyrian Covenant banner, you’ll gain Renown, which will reward you with power and special cosmetics.


Renown Rewards
As you progress through the Kyrian Covenant Campaign and complete tasks for your new allies, you’ll build Renown. Increasing Renown will provide you access to unique rewards from your Covenant.


Contributing to the Kyrian Covenant will reward you with several cosmetics including back attachments that rival the beauty of kyrian wings.


Kyrian Covenant: mail (left), plate (center left), cloth gear (center right), and leather (right) transmog sets.

In your pursuit to earn Renown, you’ll go into the Maw to recover wayward souls and bring them to your Covenant Sanctum; some of these souls will even embark on Adventures on your behalf!

Learn more about Renown in our Covenant Systems article.


Covenant Sanctum: Elysian Hold


When you join the Kyrian Covenant, you’ll get access to Elysian Hold, a unique Sanctum available only to their members. The hold is their seat of power and home to many of the key figures you’ll be working with throughout their Covenant Campaign. Over time, you’ll be able to upgrade Sanctum features through your ongoing adventures in Shadowlands. It’s also here that you’ll bring Anima to deposit into the Covenant’s reservoir, take on new quests, and more.

Each of the four Covenants have features that they share among them, but they also have a feature that is patently unique to them. For the Kyrian Covenant, it’s the Path of Ascension.


Path of Ascension


All members of the Kyrian Covenant can access the Path of Ascension, helping their Soulbinds test their mettle. You will play as either Pelagos, Kleia, or Mikanikos, each of whom has a unique set of tools to combat the monstrosities they must face in the trials ahead. You’ll help your Soulbinds by gathering the materials necessary to summon or capture a boss, as well as tools to help them equalize the playing field.

To combat a boss, you must first capture their memory in a soul mirror. Once a boss’s memory has been captured, you can challenge them in the arena as many times as you wish.

Once you’ve finished your prep, you’ll play as a Soulbind of your choosing and fight! Victorious Soulbinds will be rewarded with blueprints to craft improved gear, signature ability upgrades, and cosmetics.

For those who desire ultimate glory, seek out and complete challenges to unlock special rewards, including mounts.


Travel System: Kyrian Gateways
You’ll be able to access a Bastion-specific travel network from the comfort of Elysian Hold. Dissolve into pure anima to flit between points of interest instantly. There are three tiers of Anima Transport that you’ll unlock over time by restoring Anima to your Sanctum. Here are some examples:

Step of Faith (Tier 1)
Allows travel to Elysian Hold, Hero’s Rest, Aspirant’s Rest, and the Temple of Courage.
After arriving at a location, cast Unburden, greatly increasing movement speed and propelling you forward.

Leap of Power (Tier 2)
Allows travel to Sagehaven, the Temple of Purity, and the Seat of Eternal Hymns.
Unburden duration increased by 100%.
Your Summon Steward ability can now create an Elysian Beacon, granting you access to the network in the field.

Eternal Paths (Tier 3) Allows travel to the Temple of Humility and Exaltation Rise.
Unburden additionally reduces the radius at which enemies will detect you while active.
Your steward’s Elysian Beacon can now be used by party members.


Kyrian Adventures
Put your tactical skills to the test by sending your allies into the Shadowlands and lending aid to the Kyrian Covenant. You’ll need to be strategic about how you take on these combat puzzles, which Kyrian Covenant allies you’ll send to face them, and how you’ll utilize their skills to claim victory.


Anima Conductor
Players can enable additional content with their Covenant’s realm by investing Anima into specific areas in Bastion. When you restore Anima to a location, it revitalizes the area allowing you to access new quests, making it easier for you to unearth wondrous treasures, or luring powerful foes which can be slain for rich rewards. Different areas are tied to different content unlocks.

• Purity’s Pinnacle – Find a unique Covenant treasure.
  
• Temple of Courage – Fight an enemy champion.
  
• Temple of Humility – Access a Covenant World Quest.
  
• Eternal Forge – Access a set of Covenant daily quests.
  
• Eonian Archives – Get access to powerful kyrian enhancements.
  
• Citadel of Loyalty – Fight an elite enemy champion.

Meet Your Kyrian Soulbinds
Once you’ve proven your worth, you’ll unlock the ability to Soulbind with one of several select characters in the Covenant, who will share their distinctive powers with you in the form of a variety of traits and bonuses.

The noble kyrian you befriended in Bastion will form a special bond with you if you join their Covenant. Below are descriptions of each, along with a few example powers they can bestow upon you.


Pelagos trains diligently for ascension even in the face of challenge and adversity. Along with Kleia, his other soulbind, Pelagos is quick to befriend you as you seek an audience with the Archon and confront the Forsworn threat. Despite the trials he faces, Pelagos pushes ever forward, steadfast and optimistic.
Bond of Friendship: Defeating enemies slightly reduces the cooldown on your Steward’s non-Phial services per enemy defeated.
Combat Meditation: Using your Kyrian class spell or ability increases your Mastery slightly for a moderate amount of time and occasionally expels Sorrowful Memories. Walking through Sorrowful Memories extends this effect by a short time.


Kleia met you while she was still an aspirant. She demonstrated to her soulbound companion Pelagos and the rest of the kyrian that she wants to push forward and best any trials they faced. A caring mentor to Pelagos and you, she will do whatever she can to protect her friends and Bastion.
Ascendant Phial: Phial of Serenity renders you immune to Curse, Disease, Poison, and Bleed effects for several seconds.
Valiant Strikes: You and your nearby allies’ critical strikes grant you stacks of Valiant Strikes. Once you maximize your stacks, you heal nearby allies for 5% of their maximum health over 10 seconds.


Forgelite Prime Mikanikos, a steward of Bastion, showed promise from his earliest days and quickly rose to the rank of Forgelite Prime. He was the primary inventor of many of Bastion’s most iconic creations. Recognizing the potential of the Maw Walker, he became a formidable ally to help you get to the bottom of the anima drought and take on other threats.
Charged Additive: Phial of Serenity also knocks nearby enemies away from you.
Bron’s Call to Action: After using a significant amount of spells and abilities, your next spell or ability summons Bron, who attacks and heals your targets.


Power of the Kyrian
When you join the Kyrian Covenant, you’ll gain two new unique abilities—one signature ability and one class ability.

Signature abilities are available to all Covenant members regardless of class, race, or specialization.

Summon Steward
Call your Steward to bring you a Phial of Serenity that can be consumed to restore some of your health and remove all Curse, Disease, Poison, and Bleed Effects.

Your Personal Steward
You get to choose your own special steward to call upon from an entire flock, including one of these three:
Pico: A clarinet player who toots as much as he hoots!
Farra: This hammer-wielding Steward isn’t afraid of a fight; just look at her splinter a training dummy!
Bumos: A baker at heart, Bumos has a confection to make—he always has a slice of cake or two ready for you!

As you progress through the Covenant Campaign, your Steward will grow in power alongside of you, by being able to use the Travel Portal or even craft special items in the Path of Ascension.

If you decide that you want a new traveling companion, no need to ruffle your feathers—you’ll be able to choose a new Steward at Hero’s Rest.

Covenant Class Abilities provide additional combat-oriented gameplay options that are tailored to the theme of that Covenant.


Covenant Class Abilities
Death Knight: Shackle the Unworthy

• Admonish your target for their past transgressions, reducing the damage they deal to you and dealing Arcane damage over time.
  
• Shackle the Unworthy's cooldown is reduced when you damage the affected enemy with a Rune-spending attack.

Demon Hunter: Elysian Decree

• Place a Kyrian Sigil at your location that activates after a short time. The sigil detonates to deal Arcane damage and shatter Lesser Soul Fragments from enemies.

Druid: Kindred Spirits

• Form a bond with an ally. On a cooldown, you may empower the bond for a period of time, granting you an effect based on your partner’s role, and granting them an effect based on your role.

Hunter: Resonating Arrow

• Fire a resonating arrow to the target location and fill the area with echoing anima. The effect causes your attacks to ignore line of sight to enemies in the area, and you have an increased critical strike chance against them.

Mage: Radiant Spark

• Conjure a radiant spark that causes Arcane damage instantly and additional damage over time. The target takes a percentage of increased damage from your direct damage spells, stacking each time they are struck. This effect ends after a number of spells.

Monk: Weapons of Order

• For a short duration, your Mastery is increased by a percentage. In addition:
  
  • Windwalkers’ Rising Sun Kick cooldown is reset instantly, and your Rising Sun Kick reduces the cost of your Chi abilities.
    
  • Brewmasters’ Keg Smash cooldown is reset, and enemies hit by Keg Smash take increased damage from you (stacks up to a set amount).
    
  • Mistweavers’ Essence Font cooldown is reset instantly and heals nearby allies on channel start and end.
    

Paladin: Divine Toll

• Instantly cast Holy Shock, Avenger's Shield, or Judgment on several targets within range (based on your current specialization).

Priest: Boon of the Ascended

• Gain the Boon of the Ascended, granting access to Ascended Nova and Ascended Blast, and increasing your movement speed. Both abilities damage your enemies, heal your allies, and build power that will erupt in a powerful explosion of damage and healing at the end of Boon of the Ascended’s duration.

Rogue: Echoing Reprimand

• Deal Arcane damage to an enemy, extracting their anima to Animacharge a combo point.
  
• Damaging finishing moves that consume the same number of your combo points as your Animacharge deal damage as if they consume 7 combo points.

Shaman: Vesper Totem

• Summon a totem at the target location for 30 seconds. Your next 3 damage spells or abilities will cause the totem to radiate Arcane damage to enemies near the totem and your next 3 healing spells will heal up to 6 allies near the totem. Casting this ability again while the totem is active will relocate the totem.

Warlock: Scouring Tithe

• Deal Arcane damage instantly and additional Arcane damage over time. If the enemy dies while affected by Scouring Tithe, you generate additional Soul Shards. If they survive, Scouring Tithe's cooldown is refreshed.

Warrior: Spear of Bastion

• Throw a Kyrian spear at the target location, dealing Arcane damage instantly, dealing additional damage over time, and generating Rage.
  
• Enemies hit are tethered to Spear of Bastion's location for the duration.

We look forward to sharing more information as development continues, and we hope this preview gives you a taste of what the Kyrian Covenant has to offer. Learn more about Bastion in our previously published article.

Rewards, mechanics, and abilities are still in development and subject to change, so be sure to check back for periodic updates on worldofwarcraft.com as we approach the release of Shadowlands.

In Shadowlands, players will be able to quest through four new zones ruled by ancient and powerful Covenants. Upon reaching the max level of 60, players will be able to join one of these Covenants as they continue to explore the Warcraft universe’s afterlife and the many mysteries and adventures that it holds.

While Covenants have many facets that make them unique, they all share a few key systems.

Choosing a Covenant

As you progress through Shadowlands, you’ll play through each of the four new zones where the Covenants hold dominion, learning about what each Covenant stands for and experiencing some the powers that they offer. Once you’ve completed the narrative campaign and have reached max level, you’ll receive a quest in Oribos allowing you to choose which Covenant you’d like to belong to and begin your new journey as a member.

• Kyrian: The kyrian are steadfast guardians of the afterlife who bear the souls of the dead into the Shadowlands. Eternally devoted to duty and service, only the worthy may enter their ranks.
  
• Necrolords: Among the necrolords, strength is rewarded and weakness cast aside. The souls of the ambitious and contentious are forged into an immortal army charged with the defense of the Shadowlands.
  
• Night Fae: The night fae tend to fallen nature spirits who slumber within the tranquil forest. Those with a deep bond to nature may join their cause, ensuring that the rejuvenated spirits can one day rejoin the eternal cycle.
  
• Venthyr: The venthyr are aristocratic overseers of souls burdened with excessive pride and wickedness. They guide troubled souls upon the rigorous path to atonement, harvesting anima to keep their realm strong.

Choosing your Covenant is a weighty decision, and not to be made lightly. While it will be possible to switch Covenants, once you have betrayed a Covenant by leaving them, they will not readmit you easily. However, your loyalty will earn you a host of benefits, including access to a unique Covenant Campaign, Soulbinds, a Covenant Sanctum, and more.

Note: For players who like to play more than one character—once you’ve reached maximum level with one character and chosen a Covenant for them, you’ll be able to immediately choose a Covenant for any additional characters who reach Shadowlands.

Covenant Campaign

When you choose a Covenant, you’ll gain access to a unique Covenant Campaign that delves deeper into the story of your chosen Covenant. You’ll begin by setting up your Covenant’s Sanctum and gaining access to some initial services.

Your Covenant will begin sending you out into the world to begin aiding them in a variety of tasks and collecting Anima. As you progress through the campaign and complete the tasks at hand, you’ll begin to gain Renown.

Renown

As you progress through your Covenant’s story, you’ll build Renown and increase the amount of trust your character has earned within the Covenant. Renown is earned by performing worthy actions through the Covenant Campaign, returning Anima to the Sanctum, and by rescuing souls from the Maw.

Increasing your Renown will grant specific rewards at each Renown Level, including:

• Unlocking a new row of power for a Soulbind character.
  
• Increasing the item level of items you receive from World Quests.
  
• Increasing the maximum potential level of the features within your Sanctum.
  
• Earning legendary recipes for the runecrafter in Torghast.
  
• Earning unique Covenant-themed cosmetic items such as mounts, pets, a title, back attachment transmog, and transmog armor.

Each week, you will pick up two quests in your Sanctum. Each of these quests will award you a Renown level.

• The first quests ask that you deposit a certain of Anima into your reservoir in your Sanctum.
  
• The second weekly quests send you to the Maw to recover souls from the clutches of the Jailer.

Completing each chapter of your Covenant Campaign will also provide an additional Renown Level, so these will be quests that you want to focus on.

Note: If you fall behind or are leveling an alternate character, you’ll be able to earn additional Renown from endgame activities such as dungeons, raids, PvP, and Callings until you’ve reached the current maximum.

Covenant Sanctums


Each Covenant has a unique Sanctum available to their members. It is their seat of power and home to many of the key figures you’ll be working with throughout the Covenant Campaign. Over time, you’ll be able to upgrade Sanctum features through your ongoing adventures in Shadowlands. There are five main features in each Sanctum. Four of these are shared between each of the Covenants, with a fifth being unique to each individual Covenant.

It’s also here that you’ll bring Anima to deposit into the Covenant’s reservoir, take on new quests, and more.

Here are the four shared features within the Covenant Sanctum:

• Adventures: Put your tactical skills to the test by sending your allies into the Shadowlands and lending aid to your chosen Covenant by tackling the unique challenges facing them. You’ll need to be strategic about how you take on these combat puzzles, who you’ll send to face them, and how you’ll utilize their skills to claim victory.
  
• Transport Network: Players will be able to access a zone-specific travel network within their Sanctum. These travel networks are specific to each Covenant.
  
• Anima Conductor: Players will be able to enable additional content within the zone by investing Anima into activating a specific area.
  
• Soulbinds: Within your Sanctum, you’ll meet three key members from your Covenant. You’ll be able to choose one of these to Soulbind with. Soulbinding allows you to gain access to traits that enhance your skills so that you can effectively combat all who stand in your way.

Soulbinds

Once a player chooses a Covenant to join, they will unlock the ability to Soulbind with one of several select characters within that Covenant, who will share their distinctive powers with the player in the form of a variety of traits and bonuses. Which character you’re currently bound to can be changed while in any rest area or with a Tome of Clear Mind, while modifying a Soulbind’s traits requires you to be at the Forge of Bonds in your Covenant Sanctum. You will be able to unlock access to an additional Soulbind through your Covenant Campaign.

When you’ve chosen a Soulbind, you’ll gain access to their Soulbind tree, which contains two types of nodes: Soulbind Traits and sockets for Conduits. Traits are passive abilities and buffs that are themed to each specific Soulbind character, and Conduit sockets allow players to further customize their own abilities.

Conduits

Conduits are a new type of item that players can obtain and socket into Soulbind trees to enhance their class and Covenant abilities while bound with that character. There are three types of Conduits: Potency (damage/healing), Endurance (survivability), and Finesse (utility). A given Conduit can only be placed into a socket of the matching type.

Learn more about Soulbinds in our article.

Covenant Class Abilities & Signature Abilities

Each Covenant has unique class abilities and signature abilities available to players who choose to join them at max level. As you level up on your initial journey through each of their domains, you’ll get to experience these abilities firsthand—before you ultimately choose the Covenant you wish to dedicate yourself to.

• Signature Abilities are available to all players who join the Covenant regardless of class, race, or specialization. This ability helps players explore and engage with the world in new ways and provides a unique tool to help solve the problems encountered in Shadowlands.
  
• Covenant Class Abilities provide additional combat-oriented gameplay options that are tailored to the theme of that Covenant. Every Covenant offers an ability for each class.

This is but the beginning of your journey into the Shadowlands—and with time and perseverance, you’ll be well on your way to being a contributing member of your chosen Covenant.