Death's Due (Night Fae ability) seems poorly thought out.

[Saltysquidoon]

Is it just me or does Death's Due seems really not finished and poorly thought out?

I'd put off making a discussion about this until DKs get their 'big changes' pass (here's hoping that still happens) but with blizzard advertising the covenant abilities today and the announcement of beta soon the spell is unlikely to see significant change.

First of all, the spell is just wonky (and blizzard has been leery about making it available for testing) for the same reason defile is wonky. If you're playing any content but a patchwerk raid boss 'properly' you are unlikely to be standing still long enough to get the full benefit out of it.

Secondly, Is this the reason Frost had DnD readded to the spec? Because it's a dnd modifier and frost has no dnd synergy like blood and unholy, frost also mechanically benefits from this spell less than the other two specs.

[Clash the DK]

The whole covenant ability concept is trash and will never be balanced. They should have added just 1 new ability per spec that synced with said spec. They could then enhance that ability differently based on covenant choice for some rpg goodness. But they decided to do things the hard way which will cause more problems than they anticipate.

[Frolk]

I hope for everyone's sanity were not "main story" blocked if we dont pick a Covenant as soon as we hit cap.

[Bexlyn]

I really wanted to go Necrolord for the awesome armour, mount etc, but its looking the worst choice for PVE.

I point blank refuse to go Night Fae or Kyrian as a DK regardless of how powerful the ability is. Thematically makes zero sense. I was really looking forward to the covenants, but the system is going to be incredibly poorly implemented

[Nnyco]

Only thing odd to me right now is that it has the same ap scaling like dnd.

[Friggsterino]

Thematically makes zero sense. I was really looking forward to the covenants, but the system is going to be incredibly poorly implemented

It does'nt realy.

What your soul "becomes" in the Shadowlands has nothing to do with what class you are, but rather your "purpose".
Night Fae is mainly Shepherds of the Cycle of Life and Death, which i find fits my DK's head-cannon pretty well.

[ymirsson]

It does'nt realy.
my DK's head-cannon

Is that a new talent? Or an engineering gadget?

[Th3Scourge]

I really wanted to go Necrolord for the awesome armour, mount etc, but its looking the worst choice for PVE.

I point blank refuse to go Night Fae or Kyrian as a DK regardless of how powerful the ability is. Thematically makes zero sense. I was really looking forward to the covenants, but the system is going to be incredibly poorly implemented

Yeah they are really bad atm, especially if you play multiple roles or enjoy multiple forms of content. Blizzard are being as stubborn as they always are, and I'm sure we will see the class abilities relaxed and made baseline by 9.1/9.2. The covenant generic abilities and soulbinds will likely remain tied to the covenant (and that's fine) but there's just no way they stick to the current system given how bad it will be for many players

[Nihiel]

Death's Due is stupidly strong though, you'll be able to keep around 80% or so uptime on the strength buff (11-15%) while also gaining a huge dmg reduction on top of it. I was initially leaning heavily towards Venthyr because of Door of Shadows, but I honestly don't think anything can beat Death's Due as things are looking right now. A general strength buff with high uptime that also grants dmg reduction is very versatile for all types of of (pve) content. On top of this, the different soulbinds of the Night Fae are quite versatile as well - since Death's Due has a low 30 sec cd, dks will be able to keep up Grove Invigoration for a 8-10% permanent mastery increase. Another soulbind grants you increased execute dmg which is also quite versatile, and the third one gives you an Anivia egg cheat death-ish ability which could also prove very useful in some situations.

Overall I'm very optimistic about Night Fae, and unless things change a lot or Death's Due gets heavily nerfed, I'll for sure be going Night Fae on my dk.

[Saltysquidoon]

I wasn't saying it was weak, I can see how it's going to be strong especially on blood where you set the pace and can access crimson scourge. My worry here is in chain pulling situations where defile has historically sucked ass.

[Trinkie]

It's gonna replace DnD, just you wait. Literally have the same costs and effects

[Nihiel]

I'm not sure I get what you mean, it literally is a replacement for DnD?

[Bisque]

I believe that if you go Night fae, your death and decay gets replaced with Death's due, i.e... you can't have both death and decay and death's due at the same time (unless I misread). That being said I am imagining that frost BOS players will go for Venthry simply for the rp gain.

[Nihiel]

I believe that if you go Night fae, your death and decay gets replaced with Death's due, i.e... you can't have both death and decay and death's due at the same time (unless I misread). That being said I am imagining that frost BOS players will go for Venthry simply for the rp gain.

That is correct, when you get Death's Due you it literally replaces DnD in your spellbook and on your bars.

Swarming Mist is indeed amazing for the RP gain - on 5 targets it'll almost fill your RP which is hard to beat. However, that still doesn't diminish the fact that Death's Due is quite good for all three specs in most situations

[Skjaldborg]

Have to agree with @Nihiel here. Venthyr's Swarming Mist is obviously quite strong in multi-target situations - realistically it's like 120 RP and decent AoE damage every minute in M+, but it seriously isn't that great in single target. Draven and Nadja are good soulbinds, for sure.

But Niya (Night Fae) synergizes insanely well with Death's Due. As a DK, taking Niya's capstone is essentially "you get 10% extra mastery, all the time." Unholy with Death's Due spends at least 1/3rd of the time with 15% extra strength, up to the unrealistic (but ideal) 2/3rd of the time if you have 15 enemies that take even one tick of Death's Due. And for Blood it's even better - you have close to 100% uptime on 15% extra strength, and close to 100% uptime on taking 15% less damage from raid bosses, dungeon bosses, and long-lived trash.

The fact that Blood can just take essentially 15% less damage from any mob in the game, but primarily raid bosses, is just bananas. And the extra 15% Str and 10% mastery full time are way more than gravy - those are incredible features, too. And Niya can give Unholy up to 3 DPS conduits, and Dreamweaver gives you another "Cheat Death" effect to back up Purgatory for cheesing mechanics. And it's not even that much worse for Unholy, because Mastery may be our new best stat.

[Puupi]

How does Death's Due work for unholy?!

It's nature damage instead of shadow so it's actually dealing less damage than Death and Decay due to unholy's mastery?

Also what happens if you pick Defile?

For blood, Death's Due seems super strong.

[Pinkteacup]

Just have to say, I love the animation for Death's Due. I am hoping they update death and decay to this level.

[Skjaldborg]

How does Death's Due work for unholy?!

It's nature damage instead of shadow so it's actually dealing less damage than Death and Decay due to unholy's mastery?

Also what happens if you pick Defile?

For blood, Death's Due seems super strong.

Pretty sure it's Shadow damage. Wowhead says Nature for some reason, but all of Blizzard's actual descriptions say Shadow damage. And the tooltip in-game says Shadow damage. Don't know what happens if you pick Defile.

[Nnyco]

How does Death's Due work for unholy?!

It's nature damage instead of shadow so it's actually dealing less damage than Death and Decay due to unholy's mastery?

Also what happens if you pick Defile?

For blood, Death's Due seems super strong.

https://shadowlands.wowhead.com/spell=324128/deaths-due

Its shadow damage.

[Nihiel]

Either way, you don't cast DnD for its damage - same goes for Death's Due. It's all for the strength buff and of course for cleaving Heart Strike and Scourge Strike. It seems way too strong I have to say, especially in combination with Niya for 10% mastery. I'm also very sure than the defensive component will be heavily nerfed quite soon.

IMO as things are looking now, Night Fae + Niya soulbind seems absolutely broken for both dps specs. I'm hoping it won't get nerfed into oblivion.