What is your favorite Mage Covenant ability and why?

[Doffen]

One mage - Necrolord
Second Mage - Venthyr


Why? Because cool.

[mrgreenthump]

One mage - Necrolord
Second Mage - Venthyr


Why? Because cool.

Yeah am seriously considering leveling a 4th Mage to max level to get all covenants. So when they nerf and buff the covenants mid expansion I already have an alt Mage with the FotM Covenant.

[Obelisk Kai]

Yeah am seriously considering leveling a 4th Mage to max level to get all covenants. So when they nerf and buff the covenants mid expansion I already have an alt Mage with the FotM Covenant.

I really hope it doesn't end up like that, even though it will probably end up like that.

To answer the original question though, the Kyrian Radiant Spark looks like the most interactive and versatile of the four options, but Necrolord looks the coolest.

I will probably be going Kyrian.

[Amsden]

This of course... the other three are just damage spells, this one makes you a skeletal mage.

What could be more awesome than that

I'm already a zombie mage this just completes the process I guess.

Honestly I don't really like any of them. I'm choosing the covenant I like best based on lore and aesthetics. I'll just learn to use whichever ability I end up with.

[Ryken]

After playing around on the Alpha, I've come to really like Shifting Power as Arcane. Every 45 seconds you get 12 seconds off your mage CDs. That's 48 seconds off Arcane Power. That's ~30 seconds off Mirror Images. Rune of power and Touch of the Magi go down to being 33 second cooldowns. Presence of mind becomes a 48 second cooldown. Situational abilities like your barriers, greater invis alter time, blink and Iceblock all benefit if they're on CD. Certain legendaries can benefit too, for example the one that allows you to timewarp with exhaustion on? That 5min cd now is ~75 seconds shorter. Arcane has to be in melee to AoE as it is, so sure the short range channel on it sucks, but since Arcane is very cooldown based, its satisfying seeing all the cooldown numbers on your bar decrease significantly across many skills.

[Lodravel]

Venthyr for sure. Kyrian might just be invaluable for that PvP burst but I love mobility too much to pass on the vampy-bois. Also, the mirrors might be nifty for PvP.

[Kreo]

None of them looks good for GS frost mage. And im being very generous here, tbh they feel like shit.
Kyrian: Radiant Spark: stacks eaten by everything and Blizzard haven't addressed this at all. Doubt they will.
Venthyr: Mirrors of Torment PvP only, useless in PvE.
Necrolord: Deathborne. Frostbolt damage? Yea, lol.
Night Fae: Shifting Power Maybe, but 6 second channel...

I really hope Blizzard will see this problem and adjust accordingly. I know they have a lot on their plate, but at this moment I feel my frost mage not getting any benefits from Covenant.

[Godric]

They’re all shit :/ Night Fae is the most interesting to me given it’s flashy art. Kyrian is suuuuuper boring.

[Swizzle]

None of them looks good for GS frost mage.
Necrolord: Deathborne. Frostbolt damage? Yea, lol.

Wouldn't increased Frostbolt damage lead to higher GS? Especially when mixed with 10% increased spellpower?

[Kreo]

Wouldn't increased Frostbolt damage lead to higher GS? Especially when mixed with 10% increased spellpower?

How frostbolt damage would increase in higher GS? It's just a filler to get us stacks. Unless they rework how GS operates, i don't see benefits from it to GS.
As for 10% spellpower is nice benefit, but it's like getting small slice of the cake while other stuffing their faces with chocolate goodness.

[Swizzle]

How frostbolt damage would increase in higher GS? It's just a filler to get us stacks. Unless they rework how GS operates, i don't see benefits from it to GS.
As for 10% spellpower is nice benefit, but it's like getting small slice of the cake while other stuffing their faces with chocolate goodness.

Uhh, unless something got changed, aren't Icicles a percentage of FROSTBOLT damage? Ergo, higher Frostbolt damage, higher icicles, higher GS? Maybe I'm stupid, who knows.

[Kreo]

Uhh, unless something got changed, aren't Icicles a percentage of FROSTBOLT damage? Ergo, higher Frostbolt damage, higher icicles, higher GS? Maybe I'm stupid, who knows.

Nope, frostbolt gives you an icicle aka stack. It's nothing but a filler. With high mastery tho GS are really nice, with 64% i see up to 900k+ GS, this is why i love frost.

[nickseng]

Uhh, unless something got changed, aren't Icicles a percentage of FROSTBOLT damage? Ergo, higher Frostbolt damage, higher icicles, higher GS? Maybe I'm stupid, who knows.

Icicle damage got changed in BFA to only scale with mastery and spellpower, to avoid the double-dipping exploit we had in previous expansions

[Swizzle]

Icicle damage got changed in BFA to only scale with mastery and spellpower, to avoid the double-dipping exploit we had in previous expansions

Yeah, I went and double-checked my Mage. You can tell when I stopped playing Frost I guess. I somewhat wish they would rework Frost's Mastery to be something new or what it was in Cata/start of MoP. Maybe Icicles could just be a part of Glacial Spike itself and not a mechanic you either play around or completely ignore.

[Monkeybadger]

The Kyrian and Night Fae seem to be the ones that are actually useful, especially if you can squeeze an extra cooldown into a fight with Shifting power.

The Venthyr one they need to change the trigger effect on, maybe it could work off damage the target does to you like a monk's Touch of Death. Most raids have enough survivable raid damage to get some use out of that.

Necrolord cleave is too niche, maybe it could have a secondary effect if there is no cleave target. Also Arcane Blast is not a filler spell, maybe change that to Arcane Missiles?

[Tyze]

Necrolord looks pretty swish, mostly on Arcane though

[klaps_05]

Venthyr for sure - you can turn DoS into an AOE disorient or instant and there is a conduit which gives you 30% spell power for 10 sec with the covenant ability.

[Torian kel]

Let's be honest, most of us will take what the top theorycrafters from altered time will say is the best.
Special mention to Ventyr witch will most likely be BIS for m+

I've examined all the actuel souldbinds and I think that Kyrian souldbind for dps is the best of them all, but my blanket math is terrible so I could be wrong

If they stop or fix ventyr teleport in m+ I will personaly go Kyrian, the spark looks half decent and the souldbinds look good

[Swizzle]

Let's be honest, most of us will take what the top theorycrafters from altered time will say is the best.
Special mention to Ventyr witch will most likely be BIS for m+

I've examined all the actuel souldbinds and I think that Kyrian souldbind for dps is the best of them all, but my blanket math is terrible so I could be wrong

If they stop or fix ventyr teleport in m+ I will personaly go Kyrian, the spark looks half decent and the souldbinds look good

Is there a DB somewhere to check out the soulbinds? I know the conduits are nuts, but haven't been able to see which bind offers what yet.

Okay playing around with the soulbind calc...why would any Mage not go Venthyr for Nadja? Her abilities and conduits are actually DPS oriented.

[Torian kel]

Is there a DB somewhere to check out the soulbinds? I know the conduits are nuts, but haven't been able to see which bind offers what yet.

Okay playing around with the soulbind calc...why would any Mage not go Venthyr for Nadja? Her abilities and conduits are actually DPS oriented.

You're absolutely right, but with Kyrian you get an actuel useful ability (for PvE), and Pelagos gives 5% versa and 5% mastery, that's pretty good