Posted today, out of 36 specs-
Raiding:
20 favor Kyrian,
8 Venthyr,
6 Necrolord,
3 Night Fae
Mythic+:
21 Kyrian
9 Venthyr
4 Necrolord
5 Night Fae
(SPriest and GDruid had multiple options)
I’m kinda worried about how unbalanced this seems towards Kyrian - and yes I know things can change before release, but significant changes? Thoughts?
Imagine being a death knight player after seeing that Night Fae is no longer your go-to, its now Bastion.
Well sad necrolords, the thing basically made for dks, is still garbage
But I don’t have to be a faerie knights anymore!
What difference does it make? No one has committed to anything yet.
Aesthetics.
I very much urge everyone to read the writers comment on their choices. These are opinions backed up by data sure, but there is a difference between ‘this is the best because numbers’, which will be tuned to death and back all the way to January, and a mechanically broken ability that doesnt flow into the spec.
Choosing based on ‘it does more damgage’ right now is silly, and even then it could be by a marginal amount that could get tuned out.
Be sure to read up, and don’t feel you HAVE to go to what a single writer says you should go to without reading more into the why.
Quote from the article:
The choice of covenant literally hangs on whether Phial of Serenity allows you to cleanse bleeds in the raid. A couple of them were cleansable during raid testing, and one in particular (the stacking bleed on Stone Generals) turned out to be a defining mechanic of the fight.
Oh god, its already outdated.
Rogues for example are going Kyrian for a soulbind. The covenant abilities seem equal.
I’m just going to pick the prettiests for all my alts, lol
Kyrian is only popular because of 2 traits in Palegos tree. I fully expect both to get some sort of nerf.
The best covenant I am joining for shadowlands is the Refuse To Buy Shadowlands covenant. I simply won’t buy it unless systems are changeable. I play multiple specs and have a heavy mix of raiding, mythic+, BGs, arena, and world pvp. I have ZERO desire to play a game that wants to pigeon hole me into a single spec and portion of the game. And I’m damn sure not going to level multiple of the same class just to play the game. HARD PASS!
Activision already made me super mad about Call of Duty Ghosts and I haven not purchased a single COD title since, nor will I ever. WoW is looking to burn a bridge with me as well.
I’m going with the pretty one. I have wardrobe obligations.
This is my thinking too
Lorewise is just don’t make sense for certain class to go with certain covenants
Seems like the usual min max shenanigans , there was a bis board for corruptions , legion legendaries as well . Heck even Benthic gear was there 
Seems pretty normal
Incoming Kyrian nerfs…
This is why covenants are a stupid choice and design. I should not have to pick somthing like this and balance the actual gameplay mechanics vs asthetic or for other folks lore choices.
I picked my class and race based on what I wanted to play and I’ll pick my covenant based on what I want to play. I got 99 problems but a covenant ain’t one 
That seems to largely be the case. Pelagos has a versatility increase that’s easy to maintain, and that’s largely what makes Kyrians attractive in general. If that gets nerfed it will change a lot.
The Rogue one is accurate but holy hell is it clunky to use. Blizzard is so bad at designing this trash that they basically buffed the damage way up just to compensate for the horrible design.
Edit: Also, the difference isn’t by much. In my opinion, it might be better to use a different covenant, take a small hit on DPS, and have a better functioning ability.