I’m doing the quest line to switch back to nightfae because I went venthyr, but I’m not fancying venthyr at all.
I am just wondering if kyrian or necrolords are worth considering. I see a few mages go necro even though it’s “the worst” according to streamers
And kyrian adds burst.
What’s everyone’s opinion? Mainly a pvp toon but I’d like to m+ aswell so that’s why I might go nightfae
For pvp solely kyrian is the best unless you are planing to play frost or arcane in 9.0.5 in which case venthyr will be the best by far for single target. Personally I am currently a night fae fire which is definitely the best for fire in all situations, but I am likely going to swap to necrolord frost in 9.0.5.
Do you think the meta will switch that much? I feel fire will still be best though.
I wanna play arcane and frost too but I still feel like fae will be the best option. Frost feels rough atm.
Why necrolord?
Can’t load your profile so I can’t see your spec.
For Fire NF is the best by a huge margin (but there are no stats for the other 3 in any difficulty so that’s just my inference)
https://www.warcraftlogs.com/zone/statistics/26/#class=Mage&spec=Fire&combatantinfo=Covenants
For arcane Necrolord is marginally better than NF:
https://www.warcraftlogs.com/zone/statistics/26/#class=Mage&spec=Arcane&combatantinfo=Covenants
For frost it looks like NF is the leader, but again minimal other data:
https://www.warcraftlogs.com/zone/statistics/26/#class=Mage&spec=Frost&combatantinfo=Covenants
Venthyr is without a doubt the best for Frost in raids. Frost just has such a low playerbase, that the people who main spec Fire can swap Frost and get a high parse.
It really depends on the fights in the next raid, frost already sims as higher dps, but fire has execute and its burst phases line up really well in this raid so its the go to. There are some fights even in this raid where it is better to play frost than fire like huntsman and stone legion generals.
I personally like the ability, and its only slightly behind on single target while being pretty far ahead in aoe (arcane) or slightly better in aoe (frost). Venthyr is going to be the best single target flex pick as in 9.0.5 it will be the best single target for frost and arcane while only being slightly behind night fae for fire in single target. For pvp fire will probably still be king next patch, almost no way frost could ever become as good given that a frost lockout can kill you. But arcane will have a lot of on demand burst with venthyr.
I ended up picking Venthyr at the start, and ended up doubling down (i’m fire.) So I kinda shot myself in the foot. But, i’m just going to stick it out. Sure, I won’t be doing top tier damage like everyone else, but I like the Venthyr aesthetic. I remember when they said that all covenants would be viable. I wish they would pull that rip cord…Because some are CLEARLY better than others.
But you’ll be rocking those sig mogs in a few years when all the night fae are like you like my flowers?
Historically specs/classes at the top in the beginning of an expansion can expect to be nerfed eventually.
This is what should matter to you the most unless you want to do end game stuff, because then you just have to bite the bullet.
I am really fascinated by everyone’s rush to drop covenants and switch to whatever happens to be fotm when Blizzard have made it abundantly clear that balance is out the window with this expansion.
If you keep doing that you are dooming yourself to an endless grind after every minor content patch for a minuscule DPS increase that in many cases only applies to either ST or AoE but not both. As Arcane I am in a particularly awkward spot because come 9.0.5 it will be a three way split with Night Fae still optimal for AoE, but with Venthyr now ahead on ST and Necrolord on cleave.
For me personally it’s just not worth the hassle especially when the only lasting benefit from covenants anyway will be the cosmetics. Just go with whichever one you like the most esthetically and call it day, Blizzard certainly have.
Given that Frost’s top three soulbinds are the three Venthyrs, it’s hard to see how anything tops Venthyr for Frost right now. Mirrors of Torment is a solid ability that works as advertised. What is likely happening with logs that show NF as the leader for Frost are those are Fire mages playing their off-spec.
In addition to going Venthyr if you’re a Frost-only mage, with the change to Clearcasting vis-a-vis Mirrors of Torment for next patch, if I was Frost-focused with an Arcane off-spec, I’d go Venthyr. Only if I was playing Fire would I consider doing something else.
I didn’t even look at soulbinds, just covenants.
That said, I’m personally Necrolord Arcane, have been since I learned about Skeleton mage. I have absolutely 0 regrets.
Once I cap out night fae, I was thinking about switching anyway, but I don’t know if there is a bonus or anything for being renown capped.
In 9.1 they are adding more renown levels to the covenants. One of the rewards being flight within the shadowlands and a unique covenant mount. So might want to wait or put that into consideration.
I swapped from Night Fae to Necrolord Tuesday and I got to renown 24 last night after running all of LFR, all of the dailies, 6 normal dungeons (to give you an idea of how quickly you can catch up).
I swapped because I got sick of Night Fae and how every alt I have seems to have a cool Night Fae covenant and I just wanted something new and different + big numbers on arcane blast.
It’s nothing to write home about and I haven’t done any high-end content. I did pretty low damage in raid (arcane on sire denathrius is not a fun time) around 3k dps. But I’m still trying to learn how to use the cooldown with arcane power and timings so that’s expected.
Emeni is a really fun soulbind I love her personality. Necro has some pretty cool anima powers in Torghast too so that’s a nice change of pace from night fae and their obsession with soulshape being used as a defensive instead of getting across a floor faster.
I know you’re not a raider but I’m just giving my perspective. Simple is fine and with the buffs it might be okay. Plus you get a free lockpicker in your necro covenant every 6 minutes or so and that’s kinda cool (even if it seems a little unnecessarily short).
It’s almost as if blizzard benefits from these massive swings in power with re-rolling classes and the various forms of borrowed power huh?
Increased play time without having to create any new content.
It’s not just about renown catch up though. I completely agree that the catch up is fairly quick and painless but you also have to consider the enormous anima commitment related to upgrading your sanctum and obtaining cosmetics/mounts/etc. To speak nothing of having to re-level all of your followers for the adventure table. Having to do this every time blizzard decide to mess with the covenant abilities is bordering on insanity.
You’re absolutely right and it’s my fault for not touching on it. I just see the anima system as a kind of “You wanna do it you can do it but you really don’t get anything touching into your power” from it kind of deal. At the beginning with missions and soul ash and the sanctum upgrades absolutely. At this point I just get anima for the weekly and renown and I’m good. But if you like your followers and don’t want to painfully re-level them you’re gonna be hurting.
The upside is it appears any followers you’ve rescued in torghast are waiting for you when you enter so it retains that much info at least. And some appear to cross covenants like meatball and the crusader strike guy.