Shadowlands Preview: Night Fae Covenant

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 night fae 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.

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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.