Everything we know about the Night Fae Covenant in WoW Shadowlands

In Shadowlands, the Night Fae Covenant shows us the mirror to the Emerald Dream and the darker half of the Wheel of Life. They are one of four Covenants that we can ally with at max level and each Covenant oversees a different part of the afterlife for Azeroth’s souls.

The Night Fae Covenant resides in Ardenweald and is responsible for the cycle of death and rebirth in nature. Souls come here to rest and earn rebirth through their connection to nature.

Who are the Night Fae?

The Night Fae are nature-based entities who guide powerful nature souls from life to the Night Fae realms for eventual rest and rebirth. Their eternal role sees them as guardians of nature and shepherds of the cycle of life and death. They represent the autumn and winter cycles of the Wheel of Life — a mirror opposite to the Emerald Dream. Where the Emerald Dream focuses on growth and life, the Night Fae deal with the end of that life and rebirth into the new.

In Shadowlands, the machine of death is broken, and Ardenweald is feeling the the loss of souls more acutely than any other zone. The Winter Queen rules over the Night Fae, and as the zone suffers, she’ll have to make a choice on which parts of Ardeneald will continue to flourish and which will wither away permanently. Some of their realms are closely connected to the Drust, who have been spreading their withering influence here.

We know of one nature soul who will be present in Ardenweald — the demigod Cenarius.

What are the Night Fae abilities?

When you join a Covenant, you get access to its Signature Ability. This is available to every single class and spec, similar to the Garrison/Zone Abilities in Warlords of Draenor. In Ardenweald, that takes the form of a spiritual animal to zip around the world. There are also further upgrades that change how the Signature Ability works. Many of the upgraded spells are available through the Soulbind talent tree, and it’s likely that more could be obtained through activities such as the Torghast system or the Legendary system.

Night Fae Signature Ability — 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.

• Soulshape forms: Bear, Cobra, Crane, Dragon Turtle, Feathered Drake, Gryphon, Hippogryph, Hyena, Lion, Moose, Moth, Nightsaber, Owlcat, Raptor, Runestag, Stag, Teroclaw, Tiger, Unicorn, Wolf, Wolfhawk, Wyvern

In addition to the Signature Ability, you receive a unique ability for your class. The class abilities also have possible upgrades that change how the class abilities work, though we don’t know yet how or where you’ll acquire them.

• 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 Druid spells and abilities over time. You will cast Moonfire, Wrath, Regrowth, Rejuvenation, Thrash, Rake, Shred, and Ironfur on appropriate nearby targets, favoring your current specialization.
• Hunter — Wild Spirits: Summon a Wild Spirit at the target location which applies Wild Mark to all enemy targets below it for a period of time. While the Wild Spirit is active, each ability you use against a target affected by the Wild Mark calls forth 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 Mage ability cooldowns are reduced.
• Monk — Faeline Stomp: Strike the ground fiercely to expose a faeline, dealing Nature damage and taking an action based on your specialization. Your abilities have a chance of resetting the cooldown of Faeline Stomp while fighting on a faeline.
  • Brewmaster — Ignite enemies along the faeline with 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 the Seasons: Bless your party members with the aspect of one of the seasons, lasting 1 minute or until you advance to the next season.
  • Blessing of Spring: Increases healing done and healing received. Turns to Summer after use.
  • Blessing of Summer: Causes their attacks to have a high chance to deal Holy damage. Turns to Autumn after use.
  • Blessing of Autumn: Cooldowns recover faster. Turns to Winter after use.
  • Blessing of Winter: Reduces the movement and attack speed of enemies. Turns to Spring after use.
• 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.
  • Power Word: Shield: Invigorates your target with mana or resource.
  • Prayer of Healing, Power Word: Radiance, Void Bolt: Reduces the cooldowns of allies’ major abilities.
• Rogue — Sepsis: Infect the target’s blood, dealing Nature damage over time. If the target survives its full duration, they suffer additional damage and you Vanish from sight. Cooldown significantly reduced if Sepsis does not last its full duration.
• Shaman — Fae Transfusion: Transfer the life force of enemies in the targeted area, dealing Nature damage over time. Pressing Fae Transfusion again shortly will release damage from Fae Transfusion, healing allies near yourself.
• Warlock — Soul Rot: Wither away all life force of your current target and additional targets nearby, causing them to suffer Nature damage over time. Drain Life will also be cast on any enemy affected by your Soul Rot. Consumes a percentage of maximum health when cast.
• Warrior — Ancient Aftershock: Slam the ground with your weapon, releasing a shockwave dealing Nature damage and stunning enemies. Enemies struck take Nature damage over time and transfer it to you as Rage.

What are the Night Fae Soulbinds?

When you choose your Covenant, you receive the option to bind yourself to a powerful member. This grants you access to their power and also powerful bonuses. Soulbinding will work similarly to previous systems like Artifact Weapons in Legion and the Heart of Azeroth in Battle for Azeroth. The progression system will allow you to unlock different tiers of power as you progress through the tree and even swap Soulbinds for different activities.

Souldbinds incorporate “sockets,” referred to as Conduits, in three types — Throughput, Survival, and Utility. These give you customization for your character’s power and will likely work similarly to Essences or Artifact Relics.

Dreamweaver (Soulbind Calculator)

• Soulbind Trait: Field of Poppies
• Damage Traits: Social Butterfly
• Utility Traits: Soothing Voice, Empowered Chrysalis, Faerie Dust, Somnambulist, Podtender
• Conduits: 3 Survival, 2 Utility, 2 Throughput

Korayn (Soulbind Calculator)

• Soulbind Trait: Wild Hunt’s Charge
• Damage Traits: First Strike, Final Moments
• Utility Traits: Horn of the Wild Hunt, Face Your Foes, Hold the Line, Vorkai Sharpening Techniques, Get In Formation
• Conduits: 3 Survival, 2 Utility, 2 Throughput

Niya (Soulbind Calculator)

• Soulbind Traits: Sylvari Mantle, Stay on the Move
• Damage Traits: Niya’s Tools: Burrs, Niya’s Tools: Poison, Niya’s Tools: Herbs, Cycle of Seasons
• Utility Traits: Care Package, Swift Patrol
• Conduits: 3 Survival, 2 Utility, 2 Throughput

What are the Night Fae rewards?

Druid and fairy fans will enjoy the Night Fae’s aesthetic. Each armor type — cloth, leather, mail, plate — will have a full armor set styled to their Covenant. The Night Fae armor features all the glowiness and sparkles one could dream of, with fluid curves to mimic nature.

Covenant cloaks were one of the first cosmetic options to be highlighted with Shadowlands, offering players something more unique and interesting to put on their backs than the standard rectangle of fabric. And the Night Fae Covenant cloak definitely does not disappoint. The transmogs come in three different tiers. The Night Fae version starts out as twining branches with glowing orbs. Ranking up, we see a glowing orb with lovely purple and blue moths hanging upon it. And at tier 3, it turns into a fantastic cocoon-type backpack with its own hanging orb lanterns.

Last but not least, Covenant followers will be able to get a Covenant-specific mount and battle pet. The mount will have different color options and later you’ll be able to upgrade it, similar to Artifact skins in Legion. The battle pet will have a unique ability depending on which zone you’re in, allowing it to interact with the world around them. There is currently no information on what the Night Fae mount and pet will entail.

None of this is set in stone, as information can change rapidly in the testing cycle on alpha and beta, but it should give you a good idea of what we’ll encounter in WoW Shadowlands.