How to unlock your Soulbind and Conduits

Welcome to level 60! Congratulations on taking your first steps towards the endgame of Shadowlands. The next thing to check off your list is to activate your trusty Soulbind and acquire some Conduits to buff them even further. Be prepared to set aside about 45 minutes to an hour as you’ll need to adventure back into the Maw.

As a quick refresher, Soulbinds are like a companion system in Shadowlands. These are characters that you have met throughout your journey in the Shadowlands. Conduits are items that can be used to help strengthen your Soulbind by affecting different spells or abilities.

As a heads up, there might be some minor spoilers below.

Select your Covenant to get started

Once your character reaches level 60, you’ll receive a summons back to Oribos to see Tal-Inara in the Enclave. Pick up the quest Choosing Your Purpose as the time has come for you to make your first important decision: Which Covenant will you align with? You’ve blitzed through Bastion, meandered into Maldraxxus, ambled through Ardenweald, and roamed through Revendreth. You would have had plenty of opportunity to trial the different abilities for your class. I opted to side with the Kyrian — as one of the few remaining holy priests, I felt I would fit in best with a group that also had wings — but the basic framing of how the Soulbind and Conduit system works is the same regardless of which you choose.

Finish making your selection and watch as the other Covenant factions instantly hate your guts because you didn’t pick their faction, despite all you’ve done for them. After all, they thought you were best friends. Head on over to your new Covenant’s main zone — Bastion for me. Go through the ceremonial process as they permanently provide you with their Covenant power. Your new pals are going to want you to help them tidy up the place a bit (A Calling in Bastion). In other words, complete three world quests in the area. If you can, finish world quests that award you with anima. The next steps require you to collect and turn in 375 anima (Into the Reservoir). Anima is supposed to help power your Sanctum. The problem is that you need some souls to help with that process.

As you get directed to your Soulguide, they’ll have a big favor to ask of you. Remember that creepy, inescapable, torturous hell you escaped out of? Yeah, time to suit up and head back in there.

Once more into the Maw

Hey, look! We get to hang out with Ve’nari again! Ve’nari will want you to enter into a contract with her and swear to a few rules. Obviously, Rule 1: Have an Escape Plan which completely makes sense as you’re in a zone where everything wants to capture you. This is where you get to pick up a new profession as an Uber Souls delivery person by picking up and freeing five souls. While you’re at it, collect 25 Stygia — and mind you, the more challenging the foe, the more Stygia will drop. Then, head back and purchase a Cypher of Relocation from her. Sadly, it only has limited charges so you’ll need to stock up on more of these as you progress throughout the Maw.

As for Rule 2: Keep a Low Profile, this one’s a little easier as you just need to help reinforce the wards around Ve’nari so that the Jailer doesn’t know where she is at. Tip: Target the ward, then use the Broker Device on it.

We’re almost done here. Rule 3: Trust is Earned has you setting a beacon, looting a weapon, and eliminating a Tower Inquisitor. You’ll be a little far away from Ve’nari’s refuge so this is a great time to activate that Cypher to teleport back. Turn that one in and that’s it for the Maw! Go back to Oribos and then over to your Covenant zone (Return to Adrestes). You’ve got some souls to deliver.

Upgrade your Covenant and choose your first Soulbind

Back at your Covenant? That’s good! This is where those souls you’ve saved will contribute.

When you speak to your Covenant friend, you’ll get introduced to a new system that lets you upgrade your Covenant’s Sanctum (Enhancing the Hold). All the anima collected and souls rescued will go towards unlocking various perks that will ease your travels through the afterlife.

With the Kyrian Sanctum, I can add more transport nodes to various locations around Bastion. A different upgrade opens new areas that allow me to engage a special enemy with specific loot and more world quests. You’ll get some Renown for your troubles. Once you’ve started your upgrades, it’s time to find a soul to bind with (Dangerous to Go Alone)! You’ll get directed to another Covenant ally that will discuss the soul binding ritual with you. Seems like it doesn’t take much to bind someone to you forever these days.

In my case, Pelegos was the person that I chose soul bind with but I also had access to Forgelite Prime Mikanikos. Players will be able to unlock two Soulbinds immediately.

How conduits work

After you’ve successfully completed the soul binding ritual, you’ll receive a followup quest where you get your first Conduit (A Conduit for Good). Open up the Forge of Bonds and your inventory, then click on your new Conduit in order to learn and add it to the list.

Conduits are learned in a manner similar to your Azerite neck powers. You can activate each path in your Soulbind tree however you like. A recent change was made to the Conduit system where you have 10 charges of Conduit Energy. Each time you place a conduit into a socket, it will take up a charge. If you add a new conduit to your collection, it will restore a charge. Conduit Energy will recharge once per day up to a maximum of 10. Conduits themselves can be acquired through a variety of sources including vendors, drops, and rewards. Conduits will have different item levels associated with them so even if you have a Conduit and the same one drops, it might be a little more powerful than the one you had already learned.

Changing conduits is simple. All you need to do is click on the socket you want to activate. Replacing a conduit socket is done the same way, where you can drag one of your conduits into the slot you want to replace. Note that you cannot use the same conduit twice within the same Soulbind.

Lastly, finding your third Soulbind involves you progressing throughout the rest of your campaign quests. Even though there are only a total of three Soulbinds, I suspect that future content patches might introduce another Soulbind or two. Enjoy your new Soulbinds and feel free to experiment to find out which one is the best for your character!