Arcane Mage PvP Best Covenants, Soulbinds, Conduits, and Legendary Powers (Dragonflight / 10.0.2)

Since 10.0, Covenant spells and abilities that are not talents will be disabled outside of Shadowlands zones!

For more information about what Covenants bring you, please refer to our page about Covenant abilities for Mages.

It is important to choose the correct Covenant, as it has many impacts on your gameplay and playstyle. Your Covenant will give you both a Covenant ability and a class ability. The next choice you have will be Soulbinds and Conduits. All of these are Covenant-specific and they are different based on which you choose. Here are the best Covenants for Arcane Mage.

1. Night Fae is the best Covenant to choose. This gives you strong abilities that can reduce the cooldown of your abilities and give you strong kiting potential.
2. Venthyr is another strong Covenant you can choose. This gives another school of damage to cast on (Shadow), as well as a mobility ability and a utility ability. It also provides Familiar Predicaments on one of its Soulbinds, which is very strong for Arcane as it only has one school to cast from.
3. Night Fae is another good Covenant to choose. This gives you strong abilities that can reduce the cooldown of your abilities and give you strong kiting potential.

Soulbinds are unlocked as you progress your character with a Covenant. These unlock powerful paths that can be taken to give you powerful spells, important passives, etc. Here is the Soulbind and path you should take if you chose Venthyr.

You will gain reduction to all interrupts, snares and roots by 25% from Familiar Predicaments, as well as the new Soulbind trait Fatal Flaw providing 20% additional Versatility for 10 seconds.

This is the Soulbind and path you should be taking if you choose Night Fae.

From this Night Fae path, you will be able to receive a cheat death ability, Podtender, as well as increased Haste from Field of Blossoms, and finally Dream Delver giving a flat 3% damage bonus to any target you attack.

Conduits are passive buffs that you can use to fill empty slots in your Soulbind Trees. There are three types of Conduits: Potency, Endurance, and Finesse. Here are the best Conduits for each of those different types:

1. Nether Precision makes it so consuming Clearcasting increases the damage of the next 2 Arcane Blasts by a percentage.
2. Magi's Brand increases Touch of the Magis damage by a good portion, making you have a larger burst.

1. Diverted Energy makes your barriers heal you for a percentage of damage absorbed. This is very good with one Legendary called Triune Ward.
2. Tempest Barrier provides a shield after you Shimmer for a portion of HP.

1. Grounding Surge allows for when you successfully Counterspell an enemy to receive a few seconds off that ability.
2. Flow of Time reduces the cooldown of Blink, making it a little easier to kite and be able to land CC.

Legendaries have many different effects and some can alter how you should use some of your abilities. For more information on Legendaries, check out our general guide on them.

Here are the best Legendaries for an Arcane Mage.

The ability to equip 2 Legendaries has made a large impact on Arcane Mage. The Unity power grants access to your Covenant-specific Legendary, while letting you equip another Legendary in another slot. These powers are Death's Fathom, Sinful Delight, Heart of the Fae, and Harmonic Echo.

Kyrian has gained the most benefit from this addition, with Radiant Spark doing an additional 25% damage to the main target, and with the changes in Patch 9.2 making Radiant Spark undispellable, Kyrian will be a lot more prominent with Arcane. However Night Fae and Venthyr will still likely be the favored Covenants, with Shifting Power now being able to be cast whilst moving as well as gaining Haste and Critical Strike. The Necrolord Legendary Death's Fathom is also quite a strong choice, giving RNG procs of Deathborne and increasing spell damage for each enemy hit by Fireball. The Venthyr legendary Sinful Delight also is a nice quality of life change, reducing the cooldown of Mirrors of Torment when using a Clearcasting or having the ability dispelled.

1. Triune Ward is the the best defensive Legendary for Arcane Mages. This Legendary makes it so you receive all 3 barriers from each spec at 35% effectiveness. Not only do you receive a larger barrier, but you also receive the magical benefits of all 3 barriers.
2. Arcane Bombardment is likely the best offensive Legendary for Arcane Mages. This Legendary makes it so Arcane Barrage does 130% increased damage to targets under 35% HP. This Legendary is great for executing enemies and having large pressure to finish off the opponent.
3. Arcane Harmony is another damage Legendary for Arcane Mages. This makes it so each time Arcane Missiles hits an enemy, the damage of the next Arcane Barrage is increased by 8%. This does stack up to 18 times and you can see it as a buff. This Legendary is great for consistent damage with your Arcane Missiles and Arcane Barrages.
4. Sinful Delight is the new Venthyr Covenant Legendary, making clearcast reduce Mirrors of Torment by 3 seconds; if the ability is dispelled, its cooldown will also be reduced by 45 seconds. This Legendary can be situationally strong, as Mirrors of Torment can receive significant value if it is dispelled often.