Protection Warrior Best Covenants, Soulbinds, and Conduits — Shadowlands 9.0.2
Covenants, Soulbinds, and Conduits are the most important character customization options in Shadowlands. They have a substantial impact on your toolkit and performance as Protection Warrior. This page's purpose is to help you pick the right options according to the content you intend to do in Shadowlands.
Introduction: Prerequisites
This page assumes that you are already familiar with Covenants, Soulbinds, and Conduits. If that is not the case, we have a number of pages that can help you get up to speed:
- Covenants Guide, which explains what Covenants are, what perks they bring, and how you can join one;
- Warrior Covenant Abilities, which lists all the abilities that Warriors gain by joining each Covenant;
- How To Change Covenant?, which tells you how you can switch Covenant (rejoining a former Covenant will require you to perform a number of tasks to regain their trusts);
- General Soulbind Guide, which explains what Soulbinds are and how you can pledge yourself to them to open up their Soulbind tree;
- Warrior Conduits, which lists all of the Conduits available to Warriors.
Summary of the Best Covenants, Soulbinds, and Conduits
We advise this all-purpose Pelagos (Kyrian) tree for Raiding, Mythic+, and Torghast as Protection Warrior. For more in-depth information about Soulbinds and Covenants as Protection Warrior, please continue to the Choosing the Right Covenant section below.
Best Conduits for Protection Warrior
Conduits are something that are shared between all Covenants. There is only one exception to this and these are the Potency Conduits that boost your Covenant class abilities. If the Conduit you are looking for is not mentioned here then read below to find out the reason why.
Best Potency Conduits for Protection Warrior
Best Endurance Conduits for Protection Warrior
Stalwart Guardian (synergy with
Anger Management and
The Wall)
Unnerving Focus — In Mythic+.
Brutal Vitality — Needs to be in range of enemies for it to gain maximum value.
Unnerving Focus gains value in Mythic+, especially when running
Bolster so it should be taken instead of
Brutal Vitality.
Best Finesse Conduits for Protection Warrior
Conduits for Protection Warriors
The Conduits mentioned under each sub-section are ranked from best to worst.
Protection Warrior Potency Conduits
Piercing Verdict is a really strong option for us as it increases
the damage and Rage gained by
Spear of Bastion. Spear is only on a
1-minute cooldown meaning that we will be gaining a lot of extra Rage over the
course of the encounter which in turn leads to more mitigation/damage.
Destructive Reverberations provides us more damage on
Ancient Aftershock while also reducing the cooldown of it. While the damage
part is great the cooldown reduction actually de-syncs the ability from the rest of
our kit. It still leads to higher Rage/damage gains so the clunkiness is worth
it.
Show of Force makes your
Revenge increase the damage of your
next
Thunder Clap. To get the maximum out of this you should try to use
Revenge before
Thunder Clap to get the damage increase.
Abilities like
Shield Slam should still take priority over casting
Revenge unless you are purely going for AoE DPS without worrying about
survivability. Something to keep in mind is that when running
Unstoppable Force then you more than likely will not be able to buff up
each Thunder Clap during the
Avatar window.
Harrowing Punishment makes
Condemn hit harder and provides
a slightly bigger shield for each enemy near you. Considering we are not always
able to use Condemn due to Rage limitations and the buff itself being
pretty underwhelming (especially in single-target) it is just not that good.
Veteran's Repute provides us a solid Strength boost but the cooldown of
Conqueror's Banner is just too long for this to actually turn into a
good one leaving it in a awkward place.
Ashen Juggernaut makes
Execute even stronger. Unfortunately
Execute also costs Rage making keeping the buff up almost impossible for
Protection Warriors. As the 20% threshhold is often one of the hardest parts of
the encounters we will be forced to use the majority of our Rage on mitigation
like
Shield Block and
Ignore Pain leaving very little left.
Protection Warrior Endurance Conduits
Brutal Vitality's damage dealt increases your active
Ignore Pain. This is a nice passive Conduit that we do not have to
think about. While we are using Ignore Pain frequently in our rotation, we can
not guarantee that we will be in range of enemies to actually damage them and
gain the value of this Conduit.
Stalwart Guardian reduces the cooldown of your
Shield Wall.
This Conduit on its own is nothing special but when paired together with
Anger Management and
The Wall it becomes a decent defensive
option. These have the potential to make a normally 4 minute cooldown
Shield Wall into a 1- to 1.5-minute cooldown.
Unnerving Focus causes
Last Stand to increase your Rage
generation. While Last Stand is on a 3-minute cooldown, picking
Bolster
makes it a 2-minute cooldown causing this Conduit to increase in value. Unfortunately
getting the maximum out of this 15-second window is pretty hard as it requires
a lot of planning on when to use your biggest Rage generating cooldowns. You should
also be using
Last Stand pretty much on cooldown to get the most Rage, but
this is not optimal. This should be taken over
Stalwart Guardian in
Mythic+ scenarios.
Fueled by Violence makes
Deep Wounds heal us. Due to
Revenge applying Deep Wounds, it is safe to say that we will always be
benefiting from the healing provided by this Conduit. Unfortunately Deep Wounds
does not do that much damage meaning that the healing is also quite low. This
gains value in AoE situations due to having multiple enemies to debuff.
Indelible Victory makes your
Victory Rush also have a
healing over time effect. It is a very lackluster effect that is made even
worse by the fact that
Victory Rush can be used only after getting a
killing blow on the enemy. It gets slightly better when paired with
Impending Victory but it is still one of the weakest Conduits.
Protection Warrior Finesse Conduits
Inspiring Presence increases the health provided by
Rallying Cry by quite a bit. Rallying Cry by itself is already a
considerably powerful cooldown, but together with this Conduit it becomes even better.
It especially shines in group environments like Raids and Mythic+.
Safeguard makes
Intervene reduce the damage taken by the
target. This Conduit has the potential to be strong in heavy tank damage fights
where you can use it on your co-tank as a extra external cooldown to keep them
healthy.
Disturb the Peace lets us use
Shockwave a bit more often.
Paired together with
Rumbling Earth in AoE situations, it provides us with
a very short cooldown AoE stun. Something to keep in mind in group content like Raids
and Mythic+ is that other classes also have abilities that stun meaning that
there is a higher chance for diminishing returns.
Cacophonous Roar makes
Intimidating Shout slightly stronger.
In general we are using Intimidating Shout as a extra interrupt so this
Conduit does not provide anything on top of that.
Choosing the right Covenant
Before going more in depth about Covenants it is important to understand that any of the 4 Covenants can be played as Protection Warrior. There will definitely be better and worse options but the choice will not be hindering your daily activities.
While all of the Covenants are definitely usable there are some that shine more than others. Kyrian and Night Fae are the two that stand out the most for Protection Warriors due to their powerful class abilities and Soulbinds.
- Kyrian — Best for Raiding / Mythic+
- Night Fae — Competitive alternative to Kyrian in Mythic+ and Raids
- Venthyr — Usable in Raiding but falls off in Mythic+
- Necrolord — Mediocre in Mythic+ and Raids.
Kyrian Protection Warrior
Kyrian is the best option for Protection Warriors. It provides us with two very powerful abilities that help cover some of our class weaknesses fairly well.
Spear of Bastion is a damaging ability that generates 25 Rage
baseline and also tethers enemies hit to its location. While being solid
on single-target fights it mostly shines in AoE situations like Mythic+ and
Torghast. Being able to tether enemies to a set location for its duration helps
us control them more efficiently and kite if needed. Due to it being a 1 minute
cooldown it can be rough to line it up with our other cooldowns like
Ravager,
Avatar and
Booming Voice but it is still a
strong ability even by its own.
Summon Steward summons a servant to provide you with various
services but the strongest of them is the
Phial of Serenity. This
restores 20% of your health and more importantly removes all diseases,poisons,
curses and bleeds affecting you. These are all the various damage types that
most tanks struggle with and Protection Warriors are no exception. Being able
to remove any of these deadly abilities on demand is just too strong to pass
up on.
Kyrian Soulbinds
While Pelagos, Kleia and Forgelite Prime Mikanikos all provide their own strengths, Pelagos
should be the one to pick. Focusing Mantra,
Let Go of the Past and
Combat Meditation are really strong options as we already mentioned
how beneficial
Phial of Serenity is.
As an alternative you can also use Kleia. Valiant Strikes,
Ascendant Phial and
Pointed Courage make Kleia a solid
choice, especially in group content. You can also go for a more group oriented
route by picking
Mentorship and
Resonant Accolades.
Mikanikos is unfortunately lacking behind the other 2 options and should not be used currently.
Night Fae Protection Warrior
Night Fae is another strong option for Protection Warriors. Much like Kyrian they provide us with 2 very beneficial abilities but unfortunately these are a lot more situational.
Ancient Aftershock is a frontal damaging ability that generates Rage
and continuously knocks down enemies standing in its effect. It generates a lot
more Rage than
Spear of Bastion in AoE but it does this over 12 seconds
rather than instantly. It also deals more damage than Spear of Bastion in AoE but
this requires the enemies to remain standing in the ground effect it leaves
behind. While the 1.5-minute base cooldown of this ability lines up well with
Avatar,
Ravager and
Booming Voice it can easily
be de-synced when choosing to use
Destructive Reverberations. While
being extremely strong in AoE it falls behind on single-target where both the Rage gain
and damage suffer.
Soulshape is the second ability Night Fae provides. This is a
simple movement tool that lets you teleport a short distance and increases
your movement speed. While not being as strong as
Phial of Serenity
it can still have its uses when trying to avoid mechanics or kite enemies
in Mythic+, Torghast and Raids.
Night Fae Soulbinds
Niya is the most offensive option of the choices.
Grove Invigoration will provide us with some extra Mastery and Health
which is further enhanced when ever we use
Ancient Aftershock.
Niya's Tools: Poison and
Niya's Tools: Burrs at the final row are
both also DPS focused.
Korayn Wild Hunt Tactics and
Face Your Foes are both
extremely useful.
First Strike could also be used in Mythic+, as the
extra crit should be active at the start of each pack as long as you damage the
enemies first.
Dreamweaver's Social Butterfly and
Field of Blossoms can both
be very solid options if you can play around the positioning requirements.
You are unfortunately also forced to pick
Podtender which is not
optimal for tanks due to the 10-second inability to do anything.
Venthyr Protection Warrior
While Kyrian's and Night Fae's class ability is really strong in AoE and fairly mediocre in single-target, Venthyr's ability is all about single-target.
Condemn is a strong single-target damage choice for us. It replaces
Execute, makes it deal Shadow damage and be usable on enemies above
80% health and below 20% while also providing a small shield. Having 2 Execute
windows is really strong in Raids as it deals a lot of damage and the
shield it provides is a nice bonus. The downside to this is that it costs Rage.
As tanks our main goal is to reduce our damage taken and staying alive.
Due to us having access to limited Rage we might not have enough resources to
keep on using Condemn while also trying to keep
Shield Block
up. This means that we would have to make a decision on either dealing more
damage or using our defensive abilities.
Door of Shadows is a targeted teleport with a short cast time. Much
like
Soulshape its main uses can be found in avoiding mechanics. Due
to it having longer range it can potentially also be used to skip some packs
in Mythic +.
Venthyr Soulbinds
Nadjia the Mistblade provides us with Thrill Seeker, which grants us
a solid haste boost and either
Exacting Preparation or
Dauntless Duelist which can both be extremely beneficial in
Raiding scenarios. While going for Dauntless Duelist, we are forced
through multiple Finesse Conduits, which is not always optimal while going for
Exacting Preparation gives us an extra Endurance slot.
General Draven on the other hand enables us to pick multiple Endurance
Conduits while also providing Service In Stone which reduces our damage
taken when low on health and
Enduring Gloom that grants us with a
shield every time we use
Door of Shadows.
Built for War
can be used for generic scenarios while
Hold Your Ground can be used for
the extra health when needed. He is the tankiest of all the choices here and
should be used only when the situation requires it.
Theotar the Mad Duke is a solid middle ground between Nadija and Draven.
Soothing Shade and
Refined Palate /
Wasteland Propriety
are all useful in certain scenarios and the Conduit slot choices are also well
placed.
Necrolord Protection Warrior
As always with options there has to be a worst one and for Protection Warriors that is Necrolord. The 2 abilities it provides are fairly lackluster next to what the other Covenants are offering.
Conqueror's Banner sounds like a very complicated ability but is
actually fairly straight forward. The first part plants a banner into the ground
providing 10% critical strike chance to yourself and 2 allies while remaining
near the banner. The second part provides you with extra stacking critical
strike damage while spending Rage and killing enemies during its duration. It
is unfortunately a very weak option for Protection Warriors when comparing to
any of the other 3 Covenants. It could be used to boost some of your party
members critical strike chance but this requires a lot of coordination and
standing near the banner which is usually not possible.
Fleshcraft provides you with a shield every 2 minutes which gets
stronger if channeled near dead enemies. Having to wait 2 minutes and then
channel the ability for 4 seconds just to get a fairly weak shield is very
lackluster.
Necrolord Soulbinds
Emeni will provide us with a versatile kit for various situations.
Lead by Example paired together with
Veteran's Repute will
increase our Strength by a marginal amount but unfortunatenly
Conqueror's Banner still has a long cooldown so the buff is not up that
often. Meanwhile
Gnashing Chompers will increase our haste every time
we defeat enemies. While gaining extra haste after the enemies are dead is not
that beneficial you can still maximise the effect of it by chain-pulling. For
raiding scenarios you would preferably pick
Gristled Toes over
Gnashing Chompers just for the second Potency slot which should be
used for
Show of Force.
If Emeni is not for you or if you are more focused on Raiding then it
would be advisable to pick Bonesmith Heirmir. The increased crit from
Heirmir's Arsenal: Marrowed Gemstone is a decent boost to our damage, but it
locks us in with triple Endurance Conduits. An alternative to this would be to
pick
Heirmir's Arsenal: Gorestompers which gives us an extra Potency slot
for some increased damage.
Forgeborne Reveries might just help you get
a kill on the Raid boss in the extra 10 seconds.
Serrated Spaulders
will also provide you with some extra damage.
Plague Deviser Marileth has some solid choices like Volatile Solvent and
Ooz's Frictionless Coating that will provide you with a shield once
every 30 seconds if you drop below 50% HP. If the fight makes you drop below
50% of HP constantly due to the sheer amount of damage then it is worth
considering picking up Marileth for the extra shield.
Changelog
- 16 Jan. 2021: Updated Covenant conduit trees to prioritize Stalwart Guardian and Unnerving Focus.
- 07 Jan. 2021: Modified Nyia's Tree and added explanation about Unnerving Focus priority.
- 14 Dec. 2020: Updated information about Covenant options.
- 08 Dec. 2020: Added suggestion for Unnerving Focus in Mythic+ content.
- 22 Nov. 2020: Added alternative Soulbind paths for all the Covenants.
- 15 Nov. 2020: Page created.
More Warrior Guides
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This guide has been written by Mwahi, a Protection Warrior theorycrafter and moderator of the Skyhold Warrior Discord.
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