Vengeance Demon Hunter Best Covenants, Soulbinds, and Conduits — Shadowlands 9.1

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;
• Demon Hunter Covenant Abilities, which lists all the abilities that Demon Hunters 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;
• Demon Hunter Conduits, which lists all of the Conduits available to Demon Hunters.

Focus	Covenant	Soulbind	Recommended Tree
Raiding Torghast	Kyrian	Pelagos	Pelagos Raiding Tree
Mythic+	Kyrian	Kleia	Pelagos Tree

Kyrian is the strongest Covenant for Vengeance Demon Hunter with Venthyr being the second best choice. Night Fae is normally the primary choice for players who main as a Havoc Demon Hunter and Necrolord is very niche. While all Covenants are viable for all content, not taking Kyrian will drastically lower your overall damage potential, which can cause threat issues.

For more information about Vengeance Demon Hunter Covenants, please read our Covenants and Soulbinds analysis section at the end of this page.

We are giving more detailed information on Conduits below. For a complete overview, you can visit our Demon Hunter Conduits list.

• Best Potency Conduits: the Covenant-specific Conduits ( Repeat Decree, Increased Scrutiny, Unnatural Malice, or Brooding Pool) are a must-pick and Growing Inferno should be the second choice for any additional Potency slots.
• Best Endurance Conduits: Fel Defender lowers the cooldown of Fel Devastation by 5 seconds. This Conduit is an all-around large survival boost that should be used in all content. Shattered Restoration provides a passive increase with soul healing and Viscous Ink provides amazing passive damage reduction.
• Best Finesse Conduits: the Conduits are niche to specific situations but the best generic Conduit is Felfire Haste. Ravenous Consumption is a decent choice in PvP or dungeons that require multiple purges.

Conduits provide the same benefit regardless of Covenant choice. They can only be used once per Soulbind but you are able to have them in every Soulbind. For instance, Viscous Ink can be used with Kleia and Pelagos at the same time. Potency and Endurance Conduits should be chosen over Finesse Conduits when there is a choice.

1. Repeat Decree is the best Conduit for Kyrian Covenant and should always be picked. Elysian Decree will echo the sigil after 1 second for an additional 15% damage.
2. Growing Inferno is our next best Conduit. Immolation Aura damage is increased by a percentage (starting at 10% at rank 1) by each additional tick.
3. Increased Scrutiny reduces the cooldown of Sinful Brand. Rank 1 starts at 5 seconds. Sinful Brand is a very strong damage cooldown for Venthyr Covenant.
4. Unnatural Malice increases the damage of the Night Fae ability The Hunt to the primary target by 25% at rank 1.
5. Brooding Pool increases the duration of the Necrolord's ability Fodder to the Flame by 1 second at rank 1. At max rank, 15 second increased duration turns Fodder to the Flame into a decent defensive cooldown.
6. Soul Furnace increases the next Soul Cleave damage by an additional 30% after consuming 10 souls. This Conduit is the worst Conduit for Potency and should only be used if there is no other choice. Soul cleave damage is really low so increasing it by 30% is not nearly enough to pick this Conduit.

1. Fel Defender lowers the cooldown of Fel Devastation by 5 seconds at rank 1. This Conduit becomes mandatory for all content.
2. Shattered Restoration provides additional healing for each soul fragment. This gives a passive healing increase which boosts survival rates.
3. Viscous Ink increases magic damage reduction additively with rank 1 being 6%. Vengeance has a based magic damage reduction of 15% and rank 1 Conduit pushes this to 21%. This is a very strong Conduit and makes Vengeance highly effective against high magic damage fights.
4. Demon Muzzle lowers the magic damage received by 5% for 8 seconds at rank 1 by enemies that were affected by Sigil of Silence once the sigil wears off. This Conduit can be used well in Mythic+ but additional survivability but underperforms when compared to the above Conduits. Only use this Conduit if you are missing the other better Conduits.
5. Roaring Fire increases healing by up to 30% for rank 1 of Fel Devastation based on missing health. This Conduit is bad. The healing of Fel Devastation is already low and the Demonic talent should be used to trigger Metamorphosis, which makes this Conduit worse.

1. Felfire Haste is the best generic Finesse Conduit. Infernal Strike increases movement speed by 5% at rank 1 for 8 seconds. This provides a small improvement to mobility in all situations.
2. Ravenous Consumption has a 15% chance at rank 1 for Consume Magic to remove a second Magic effect from the target. This is a great Conduit for PvP or content that requires constant purges. The only downside is the low chance of the second purge triggering.
3. Lost in Darkness allows for Spectral Sight to last an additional 3 seconds at rank 1 if disrupted by attacking or taking damage. This Conduit can be used in PvP to detect rogues, druids, or mages in stealth/invisibility despite taking damage.
4. Demonic Parole reduces the speed of enemies by 50% after leaving Imprison by 5 seconds at rank 1 up to 20 seconds at max rank. This Conduit is very niche. It can be used well in PvP or in PvE content where a single enemy needs to be kited for a long period of time.

All Covenants are viable for all content but the damage from Elysian Decree and the utility from Phial of Serenity provides more benefit than every other Covenant. Unfortunately, it will be viewed as a detrimental to any Vengeance that does not take Kyrian. Venthyr is not too far behind and is a smart choice for players who constantly swap between Havoc and Vengeance but Kyrian is needed for min/maxing. Night Fae and Necrolord is not recommended in most situations.

• Kyrian provides Elysian Decree as the Covenant ability that places a Kyrian Sigil on the ground that detonates for Arcane damage after 2 seconds spawning 3 souls. Elysian Decree will hit a second time after 1 second if the Repeat Decree Conduit is being used. This ability provides a large amount of damage. It is soft capped at 5 targets with fall off damage to any enemies over 5. Additionally, Summon Steward will summon a NPC with various menu options but most important provides a Phial of Serenity. Phial restores 20% health and removes all diseases, poisons, curses and bleeds on a 3-minute cooldown.
• Venthyr provides Sinful Brand as the Covenant ability, which marks an enemy inflicting shadow damage over 8 seconds and reducing the enemy's cast and melee speeds by 30%. Activating Metamorphosis will apply Sinful Brand to all targets. Note that the Demonic talent does not trigger this AoE spread, which means the AoE portion is on a 3-minute cooldown. The defensive portion of Sinful Brand is negligible. It will prevent 1 cast or 1 melee swing during the duration at most. Additionally, Venthyr has the Door of Shadows ability that will travel to a location within 35 yards on a 1-minute cooldown. Door of Shadows has a 1.5 second cast time. Vengeance has high mobility with Infernal Strike that is off the GCD and instant so Door of Shadows is a niche ability that would not see much use.
• Necrolord provides the Fodder to the Flame ability, which calls forth a demon for 25 seconds. Throw Glaive deals lethal damage to the demon and makes it explode, dealing damage to nearby enemies and healing the player for 30% of their Maximum Health. Damage is reduced beyond 5 targets hits. Additionally, Necrolord provides Fleshcraft which is a 3-second channel for a shield of 40% of the player's Maximum Health for 2 minutes on a 2-minute cooldown. Walking near an enemy's corpse you helped kill will decrease the cooldown by 1 second. Channeling will also reduce your damage taken by 20%; however, Demon Hunters cannot parry during the channel so planning when to use this ability is important in Mythic+. In raids, Fleshcraft can be used while off-tanking or as a 20% damage reduction to an ability that cannot be parried.
• Night Fae provides the The Hunt ability that will charge an enemy, causing Nature damage, rooting them in place, and dealing additional nature damage over 6 seconds up to 5 targets in the path of the charge. The Hunt is kind of a mix between a charge and a leap ability. The player will charge the target selected but the hit box is like a leap reticle on determining what enemies to damage. This means that if the targets are moving slightly as the charge happens, then they may move out of the damage area and receive no damage. The coding for this ability is hit or miss. If the hit area is recoded in a future patch, this ability would work well in PvP on targets trying to run away. Additionally, Night Fae provides the Soulshape ability, which turns the player into a Vulpin for 12 seconds, teleporting them forward 15 yards, and increasing movement speed by 50%. Reactivating Soulshape every few seconds will teleport the player 15 yards. This lasts indefinitely in rested areas. Vengeance with Infernal Strike does not need more mobility in most situations. This is a niche ability at best.

To summarize, Kyrian is the best pick in all situations except for serious PvP. It provides the highest source of damage for Vengeance and massive utility with Phial. Venthyr can work well for players who are looking to play both Havoc and Vengeance regularly. Assuming The Hunt hit detection is improved, Night Fae is a decent choice for the PvP utility. Necrolord should only be picked for niche situations that requires the player to be as defensive as possible. This is not needed in most situations and is not recommended.

Renown is earned weekly from a set of quests and it is used to unlock tiers in the Soulbind trees. It is also used to unlock the third Soulbind for each covenant. These quests are extremely important to do every week. If a week is missed, there is a catch up mechanic in place to help the player get caught up to the current max rank.

Kleia is the best soulbind for Vengeance and she is a standard unlock, which does not require Renown. Mentorship is recommended at early levels of Renown to provide the early Potency Conduit Repeat Decree. After Renown 28, the final Conduits are unlocked allowing for Ascendant Phial as a viable choice by selecting the last Potency Conduit and Bearer's Pursuit.

Pelagos is considered the best Soulbind for Vengeance due to gaining access to 3 Potency Conduits and 3 Endurance Conduits. This allows stacking the best conduits and dodging all Finesse Conduits. Patch 9.1 introduced the Better Together trait, which increases the player's Mastery and allows the tank to provide a Mastery buff to any players that move near them. Additionally, Newfound Resolve provides Agility and Stamina if the player faces the Manifestation of Doubt when it spawns.

Kleia is a solid choice as the Soulbind for Vengeance due to Valiant Strikes providing decent healing, Ascendant Phial working as an immunity, Cleansing Rites providing a shield for each pull, and Bearer's Pursuit providing a slow for times where kiting is needed. The new traits added in 9.1 provide additional DPS potential with Light the Path, which provides additional critical strike when Valiant strikes heals an ally, and Spear of the Archon which provides an almost permanent critical strike buff when the enemy has high health.

Forgelite Prime Mikanikos is an interesting Soulbind due to Resilient Plumage providing a 20% damage reduction after receiving falling damage. If this can be reliably triggered in a dungeon or raid encounter, this can be used as another defensive cooldown. Mikanikos received a buff in 9.1 that triggers Bron's Call to Action on any ability that is on the global cooldown, which can include Glide, which greatly increases the uptime of Bron. Effusive Anima Accelerator is the final trait for the Soulbind; it will trigger an AoE blast at the target location when triggering Elysian Decree, which is split between all targets, and also lowering the cooldown of Elysian Decree for each target hit. Mikanikos has the potential of providing the most AoE damage out of all Soulbinds.

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We suggest following this path:

We suggest following this path:

Emeni's Lead by Example is the only reason to choose this Soulbind due to buffing your agility by 5% and your partys main stat by 2% for 10 seconds. This increases by an additional 2% for each party member affected.

Plague Deviser Marileth provides some survivability with Ooz's Frictionless Coating by gaining a 15% max health shield when health is reduced below 50%. As a tank, this should be triggering on cooldown.

Bonesmith Heirmir is not very good for Vengeance.

We suggest following this path:

We suggest following this path:

We suggest following this path:

Nadjia the Mistblade's Thrill Seeker gives a 20% Haste buff every 80 seconds during a boss encounter or more often in Mythic+ or boss fights with adds based on enemies dying. Nothing else is very appealing and you are forced to take a Finesse Conduit.

Theotar the Mad Duke's Refined Palate is strong by increasing the duration of combat potions by 100% to 200%, which is fantastic in all situations. This Soulbind also allows for 3 Endurance Conduits. Soothing Shade is unfortunately bad for Vengeance due to Mastery being a very weak stat.

General Draven's Service In Stone loses some of the power as a tank because if the tank dies in a raid or Mythic+, it normally results in a wipe. There are times where this could be useful in raids. Hold Your Ground is a nice passive buff to Stamina and healing if you are able to stand still for at least 4 seconds.

We suggest following this path:

We suggest following this path:

We suggest following this path:

Dreamweaver's Podtender loses value as a tank since all threat is lost upon death and will normally result in a wipe in Mythic+. This could save a raid encounter if your co-tank is able to hold the enemies as you regenerate over 10 seconds. Social Butterfly is a nice passive versatility boost when doing party content. Lastly, Field of Blossoms provides a decent haste buff every 1.5 minutes after using The Hunt.

Niya's Grove Invigoration is weak for Vengeance due to Mastery being a weak stat. Run Without Tiring can provide niche healing in raid when the cotank taunts or in solo content. You are forced to take a Finesse Conduit.

Korayn is only unlocked at week 7 and is mostly good for solo content and to kill adds quickly.

We suggest following this path:

We suggest following this path:

We suggest following this path:

All Kyrian soulbinds provide a bonus in one area or another and a use case can be argued for any of them. Pelagos allows the player to ignore all finesse conduits. Kleia provides critical strike, shields and healing. Forgelite Prime Mikanikos provides possible superior AoE damage and higher up time Bron when summoned. The main go-to for most players will end up being Pelagos due to the conduit choices.