We’re back taking a look at Covenant distribution, for the last time in the “pure” Shadowlands, as the 9.x patches end this week, with 10s arriving! The giant overhaul of the talent system along with many other changes is coming with the next reset and the pre-patch, so while we will continue to have Shadowlands content up until Dragonflight’s launch, it will be a mix of systems.
The stats are based on top player data from Subcreation, which takes the top parses from Warcraft Logs, as usual.
We won’t be going into as much detail on the stats changes since last time this time around, as the main reason for the article is to be able to compare the stats now to the final pre-patch numbers, to see how much the new talent system and features change things around.
Ranged DPS
There’s only one major change in Mythic+ here since the end of Season 3, as Elemental Shamans have gone almost entirely over to Necrolord from Night Fae (a change of just under 60%), basically flipping the numbers for the two Covenants. Aside from that, the dominant purple faction gained a little overall, even when including the other three Necrolord-dominant specs moving away from the Fae a bit.
In Raids we see the opposite for Elemental, as it actually moved the other way, away from Necro, dropping some 20% in favor of the Ardenwealdians. Another big mover is Fire Mage, as it also went to the dark side Night Fae, dropping some 50% and almost entirely moving out of Venthyr.
Data gathered and presented by Subcreation, based Warcraft Logs numbers.
Melee DPS
Interestingly, for Mythic+ Melee everything remained the same, with almost every single spec gaining a few percent to their already dominant faction, leaving the Night Fae outnumbered once again.
The purple folk are still in charge of raids, however, with Frost DKs being the only ones dropping a fair chunk of the Covenant (but still keeping them in a solid majority). The only other major shift here can be found with Subtletly, as it shifted a little over to Venthyr, making the spec no longer almost perfectly balanced between two Covenants, as it moves over into a Kyrian majority.
Data gathered and presented by Subcreation, based Warcraft Logs numbers.
Tanks
Tanks are extremely consistent and loyal when it comes to Covenants, as the largest change in Mythic+ (by far) is a 10%er, with Protection Warriors moving away from Necro to Kyrian (but still remaining mostly bony-bois).
Things didn’t change much in raids either, but Blood and Brewmasters did move a bit more, with Kyrian gaining 18% for the DK spec and losing 13% for the Monk.
Data gathered and presented by Subcreation, based Warcraft Logs numbers.
Healers
Healers actually changed a fair amount in Mythic+, with Holy Priest leading the way by moving entirely out of mainly Kyrian (with a bit of Necrolord), shifting a huge 98% to Night Fae to become entirely purple. Resto Druids followed suit, although not as drastically, as the Ardenwealdians gained 15% there as well. The rest of the changes for the ones keeping everyone else alive are under 10%.
As far as raids go the changes are smaller, but still present, with only sub-10% moves for Discipline and Holy Pala to Kyrian.
Data gathered and presented by Subcreation, based Warcraft Logs numbers.
That’s it for the non-Dragonflight influenced Shadowlands, as we’ll see what the pre-patch brings! With a relatively short time until the next expansion arrives it’ll be interesting to see how much the top players actually bother adapting to and even creating a new meta, but it seems likely we’ll be seeing plenty of changes with the new talent tree.
