Kyrian
Göttlicher Glockenschlag is really useful for mob pick up, interrupting a bunch of casters or just doing area of effect damage. They also fixed its interactions with
Erster Rächer so if you get a full five target hit, you get a moderate absorb shield. The Holy Power gained scales per target hit so if you hit 5 targets, you will gain 5 Holy Power. It also interacts with some legendaries like
Bollwerk des Rechtschaffenen Zorns allowing for more SotR damage.
The downside is that in single target encounters, it will hit one target and generate one Holy Power. In that scenario, it effectively becomes a plain
Schild des Rächers on a one minute cooldown.
Läutende Klarheit will help offset that as it gives an increased chance of firing more Shields at your main target.
As icing on the cake,
Göttlicher Glockenschlag has by far one of the best visuals of any options available to Protection. It fits the theme of the spec as this shield throwing machine.
Provost beschwören is a quality of life and utility button. It gives you a
Phiole des Gleichmuts that clears some debuffs while granting other benefits like talent changes or vendor items. With changes that have been made over the course of beta, it's a much better covenant signature than it once was. It gives you a third healing consumable and the option to be flexible with debuff removal. For example, you can use the Kyrian potion to remove your own debuff but cast
Segen des Schutzes to remove a party members debuff.
Pros: Strong in multi-target, Synergizes with talents and legendaries, Divine Toll is really fun to press
Cons: Weak for single target tanking, Can only use the potion once per 'encounter'
Venthyr
Ascheweihung is the best damage ability available to Protection of all four covenants. It also enables you to cast your
Hammer des Zorns with a significant damage bonus while in it. The conduit,
Geheiligte Einsicht, is just a passive DPS increase that you’ll most certainly always use.
The downsides of the ability are pretty clear. It tethers you to a location for the duration. On a boss or scenario with frequent movement, this ability won’t perform as well because you might simply move out of it and lose your damage. It only adds raw dps and hps without much other utility. The Holy Power gains from extra
Hammer des Zorns casts are also net-neutral since it will generally substitute for a
Richturteil,
Schild des Rächers, or
Hammer der Rechtschaffenen.
The four minute cooldown has a frequent topic of discussion in community. From a numbers tuning perspective, the cooldown is justified.
Ascheweihung does a lot of damage and provides a strong opportunity for more burst damage when needed.
Schattentor is a good signature ability. It has a 35 yard range which is effectively max range in most situations. Over the course of Alpha and Beta, they’ve added some pathing checks to it so it’s a bit more restrictive in where it can go. It’s not as good as some once thought and how it played in early Alpha. For tanking, one downside is the cast time. Casting spells while actively tanking is generally discouraged but there will be plenty of situations where you’re not tanking and can use this safely.
Pros: High damage, Good mobility
Cons: Low utility, Net-neutral holy power, Tethers you to one spot
Necrolord
Hammer des Bezwingers is the worst covenant option available right now. On paper, it helps you better utilize your Holy Power for healing, survival, and damage. However in real scenarios, it doesn't really do any of that. Currently, when you use Vanq Hammer, you get a 20s buff that makes your next
Wort der Herrlichkeit automatically cast an SotR. However,
Wort der Herrlichkeit isn’t a button you press whenever. You want to wait for a specific moment to properly make use of it. In that 20s, that specific moment may never come leaving you two options: Let the buff expire or you just yolo
Wort der Herrlichkeit in a very inefficient manner. There are a lot of situations where you just don’t get full use out of Vanq Hammer because of that.
However, the conduit is potentially one saving grace for Vanq Hammer. With
Rechtschaffene Macht, Vanq Hammer is a very hard hitting ability for Single Target when used every 30s. Given the problems above, the ability for now should be thought about like
Schmelztiegel der Flammen was in BFA: a hard hitting single target nuke with no other real benefits. In multi-target situations, the damage drops off a lot making it very narrow even as a damage ability.
Fleischformung provides an absorb shield equal to 20% of your HP and if you’re next to a corpse, you gain a bigger shield that can go up to 50% of your max health. This ability still suffers from two problems. You still can’t dodge, parry, or block during the channel meaning that you lose some tankiness to get the shield active. Second, the shield can suffer chip damage. By the time you finish channeling, the shield could be gone because you were taking damage. However, there are some soulbinds that add value to
Fleischformung. They provide minor buffs, immunity to crowd control or the ability to cast it while moving. These are nice bonuses that improve an ability with clear weaknesses.
Pros: Higher Shield of the Righteous uptime, Strong DPS in single target
Cons: Effectiveness depends on Word of Glory usage, Weak in multi-target, Fleshcraft has very clear weaknesses
Night Fae
Segen der Jahreszeiten has been redesigned since my last article. Originally it was this pseudo-aura that buffed your full party all at once. Now it's just individual buffs that you cast like you would
Segen der Freiheit.
Opting for Night Fae means that you'll be focused on support including sacrificing your own power.
Segen der Jahreszeiten provides four unique buffs in the form of some passive damage, cooldown reduction, lower enemy movement and attack speed, and increased healing taken and done. Blessing of the Seasons can be tedious because you need to track which one you currently have active, which one is next in the rotation and when you want to activate it. You can fix this with a WeakAura however.
Der lange Sommer just makes
Segen des Sommers last longer meaning you can have
Segen des Sommers,
Segen des Herbstes, and
Segen des Winters active at the same time. You should use
Der lange Sommer in most situations because there is no reason to pick Night Fae if you don't.
Seelengestalt is a movement ability that helps you get around when needed. The blink effect is much improved since Alpha started as it has a longer longer range than before. It does give you some control if you need to move frequently in a short duration.
Seelengestalt can be really handy for a class with limited mobility options like a Paladin.
Pros: Fills the buff fantasy, Good utility in groups. High mobility
Con: Tedious to manage, Requires a WeakAura, Very low personal throughput, Just boring
