New Shaman Covenant Legendaries in Patch 9.1 PTR Build 38627 - Shaman Guide Writers Review Effects

PTR Posted 2021/05/16 at 7:13 PM by Jaydaa

New Covenant-Specific Class Legendariesbuild 38627 of the 9.1 PTR

Our Guide Writers and Experts have given their thoughts on the Patch 9.1 PTR Class Changes and new Legendaries for Build 38627. Check out all of our released opinion articles for the build below.

Class Tuning Opinions Build 38627

Holy Paladin - Guide Writer Thoughts

Covenant Legendary Opinions Build 38627

Hunter Covenant Legendaries - Guide Writer ThoughtsPriest Covenant Legendaries - Guide Writer ThoughtsWarlock Covenant Legendaries - Guide Writer ThoughtsShaman Covenant Legendaries - Guide Writer Thoughts

Paladin Covenant Legendaries Revisited - Guide Writer Thoughts

Shaman Legendaries in Patch 9.1

NEW (Venthyr) Each friendly target healed by Chain Harvest automatically has Riptide applied to them. Each enemy target damaged by Chain Harvest automatically has Flame Shock applied to them.
NEW (Night Fae) Each pulse of Fae Transfusion's damage effect reduces the cooldown of Feral Spirit by 7 seconds, Healing Tide Totem by 5 seconds or Fire Elemental by 6 seconds.

Writer Opinions & FeedbackElemental Shaman Writer Opinion & FeedbackEarthshrineStorm, Earth, & LavaTwitter

Venthyr - Elemental Conduit

The new Venthyr Legendary Elemental Conduit tries to add some additional oomph and value to Chain Harvest, but sadly falls short.

There is no current dps scenario in which this legendary may be valuable for Elemental. The dps value is delayed, and is minimal when compared to other legendaries whose niche it might fill. At the same time, it doesn't provide enough dps value to let the additional healing it provides offset the damage loss of taking it. It might have potential in a world where we can equip 2 legendaries at once if paired with Skybreaker's Fiery Demise, but as it stands there's no space for it.
In all scenarios it falls painfully behind existing legendaries. On a single target, it provides the value of replacing one Flame Shock cast every 2 minutes and will likely be one of the weakest legendaries in the game for Elemental - falling behind even the generic legendaries such as Echo of Eonar. In an ideal dps scenario, one where it hits 5 targets, the value of the additional Flame Shocks given pales in comparison to other strong legendaries we use for AoE such as Echoes of Great Sundering or Skybreaker's Fiery Demise.
This Legendary definitely does not alter the Elemental's choice in Covenant!

Night Fae - Seeds of Rampant Growth

The new Night Fae Legendary - Seeds of Rampant Growth is arguably the most disappointing covenant-specific legendary so far.

As Fae Transfusion ticks 7 times, this legendary reduces the cooldown of Fire Elemental by 42 seconds. At that strength, it is simply a weaker version of Skybreaker's Fiery Demise. Again, it could pair with Skybreaker's Fiery Demise well in a world where we can equip 2 legendaries at once which is not something that has been announced at this time.
Lets dig into the comparison I just made above! On average Skybreaker's Fiery Demise gives ~40-45 seconds worth (depending on haste/crit values) of cooldown reduction (CDR) on a single target, and you get more CDR the more Flame Shocks you have out. Seeds of Rampant Growth will consistently get you 42 seconds, which makes it approximately equal to the CDR portion of Skybreaker's Fiery Demise alone in the worst use case for that legendary. However, Seeds of Rampant Growth comes with a bigger problem. Fae Transfusion has a 2 minute cooldown, reduced to 89 seconds with an ilvl 226 Essential Extraction, while Fire Elemental has a 2.5 minute cooldown. This means that any buffs to this legendary, as it stands, won't be able to make a significant impact as any buff more than ~50% (to give it 60 seconds or so of CDR) will be wasted until it provides enough CDR to make holding Fae Transfusion until Fire Elemental has been placed on cooldown a better option. It's a weak legendary that is difficult to buff meaningfully for use in 9.1 without adding another effect to it.
As it's unlikely that this legendary will see use at all in 9.1 without an additional effect getting added to it, Elemental will not be changing Covenants at this time due to this Legendary.

Enhancement Shaman Writer Opinion & Feedback

This guide is written by Wordup, a long-time Enhancement player and moderator on the Shaman Discord server, Earthshrine. I've played every iteration of Enhancement since Sunwell, and played in Echoes on Laughing Skull (EU) since Warlords of Draenor. You can catch me on Twitter, or in Discord if you have any guide related questions!

First and foremost, one of the biggest problems with the new covenant legendaries have to contend with is that our legendaries are very strong, and in many cases damage profile defining. If a new choice opening up compared to the current options can't achieve that, it's a bad sign.

Venthyr - Elemental Conduit

On the surface this might look interesting and finally be the boost that Fire Nova needs as an activator, but it just has so many problems that I can't see it being used. Fire Nova as an ability takes away from alternative talents we could take and needs a supporting build, and is actually quite reliant on sustained Flame Shock uptime to gain relative value; largely due to the contribution from Lashing Flames. Attaching this effect to a 1m30s cooldown (with a bit of unreliable CDR here or there) in Chain Harvest is going to make for an explosive moment, but it's going to take so much investment to get that pop and cost you damage elsewhere.

Lastly and most importantly, it pulls us away from using Doom Winds which can provide equivalent burst AoE (but more reliably), while also flexing into single-target without any issue. I can see a world where this may get used for very specific encounters, but the cooldown of Chain Harvest and disconnect between build choices in these situations vs. what this actually adds makes it feel a bit like a trap for people who want a fix to make Fire Nova usable. While I'd love that, this really doesn't seem like the cure.

Night Fae - Seeds of Rampant Growth

While there was a lot to go through with the Venthyr one above, this one really has few - if any - positive talking points. Currently our top performing single-target build uses Witch Doctor's Wolf Bones, an option that is strictly better in every circumstance I can think of. The cooldown reduction provided by the Night Fae option is on average much lower, and it also doesn't provide the additional Maelstrom Weapon generation that comes as a free bonus with Witch Doctor's Wolf Bones. That there is a legendary that shares such a similar effect with no mechanical benefit to another raises some serious question marks here and I can't see any chance of this being used as it stands.

The bottom line for both these and the previously released Necrolord legendary, Splintered Elements, s that right now none of these legendaries are enticing enough to encourage a swap either in covenant or legendary equip. None of them are contenders to even be worth crafting, and compared to what Enhancement has available, considering the reliance we've had on legendaries to cover some of the gaps in our toolkit, these are nowhere near the level of effects that could provide that.
Restoration Shaman Writer Opinion & FeedbackBDGDiscord ServerShaman Class DiscordTwitchTwitter

Venthyr - Elemental Conduit

Elemental Conduit has a lot of potential to be the new best legendary for Venthyr Shamans. Baseline, it about equals the amount of Riptides you gain from Primal Tide Core - with the new legendary pulling ahead due to the cooldown reduction on Chain Harvest and because there's less potential for wasted Riptides. Making Chain Harvest a bit beefier doesn't hurt either, although you do lose the constant extra Tidal Waves in comparison to Primal Tide Core.

I'm assuming they'll be trading blows. If the fight is more constant low ticking damage, it would favour Primal Tide Core, with most other fights fitting Elemental Conduit more due to being able to control the output better. Adding some damage (assuming there's a couple targets) also doesn't hurt.

Night Fae - Seeds of Rampant Growth

Seeds of Rampant Growth (Night Fae) could be really good for some fights, although it is more situational. If you fit 2 uses of Fae Transfusion in between Healing Tide Totem casts, that Fae Transfusion becomes a 2 minute cooldown which can have a lot of potential, especially with Heavy Rainfall as well. But yeah, overall a little more niche but as a Night Fae Shaman it should be worth crafting for whenever the cooldown reduction is more useful than Primal Tide Core.

I don't see them changing our covenant choice up since a covenant-neutral legendary is still keeping up and just so universally useful, but I do like them both more than the current iteration of the Necrolord legendary (Splintered Elements).

Comment by MulcTLDR : ele and enhance venthyr: it's crap
Heal venthyr: it could be great

Ele and enhance nightfae: we have the same effect in better already
Heal nf: it could be great.

Legit the only spec that could benefit from those legendaries is heal sham for both dps they are absolut garbage.Comment by IceWolfDKYou really should readd the necrolord one that appeared a while ago, and that had an article about it alone.Comment by SelendeesLet's say what true.

Enhancement's will not change from doom winds because one: if you want big aoe you go doom winds anyway, two: it's awesome to have it back, Three: it what enhance is about flying win fury procs. And if you really want to push numbers you will go with Wolf Bones anyway.

If you are Elemental or Restoration you go Necro so let see what Necro Lego will be.

Those lego's are just intern assessments that nobody will use anyway.Comment by ShacariusSo nothing of value was added to the class..... again. Perfect.Comment by wickedsymphonyLet's say what true.

Enhancement's will not change from doom winds because one: if you want big aoe you go doom winds anyway, two: it's awesome to have it back, Three: it what enhance is about flying win fury procs. And if you really want to push numbers you will go with Wolf Bones anyway.

If you are Elemental or Restoration you go Necro so let see what Necro Lego will be.

Those lego's are just intern assessments that nobody will use anyway.Comment by ValishaSeems like they cave concept gameplay for 9.4.1 While giving us a bit not balanced piece by piece. =\Comment by GaabLet's say what true.

Enhancement's will not change from doom winds because one: if you want big aoe you go doom winds anyway, two: it's awesome to have it back, Three: it what enhance is about flying win fury procs. And if you really want to push numbers you will go with Wolf Bones anyway.

If you are Elemental or Restoration you go Necro so let see what Necro Lego will be.

Those lego's are just intern assessments that nobody will use anyway.So nothing of value was added to the class..... again. Perfect.Comment by VindalThe night Fae legendary will have great synergies with existing legendaries when we will be able to have two.
I think EH will be great as NF by then, but so far I still have no clue whether I should swap or not.Comment by SpiritchimeThanks for wasting dev time/money (our sub fees) on these useless legendaries which add no value to the class and will see absolutely no use except by perhaps very casual players that don't care anyway.Comment by WaterGlaiveThanks for wasting dev time/money (our sub fees) on these useless legendaries which add no value to the class and will see absolutely no use except by perhaps very casual players that don't care anyway.