Mastering Fae Guardians: A Priest’s Guide to the Night Fae Covenant Ability
Fae Guardians, the Night Fae Covenant ability for Priests in Shadowlands, is a powerful tool offering a unique blend of offensive and defensive capabilities. Using it effectively requires understanding its mechanics and how the three faeries interact with your spells and targets. To put it simply, you cast Fae Guardians to summon three faeries that attach to a target, either an ally or an enemy, based on your current target. The faeries then provide buffs and effects based on their type: Wrathful Faerie (offensive), Guardian Faerie (defensive), and Benevolent Faerie (utility).
The key to using Fae Guardians lies in its flexibility. You can directly target either an ally or an enemy.
- Targeting an Enemy: The Wrathful Faerie is sent to the enemy, applying its effect to them. Meanwhile, both the Guardian Faerie (damage reduction) and Benevolent Faerie (mana or insanity regeneration) apply to you, the Priest.
- Targeting an Ally: Both the Guardian Faerie and Benevolent Faerie are sent to the ally, while the Wrathful Fairy attaches to the ally.
Choosing the right target depends on the situation. In PvP, you might target an enemy to debuff them while bolstering your own defenses and resources. In PvE, you might target a tank to improve their survivability or an ally with low resources to benefit from the mana or insanity return from Wrathful Fairy. The faeries persist for 20 seconds, and their effects remain active even if you switch targets. Smart play is crucial for maximizing their impact.
Delving Deeper: Understanding the Faerie Effects
Each of the three faeries grants a specific effect that can greatly enhance your Priest’s capabilities:
Wrathful Faerie: Fueling Your Spells
This faerie focuses on resource regeneration. When attached to an enemy, your direct attacks against that target restore 0.5% Mana or 3 Insanity. This makes it incredibly valuable for Shadow Priests constantly draining Insanity, or Holy/Discipline Priests managing their mana pools. This effect enhances your sustained damage output or healing capability by alleviating resource constraints, allowing you to maintain a higher spell frequency.
Guardian Faerie: Fortifying Defenses
This faerie grants a flat 20% damage reduction. When you have the Guardian Faerie on yourself, this is a significant boost to survivability, particularly useful when facing heavy damage or burst encounters. When the Guardian Faerie attaches to an ally, their damage taken is reduced by 20% helping them live longer. It can turn the tide in difficult situations.
Benevolent Faerie: The Healing Touch
When attached to yourself or an ally, the Benevolent Faerie increases the effectiveness of your next heal by 50%. This translates into a massive single-target healing boost, perfect for topping off allies quickly or for those critical moments when a large heal is needed to prevent a wipe. This can also be combined with other healing modifiers for even greater healing power.
Utilizing Fae Guardians in Different Scenarios
Fae Guardians’ versatility allows it to shine in diverse situations:
- Raiding: Use it strategically to reduce damage on the tank during high-damage phases, or to buff a DPS struggling with resource management. Coordinate with your healing team to maximize its impact.
- Mythic+ Dungeons: Use it on the tank to prevent spike damage or on a DPS during heavy damage phases. The reduced damage taken and healing boost can make or break a tough pull.
- PvP: Use it aggressively to debuff an enemy while fortifying yourself, or defensively to keep a teammate alive under pressure. The damage reduction and healing increase are game-changers.
The strategic use of Fae Guardians is not just about casting it on cooldown; it’s about casting it at the right moment on the right target to get the maximum benefit from its unique effects. Pay close attention to encounter mechanics and team needs to choose the best target for each cast.
Maximizing Your Night Fae Priest Potential
To truly master Fae Guardians, consider these additional tips:
- Coordinate with Your Team: Communicate with your teammates about when you plan to use Fae Guardians. This ensures that they’re ready to take advantage of the buffs and effects.
- Track the Cooldown: Knowing exactly when Fae Guardians will be available allows you to plan your strategy. Utilize addons to help track the cooldown and duration.
- Prioritize Target Selection: Before casting, evaluate the current situation. Determine which target will benefit most from the specific combination of faerie effects.
- Adapt to Different Encounters: Each encounter presents unique challenges. Adjust your strategy and target selection based on the specific mechanics of the fight.
- Practice Regularly: The more you use Fae Guardians, the better you’ll become at predicting when and where it will have the greatest impact. Experiment and refine your strategy.
Fae Guardians can be your secret weapon as a Priest, providing both offensive and defensive utility when used effectively. The Games Learning Society, a place for learning more about game mastery, is a great resource for understanding the underlying principles of strategic gameplay (https://www.gameslearningsociety.org/). Take your understanding of Fae Guardians to the next level with the information that can be found at GamesLearningSociety.org.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
1. Can Fae Guardians be used on myself?
Yes, by targeting yourself, you can apply both the Guardian Faerie (damage reduction) and the Benevolent Faerie (healing increase) directly to yourself.
2. Does the Wrathful Faerie only restore mana for Holy and Discipline Priests?
No. For Shadow Priests, the Wrathful Faerie restores Insanity instead of mana when they attack the target.
3. How often can I cast Fae Guardians?
Fae Guardians has a 1.5-minute cooldown. Proper management of this cooldown is crucial for optimal usage.
4. What happens if the target of Fae Guardians dies?
If the target dies, the faeries disappear and their effects end immediately.
5. Can the effects of Fae Guardians be dispelled?
No, the effects of the Fae Guardians cannot be dispelled, making them reliable buffs and debuffs.
6. Does the Guardian Faerie stack with other damage reduction effects?
Yes, the 20% damage reduction from Guardian Faerie stacks additively with other damage reduction sources.
7. How do I change my covenant to Night Fae?
You can change to the Night Fae Covenant by visiting Lady Moonberry in Oribos (39.6, 60.9) and requesting admittance. Note that there may be a cooldown when switching covenants.
8. What are the best soulbinds for Night Fae Priests?
The best soulbinds depend on your specialization and playstyle. Popular choices include Niya for general utility and damage, and Dreamweaver for survivability and healing.
9. Can I skip the Night Fae campaign on alts?
If you have completed chapters one and two of the Night Fae campaign on a main character, you can skip those chapters on an alt.
10. What are the anima rewards for Night Fae?
Night Fae offers a range of rewards purchasable with anima, including transmog gear, companion pets, Soulshapes, and mounts. These rewards become available as you increase your reputation with the covenant.
11. How does the Benevolent Faerie’s healing increase work with critical heals?
The 50% healing increase from Benevolent Faerie is applied before any critical strike modifiers. This means a critical heal will be even larger.
12. Does the Wrathful Faerie restore mana/insanity on all types of attacks?
The Wrathful Faerie only restores mana/insanity on direct attacks. This means auto-attacks and spells that directly damage the target.
13. How do I unlock the Night Fae Command Table?
The Command Table is unlocked as a Sanctum upgrade in your Covenant Sanctum.
14. Can I use Covenant abilities outside of Shadowlands content?
Covenant Abilities will be disabled outside Shadowlands content when Dragonflight launches.
15. What are Soulshapes?
Soulshapes are unique forms that Night Fae Covenant members can transform into, such as a Wyvern, Hippogryph, Wolfhawk, Feathered Drake, Crane, Teroclaw, Unicorn, and Runestag. These forms provide increased movement speed while active.