Soulbinds & Conduits in WoW Shadowlands

With the advent of WoW SL, namely World of Warcraft patch 9.0.1, the so-called Soulbinds and Conduits were added to the game. Reading this guide will allow you to familiarize yourself with these concepts, as well as learn the basic principles associated with their use.

FAQ on Soulbinds

1. Each of the covenants contains 3 unique soulbinds, each with their own unique passive talents. In fact, they are 3 talent trees with passive abilities.
2. Only 1 soulbind can be used at a time. This means that you must choose one of all the mediums to get its passive enhancements. You can switch between available soulbinds in any rest area or by using a special folio.
3. To unlock access to soulbinds, you must progress through the covenant's level of prominence. The first soulbind is unlocked immediately after joining the covenant. Use of the second medium becomes available only after completing the third chapter of the story campaign (available in the first week). The last (third soulbind) is unlocked when you reach the 22nd level of covenant renown (the seventh week of Shadowlands).
4. As the level of renown increases, the number of passive talents available to each medium increases (new talents are unlocked).
5. Passive talents in soulbinds, come in several types:
   1) Unchangeable talents - do what it says on them. These talents can affect the collection of resources (herbs / ore) from mobs or the triggering of some specific characteristics. 
   2) Conduits (sockets) - talent in the form of an empty cell, in this slot players can insert the desired conduit from the collection (similar to essences from BFA 8.2).
6. Switching between passive talents within the same medium, can be done without restriction. This is done in the rest area or by using a special folio for changing talents.
7. Soulbinds and passive effects are not balanced in any way. Some soulbinds have passive abilities with high damage, while other soulbinds have powerful defense conduits, and some have the ability to randomly get herbs and ore from mobs. Soulbinds and passive talents complement, and at the same time complicate, covenant selection.

Where to mine conduit energy:

• For a mythic raid, having to change conduits depending on the different bosses on mastering can lead to the problem of not having enough conduit energy during the mastering phase.
• Adding a Conduit to your library, always gives you 1 conduit energy. This means that you can collect bad conduits in a bag or jar without adding them to your library. This approach will allow you to build up a stockpile of energy over the allowable maximum.
• During the mastery phase, you may add a bad conduit to your library, thereby freeing up 1 additional energy, and for that energy, swap out the good conduit you want.
• Item from Ve'nari, allows you to add 1 rank (+13 to item level) to a random conduit of the lowest level in your library. This action adds 1 energy to the conduit. Purchase requires Cordial reputation from Ve'nari (0/21k) and 1900 Stygia.

FAQ on Conduits

1. The conduits are very similar to the essences from BfA 8.2, you choose which conduits to put into the Soulbind slots from your library.
2. There are a total of three types of conduits in Shadowlands:
   1) Potency Conduit - boosts damage/healing abilities or grants periodic triggering effects associated with increased damage/healing.
   2) Endurance Conduit - gives additional bonuses to survivability.
   3) Finesse Conduit - improves or optimizes your class's abilities (reducing the recovery of interrupt spells or jerks, etc.).
3. Each Soulbind has only 2 slots with Potency Conduit. This is the most valuable conduit, it adds 2-4% damage depending on the conduit and its level.
4. Replacing a conduit in the Soulbind slot costs 1 conduit energy. You can have up to 10 energy in total, and it regenerates at 1 energy every 24 hours.
5. Conduits and their variations vary by level.
6. Conduits are dropped in the same way as regular equipment items and then added to your Conduit Library. If you find a higher level Conduit, it replaces a similar low level Conduit (similar to the essence ranks in WoW 8.2).
7. There is no point in writing a detailed guide on where to get some specific conduits. All the necessary information about it can be found in the in-game dungeon journal. By the time you master the mythic raid, you will have all the conduits of level 213 (rank 6).
8. Because of the mechanics of renown levels, different Soulbind have different amounts of Potency Conduit available in different weeks. Therefore, Soulbind is stronger or weaker depending on which Mythic Progress week it is.
   For example: Dreamweaver (Night Fae) - the second Potency Conduit appears only on the fourth week, right before the start of mythic progression. This is compensated for by the fact that the main ability of this Soulbind does not give a damage boost, but saves from death.

A table showing the amount of Potency Conduit each Soulbind has at various weeks from the start of Shadowlands: