I am new to hunter and I am unsure on which Covenant is going to be best for me. I really can’t get on board with the Kirian theme, it just does not appeal to me whatsoever and I find it rather boring.
With that being said, which am I suited going to best? I can see a lot about Night Fae but again… the glowing sparkles etc does not appeal so much but it isn’t out of the running.
Are Venthyr and Necrolord good? People seem to be bad-mouthing them and I’d like some constructive advice. Venthyr appeals most but I am told it is the least viable/not very good.
You did not specify what types of content you’re interested in but either way, in short:
For PvE(Raiding and M+)**
Beast Mastery - Night Fae
Marksmanship - Night Fae
Survival - Night Fae
Since you said that Kyrian is not something that you’re interested in, Kyrian being the closest to Night Fae performance-wise, and is also very useful in PvP due to the LoS-effect you get from using the signature ability, that essentially leaves you with Night Fae as neither of the other 2 are very good atm.
However…
In terms of pure performance, unless you want to push content at a competitive level(or in some cases(depending on your choice of guild), if you want to push high M+ or Mythic raiding), it doesn’t matter as much what you choose. You can get through everything no matter which Covenant you pick. It can often depend more on whether other people are willing to take you with them or not, if you don’t pick the best option.
But again, to answer your question…
Your best choice no matter the spec(for PvE), as it stands right now, is going to be Night Fae.
If you want to be taken seriously at all, you simply cannot pick Venthyr or Necrolord. Blizzard really dropped the ball on Hunter covenants, as both Venthyr/Necro are ~7-10% behind on single target compared to NF/Kyrian. That margin drastically increases as more targets are added to a pull.
Then we look at how much MM’s burst differs between the covenants. Burst damage is really important in current-era WoW, particularly when it comes to M+, and neither Venthyr or Necrolord can hold a candle to what NF can burst - on AoE, a NF will do approximately 60-70% more burst than a Venthyr or Necrolord will.
It’s not a competition. Playing Venthyr or Necrolord Hunter and doing content with other players is basically trolling; attaching your Hunter to either of them is broadcasting one of two things:
You are totally ignorant to your class and had no idea how much worse Venthyr/Necro is. With that in mind, why would someone want to invite someone who is ignorant to their class?
You simply do not care how much worse it is, so you do not care about your fellow player’s efforts and are willing to completely take an entirely-selfish approach to your character development. Similarly, why would I invite someone who has made a selfish decision at the cost of group efforts?
Honestly, as harsh as it is to say, If I noticed a Hunter I invited was Venthyr or Necrolord, it would be an instant-kick because it’s far more complicated than “it does a little less damage on the boss”.