Starting a new game in Witchspire means making one of your biggest decisions before you've thrown a single spell: picking your coven. Six factions, each with a different elemental identity, starting weapon, and outfit palette. It looks like a class selection screen, and that's where most new players overthink it. The short version is that covens are not traditional classes, and the choice is far less permanent in terms of power than it appears. What it does lock in is your visual identity for that character.
Are covens the same as classes in Witchspire?
No, and developer Envar Games has been clear about this. Covens function more like factions or houses than the rigid class systems you'd find in a hardcore RPG. Choosing one doesn't funnel you into a specific skill tree, combat role, or long-term build path.
What your coven actually determines:
- Starting weapon (either a Spellblade or a Wand)
- Elemental affinity (Lux, Crystal, Ethereal, Nature, Nox, or Astral)
- Outfit color palette (the part that sticks around longest)
- Faction lore and identity
The one thing that does matter: covens cannot be changed after character creation. If you want a different one, you're starting a new character. That's not a reason to panic, but it is a reason to spend 60 seconds reading this before clicking confirm.
Coven selection at character creation
All six Witchspire covens at a glance
Three covens start with Spellblades (Cloudpiercers, Starsmiths, Foretellers) and three start with Wands (Wildroots, Tomekeepers, Nightscribes). That's the most practical split to understand before choosing.
The Spellblade covens
Cloudpiercers
Starting weapon: Apprentice Cloudpiercer Spellblade | Elemental affinity: Lux
The Cloudpiercers lean into optimism, courage, and pushing past convention. Their warm color palette of browns, oranges, and golds gives them the most classically heroic look of the six factions. If your mental image of a witch involves leaping into a fight rather than standing at range, this is the most natural fit.
The Lux affinity also has the most straightforward thematic identity, which makes the Cloudpiercers a solid default pick for players who genuinely can't decide.
Starsmiths
Starting weapon: Apprentice Starsmith Spellblade | Elemental affinity: Crystal
The Starsmiths are builders and crafters, known for constructing magical items and structures. Their personality leans brash and direct, which matches the bold visual: bright purple and lavender are not subtle colors. If you want your character to stand out in a crowd of witches, the Starsmiths deliver that without any ambiguity.
Foretellers
Starting weapon: Apprentice Foreteller Spellblade | Elemental affinity: Ethereal
The Foretellers see glimpses of the future, though their visions are frequently misunderstood by others. Their dark purple and light blue palette reads as the most mystical of the Spellblade trio. If the idea of a prophetic, slightly misunderstood melee witch appeals to you more than a straightforward hero, Foretellers are the pick.
Foretellers dark purple palette
The Wand covens
Wildroots
Starting weapon: Apprentice Wildroot Wand | Elemental affinity: Nature
The Wildroots are the nature-witch faction, tied to living ecosystems, growth, and earthy magic. Their green, brown, and maroon palette reinforces that identity at every level. They're described as kind-hearted but with fiery temperaments, which is a fun contradiction. If your ideal playthrough involves catching Familiars and building a self-sufficient base, the Wildroots fit that energy better than any other coven.
Tomekeepers
Starting weapon: Apprentice Tomekeeper Wand | Elemental affinity: Nox
The Tomekeepers are obsessed with forbidden knowledge, ancient civilizations, and magical secrets that were probably buried for a reason. Their Nox affinity gives them the darkest elemental theme of any coven, and the deep blue plus bright pink color scheme is genuinely striking. They're the closest thing Witchspire has to a dark-magic class fantasy, even if the mechanical difference from other covens remains small.
Nightscribes
Starting weapon: Apprentice Nightscribe Wand | Elemental affinity: Astral
The Nightscribes study stars, celestial phenomena, and cosmic mysteries. They carry books, telescopes, and scrolls, and their aloof personality fits the astronomer archetype well. Their bright purple and pastel pink palette is one of the more distinctive looks in the game. If the Wildroots feel too earthy and the Tomekeepers feel too dark, the Nightscribes sit in an interesting middle ground with their sky-watching, arcane-blaster identity.
Nightscribes star-themed palette
Which coven should you pick in Witchspire?
Here's the honest answer: pick based on outfit colors first, then starting weapon preference second.
Your starter weapon gets replaced fairly quickly as you unlock crafting recipes and loot better gear through normal progression. Your outfit color palette, on the other hand, is what you'll be looking at for the entire run. That makes it the more permanent choice in practice.
If you're completely undecided, the Cloudpiercers are the most broadly appealing default. Their Lux affinity has a clean heroic theme, the warm color palette reads well, and the Spellblade start gives you a direct feel for combat from the first encounter.
Cloudpiercers warm heroic tones
What actually shapes your long-term build?
Once you're past the first few hours, your coven becomes background flavor. The real build decisions come from crafting upgraded weapons, unlocking Luminaries and their progression bonuses, developing your Hearth, acquiring Familiars, and managing resources. Getting your farming plots running efficiently feeds into crafting, which feeds into better gear, which is where your actual combat identity gets defined.
The coven system is intentionally light on hard locks. Envar Games built it to give you a starting identity and a visual theme, not to gate you out of playstyles. That's a design choice worth understanding before you spend 20 minutes stressing over which faction to join.
For more help across every system in the game, the full Witchspire guide collection covers everything from resources to progression mechanics.