Most bad Denuvo stuff seems to come from any extra DRM they add as well, just in case Denuvo wasn’t enough. Always online sounds like one of those extras, because I don’t think it’s part of Denuvo itself. I think the Denuvo online requirements are when you install, every X days (seems to vary from two weeks to a month, probably configurable per game), and when you change your hardware configuration.
Denuvo alone is enough, because as soon as Denuvo is removed, the rest can be removed by regular mortal hackers.