Havoc Demon Hunter DPS Easy Mode — Midnight Pre-Patch (12.0)

In Raids during the Midnight Pre-patch, Havoc has options between either Hero Tree, but Fel-Scarred provides a slightly more desirable damage profile. It focuses on your Metamorphosis windows - both the cast and via Demonic - to deal quick bursts of damage via Demonsurge.

It has a 20-second cycle, using Eye Beam paired with Cycle of Hatred to link together with both Tactical Retreat and Inertia movement talents.

If you are interested in a deep dive on this or a Aldrachi Reaver build, check our talent page:

Be sure to make use of the 'Export Talents' button to import the best build directly into your game!

In Mythic+, both trees are similar, though due to some newer tools being unavailable during the Pre-patch, Fel-Scarred is slightly more effective. The benefits of having its full single-target toolkit, while bringing 20-second burst cycles via Demonsurge allow it to work well in most dungeon environments.

The playstyle mostly echoes the single-target counterpart, though some extra planning is needed to make sure you get the most out of each of your Eye Beam casts and follow-ups each pull.

If you are interested in a deep dive on this or a Aldrachi Reaver build, check our talent page:

Be sure to make use of the 'Export Talents' button to import the best build directly into your game!

Anywhere that Chaos Strike is mentioned, this also applies to Annihilation during Metamorphosis. The same is also true for Blade Dance and Death Sweep. Havoc has no buffs to apply to your party, or setup required before entering combat. It's always prepared!

In single-target, Havoc is built around its build-and-spend core using Fury. This dictates your damage cycle, alongside your burst cooldown combos. Here's a brief breakdown of the key steps when getting started:

• Generate & Spend Fury
  Your auto-attacks passively generate this every hit with Demon Blades.
  Felblade and Immolation Aura also generate Fury when cast.
  Always cast Blade Dance on cooldown, otherwise spend on Chaos Strike.
• Execute Your Combo
  Vengeful Retreat should be cast every 20 seconds, followed by Felblade or Fel Rush.
  This triggers Inertia, which is followed by an Eye Beam cast.
  Every 40 seconds, follow with Essence Break and use Fury spenders while active.
• Use Big Cooldowns
  Your major cooldown is Metamorphosis, which should be cast every 2 minutes. Make sure both Blade Dance and Eye Beam are on cooldown. The Hunt is cast every 1m30s, also on cooldown.
• Manage Demonsurge
  Your first Annihilation and Death Sweep when you enter Demon Form trigger Demonsurge.
  Casting Metamorphosis also applies this to Consuming Fire and Abyssal Gaze.

When learning the flow, it's best to break up the steps to get used to the cadence. We recommend focusing on things in this order:

Havoc Single-Target

Fury Management ➜ Demonsurge Usage ➜ Combos & Cooldowns

Havoc operates very similarly in AoE, with the addition of A Fire Inside that raises the importance of Immolation Aura. Extra things to be aware of are:

• Blade Dance as a Priority
  You always want Blade Dance to be on cooldown, even moreso than in single target. This is especially true for Death Sweep, so always have a Fury reserve for this reason.
• Manage Demonsurge & Demonic
  In AoE, Fel-Scarred deals high burst every Eye Beam. Cast every 20 seconds
  . Always trigger the Annihilation and Death Sweep pulse before it expires.
  Cast Vengeful Retreat and trigger Inertia right before casting it.
• Keep Immolation Aura on Cooldown
  You never want to be at 2 charges of Immolation Aura with A Fire Inside.
  Spend all charges before using Metamorphosis, as it refunds them.

When it comes to AoE, a lot of the core principles can be learned by practicing Single-Target. We'd recommend focusing on things in the following order:

Havoc AoE

Learn Single-Target ➜ Eye Beam Planning ➜ Immolation Aura Priorities

Havoc has access to a few different active and passive defensive tools, giving it solid survivability and self-sustain during combat. Havoc is generally considered quite durable, and is great in solo or group content.

Blur - provides 25% damage reduction for 10 seconds, with a 1-minute cooldown, and has two charges with Demonic Resilience. This is Havoc's most consistent defense tool, and due to both its low cooldown and extra charge, should be used liberally to counter-act incoming damage.

Desperate Instincts - further increases the damage reduction of Blur to 35%. Additionally, reduces all damage taken while below 35% health by 10% at all times, giving some extra durability.

Deflecting Dance - grants an absorb shield equal to 15% of your maximum health during the Blade Dance animation. This is an extra way to mitigate damage when timed well, allowing you to survive lethal mechanics, but can be difficult to get the timing down since the ability is often cast on cooldown.

Darkness - provides you and nearby allies a 15% chance (increased to 30% outside of a raid group) to avoid damage taken from attacks for 8 seconds. This can be extremely powerful, but is best used for frequent instances of damage rather than gambling on avoiding lethal ones.

Metamorphosis - during the cast animation, you are briefly immune to all damage and effects for 1 second which can, on rare occasions, be used to avoid dangerous mechanics.

Self-Healing - while not active defensive tools, Havoc comes with built-in Leech through Soul Rending. This gives a flat 10% at all times, plus an additional 10% during Metamorphosis. Alongside that, Demonic Appetite and enemy deaths often trigger Soul Fragments which provide healing in combat.

Aldrachi Reaver - has access to Army Unto Oneself, which causes Felblade to reduce damage taken by 10% for 5 seconds when cast. This has sporadic uptime and can't really be planned around due to Felblade being needed for Fury generation, but adds some extra defense.

The Havoc stat priority is fairly straightforward and is as follows:

1. Agility
2. Critical Strike
3. Mastery
4. Haste
5. Versatility

Stat priorities will change based on other talents taken in different encounter types but, in general, this should serve you well. Finer details regarding each stat, and the reason behind why they are picked, can be found on our full stat page linked below.

Added in The War Within, the Rotation Assist tool curated by Blizzard has two modes: the first highlights action bar buttons with a recommended priority, while the second provides a single keybind that automatically presses the top priority ability on that same list, but with a 25% GCD penalty between casts.

Uniquely for Havoc, it's significantly impacted by the restrictions on what the tools will not recommend, and this still hasn't changed in Midnight. In addition to on-use trinkets, racials, and major cooldowns, any of Havoc's abilities that displace your character will never be recommended in the priority. This includes:

• Cooldowns - Metamorphosis, The Hunt.
• Movement/Displacement - Felblade, Fel Rush, Vengeful Retreat.

All of these will need to be used manually if you have talents related to them taken. This also extends to defensive and crowd control abilities as well.

Due to the loss of Felblade, Havoc has a harder time keeping up with resource requirements, and the flow is often disrupted. While it can be used, you'll still need to be manually inserting these casts to really make any good use out of it in combat.

While in many cases the tool is quite good for picking up a brand new spec, unfortunately in Havoc's case it is heavily impacted, and doesn't really perform the actions it needs to. We'd recommend staying well away from using Aldrachi Reaver with it (as it suffers even more from the lack of resources), and sticking to a low movement Fel-Scarred option.

Due to that tree not being recommended in other sections, we've provided suitable builds to use if you intend to play with the assistant: