Havoc Demon Hunter DPS Easy Mode — The War Within (11.1.0)
On this page, we explain how to easily play Havoc Demon Hunter in World of Warcraft — The War Within (11.1.0), using the simplest rotation, talent tree, stat priority, gear setup, etc., without sacrificing performance.
Foreword
This section is intended for players who are new to the game or class, have no intentions of raiding Mythic difficulty, or want a more straightforward way to play their specialization without being overwhelmed by the numerous priorities and active abilities that need to be taken into consideration for optimal play.
The Basics of Havoc Demon Hunter
Havoc has a relatively simple baseline toolkit, but each ability has a lot of talent support in the tree to broaden its use. The core is quite easy to get started due to how straightforward Fury management is, but there are some aspects that add in a satisfying learning curve on top. If you are completely new to Havoc and need more information on the abilities available to you, you can check out our Spell Summary page.
Currently, Aldrachi Reaver is generally the strongest option
in all situations, bringing a much more unique damage profile and better throughput
with the new talent options.
Fel-Scarred can still bring extremely strong
AoE and burst though, so can be played in Mythic+. For the purposes of this page,
we will be recommending the strongest options.
Beginner's Guide to Havoc Demon Hunter in The War Within
Beginner Single-Target Talents for Havoc Demon Hunter
Havoc has a few different single-target build options, but the optimal pick
currently is an Aldrachi Reaver loadout. This picks up
Throw Glaive
talents to support
Reaver's Glaive, using
Screaming Brutality to
activate it rotationally. If you are more interested in alternative or more
complex builds, check our talent page:
Be sure to make use of the 'Export Talents' button to import the best build directly into your game!
Beginner AoE and Mythic+ Talents for Havoc Demon Hunter
In AoE both hero talents have suitable builds, but Aldrachi Reaver
provides the unique benefit of extremely good funnel via
Wounded Quarry,
meaning it needs to maintain
Reaver's Mark on your priority target. In AoE
it also still picks up movement talents, but they are more optional if you're
looking for an easier time with execution for very little performance loss.
It otherwise plays very similar to single-target builds, using Reaver's Glaive
whenever available alongside its 20 and 40-second burst windows. If you are more
interested in alternative builds, check our talent page:
Be sure to make use of the 'Export Talents' button to import the best build directly into your game!
Beginner Havoc Demon Hunter DPS Rotation
Havoc has a lot of moving parts, and many of its big damage moments are combos of different abilities that need to be overlapped to make the most out of them. At its most basic, the following rules should cover the most important aspects:
Single Target
- Cast
Felblade to generate Fury.
- Spend Fury on
Blade Dance /
Death Sweep on cooldown, and any extra can be spent on
Chaos Strike /
Annihilation.
- Cast
Vengeful Retreat and on cooldown, using
Felblade to re-engage and trigger
Inertia.
- Cast
The Hunt and
Eye Beam on cooldown.
- Cast
Essence Break after every other
Eye Beam, and follow it up with
Death Sweep and two
Annihilation casts.
- Cast
Metamorphosis is your big damage cooldown, make sure that
Eye Beam and
Blade Dance are on cooldown before casting it as it resets them.
- Cast
Reaver's Glaive whenever it triggers.
- The order you cast
Chaos Strike and
Blade Dance does not matter too much, as repeat triggers will stack. Aim to do
Chaos Strike second when setting up for burst and triggering
Thrill of the Fight though.
- The order you cast
AoE
Havoc is similar in AoE. With the addition of A Fire Inside and some
AoE talents though, there are a couple of extra notes:
- Aim to have
Reaver's Mark applied to your priority target to deal heavy funnel damage via your AoE with
Wounded Quarry.
- Cast
Immolation Aura on cooldown, especially whenever at 2 charges. Pay close attention in case it resets itself, and always be near targets as it is expiring for
Ragefire.
- In AoE, always aim to cast
Blade Dance second following each
Reaver's Glaive to empower
Fury of the Aldrachi.
Defensive Spells for Havoc Demon Hunter
Blur provides a 20% damage reduction and 50% increase to Dodge chance
for 10 seconds, on a 1-minute cooldown. This is Havoc's consistent defense tool
and, due to the low cooldown, can be used liberally to reduce the incoming damage
from dangerous attacks.
Netherwalk grants complete damage immunity for 6 seconds, alongside
100% increased movement speed on a 3-minute cooldown. This should be used to avoid
lethal mechanics, but you cannot attack while this is active. Also, bear in mind
that while you are immune to damage, you are not immune to debuffs being applied
while this is active.
Aldrachi Reaver has access to
Army Unto Oneself, which causes
Felblade to reduce damage taken by 10% for 5 seconds after casting. This
has a fairly high uptime as you should be casting this frequently, and can even
be timed for dangerous moments during encounters.
During the Metamorphosis cast animation, you are briefly immune for
1 second which can, on rare occasions, be used to avoid dangerous mechanics.
Darkness provides you and nearby allies a 15% chance (increased to
30%) 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.
While not an active defensive tool, Havoc comes with a lot of built-in Leech
thanks to Soul Rending giving 10% plus an additional 10% during
Metamorphosis. Alongside this,
Demonic Appetite and enemy deaths
often trigger Soul Fragments which provide additional healing in combat.
Havoc Demon Hunter Stat Priorities
The Havoc stat priority is fairly straightforward and is as follows:
- Critical Strike = Mastery;
- Haste;
- Versatility;
- Agility.
Stat priorities will change based on other talents taken in different encounter types but, in general, this should serve you well. For finer details regarding each stat and the reason behind why they are picked can be found on our full stat page linked below.
Changelog
- 04 Mar. 2025: Added movement talents back to Aldrachi Reaver AoE for now.
- 24 Feb. 2025: Updated for Patch 11.1.0.
- 15 Dec. 2024: Updated for Patch 11.0.7 with much simpler basic rotation breakdown.
- 21 Oct. 2024: Reviewed for Patch 11.0.5.
- 09 Sep. 2024: Updated to reflect new Fel-Scarred recommendations.
- 21 Aug. 2024: Updated for The War Within.
- 23 Jul. 2024: Updated for The War Within Pre-Patch.
- 07 May 2024: Reviewed for 10.2.7.
- 22 Apr. 2024: Updated for Season 4.
- 21 Mar. 2024: Reviewed for Patch 10.2.6.
- 15 Jan. 2024: Reviewed for Patch 10.2.5, no changes necessary.
- 06 Nov. 2023: Updated for Patch 10.2.
- 04 Sep. 2023: Reviewed for Patch 10.1.7, no changes necessary.
- 10 Jul. 2023: Reviewed for Patch 10.1.5, no changes necessary.
- 01 May 2023: Reviewed for Patch 10.1, added section highlighting Essence Break's importance.
- 20 Mar. 2023: Reviewed for Patch 10.0.7.
- 24 Jan. 2023: Reviewed for Patch 10.0.5.
- 31 Dec. 2022: Raised Mastery in Stat Priority.
- 11 Dec. 2022: Reviewed for Dragonflight Season 1.
- 28 Nov. 2022: Updated for Dragonflight launch.
- 24 Oct. 2022: Updated for Dragonflight Pre-Patch.
More Demon Hunter Guides
Guides from Other Classes
This guide has been written by Wordup, a frequent theorycrafter involved in a number of class communities. He is also an experienced player who has been in the world top 100 since the days of Sunwell, currently raiding in Echoes. You can also follow him on Twitter.
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