Havoc Demon Hunter DPS Easy Mode — The War Within (11.2.5)

In Raid, Havoc has a few build options, but the flexibility provided by Aldrachi Reaver in different encounter types locks it in as the recommended choice. This has the build-spend cycle at its core, focusing on your Eye Beam windows every 20 seconds.

It adds an extra requirement to play around Reaver's Glaive, using Screaming Brutality to support the Throw Glaive talents taken elsewhere on the tree without needing to manually cast it.

If you are interested in a deep dive on this or a Fel-Scarred build, check our talent page:

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

Due to Mythic+ rewarding flexibility and strong AoE, the benefits of Aldrachi Reaver shine. It provides strong cleave and single-target all within one build, and has the extra benefit of strong funnel damage via Wounded Quarry.

The playstyle is very similar to single-target, focused on your 20 and 40-second burst windows, while adding in Immolation Aura as a main damage source. It does, however, require you to apply Reaver's Mark smartly to the most dangerous priority target.

If you are interested in a deep dive on this or a Fel-Scarred 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 Fury - auto-attacks passively generate this with Demon Blades.
  When you need additional resources to fuel spenders, cast builders.
  Priority - Felblade ➜ Sigil of Flame ➜ Immolation Aura.
• Spend Fury - this fuels your spender casts, so maintain a reserve for cooldown locked abilities.
  Always cast Blade Dance on cooldown, otherwise spend on Chaos Strike.
• Execute Your Combo - Eye Beam initiates your combo by triggering Demonic every 20 seconds;
  Cast Vengeful Retreat just before each Eye Beam to trigger Exergy;
  Every 40 seconds, follow up with Essence Break and execute the complete combo;
  Combo: Death Sweep ➜ Annihilation ➜ Annihilation.
• 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.
  Both The Hunt and Sigil of Spite are cast on cooldown.
• Manage Reaver's Glaive - Aldrachi Reaver is built around Reaver's Glaive.
  Cast this whenever available, following up with Chaos Strike ➜ Blade Dance to consume both buffs.

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. Make sure to always have a Fury reserve for this reason.
• Manage Aldrachi Mechanics - In AoE, Aldrachi Reaver needs Reaver's Mark applied to your priority target to activate funnel from Wounded Quarry.
  Always cast Blade Dance second in the follow-up sequence.
• Keep Immolation Aura on Cooldown - You never want to be at 2 charges of Immolation Aura.
  Watch out for A Fire Inside resets, and spend both charges aggressively in big pulls.
• Plan Around Eye Beam - Cast Eye Beam every 20 seconds, unless enemies are about to die.
  As a pack is dying, save it and use it at the start of the next set of enemies.

Havoc has access to a few different active and passive defensive tools, giving it solid survivability and self-sustain during combat.

• Blur - provides 20% damage reduction and 50% increased Dodge chance for 10 seconds, with a 1-minute cooldown. This is Havoc's most consistent defense tool and, due to the low cooldown, should be used liberally to reduce the incoming damage from dangerous attacks.
• Netherwalk - grants complete damage immunity for 6 seconds, alongside 100% increased movement speed, with a 3-minute cooldown. This is your emergency tool used to avoid lethal mechanics, as you cannot attack while it's active. Bear in mind that, while you are immune to damage, you are not immune to debuffs being applied while this is active.
• 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 a lot of built-in Leech thanks to 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 a fairly high uptime due to the frequent casts for Fury generation, with the added benefit of allowing you to time casts for dangerous moments.

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

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

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 Patch 11.1.7, 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 is significantly impacted by the restrictions on what the tools will not recommend. 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 struggles to really sustain its own resources using the tool, and flow is disrupted heavily. The estimated losses using the tool out-the-box, compared to a standard rotation based on Hero Talent choice and content type, can be found in the table below:

Hero Talent	Single-Target	AoE
Aldrachi Reaver Assist	-45%	-40%
Aldrachi Reaver One-Button	-34%	-30%
Fel-Scarred Assist	-20%	-16%
Fel-Scarred One-Button	-18%	-19%

While in many cases the tool is quite good for picking up a brand new spec, unfortunately in Havoc's case it is fatally impacted by these limitations, and it doesn't really play like it's supposed to. The best advice if you intend to use it while learning the spec, is to avoid Aldrachi Reaver entirely due to how impacted it is. Instead, stick to Fel-Scarred which fares much better.

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: