Havoc Demon Hunter DPS Guide — The War Within (11.2)

Havoc has received no changes in Patch 11.2, so it remains the same as in previous patches.

The patch does, however, introduce a variety of new gearing options to go alongside the release of Season 3. The Reshii Wraps artifact cloak is available from the new K'aresh questline, providing a powerful damage proc and customizable secondary stats. Details on it alongside updated Season 3 best-in-slot recommendations are covered on our Gear page.

Tier sets have also been given a unique twist: they now come with specialized 2-piece and 4-piece bonuses that change depending on whether you are currently playing Aldrachi Reaver or Fel-Scarred. Some of these effects are strong enough to impact build and talent choices, which are covered on our Talents page with updated recommendations.

Over the course of the last major patch, Havoc received some fairly substantial changes with the launch of Season 2, but little iteration after. For any players returning that missed these updates, a brief overview of what changed since the expansion launched is:

• D.I.S.C. Belt - Link to Gear Page
  added in Patch 11.1.7, this can be acquired from Delves and is a helpful catch-up piece if you don't already have it in Season 3.
• Ability and Talent Damage Changes - Click for Patch Notes

  • Blade Dance damage increased by 33%.
  • Immolation Aura damage increased by 12%.
  • The Hunt damage increased by 8%.
  • Sigil of Spite damage increased by 8%.
  • Sigil of Flame damage increased by 6%.
  • Mastery: Demonic Presence Chaos damage amplification increased by 25%.
  • Aura Buff - all ability damage increased by 5%.
  A few key abilities were increased for Havoc, namely Blade Dance and Immolation Aura, alongside an increase to both Mastery scaling and an Aura buff to improve damage.
• Havoc Spec Talent Tree Changes - Click for Patch Notes

  • Any Means Necessary has been removed.
  • Screaming Brutality replaces this, causing Blade Dance casts to also launch Throw Glaive when cast.
  • A Fire Inside now also converts Immolation Aura to Chaos damage.
  • Cycle of Hatred now instead causes Eye Beam casts to reduce to cooldown of subsequent casts by 5 seconds, stacking up to 4 times. It's also been reduced to 1 talent point.
  • Inertia is now a buff granted by casting either The Hunt or Vengeful Retreat, and is consumed by Fel Rush or Felblade to grant the damage buff. It no longer requires Unbound Chaos.
  • Momentum has been renamed to Exergy, and instead causes The Hunt and Vengeful Retreat to increase damage dealt by 5% for 20 seconds.
  • Unbound Chaos has been moved below Inertia, and also triggers from The Hunt and Vengeful Retreat.
  • Mastery: Demonic Presence Chaos damage amplification increased by 25%.
  • Aura Buff - all ability damage increased by 5%.
  • Soulscar damage reduced to 80% (down from 100%).
  The talent tree saw some significant shake-ups, in particular regarding the movement talents in Inertia and Exergy becoming easier to use. Cycle of Hatred was also made significantly more consistent, alongside adding a capstone to Throw Glaive talents in Screaming Brutality.
• Hero Talent Changes - / Click for Patch Notes

  • Wounded Quarry reworked, now causes your 20% of all Physical damage you deal to any target to also deal damage to the target of your Reaver's Mark as Chaos.
  • Demonsurge damage increased by 65%, but deals reduced damage beyond 8 targets.
  • Enduring Torment increases Blade Dance and Chaos Strike damage while outside of demon form by 15% (up from 10%).
  • Flamebound increases Immolation Aura damage by 50% (up from 25%). Radius increase now also affects Ragefire.
  • Student of Suffering mastery reduced by 33%, and duration reduced to 6 seconds (down from 8).
  • Burning Blades now deals 50% of the damage dealt (up from 35%).
  • Demonsurge increases the Fury generated by Demon Blades while in Metamorphosis by 3 (down from 5).
  The standout change here is Wounded Quarry being reworked for Aldrachi Reaver, turning it into a potent funnel tool for your Physical damage effects. A large amount of the Fel-Scarred toolkit was also buffed, though the impact of losing Any Means Necessary cut a good amount of the gains out.

The impact of these changes during Season 2 were quite drastic, injecting a strong new damage profile into Havoc via Aldrachi Reaver by giving it access to funnel. This worked out quite well and shifted it to being the dominant Hero Tree throughout the season, while also addressing a number of its pain points. Rounding out the Throw Glaive talents with Screaming Brutality was also a big improvement, as was the Cycle of Hatred change making Eye Beam timing much more consistent.

On the other hand, the damage dealt to Fel-Scarred with some key talent losses hurt it over the course of the previous season. While the buffs did allow it to do competitive damage, its lack of a strong niche and weaker tuning kept it firmly behind throughout. Its gameplay remains easier to execute though, and it's not too far behind to be unplayable.