Havoc Demon Hunter DPS Nerub-ar Palace Raid Guide — The War Within (Season 1)
On this page, you will find tips, tricks, and strategies tailored to your Havoc Demon Hunter for each boss of the following raid: Nerub-ar Palace. All our content is updated for World of Warcraft — The War Within (Season 1).
Introduction
Below, you can find class and spec-specific advice for every fight in Nerub-ar Palace. If you are looking for a general overview of the Raid that is not spec-specific, check out our dedicated Nerub-ar Palace guides.
On this page, you will find information specific to Havoc Demon Hunter assuming you already understand the key mechanics of each encounter, which you can find in the link above. Use this as a quick reference guide for talent builds and quick tips on how to navigate the Season 1 raid. As Havoc has two Hero Talent trees that are close enough that they both may see play, there will be a build link for each in the below boss sections. The general recommendation however is Fel-Scarred.
All recommendations are progression-based tips and will not necessarily be the best for an overall DPS ranking.
Please note that, for the first few weeks of the season, each section will be more generic while we wait to see how encounters play out on live servers. This is due to the amount of time since testing last happened.
Nerub'ar Palace Boss Guides for Havoc Demon Hunter
Nerub'ar Palace Raid Builds, Tips, and Tricks for Havoc Demon Hunter
Tips for Ulgrax the Devourer for Havoc Demon Hunter
Ulgrax is, at its core, a single-target encounter for Havoc, and thankfully many of the ideal builds already come with built-in Cleave options to deal with the intermission without having to sacrifice any. I would recommend boss damage builds here, and just using these tools to contribute to add killing in the intermission when the boss is untargetable.
Defensive Tips
- Use Blur whenever you are targeted by Digestive Acid.
Cooldown Usage
- Metamorphosis should always be used on the pull. The intermission will occur at 1m30s and take 45 seconds to complete, but hold your next use until Ready to Feed is complete, as the boss takes 99% reduced damage.
Fight Specific Tips
- Save some movement tools following the Juggernaut Charge intermissions so you can quickly deliver food to the boss and complete Ready to Feed as Havoc is very good at ferrying these across the platform.
Best Talents
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Tips for The Bloodbound Horror for Havoc Demon Hunter
Dealing with The Bloodbound Horror mostly depends on how your raid wants to set up each group that is sent downstairs. While dealing with these is the make-or-break of the encounter, Havoc has more than enough built-in cleave and AoE to deal with this without needing ot invest fully. Instead, build to deal as much damage to the boss as possible while upstairs.
Defensive Tips
- Use Blur after Goresplatter hits to reduce the follow-up DoT.
Cooldown Usage
- Metamorphosis should be used on the pull, and make sure to only use it when you are upstairs hitting the boss on subsequent casts.
Fight Specific Tips
- You can use Netherwalk to cross the Spewing Hemorrhage beams if you are caught out.
- Save a charge of Fel Rush or Vengeful Retreat to get out of the Goresplatter circle quickly.
- Chaos Nova should be used to stun any Blood Horrors that are getting too close to the boss.
- Be careful when targeted by Grasp From Beyond to not use too many instant movement tools to avoid trapping your teammates with tentacles.
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Tips for Sikran for Havoc Demon Hunter
Sikran is a pure single-target boss burn encounter that also has a large amount of movement needed should you be targeted by Phase Blades. Your main goal is to keep as much uptime on the boss as possible while handling the number of mechanics that force you out, so I would recommend a pure boss damage build.
Defensive Tips
- If targeted by Phase Blades, use Blur or Netherwalk in emergencies as it is about to hit to reduce both the up-front damage and the follow-up DoT.
Cooldown Usage
- Use cooldowns as they are ready; no special considerations here.
Fight Specific Tips
- Be careful with movement tools to not accidentally get hit by Phase Blades targeting other players.
- Try to save Vengeful Retreat or other movement tools to get to max range during Shattering Sweep, then re-engage with Felblade.
Best Talents
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Tips for Rasha'nan for Havoc Demon Hunter
The key part of Rasha'nan is single-target damage to burn the boss down, however, the add spawns are dangerous, so thankfully, Havoc can make use of its baseline AoE tools to deal with them. These adds should generally be killed before you should need to fully invest in an AoE talent setup, however.
Defensive Tips
- Try to use Blur for each Erosive Spray if the healers are struggling.
Cooldown Usage
- Use them on cooldown whenever you can guarantee full uptime on the boss. Watch out for the transition timer to avoid using it as the boss flies away.
- If possible align Eye Beam and other AoE burst with Infested Spawn timers, but do not hold it so much that you would otherwise lose uses.
Fight Specific Tips
- Talk with your healers to assign Darkness to Erosive Spray casts that they may need help with.
- Use Chaos Nova to stun any add spawns that are getting too close to fixate targets to stop Infested Bite getting out of control.
Best Talents
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Tips for Broodtwister Ovi'nax for Havoc Demon Hunter
Broodtwister Ovi'nax is one of the more complex encounters within Nerub'ar Palace, as it requires your raid to carefully balance dealing with a large number of adds and the boss. Due to the volume of add spawns throughout the encounter and the fact that the entire raid generally needs to contribute to dealing with them, there is an option here to invest heavily into AoE. Due to Havoc having very strong built-in cleave, however, I would recommend simply sticking to that unless your raid is struggling.
Defensive Tips
- Use Blur as Experimental Dosage is expiring if you are targeted.
Cooldown Usage
- Metamorphosis should generally be saved for situations where you have full uptime on the boss.
Fight Specific Tips
- Save a charge of Fel Rush to get to your assigned egg in case you are targeted by Experimental Dosage. Netherwalk is also helpful to get there quickly and negate the damage from expiration.
- You can use Vengeful Retreat to self-dispel Sticky Web. Be careful not to do this near other melee to avoid hitting them with the eruption.
- Use either the boss or Colossal Spiders as your main target to cleave from, as these are the highest health priority targets.
Best Talents
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Tips for Nexus-Princess Ky'veza for Havoc Demon Hunter
Nexus-Princess Ky'veza is again a very single-target focused encounter with no additional targets, but a large amount of movement needed. I would recommend a pure boss damage build here.
Defensive Tips
- You need to watch your health here, and if you feel like you are not being topped use Blur to buy healers time to avoid Reaper.
- Netherwalk is best saved for when you run out with Assassination as this will often mean moving out of the raid away from healers.
Cooldown Usage
- Use cooldowns as soon as they are ready, so long as you can guarantee full uptime on the boss.
Fight Specific Tips
- Save a charge of Fel Rush in case you are targeted by Assassination, and use it to get to your spot quickly.
- Be careful using movement tools during the intermission to avoid hitting other players with Regicide beams.
Best Talents
Use the Copy button below to generate an Import Code to use in-game!
Tips for The Silken Court for Havoc Demon Hunter
The Silken Court is a two-target encounter with an extremely large amount of movement. Depending on how effectively they are tanked, you should have a reasonable amount of uptime on both of them. Since most of the time is spent at just two targets, Havoc can use the built-in cleave of Fel-Scarred or a cleave setup for Aldrachi Reaver and be fine here.
Defensive Tips
- Use Blur on Venomous Rain.
Cooldown Usage
- Use cooldowns whenever they are ready, ideally when you can guarantee full boss uptime and they are both stacked.
- While Anub'arash takes double damage following Reckless Charge, it is generally not worth saving big cooldowns at the cost of a use. If you can, however briefly hold Eye Beam without causing any disruption to your cycles; this is beneficial.
Mechanical Tips
- Save Fel Rush charges to stick to the boss following Void Step casts. Try to also have another ready, or alternatively use Vengeful Retreat to get out of the Entropic Desolation circle.
- Use Chaos Nova to stun groups of Shattershell Scarabs to try and keep them under control while they are AoEd down.
Best Talents
Use the Copy button below to generate an Import Code to use in-game!
Tips for Queen Ansurek for Havoc Demon Hunter
Unfortunately, Queen Ansurek was not tested on the Beta realms at all, so exactly how the fight plays out and what is most important is unknown. Currently, I would recommend a single-target build with Fel-Scarred as it is the most flexible and provides strong boss damage at the same time.
Defensive Tips
- At the time of writing, this encounter is unknown. Check back after the raid's release.
Cooldown Usage
- At the time of writing, this encounter is unknown. Check back after the raid's release.
Mechanical Tips
- At the time of writing, this encounter is unknown. Check back after the raid's release.
Best Talents
Use the Copy button below to generate an Import Code to use in-game!
General Defensive Usage
Havoc Demon Hunter has a handful of defensive tools with different cooldowns to tackle dangerous situations if you are proactive. Your active tools are:
- Blur (1 minute cooldown)
- Netherwalk (3-minute cooldown)
- Darkness (5-minute cooldown, 3 with Pitch Black)
Ideally, you should be using these to reduce the largest incoming hits in an encounter to give your healers more breathing room when things are hectic. Due to the low cooldown of Blur, you can generally use it quite liberally while Netherwalk serves more as an emergency tool. You also have quite a lot of extra self-sustain during Metamorphosis thanks to Soul Rending, and Aldrachi Reaver has the added benefit of healing from Soul Fragments very frequently.
General Cooldown Usage
Havoc Demon Hunter only has a couple of important cooldowns to consider rotationally. Your general rule of thumb is to make sure you never miss out on a use of either of these:
- Metamorphosis — Havoc's big 2-minute cooldown that increases your Haste and greatly empowers your rotational abilities. This lasts for quite a while, and you should always make sure to time this with periods where you can guarantee full boss uptime. Also resets the cooldown on Eye Beam. Getting value out of this is especially important as Fel-Scarred.
- Eye Beam — This is more rotational for Havoc as it deals a lot of up-front AoE damage and also provides a way to enter Demon Form via Demonic. This should be used as close to on cooldown as possible.
If you see an opportunity to get extra value out of any of these cooldowns in an encounter, always assess whether or not it will cost you a use before the encounter ends. If it will, decide whether or not it is absolutely necessary to do extra damage at that key moment in an encounter, and if not, do not hold them. We have more details on cooldown usage on our Rotation page:
You may also find it helpful to use a time-to-die weakaura, or, if you are using Method Raid Tools, this has a built-in option to display this. If you are aware of how long is left in an encounter, you can better estimate how much you are able to hold cooldowns for key moments, Bloodlust, or your potion uses.
Changelog
- 09 Sep. 2024: Page added.
More Demon Hunter Guides
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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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