Havoc Demon Hunter DPS Spec, Builds, and Talents — The War Within (11.2)

Last updated on Aug 04, 2025 at 19:30 by Wordup 60 comments
General Information

On this page, you will find out the best talents for each tier for your Havoc Demon Hunter in World of Warcraft — The War Within (11.2). We also have default talent lists for various types of content, such as raiding or Mythic+. If you play with Warmode on, we have your PvP talents covered as well.

1.

Best War Within Talent Builds for Havoc Demon Hunter

Welcome to our Talents Page! Many of the builds listed are popular recommendations for various different damage profiles that cover all aspects of endgame content. If you're looking for advice tailoted to Mythic+, check out the dedicated page below.

2.

Talent Cheat Sheet for Havoc Demon Hunters

In Season 3, Tier Sets come with a twist, each Hero tree has its own unique bonus focused on its mechanics. While this doesn't have a significant impact on the ideal builds for Havoc, they do impact some loadouts. For the early stages of the season while you may not have access to these, we will be covering recommendations both for with Tier and without Tier. Current Patch 11.2 recommendations are:

  • Raid - Aldrachi Reaver has the edge due to its flexible damage profile and free cleave for some encounters, though Fel-Scarred is slightly better in pure single-target.
  • Mythic+ - Aldrachi Reaver brings significantly better priority damage without any single-target sacrifices to build AoE, so is firmly ahead in keystones.

The Tier Set directly improves Aldrachi Reaver's funnel niche, while providing a net increase to almost every key effect it focuses on. The Fel-Scarred bonus on the other hand does accentuate its playstyle well (making its single-target very competitive), but is more general than the targeted benefits.

Quick Start Import Codes:

Raid / Single Target - Aldrachi Reaver
CEkAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAYGMzMzYMzMjZmJmZGAAAAAAwsZMbzwMzsNzMbWmlxwMzwYZb2mBDjlNmwwMzAWA
AoE / Mythic+ - Aldrachi Reaver
CEkAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAYmZmZmZGjZmZMmJzMzAAAAAAAmNjxMMzMbjZ2wyMDGDjltZZGMM22YCzYmZYYB
Delves - Fel-Scarred
CEkAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAYmZmZmZGjZmZMmJMzAAAAAAAmtxMMDmZbMzGWmZwYYssBbzmZMMbMNGzMzMYD
3.

Havoc Demon Hunter Talent Builds

In the below section, we have split builds up between Hero Talents and and content types, with a loadout for each. You can use the navigation buttons to open up a loadout and explanation of the playstyle.

Anywhere you see the recommended icon on this page, this means it is the recommended choice

4.

The War Within Havoc Demon Hunter Talent Builds

Due to Hero Talents playing a major role, use the tool below to display builds for each tree
Hero Talents & Tier Set
Aldrachi Reaver recommended Fel-Scarred
Season 3 Tier Set
Use the boxes below to navigate builds

Raid / Single-Target

Mythic+ / AoE

Delves Build
4.

Raid / Single-Target Build

Use the Copy button below to generate an Import Code to use in-game!

3.1.

Build Breakdown

4.

AoE / Mythic+ Build

Use the Copy button below to generate an Import Code to use in-game!

4.1.

Build Breakdown

5.

Use the Copy button below to generate an Import Code to use in-game!

4.2.

Mythic+

Mythic+ can potentially require a mix of specific AoE and Single-Target talents, depending on affixes and other variables. If you want more detailed advice about the selections (especially those relating to Utility), check out the dedicated page below:

4.3.

Havoc Demon Hunter Hero Talents

Havoc has two distinct Hero Talent choices available that, as covered in the above sections, drastically alter your gameplay goals depending on which you pick. A brief description of each is:

  • Aldrachi Reaver - grants access to Reaver's Glaive Icon Reaver's Glaive which is triggered via consuming Souls, which initiates a combo sequence. Depending on the order of your next Chaos Strike Icon Chaos Strike and Blade Dance Icon Blade Dance, a bonus effect will trigger and you will gain a powerful buff. This happens frequently throughout combat, giving extra damage windows and a focus on your main strikes.
  • Fel-Scarred - focuses heavily on Metamorphosis Icon Metamorphosis and Demonic Icon Demonic, causing the first use of many Havoc abilities after entry to trigger a high damage Demonsurge Icon Demonsurge pulse.

If you want to find more details regarding how each hero talent works, you can check our detailed hero talents page:

5.

PvP Talents (War Mode)

"War Mode" is an optional feature that enables open-world PvP encounters that confer some benefits when active:

  • Grants access to PvP talents in the open world.
  • 10% increase in World Quest rewards at max level.
  • 10% more experience gained while leveling.
  • Earn Conquest Points which can reward gear every week.

With the benefits of War Mode for leveling and PvE content, it is recommended to enable the feature to maximize your leveling and rewards at the maximum level. However, you will open yourself up to open-world PvP, so be aware of hostile enemy players who could interfere with you; this is a risk you will have to decide on your own if you want to take.

If you are interested in doing PvP as a Havoc Demon Hunter or want to know the basics of Havoc PvP gameplay and decision-making, check out our dedicated PvP guide.

5.1.

Havoc Demon Hunter War Mode Talents

In this section, we will rank the PvP talents for leveling and playing in open-world PvE scenarios.

5.1.1.

Havoc Demon Hunter PvP Talents

Generally, the selections are made to optimize your ability to kill enemies faster, increasing your pace when moving through content.

  1. Chaotic Imprint Icon Chaotic Imprint will always buff Chaos damage dealt, such as Chaos Strike Icon Chaos Strike and Eye Beam Icon Eye Beam. Great to pair with talents such as Soulscar Icon Soulscar due to the conversion to magic damage.
  2. Unending Hatred Icon Unending Hatred is just free Fury generation as you will take damage in the open world.
  3. Sigil Mastery Icon Sigil Mastery reduces the cooldown of sigils, such as Sigil of Flame Icon Sigil of Flame and Sigil of Spite Icon Sigil of Spite, which can be a small DPS gain if these talents are taken.

Alternatively you can take Blood Moon Icon Blood Moon for a small bit of extra self-healing, or Rain from Above Icon Rain from Above as an emergency disengage tool.

Reverse Magic Icon Reverse Magic, Detainment Icon Detainment, Cover of Darkness Icon Cover of Darkness, Cleansed by Flame Icon Cleansed by Flame and Glimpse Icon Glimpse all have minimal uses in PvE, due to it being very focused on crowd control tools or pressuring enemy players into spending more resources than they would otherwise want to.

6.

Changelog

  • 04 Aug. 2025: Updated for Patch 11.2.
  • 15 Jun. 2025: Reviewed for Patch 11.1.7.
  • 21 Apr. 2025: Reviewed for Patch 11.1.5 - moved Aldrachi AoE build back to low movement options due to ease of execution.
  • 04 Mar. 2025: Shifted Aldrachi Reaver AoE toward picking Inertia.
  • 24 Feb. 2025: Updated for Patch 11.1.0.
  • 15 Dec. 2024: Reviewed for Patch 11.0.7, added recommended tags.
  • 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 with new talent options.
  • 21 Mar. 2024: Reviewed for Patch 10.2.6, strongest builds remain the same but alternatives kept.
  • 15 Jan. 2024: Reviewed for Patch 10.2.5, small recommendation cleanups around AoE final point choices.
  • 13 Nov. 2023: Slight change to T30 AoE build tips and added low movement T30 single target.
  • 06 Nov. 2023: Updated for Patch 10.2
  • 04 Sep. 2023: Reviewed for Patch 10.1.7, changed AoE recommendation to Glaive Tempest/Ragefire, restructured page.
  • 10 Jul. 2023: Updated for Patch 10.1.5, added individual sections and the No Movement build recommendation.
  • 01 May 2023: Builds updated to account for Patch 10.1 changes, including Serrated Glaive as an option.
  • 20 Mar. 2023: Reviewed and updated for Patch 10.0.7.
  • 24 Jan. 2022: Reviewed and updated for Patch 10.0.5.
  • 11 Dec. 2022: Reviewed for Dragonflight Season 1.
  • 28 Nov. 2022: Updated for Dragonflight launch.
  • 24 Oct. 2022: Updated for Dragonflight Pre-Patch.
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