Havoc Demon Hunter DPS Stat Priority — The War Within (11.1.0)
On this page, you will find out the optimal stat priority for your Havoc Demon Hunter. We first present the stat priority, before delving into more complex explanations. Our content is updated for World of Warcraft — The War Within (11.1.0).
The Basics of Stats for Havoc Demon Hunters
Havoc Demon Hunter has slightly different stat priorities depending on your Hero Talent selection, but they do not differ significantly enough that you need different gearsets to play them.
Stat Priorities
Aldrachi Reaver Havoc Demon Hunter Stat Priority
While playing Aldrachi Reaver, a basic recommended stat priority is
as follows:
- Critical Strike;
- Mastery;
- Haste;
- Versatility;
- Agility.
Know Your Enemy keeps Critical Strike as the focus due to the additional
multiplier it provides, alongside working with proc effects. Mastery multiplies
this further with your strongest abilities and is close behind, making it the
second-best stat to focus on.
Haste is slightly behind due to the lack of cooldown reduction on some key
abilities such as Essence Break and
Eye Beam and the amount of time
spent in
Metamorphosis, but is still relevant. Alongside this, there
is also no strong hook elsewhere in the kit compared to the above options with
additional scaling multipliers.
Versatility falls behind the above two stats but still outperforms Haste due to its lack of strong interaction with the AoE build's toolkit.
Fel-Scarred Havoc Demon Hunter Stat Priority
While playing Fel-Scarred, a basic recommended stat priority is
as follows:
- Critical Strike = Mastery;
- Versatility;
- Haste;
- Agility.
Know Your Enemy keeps Critical Strike as the focus due to the additional
multiplier it provides, alongside working with proc effects. Mastery is roughly
equal due to the high amount of Chaos damage done by the
Fel-Scarred, so
aiming for these two stats whenever possible is ideal.
After that, Versatility is slightly behind hovering around the value of Agility due to simply being a flat damage amp.
Haste falls behind for Fel-Scarred specifically due to a lack of
cooldown reduction on key abilities, and the massive amount of time spent in the
Metamorphosis effect that grants additional Haste.
Diminishing Returns on Stats
Every stat has a limit where they will begin to offer less increase per point gained, which are known as the points of diminishing return. Once you have reached these amounts, stats will become progressively less valuable and may fall behind other options. The current breakpoints are:
- 21000 Critical Strike Rating
- 19800 Haste Rating
- 23400 Versatility Rating
- 21000 Mastery Rating
With the higher item level in the current season, we are at risk of hitting the first of these points on at least two stats. Be aware of these breakpoints if you find your sim results are unusual.
How To Choose Gear For The Havoc Demon Hunter
If you are ever in doubt about what items to wear for any given situation, the best way to figure it out for your character is to use Raidbots. This website allows you to easily compare gear you already have, as well as gear you do not have.
Due to every character being unique with variables based on your current gear, racial bonuses and effects you have active, it is much easier to trust its bespoke output rather than a general priority if you are looking to min-max your damage potential.
Gems, Enchants, and Consumables
The gems, enchants, and consumables you will use are directly derived from your stat priority. You can find our advice on this topic on our dedicated page.
Understanding Havoc Demon Hunter Stats
Agility is your primary statistic. You should look for it in all of your upgrades. It provides you with Attack Power, which determines the damage your abilities do.
Critical Strike increases the chance for your attacks and abilities to
critically strike, dealing double damage, and has several supporting talents
that grant it additional scaling. In particular, Critical Chaos,
Ragefire and
Know Your Enemy amplify their value beyond
the raw effect, keeping it relevant.
Mastery increases all Chaos damage you deal through
Mastery: Demonic Presence, and also increases your passive movement
speed. The value per point is already quite high, and the variety of
talents on the tree improve its value even further when taken, making it
a good all-round pick. In particular,
First Blood converts
Blade Dance/
Death Sweep to Chaos for your primary target,
and
A Fire Inside fully converts
Immolation Aura as well.
Haste increases your auto attack speed, reduces the Global Cooldown
recovery time down to a minimum of 0.750 seconds, and reduces the base
cooldown of Blade Dance/
Death Sweep,
Immolation Aura,
Glaive Tempest and
Throw Glaive.
It also leads to higher Fury Generation through
Demon Blades via
auto-attacks, but in AoE situations, many of the key burst tools such as
Eye Beam and
Essence Break have no scaling with this, reducing
its value.
Versatility provides a flat boost to damage dealt and reduction to damage taken, with no other interactions.
Changelog
- 24 Feb. 2025: Updated for Patch 11.1.0.
- 15 Dec. 2024: Reviewed for Patch 11.0.7.
- 21 Oct. 2024: Updated for Patch 11.0.5 to separate Fel-Scarred and Aldrachi Reaver weights.
- 09 Sep. 2024: Reviewed for The War Within Season 1.
- 21 Aug. 2024: Updated for The War Within.
- 23 Jul. 2024: Reviewed 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, added note that Crit stays good even during diminishing returns.
- 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, moved up Haste in single-target.
- 01 May 2023: Updated for Patch 10.1, no significant changes needed.
- 20 Mar. 2023: Reviewed for Patch 10.0.7.
- 24 Jan. 2023: Reviewed for Patch 10.0.5.
- 31 Dec. 2022: Raised the priority of Mastery in single target.
- 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
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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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