Vengeance Demon Hunter Tank Rotation, Cooldowns, and Abilities — The War Within (11.0.5)

Last updated on Oct 21, 2024 at 21:00 by Meyra 55 comments
General Information

On this page, you will learn how to optimize the rotation of your Vengeance Demon Hunter, depending on the type of damage you will be tanking. We also have advanced sections about cooldowns, procs, etc. in order to maximize your survivability and DPS. All our content is updated for World of Warcraft — The War Within (11.0.5).

1.

Rotation for Vengeance Demon Hunters

Welcome to the rotation guide for Vengeance Demon Hunter. Below, you will find the general priority of your abilities, as well as how your talent choices will affect the Rotation. Further down, you can find out how certain key talents interact with the rest of your toolkit, as well as how you best utilize them to their full potential. In the final section, you will also find advice on how to best approach your defensive toolkit.

If you are a beginner player or just new to Vengeance and want an easier guide to get started, please visit the Easy Mode page linked below. In it, you will find a more basic version of your Rotation. Once you are more comfortable with the spec and have a rough idea of how the abilities work together, you can review this page again for a more in-depth rotation.

1.1.

Best Talent Builds for Vengeance Demon Hunter in The War Within

We highly recommend you go and see what talent options you have available over on our talent page. Check out the dedicated Talents page below for different talent builds:

1.2.

Talent selection

Your Rotation will vary a lot depending on both the regular talent choices you make. They are further impacted by the Hero talent tree you use. To start, select your Hero talent tree and your talent choices below. If a talent is not presented below, it likely does not affect your Rotation enough to be mentioned. The links below will default the talent choices to those present in our recommended talent builds.

Hero Talents
Aldrachi Reaver Fel-Scarred
Fel-Scarred Raid Progress Talents Fel-Scarred Mythic+ Talents Aldrachi Reaver Mythic+ Talents
Active Talents Passive Talents
Fracture Icon Fracture Fallout Icon Fallout
Spirit Bomb Icon Spirit Bomb Focused Cleave Icon Focused Cleave
The Hunt Icon The Hunt Fiery Demise Icon Fiery Demise
Soul Carver Icon Soul Carver Burning Alive Icon Burning Alive
Sigil of Spite Icon Sigil of Spite Down in Flames Icon Down in Flames
Felblade Icon Felblade Illuminated Sigils Icon Illuminated Sigils
Charred Flesh Icon Charred Flesh
2.

Best DPS Rotations for Vengeance Demon Hunter

Vengeance Rotational Core Explained Single-Target Rotation AoE Rotation
3.

Core goals for Vengeance Demon Hunter

Vengeance Demon Hunter, at the most basic level, plays like a very standard builder and spender specialization. Your core rotation centers around building Soul Fragment Icon Soul Fragment using builders such as Fracture Icon Fracture or Immolation Aura Icon Immolation Aura with Fallout Icon Fallout talented, and then spending them using Spirit Bomb Icon Spirit Bomb or Soul Cleave Icon Soul Cleave depending on the situation.

Beyond this, Vengeance has a very simple relationship with our longer, offensive cooldowns, such as Sigil of Flame Icon Sigil of Flame and Sigil of Spite Icon Sigil of Spite. We want to get as much out of these powerful spells as possible during an encounter or dungeon, which you most easily do simply by using them close to as soon as you are able to. While there are tools to amplify some of these abilities, such as Fiery Demise Icon Fiery Demise, the case is almost always that more uses beats out better uses.

While these core goals are fairly simple, the introduction of the new Hero Talent Trees changes things up a fair bit.

4.

Rotational Goals for Aldrachi Reaver

When you play Aldrachi Reaver, your goals shift a bit from the baseline version of Vengeance Demon Hunter to make better use of the core mechanic Art of the Glaive Icon Art of the Glaive. Below are the main goals, as well as how to best approach them.

  • To activate Art of the Glaive Icon Art of the Glaive, you want to make sure to maximize your use of builders. This does not necessarily mean to use Fracture Icon Fracture as soon as a charge is avialable, but you want to make sure it and other Soul Fragment generators spend as little time as possible without recharging cooldown.
  • Since there is so much focus on generating souls, you want to make sure you also spend them as efficiently as possible; in single-target, this means using Soul Cleave Icon Soul Cleave, while for multiple targets, you want to use Spirit Bomb Icon Spirit Bomb with 4 Soul Fragments or more.
  • Thrill of the Fight Icon Thrill of the Fight increases all damage you do by 20%; this means that you want to make sure that if possibly you always activate your next Reaver's Glaive Icon Reaver's Glaive and use the empowered spells just before the damage window runs out.
  • Make sure to use your empower in the correct order, which in single target is Soul Cleave Icon Soul Cleave before Fracture Icon Fracture to maintain two stacks of Reaver's Mark Icon Reaver's Mark and Fracture Icon Fracture before Soul Cleave Icon Soul Cleave for any excess glaives. Against multiple targets you always use Fracture Icon Fracture before Soul Cleave Icon Soul Cleave.
  • Wounded Quarry Icon Wounded Quarry makes it extremely important to spend as much time as possible auto-attacking a target marked by Reaver's Mark Icon Reaver's Mark.
5.

Rotational Goals for Fel-Scarred

If you choose to play as Fel-Scarred your most basic rotational goals do not change significantly. Instead, much more focused is centered around your cooldowns, with Fel Devastation Icon Fel Devastation and Metamorphosis Icon Metamorphosis gaining powerful tools through Demonsurge Icon Demonsurge, Violent Transformation Icon Violent Transformation, and Demonic Intensity Icon Demonic Intensity.

  • To maximize the value of Demonsurge Icon Demonsurge you want to make sure that you do not delay Fel Devastation Icon Fel Devastation or Metamorphosis Icon Metamorphosis more than you absolutely have to, as they represent a significant portion of your damage.
  • Activate all of your abilities empowered by Demonsurge Icon Demonsurge after casting Fel Devastation Icon Fel Devastation, and also the ones from Demonic Intensity Icon Demonic Intensity after casting Metamorphosis Icon Metamorphosis. If possible, activate them all with minimal changes to your normal Rotation. If there is still time left to cast all spells within the Demon Form window, you still want to prioritize stronger spells.
  • To enable most of the value from Violent Transformation Icon Violent Transformation, make sure that Fel Devastation Icon Fel Devastation and all charges of Sigil of Flame Icon Sigil of Flame are on cooldown.
  • In situations with only a single target, Burning Blades Icon Burning Blades increases the damage of Soul Cleave Icon Soul Cleave enough that you only use Spirit Bomb Icon Spirit Bomb when Fiery Brand Icon Fiery Brand is active with Fiery Demise Icon Fiery Demise talented, or to activate Demonsurge Icon Demonsurge.
6.

Defensive sidenote for Vengeance Demon Hunter

The rotations will mention to use defensive abilities like Fiery Brand Icon Fiery Brand and Fel Devastation Icon Fel Devastation on cooldown. However, you will usually come across situations when you need to save them for mechanics. In situations like that, you skip past them in the Rotation until you will need them. Just make sure to try not to waste any potential uses of the abilities.

7.

Extra use case for Infernal Strike

In addition to your Rotation, you can also make use of Infernal Strike Icon Infernal Strike (which is off the global cooldown) to deal additional damage. It is recommended to always keep at least 1 charge in reserve, however, unless the fight requires no movement whatsoever, in which case you can use up both charges.

8.

Single-Target Opener for Vengeance Demon Hunter

9.

Single-Target Rotation for Vengeance Demon Hunter

This priority list describes the optimal single-target Rotation for Vengeance Demon Hunter.

10.

AoE Opener for Vengeance Demon Hunter

11.

AoE Rotation for Vengeance Demon Hunter

This priority list describes the optimal AoE rotation for Vengeance Demon Hunter.

12.

Vengeance Demon Hunter Talents' Effect on Rotation

12.1.

Frailty

Frailty Icon Frailty is a core, passive mechanic for Vengeance Demon Hunter. Depending on which talents are selected on the Vengeance Tree you it will be applied to all targets hit by Sigil of Flame Icon Sigil of Flame, Spirit Bomb Icon Spirit Bomb, or Soul Cleave Icon Soul Cleave.

With all related talents selected, each stack of Frailty Icon Frailty will give you 8% leech from all damage dealt to the target, 4% increased damage to the target, and reduce all damage taken from the target by 3%. Talenting into Soulcrush Icon Soulcrush allows you to stack multiple stacks. The duration of the stacks is independent of each other.

While you could stack up Frailty Icon Frailty stacks to increase the damage of your strong abilities on a target, it has been shown that trying to optimize damage by doing this will cost you more damage elsewhere in your Rotation than the damage you gain. Therefore, the best amount of Frailty Icon Frailty stacks to have when you use an offensive cooldown is the amount your Rotation naturally has on the target.

12.2.

Fiery Demise

If you talent into Fiery Demise Icon Fiery Demise your Fiery Brand Icon Fiery Brand will now be an offensive cooldown on top of being a defensive cooldown. Several of your spells deal fire damage, and increasing the fire damage by up to 40% is a massive bonus.

When using Fiery Demise Icon Fiery Demise, you want to make sure that all your strong fire spells are used during the duration of your Fiery Brand Icon Fiery Brand. This includes Soul Carver Icon Soul Carver if talented, and Fel Devastation Icon Fel Devastation. Since Fel Devastation Icon Fel Devastation is usually also used for its defensive value. Ideally, you finish channeling it just as the initial Fiery Brand Icon Fiery Brand expires.

12.3.

The Hunt

The Hunt Icon The Hunt is a strong offensive cooldown that is now a core part of activating Art of the Glaive Icon Art of the Glaive for Aldrachi Reaver. On paper, it is a very simple ability: press it, and you do damage. However, due to pathing issues and inconsistencies in enemy hit-boxes, the damage over time effect will sometimes struggle to apply to all enemies. This can be managed by moving around for a bit after the initial hit of the spell. There is a grace period of roughly half a second after hitting your target when you can move through other enemies to apply the effect.

13.

Active Mitigation for Vengeance Demon Hunter

As a Vengeance Demon Hunter, you have one active mitigation ability, Demon Spikes Icon Demon Spikes.

Demon Spikes Icon Demon Spikes should be used frequently to avoid and reduce Physical damage taken, even against simple auto-attacks. Try to generally always keep at least one of its charges rolling unless you are about to enter a longer period of downtime with Fiery Brand Icon Fiery Brand, Fel Devastation Icon Fel Devastation and Metamorphosis Icon Metamorphosis on cooldown. During situations like that, you want to use Demon Spikes Icon Demon Spikes to bridge the gap.

If talented into Illuminated Sigils Icon Illuminated Sigils you can pair Demon Spikes Icon Demon Spikes with keeping Sigil of Flame Icon Sigil of Flame on your targets. The Parry chance is additive and leads to a situation where you Parry a significant amount of attacks from enemies.

14.

Defensive Cooldowns for Vengeance Demon Hunter

As a Vengeance Demon Hunter, you have two defensive cooldowns in Metamorphosis Icon Metamorphosis and Fiery Brand Icon Fiery Brand, and two talents in Demonic Icon Demonic and Illuminated Sigils Icon Illuminated Sigils, which make Fel Devastation Icon Fel Devastation and Sigil of Flame Icon Sigil of Flame into defensive cooldowns.

Metamorphosis Icon Metamorphosis increases your current and maximum health by 40%, and your Armor by 200% for 15 seconds. It also enhances your Shear Icon Shear and Fracture Icon Fracture to generate 1 extra soul and 20 extra Fury. It has a 2-minute cooldown and no cost. Metamorphosis Icon Metamorphosis works best proactively to increase your health and armor in preparation for incoming damage and should generally not be used reactively as an emergency cooldown if possible.

Fiery Brand Icon Fiery Brand should be placed on the target when you anticipate that they will deal high damage to you or when you simply want to reduce the damage you take (regardless if it is Physical or Magical damage). With Burning Alive Icon Burning Alive you can spread Fiery Brand Icon Fiery Brand to multiple enemies for a large amount of damage and defensive value.

The talent Demonic Icon Demonic will make Fel Devastation Icon Fel Devastation grant 7 seconds of Metamorphosis Icon Metamorphosis when you press it, making it a very potent defensive cooldown. It has a 40-second cooldown and a 50-fury cost.

Illuminated Sigils Icon Illuminated Sigils makes attacks from targets affected by Sigil of Flame Icon Sigil of Flame 12% more likely to be Parried. This gives you a large amount of damage reduction against most physical attacks, which is usually the main damage source in Mythic+ dungeons.

15.

Taunting

Torment Icon Torment is your only taunting ability. It only works on a single target and has an 8-second cooldown. It forces the target to attack you for 3 seconds and also increases the threat you generate against that target for the same duration.

16.

Soul Fragments

Soul Fragments are a unique Vengeance Demon Hunter mechanic. The baseline ability comes from the Shattered Souls Icon Shattered Souls passive.

When you kill a target, there is a chance that a Soul Fragment will be created. This is an orb that is placed on the ground at a nearby location and persists for up to 20 seconds. If you walk over it, you will consume the Soul Fragment, and be healed for a certain amount (348.075%% of your attack power in health). Only you can see and interact with your Soul Fragments.

Moreover, if a Soul Fragment comes from a Demon target, consuming it will also, increase your damage done by 20% for 15 seconds.

In addition to these Soul Fragments, there are also Lesser Soul Fragments. These have a chance to be created when you damage targets with Shear Icon Shear, or with Immolation Aura Icon Immolation Aura (provided that you have the Fallout Icon Fallout talent), and using the Fracture Icon Fracture talent also generates 2 Lesser Soul Fragments each time it is used. They work in exactly the same way, but they heal for 6% of damage taken in the last 5 seconds, or a minimum of 1% of your Maximum Health.

It is worth noting that each Soul Fragment or Lesser Soul Fragment you generate if you already have 5 active, will be instantly consumed. Moreover, Spirit Bomb Icon Spirit Bomb will consume all Soul Fragments within 100 yards.

17.

Changelog

  • 21 Oct. 2024: Reviewed for patch 11.0.5, no changes needed.
  • 09 Sep. 2024: Reviewed for season 1 of The War Within, no rotational changes have been made.
  • 29 Aug. 2024: Updated rotations and matched talent build buttons to new recommended talent builds.
  • 28 Aug. 2024: Fixed a formatting error.
  • 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: Reviewed for Season 4.
  • 19 Mar. 2024: Updated a line to better reflect current single target priorities
  • 31 Jan. 2024: Fixed minor errors for a couple of spells.
  • 15 Jan. 2024: Reviewed for Patch 10.2.5.
  • 19 Dec. 2023: Updated a few rotational nuances.
  • 10 Nov. 2023: Updated so AoE Rotation now shows full rotation.
  • 08 Nov. 2023: Updated Rotation Switches for the Heretic Build.
  • 06 Nov. 2023: Updated for Patch 10.2.
  • 04 Sep. 2023: Reviewed for Patch 10.1.7.
  • 10 Jul. 2023: Updated for Patch 10.1.5.
  • 19 Jun. 2023: Updated Tier set interaction.
  • 01 May 2023: Updated with changes to rotation in patch 10.1
  • 20 Mar. 2023: Reviewed for Patch 10.0.7.
  • 24 Jan. 2023: Reviewed for Patch 10.0.5.
  • 11 Dec. 2022: Updated with minor changes to make things a bit more clear.
  • 28 Nov. 2022: Updated for Dragonflight launch.
  • 10 Nov. 2022: Updated with minor changes for Dragonflight Pre-Patch.
  • 24 Oct. 2022: Updated for Dragonflight Pre-Patch.
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