Havoc Demon Hunter DPS Easy Mode — The War Within (11.0.5)

Havoc has a few different single-target build options, but the most flexible option that comes with both good performance and ease of execution is currently Fel-Scarred. This focuses on greatly empowered Metamorphosis and Demonic windows, providing extremely strong burst. If you are more interested in alternative or more complex builds, check our talent page:

Be sure to make use of the 'Export Talents' button to import the best build directly into your game!

In AoE, both hero talents have builds but for ease of execution Fel-Scarred is far preferred. This focuses heavily on your 2-minute Metamorphosis window and, while it adds in Inertia for some movement gameplay, the payoff is high enough to make it worth it. If you are more interested in alternative or more complex builds, check our talent page:

Be sure to make use of the 'Export Talents' button to import the best build directly into your game!

The goal of Havoc combat is to generate as much Fury as possible to fuel spenders in Blade Dance and Chaos Strike. It does this while also using Eye Beam to activate Demonic, and making use of the powerful 2-minute cooldown burst that comes from Metamorphosis that converts your spenders to Death Sweep and Annihilation.

Most of your Fury generation will come from Demon Blades, triggered via auto-attacks, and Felblade that can be reset from these procs - try to avoid waste as much as possible here. This will be spent on Blade Dance and Eye Beam on cooldown, while any excess is used on Chaos Strike. Additionally, Chaos Strike has a 20% chance to refund 20 Fury when used, so requires you to be aware of your Fury state following these casts.

Aside from this core, there are also some additional buttons and talents that are regularly taken in the sample build that you need to keep in mind:

• Fel-Scarred needs to consume its Demonsurge effect whenever you enter Metamorphosis. For each Demonic trigger that means at least one Death Sweep and Annihilation, while Metamorphosis manual casts require those two alongside Abyssal Gaze, Consuming Fire and Sigil of Doom.
• Sigil of Flame should be held to line up with each of your Eye Beam casts to make use of Student of Suffering.
• Chaotic Transformation resets the cooldown of Blade Dance and Eye Beam when you cast Metamorphosis, meaning they should be on cooldown already when you activate it.
• Inner Demon is generated every time you enter Metamorphosis through any means. Make sure to cast at least one Annihilation in each window to consume quickly.
• Inertia alongside the suite of movement talents are taken to provide extra multipliers onto burst windows. This means you need to consume the Unbound Chaos effect with Fel Rush to trigger this when needed.
• Vengeful Retreat is used on cooldown both for the Fury generation provided by Tactical Retreat and to reset Initiative.
• A large portion of your damage comes from Annihilation and Chaos Strike as Fel-Scarred due to the number of multipliers (particularly Burning Blades), so cycling Fury effectively is important.

In AoE, Havoc is much more involved as talent builds require you to manage more short cooldowns to deal its damage. It places more of a focus on talents triggered via movement tools, and leans much more into Immolation Aura for AoE.

Some key things to bear in mind with our AoE build is as follows:

• Fel-Scarred puts more emphasis on your Metamorphosis and Demonic windows, empowering abilities further to trigger Demonsurge. Make sure you trigger this from each of your 5 abilities each time you enter into demon form: Annihilation, Death Sweep, Abyssal Gaze, Sigil of Doom and Consuming Fire.
• Immolation Aura is much more important, and has two charges thanks to A Fire Inside. As it expires, it will trigger Ragefire so aim to hit nearby targets with this.
• Sigil of Flame should be held to line up with each of your Eye Beam casts to make use of Student of Suffering.
• Initiative encourages the use of Vengeful Retreat on cooldown, which requires you to manage your positioning due to the backflip.
• Unbound Chaos / Inertia are particularly strong in AoE, and requires you to use Fel Rush rotationally to activate the effects.

Blur provides a 20% damage reduction and 50% increase to Dodge chance for 10 seconds, on a 1-minute cooldown. This is Havoc's consistent defense tool and, due to the low cooldown, can be used liberally to reduce the incoming damage from dangerous attacks.

Netherwalk grants complete damage immunity for 6 seconds, alongside 100% increased movement speed on a 3-minute cooldown. This should be used to avoid lethal mechanics, but you cannot attack while this is active. Also, bear in mind that while you are immune to damage, you are not immune to debuffs being applied while this is active.

Aldrachi Reaver has access to Army Unto Oneself, which causes Felblade to reduce damage taken by 10% for 5 seconds after casting. This has a fairly high uptime as you should be casting this frequently, and can even be timed for dangerous moments during encounters.

During the Metamorphosis cast animation, you are briefly immune for 1 second which can, on rare occasions, be used to avoid dangerous mechanics.

Darkness provides you and nearby allies a 15% chance (increased to 30%) to avoid damage taken from attacks for 8 seconds. This can be extremely powerful, but is best used for frequent instances of damage rather than gambling on avoiding lethal ones.

While not an active defensive tool, Havoc comes with a lot of built-in Leech thanks to Soul Rending giving 10% plus an additional 10% during Metamorphosis. Alongside this, Demonic Appetite and enemy deaths often trigger Soul Fragments which provide additional healing in combat.

The Havoc stat priority is fairly straightforward and is as follows:

1. Mastery = Critical Strike;
2. Agility;
3. Haste;
4. Versatility.

Stat priorities will change based on other talents taken in different encounter types but, in general, this should serve you well. For finer details regarding each stat and the reason behind why they are picked can be found on our full stat page linked below.