Havoc Demon Hunter DPS Mythic+ Tips — The War Within (11.0.5)

Fel-Scarred is the general recommendation in all Mythic+ situations due to its flexible damage profile and extremely easy execution. It emphasizes the strength of Metamorphosis and Eye Beam windows to deal extremely heavy AoE burst via Demonsurge while still having access to a solid single-target toolkit thanks to Burning Blades. It takes some planning to make sure you are using Metamorphosis at key points in a key, but with that in mind, it can perform extremely well.

For Mythic+, Fel-Scarred is fairly locked in without much room to shift points around without losing something significant. It does have a few small options to shift things around if you need them, however:

• If you want to put more weight into your Metamorphosis entries at the cost of some AoE and also ease the execution requirements further Glaive Tempest can be swapped out. There are a couple of options here, including Relentless Onslaught or Serrated Glaive for single-target, or Inner Demon for burst.
• It can sometimes be a bit hectic to place Sigil of Flame, so picking up Precise Sigils by pathing through Lost in Darkness instead of the two points in Infernal Armor can make life easier.
• Set Fire to the Pain can be switched to Improved Soul Rending if you are looking for more general sustain rather than a little bit of mitigation.

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Aldrachi Reaver is an alternative that provides extremely good priority damage in Mythic+ situations while being flexible enough to deal with most target counts. Its execution requirement is significantly higher than the alternative however, and it often has to pick and choose exactly what type of damage it is doing in a given moment. The importance of Wounded Quarry and it being target locked due to Reaver's Mark also heavily punishes you when forced to switch, which is also an issue.

On the plus side, it can set up burst very well and provides much better defense due to Army Unto Oneself, while also having the advantage of gaining damage as enemies die through collecting Soul Fragments.

Aldrachi Reaver has a fairly tight point squeeze at the bottom due to the need for Throw Glaive related talents, making it fairly difficult to shift points around and pick other things up. There are a handful of talent considerations on the class and hero tree, however:

• It can sometimes be a bit hectic to place Sigil of Flame, so picking up Precise Sigils by pathing through Lost in Darkness instead of the two points in Infernal Armor can make life easier.
• Erratic Felheart is nice for the comfort of playing around movement talents, but it can be swapped for Darkness, and either its follow-up talent of Demon Muzzle if you are looking for some more durability.
• Army Unto Oneself can be switched out for Incorruptible Spirit for some free absorb shields, considering the amount of Souls you will be collecting.

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Havoc has a variety of tools to stop enemy casts. Due to the large number of them, I have broken them down into single-target and AoE options.

Disrupt is Havoc's interrupt tool on a 15-second cooldown. It has the added advantage of an 18-yard range, and should be used aggressively on dangerous casts (see our Disrupt macro on the Havoc Demon Hunter macro page).

Fel Eruption is a 4-second stun on a 30-second cooldown at the cost of 10 Fury. This is a great single-target stop for priority targets, and due to being baseline, it always provides an extra tool for dangerous casts.

Imprison is a 45-second cooldown hard crowd-control that breaks on damage. This can be used either as a stop or can be used to lock a target down that you would rather skip, as enemies affected by this will not aggro as you run past.

Chaos Nova is an AoE stun tool available to Havoc that stuns all nearby targets for 2 seconds on a 45-second cooldown with a 25-Fury cost. This is great for disrupting large groups of enemies and, due to its instant activation, can be a strong AoE stop when multiple targets are casting at once. Fel-Scarred also brings Wave of Debilitation that provides some follow-up damage reduction for your tank via the attack speed slow.

Sigil of Misery is an AoE disorient on a 2-second delay (1 with Quickened Sigils) from the cast, so it can be difficult to reactively utilize misery to stop casts. It can, however, be used pre-emptively if you know a target timer to stop dangerous effects. This also shares diminishing returns with very few other abilities, making it extra valuable despite its long cooldown.

Metamorphosis may be our major cooldown, but on cast, it also stuns enemies within the impact area for 3 seconds. This should not really be something you use it for, but it can be used to great effect if you are also planning to use cooldowns during a pull.

Blur is Havoc's primary active defense tool, reducing damage taken by 20% and granting 50% Dodge change for 10 seconds on a 1-minute cooldown. Due to its low cooldown, this should be used aggressively in any dangerous situation, and is also great to buy some time if you get threat.

Deflecting Dance grants an absorb shield during Death Sweep / Blade Dance for 15% of your maximum health. This is active for a very brief period of time but allows you to outplay some damage moments by timing these casts during your rotation, providing a lot of survival.

Netherwalk grants full immunity to damage and 100% movement speed for 6 seconds, but you are unable to attack, on a 3-minute cooldown. This is the most potent defensive tool Havoc has access to and can get you out of some of the worst situations, but you are not immune to debuff applications during this, so be careful. Make sure to also plan around its very long cooldown for the most dangerous moments.

Darkness grants a 15% chance (increased to 30% in dungeons) to avoid any damage event for players standing within. This lasts 8 seconds on a 5-minute cooldown. The duration can be increased to 11 seconds with Long Night, or the cooldown can be reduced to 3 minutes with Pitch Black. This is strong for group survival, especially on repeat damage events such as DoTs to help your Healer keep up and should be planned around during high-intensity moments.

Army Unto Oneself, exclusive to Aldrachi Reaver, grants 10% damage reduction for 5 seconds following Felblade casts. This is a nice extra benefit that can be timed with dangerous moments, and you can always force a proc if necessary using Unhindered Assault.

Mortal Dance reduces enemy healing received by 50% for 6 seconds if they are hit with Blade Dance / Death Sweep. While niche, this can provide a lot of effective damage by cutting the amount of healing enemies take, alongside being both easy to apply and AoE.

Chaos Brand is Havoc's strongest reason to be brought to raid, and in Mythic+, it also provides a lot depending on the group composition. In any situation where your fellow damage dealers are providing a large amount of Magic damage (which includes the majority of specs), this is a lot of extra damage on top of what Havoc already brings.

Vengeful Retreat, while very niche, also breaks snares when cast, which can be useful to counter some mechanics.

Consume Magic is Havoc's offensive dispel with a 10-second cooldown. This has the advantage of a 30-yard range and can be used to remove buffs from enemy targets.

Xalatath's Bargain: Ascendant will periodically spawn a number or orbs in waves that need to be crowd-controlled in some way before they complete a cast. Each orb successfully stopped grants the group bonus Haste, so it is a high priority to deal with.

Havoc can and should make use of Chaos Nova and Sigil of Misery to stop a wave, and also has Disrupt and Fel Eruption to catch any strays if your group is struggling to clear them all.

Xalatath's Bargain: Voidbound will periodically summon a large Void Emissary that will begin to cast Dark Prayer. This must be interrupted, as otherwise it will provide damage reduction to nearby enemies.

This needs to be killed off quickly, so ideally, having short, bursty cooldowns like Eye Beam or The Hunt ready to go as it spawns is ideal. This is not always possible, however due to them being key to your AoE rotation, so just be aware of it spawning and swap accordingly.

Xalatath's Bargain: Oblivion spawns a number of orbs that will begin traveling toward enemies that you and your group need to intercept to receive a stacking Mastery buff.

Havoc has a wide array of movement tools to deal with this and, if you have no Fel Rush charges available, can even utilize the movement speed of Netherwalk to quickly catch as many as possible.

Xalatath's Bargain: Devour will apply a debuff that must be either dispelled or healed off (though it will not absorb any incoming heals) to the entire group periodically throughout the dungeon.

Unfortunately, Havoc has no real way to assist your Healer when this occurs, so just be aware of the state of your health and the group and use Healthstones or Healing Potions if necessary.