Demon Hunter Class Changes for Shadowlands (Patch 9.0.2)

Last updated on Nov 16, 2020 at 09:30 by Stan 9 comments

On this page, you will find a list of all Demon Hunter changes coming in Shadowlands.

In addition to the class changes listed here, Demon Hunters also gain access to class-specific Demon Hunter Covenant Abilities that can be used anywhere in the open world, Legendary Powers obtained through Runecarving, Soulbind Conduits, and Anima Powers that only work in Torghast.

1.

General Changes

  • Newly created Demon Hunters start at level 8.
  • Immolation Aura Icon Immolation Aura is no longer a Havoc talent and it is learned by all Demon Hunters through their initial questing experience or at level 10.
2.

Havoc Demon Hunter

  • Blur Icon Blur now reduces all damage taken by 20% for 10 seconds (was 35%).
  • Metamorphosis Icon Metamorphosis no longer provides 20% Leech. Soul Rending Icon Soul Rending (Talent) will now return 25% Leech to Metamorphosis.
  • Blade Dance Icon Blade Dance and Death Sweep Icon Death Sweep are now capped at 5 targets.
3.

Havoc Demon Hunter Abilities Learned Above Level 50

  • Fel Rush Icon Fel Rush (Level 52) — Fel Rush Icon Fel Rush damage increased by 25%.
  • Metamorphosis Icon Metamorphosis (Level 54) — When you activate Metamorphosis Icon Metamorphosis, the cooldown of Eye Beam Icon Eye Beam and Blade Dance Icon Blade Dance is immediately reset.
  • Chaos Strike Icon Chaos Strike (Level 56) — Chaos Strike Icon Chaos Strike damage increased by 10%.
  • Eye Beam Icon Eye Beam (Level 58) — When Eye Beam Icon Eye Beam finishes fully channeling, your Haste is increased by an additional 15% for 12 seconds.
3.1.

Havoc Demon Hunter Talent Changes

  • New Talent: Burning Hatred Icon Burning HatredImmolation Icon Immolation generates an additional 60 Fury over 12 seconds.
  • New Talent: Unbound Chaos Icon Unbound Chaos (Replaces Fel Mastery) — Causes your next Immolation Aura Icon Immolation Aura cast to increase the damage of your next Fel Rush Icon Fel Rush by 300%. Lasts 20 seconds.
  • New Talent: Glaive Tempest Icon Glaive Tempest — Launch 2 demonic glaives in a whirlwind of energy, causing Chaos damage over 3 seconds to 5 nearby enemies.
  • Insatiable Hunger Icon Insatiable Hunger now causes Demon's Bite Icon Demon's Bite to deal 20% more damage and generates 5 to 10 additional Fury.
  • Cycle of Hatred Icon Cycle of Hatred now reduces the cooldown of Eye Beam Icon Eye Beam by 3 seconds when Chaos Strike Icon Chaos Strike refunds Fury (was Metamorphosis Icon Metamorphosis).
  • Soul Rending Icon Soul Rending Leech decreased by 5% (was 10%) and gain an additional 25% Leech while Metamorphosis Icon Metamorphosis is active (was 10%).
  • Netherwalk Icon Netherwalk cooldown is now 3 minutes (was 2 minutes).
  • Dark Slash has been renamed to Essence Break Icon Essence Break — Slash all enemies in front of you for Chaos damage, and increase the damage of your Chaos Strike Icon Chaos Strike and Blade Dance Icon Blade Dance deal to them by 40% for 8 seconds.
  • Demonic Icon Demonic now causes you to enter demon form for 6 seconds when using Eye Beam Icon Eye Beam (was 8 seconds).
  • Unending Hatred Icon Unending Hatred is a new passive PvP Talent that increases maximum Fury to 120.
  • Nemesis has been removed.
  • Fel Barrage Icon Fel Barrage is now capped at 8 targets.
  • Glaive Tempest Icon Glaive Tempest is now affected by Mastery: Demonic Presence Icon Mastery: Demonic Presence, and its damage has been reduced by 15%.
3.2.

Havoc Demon Hunter Talent Tree

Below is the current talent tree for Havoc Demon Hunters.

  • Level 15 Talents: Blind Fury Icon Blind Fury / Demonic Appetite Icon Demonic Appetite / Felblade Icon Felblade;
  • Level 25 Talents: Insatiable Hunger Icon Insatiable Hunger / / Burning Hatred Icon Burning Hatred / Demon Blades Icon Demon Blades;
  • Level 30 Talents: Trail of Ruin Icon Trail of Ruin / Unbound Chaos Icon Unbound Chaos / Glaive Tempest Icon Glaive Tempest;
  • Level 35 Talents: Soul Rending Icon Soul Rending / Desperate Instincts Icon Desperate Instincts / Netherwalk Icon Netherwalk;
  • Level 40 Talents: Cycle of Hatred Icon Cycle of Hatred / First Blood Icon First Blood / Essence Break Icon Essence Break;
  • Level 45 Talents: Unleashed Power Icon Unleashed Power / Master of the Glaive Icon Master of the Glaive / Fel Eruption Icon Fel Eruption;
  • Level 50 Talents: Demonic Icon Demonic / Momentum Icon Momentum / Fel Barrage Icon Fel Barrage.
3.3.

Havoc Demon Hunter Shadowlands Guide

4.

Vengeance Demon Hunter

Vengeance received a handful of minor talent changes. The overall playstyle is very similar to Battle for Azeroth. The biggest addition is Fel Devastation Icon Fel Devastation, which is now a baseline ability that costs 50 Fury. Additional talents were changed to work with Fel Devastation Icon Fel Devastation. For instance, the Demonic Icon Demonic talent will now trigger Metamorphosis Icon Metamorphosis for 6 seconds, mimicking the same talent that Havoc players have been using since Legion.

There are currently two different play styles. The first resembles the common Spirit Bomb Icon Spirit Bomb build that has existed since the end of Legion. Spirit Bomb was moved to a different tier, which allows for players to use both Spirit Bomb and Demonic. This build revolves around massive AoE damage, since Spirit Bomb currently does not have a target limit. The second build revolves around maximizing Fiery Brand Icon Fiery Brand uptime in Mythic+ when combined with a legendary. The rotation uses Fiery Brand and spreads it to all enemies in the pull, in order to maximize damage mitigation in Mythic+. This build is dependent on acquiring the legendary that lowers Fiery Brand uptime based on souls consumed by Soul Cleave Icon Soul Cleave.

  • Vengeance Demon Hunters now use Fury as a resource instead of Pain.
  • Demonic Wards Icon Demonic Wards increase to Armor and Stamina has been moved into a new Passive: Thick Skin Icon Thick Skin which increases Stamina by 65% and Armor by 100%.
  • Soul Cleave Icon Soul Cleave replaces Chaos Strike Icon Chaos Strike, Shear Icon Shear replaces Demon's Bite Icon Demon's Bite, and Infernal Strike Icon Infernal Strike replaces Fel Rush Icon Fel Rush when selecting the Vengeance specialization.
  • Fel Devastation Icon Fel Devastation is no longer a Talent and will be learned by all Vengeance Demon Hunters at level 11. The spell now costs 50 Fury.
  • Soul Cleave Icon Soul Cleave now heals you for an additional amount for each Soul Fragment consumed. It is now capped at 5 targets.
5.

Vengeance Demon Hunter Abilities Learned Above Level 50

  • Infernal Strike Icon Infernal Strike (Level 52) — Infernal Strike Icon Infernal Strike damage increased by 25%.
  • Fiery Brand Icon Fiery Brand (Level 54) — The duration of Fiery Brand Icon Fiery Brand is increased by 2 seconds.
  • Soul Cleave Icon Soul Cleave (Level 56) — Soul Cleave Icon Soul Cleave damage increased by 10%.
  • Revel in Pain Icon Revel in Pain (Level 58) — When Fiery Brand Icon Fiery Brand expires on your primary target, you gain a shield that absorbs up to 2,637 damage for 15 seconds, based on your damage dealt to them while Fiery Brand was active.
5.1.

Vengeance Demon Hunter Talent Changes

  • New Talent Infernal Armor Icon Infernal Armor (Replaces Flame Crash) — Immolation Aura Icon Immolation Aura increases your Armor by 20% and causes melee attackers to suffer Fire damage.
  • New Talent: Ruinous Bulwark Icon Ruinous Bulwark (replaces Void Reaver) — Fel Devastation Icon Fel Devastation heals for an additional 15% and 50% of its overhealing is converted into an absorb shield for 10 seconds.
  • New Talent: Bulk Extraction Icon Bulk Extraction (replaces Soul Barrier) — Demolish the spirit of all around you, dealing Fire damage to nearby enemies and extracting a soul fragment from the 5 closest enemies, drawing them to you for immediate consumption.
  • New Talent: Demonic Icon DemonicFel Devastation Icon Fel Devastation causes you to enter demon form for 6 seconds after it finishes dealing damage.
  • Abyssal Strike Icon Abyssal Strike now causes Infernal Strike Icon Infernal Strike to create a Sigil of Flame Icon Sigil of Flame when you land and its cooldown is reduced by 8 seconds.
  • Agonizing Flames Icon Agonizing Flames no longer increases the damage of Immolation Aura Icon Immolation Aura. It now increases its duration by 50%.
  • Feast of Souls Icon Feast of Souls healing increased by 25%.
  • Charred Flesh Icon Charred Flesh has been redesigned. Immolation Aura Icon Immolation Aura now increases the duration of your Fiery Brand Icon Fiery Brand by 0.5 seconds.
5.2.

Vengeance Demon Hunter Talent Tree

Below is the current talent tree for Vengeance Demon Hunters.

  • Level 15 Talents: Abyssal Strike Icon Abyssal Strike / Agonizing Flames Icon Agonizing Flames / Felblade Icon Felblade;
  • Level 25 Talents: Feast of Souls Icon Feast of Souls / Fallout Icon Fallout / Burning Alive Icon Burning Alive;
  • Level 30 Talents: Infernal Armor Icon Infernal Armor / Charred Flesh Icon Charred Flesh / Spirit Bomb Icon Spirit Bomb;
  • Level 35 Talents: Soul Rending Icon Soul Rending / Feed the Demon Icon Feed the Demon / Fracture Icon Fracture;
  • Level 40 Talents: Concentrated Sigils Icon Concentrated Sigils / Quickened Sigils Icon Quickened Sigils / Sigil of Chains Icon Sigil of Chains;
  • Level 45 Talents: Void Reaver Icon Void Reaver / Demonic Icon Demonic / Soul Barrier Icon Soul Barrier;
  • Level 50 Talents: Last Resort Icon Last Resort / Ruinous Bulwark Icon Ruinous Bulwark / Bulk Extraction Icon Bulk Extraction.
5.3.

Vengeance Demon Hunter Shadowlands Guide

6.

More Patch 9.0.1 Class Changes

You can find other Patch 9.0.1 class changes linked below.

7.

Changelog

  • 16 Nov. 2020: Updated for Shadowlands release.
  • 11 Oct. 2020: Updated for Shadowlands Pre-Patch.
  • 05 Sep. 2020: Updated for Beta Build 35755.
  • 15 Jul. 2020: Unbound Chaos reworked in Alpha Build 35078.
  • 03 Jul. 2020: Demon Hunter reworked based on recent Alpha changes.
  • 20 Jun. 2020: Reviewed for Alpha Build 34821.
  • 15 Jun. 2020: Reviewed for Alpha Build 34714.
  • 09 Jun. 2020: Reviewed for Alpha Build 34615.
  • 02 Jun. 2020: Updated intro with links to Anima Powers and Covenant Abilities.
  • 25 May 2020: Added Essence Break (Havoc) distance change.
  • 14 May 2020: Updated for Alpha Build 34365.
  • 08 May 2020: Updated for Alpha Build 34278.
  • 28 Apr. 2020: Updated for Alpha Build 34137.
  • 21 Apr. 2020: Page added.
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