Devourer Demon Hunter DPS Rotation, Cooldowns, and Abilities — Midnight (12.0)

In single-target especially, management of Void Metamorphosis is crucial to gameplay. Due to that, we've separated the rotation into two sections - the first when it's inactive, and the second while it's active. A big goal here is to extend these windows to maximize Emptiness:

• Cast The Hunt to put it on cooldown.
• Cast Voidblade to put it on cooldown.
• Cast Reap with 3 stacks of Voidfall.
• Cast Void Metamorphosis with 50 Souls.
• Cast Void Ray with 100 or more Fury - Click for Notes

  • Aim to cast this right before Void Metamorphosis to leverage the Fury refund.
• Cast Vengeful Retreat with Voidstep.
• Cast Hungering Slash.
• Cast Voidblade.
• Cast Reap with 4+ Souls active and Moment of Craving active.
• Cast Reap with 5+ Souls active and Moment of Craving active.
• Cast Consume.

• Cast Collapsing Star when at 30 Souls.
• Cast Cull with 3 Voidfall stacks, or with enough Souls to trigger Collapsing Star - Click for Notes

  • Only use this to gather Souls if it will not overcap your Fury.
• Cast Void Ray.
• Cast Vengeful Retreat with Voidstep.
• Cast Hungering Slash.
• Cast Reaper's Toll.
• Cast Pierce the Veil.
• Cast Predator's Wake.
• Cast Voidblade.
• Cast Devour.

Devourer's gameplay loop is built entirely around its Fury and Soul generation loop, feeding into your Void Metamorphosis windows. Cycling quickly to each of these when out of it, and extending it as long as possible to maximize Emptiness and Impending Apocalypse value is key. Some specific notes based on the build chosen are:

• In Single-target Emptiness is taken, so extending Void Metamorphosis is the goal. Generally the limit is four Collapsing Stars per window with Beta gear, so aim for that.
• Since you can cast Consume / Devour while moving, gather up Souls nearby while doing so to build toward Void Metamorphosis / Collapsing Star.
• Reap use is dictated by two things: Voidfall stacks and Moment of Craving, otherwise it's not used. Always consume your Voidfall stacks ASAP after reaching three stacks. Aim to have 5+ Souls present to consume Moment of Craving. During Void Metamorphosis, avoid doing so if the Souls will overcap your Fury.
• Reap use is dictated by Moment of Craving. Aim to have 5+ Souls present to consume the effect after each Void Ray. During Void Metamorphosis, avoid doing so if the Souls will overcap your Fury.
• Void Ray is used aggressively. Outside of Void Metamorphosis this should be whenever you reach 100 Fury or more, while inside it's used on cooldown to pause Fury drain.
• For Annihilator, the melee combo is quite simple, executed as often as possible:
  Voidblade ➜ Hungering Slash ➜ Vengeful Retreat.
• For Void-Scarred, the melee combo is more robust. Depending on your current form, the sequence is:
  Outside: The Hunt / Voidblade ➜ Hungering Slash ➜ Vengeful Retreat
  Inside: Predator's Wake / Pierce the Veil ➜ Reaper's Toll ➜ Vengeful Retreat
  These can be done as isolated 3-part combos, or a longer extended 6-part cycle.

While almost certainly unintended, the way that Souls work right now encourages the use of aura cancelling during Void Metamorphosis. Since any Souls present are lost when the form ends, that means when you are sure you cannot reach another 30 for Collapsing Star, it's best practice to cancel out using this macro:

• #showtooltip
• /cancelaura Void Metamorphosis

This is unlikely to be an ongoing thing and is relatively small, but does smooth out the current gameplay loop while being a DPS increase.

While executing your Void Metamorphosis to extend it isn't as critical in AoE, it still requires cycling correctly to enter it more frequently, leveraging Soul Glutton. Due to that, we've separated the rotation into two sections - the first when it's inactive, and the second while it's active:

• Cast The Hunt to put it on cooldown.
• Cast Voidblade to put it on cooldown.
• Cast Reap / Eradicate with 3 stacks of Voidfall.
• Cast Void Metamorphosis with 35 Souls.
• Cast Eradicate.
• Cast Void Ray with 100 or more Fury - Click for Notes

  • Aim to cast this right before Void Metamorphosis to leverage the Fury refund.
• Cast Vengeful Retreat with Voidstep.
• Cast Hungering Slash.
• Cast Voidblade.
• Cast Consume.

• Cast Collapsing Star when at 30 Souls.
• Cast Eradicate - Click for Annihilator Notes

  • This will naturally consume Voidfall rotationally, and shouldn't require downgrading to Cull.
• Cast Eradicate.
• Cast Void Ray.
• Cast Vengeful Retreat with Voidstep.
• Cast Hungering Slash.
• Cast Reaper's Toll.
• Cast Predator's Wake.
• Cast Pierce the Veil.
• Cast Voidblade.
• Cast Devour.

Devourer's gameplay loop in AoE is built on cycling through Fury to power Void Ray, and cycling through short, burst-heavy Void Metamorphosis windows. Its playstyle remains very similar to single-target, but it instead builds around Soul Glutton for more frequent entry, taking advantage of the free Collapsing Star from Midnight. Some specific notes based on the build chosen are:

• In AoE, Soul Glutton is taken, so Void Metamorphosis windows are shorter. Generally, one to two Collapsing Stars per window is the limit with Beta gear, so avoid trying to extend further.
• Since you can cast Consume / Devour while moving, gather up Souls nearby while doing so to build toward Void Metamorphosis / Collapsing Star.
• In AoE, all Reap / Cull casts are replaced in favour of using Eradicate procs, regardless of your form. This triggers immediately after Void Ray, which naturally aligns with Moment of Craving. The only exception to this is before using Void Metamorphosis to consume Voidfall.
• Void Ray is used even more aggressively in AoE due to the Fury and Souls feedback loop. Outside of Void Metamorphosis this should be immediately after reaching 100 Fury, while inside it's used on cooldown.
• For Annihilator, the melee combo is quite simple, executed as often as possible:
  Voidblade ➜ Hungering Slash ➜ Vengeful Retreat.
• For Void-Scarred, the melee combo is more robust. Depending on your current form, the sequence is:
  Outside: The Hunt / Voidblade ➜ Hungering Slash ➜ Vengeful Retreat
  Inside: Predator's Wake / Pierce the Veil ➜ Reaper's Toll ➜ Vengeful Retreat
  These can be done as isolated 3-part combos, or a longer extended 6-part cycle.

While almost certainly unintended, the way that Souls work right now encourages the use of aura cancelling during Void Metamorphosis. Since any Souls present are lost when the form ends, that means when you are sure you cannot reach another 30 for Collapsing Star, it's best practice to cancel out using this macro:

• #showtooltip
• /cancelaura Void Metamorphosis

Due to AoE builds taking Soul Glutton, this can happen as early as your first opening Collapsing Star, or at most your second. This is unlikely to be an ongoing thing, but does smooth out the current gameplay loop while being a DPS increase.

Due to Devourer beginning fights with 25 Souls via Entropy, its openers are a bit basic. There's a build-up to your first major cooldown, so it has to start "dry" to reach its first Soul breakpoint:

• Pre-cast Consume 1 second before the pull.
• Cast Voidblade.
• Cast Hungering Slash.
• Cast Vengeful Retreat.
• Cast Consume until you reach 100 Fury.
• Cast Void Ray.
• Pre-cast Consume 1 second before the pull.
• Cast The Hunt.
• Cast Hungering Slash.
• Cast Vengeful Retreat.
• Cast Voidblade.
• Cast Hungering Slash.
• Cast Vengeful Retreat.
• Cast Consume until you reach 100 Fury.
• Cast Void Ray.
• Note - Due to the Annihilator caster variant having very few cooldowns to cycle through, it has no real opening sequence. It simply opens straight into its standard rotation.
• Pre-cast Consume 1 second before the pull.
• Cast Reap.
• Cast Consume until you reach 100 Fury.
• Cast Void Ray.
• Continue with normal priority.

Your goal is to reach your first Void Ray as quickly as possible to begin cycling Soul Fragments and Fury. If you have leftover Souls from a previous pull, you can skip ahead to a Void Metamorphosis opening and follow the main priority instead. Some quick notes are:

• If you're playing an AoE variant, your first Void Ray should also be followed up with Eradicate.
• Void-Scarred especially wants to sequence its melee combo at the start of the fight, making sure everything is on cooldown before its first Void Metamorphosis.
• Watch out for your Voidfall stacks in the opener. If you reach three before your first Void Metamorphosis, make sure to Reap / Eradicate before starting your window.

Devourer's major cooldown is Void Metamorphosis. Unlike many other specs, this does not have a fixed cooldown or duration, and is instead only usable after collecting 50 Souls (reduced to 35 when playing Soul Glutton). After use, it remains active until your Fury is drained to zero, and while transformed you gain the following benefits:

• The benefits of Mastery: Monster Within are substantially increased.
• Consume becomes Devour, dealing significantly more damage.
• Reap becomes Cull, dealing significantly more damage.
• Void Ray damage is significantly increased, and no longer costs Fury, instead having a Hasted cooldown. Also pauses Fury drain while channeling.
• You gain access to Collapsing Star after collecting enough Souls.
• Your Fury bar is fully refilled.
• With Emptiness — You gain 0.25% Haste per Soul consumed.
• As Annihilator — You gain 3 stacks of Voidfall and refresh the cooldown of Reap.
• As Void-Scarred — The cooldowns of Voidblade and The Hunt are reset upon entry.
• As Void-Scarred — Voidblade, The Hunt and Hungering Slash are upgraded to Pierce the Veil, Predator's Wake and Reaper's Toll, respectively.

While in Void Metamorphosis, your Fury will drain at an increasingly rapid pace, ramping up the difficulty of maintaining the form as time passes. Thankfully, a handful of abilities will pause this drain briefly after use: Void Ray and Collapsing Star, alongside Voidblade and The Hunt when paired with the Voidrush talent. Therefore, it's very important to plan around your Void Metamorphosis windows, ideally having some Souls already generated on the ground to leverage after entry.

While in your Void Metamorphosis form, all of your abilities deal significantly more damage, but most importantly, you can cast your strongest spell - Collapsing Star. This can only be cast under the following conditions:

• Void Metamorphosis is currently active;
• You have gathered a total of 30 Soul Fragments;
• On entry via the Midnight Apex Talent.

When cast, this deals massive Cosmic damage to your target and nearby enemies (reduced after 8 targets), and resets your Soul counter displayed on the resource bar. Through the Impending Apocalypse talent, each subsequent Star cast in each Void Metamorphosis will become 30% stronger; meaning that the longer you can sustain your transformation the more powerful each cast becomes.

Devourer is a Dual Resource specialization, needing to balance both its Fury and Soul Fragments as fuel for its abilities. Depending on whether you are currently in Void Metamorphosis or not, they each serve a dual function.

Fury is your primary resource while outside of Void Metamorphosis, and is spent to cast Void Ray. This has a cap of 120 as Annihilator140 as Void-Scarred, so you should always avoid wasting any by overcapping. This is generated by casting Consume, Voidblade / Hungering Slash, while Soul Immolation is active, or by collecting Soul Fragments. Void Ray also generates 10 after its channel completes via Voidglare Boon.

While inside Void Metamorphosis, your abilities no longer cost Fury, and instead it passively drains while transformed. When you completely run out, this effect ends, so generation is still crucial to maintaining the benefits of your cooldown.

Souls grant 4 Fury when collected, and also fill up your secondary resource bar. When you reach 50 (or 35 when playing Soul Glutton), you gain access to your Void Metamorphosis form. While transformed, every 30 Souls generated will also allow you to cast Collapsing Star once. Souls are generated from a variety of abilities and talents, listed below:

• Consume spawns 1 Soul via Predator's Thirst;
• Shattered Souls grants all ability damage a chance to spawn a Soul;
• Entropy will passively spawn 1 Soul every 8 seconds;
• Soul Immolation spawns 3 Souls over its duration;
• Void Ray spawns a large number of Souls via Waste Not;
• Collapsing Star spawns 3 Souls via Star Fragments;
• Void Metamorphosis spawns 5 Souls on entry via Midnight;

You can only have a maximum of 10 Souls on the ground at a time. Any after this are automatically collected when a new one is spawned. Additionally, any Souls collected after the limit of 50 while outside of Void Metamorphosis, or 35 while transformed, will be wasted. That means you want to try to avoid collecting any until you've either activated your window, or cast Collapsing Star when it becomes available.

Since both resources fluctuate in how important they are based on your Void Metamorphosis state, it can take a little bit of getting used to. A few quick tips when getting started are:

• Don't Waste Fury or Souls - be aware of both caps, and always aim to stay below those limits. There's a small buffer for both, so make use of it.
• Check Before you Reap - bear in mind that Reap will collect Souls and generate 4 Fury for each, so consider holding off if it will significantly overcap your resources.
• Leverage the Refill - when entering Void Metamorphosis your Fury bar is fully refilled, so try to siphon it off with Void Ray before entry.
• Use Spenders Aggressively - generation of both resources can be very fast, so try to use Void Ray and Collapsing Star as soon as they activate.

Void Ray is Devourer's primary spender outside of Void Metamorphosis, and a key cooldown while inside it. This is the specialization equivalent to Havoc's Eye Beam and Vengeance's Fel Devastation, boasting a 25-yard range. It can be channelled for up to 3 seconds (reduced by Haste), and deals heavy Cosmic damage over the duration while rooting you in place.

Uniquely, it has a dual function depending on your current Void Metamorphosis state. While outside of this form, it has no cooldown, but costs 100 Fury to cast. While inside, it has a Hasted cooldown of 16 seconds (reduced to 14 by Voidpurge), and pauses your Fury drain while channelling and briefly after. Due to being a central part of Devourer, it has a number of talents that augment it:

• Waste Not — significantly increases the rate of Souls it generates, turning it into one of your most reliable source of Souls.
• Full Channel Rewards — four talent options add payoff to completing a channel. Voidglare Boon grants 10 Fury, Eradicate and Moment of Craving empower your follow-up Reap cast, and Final Breath increases the damage of the final tick by 300%.
• Damage Amplifiers — Focused Ray increases Void Ray damage by 20% when it hits 3 or less targets, while Demonic Instinct increases all damage it deals by 10% per point.

Due to its raw damage alongside the effects tied to it, it is ideal to cast Void Ray as much as possible, ideally as soon as it becomes available. This means avoiding Fury waste is especially important while outside of Void Metamorphosis, as this directly leads to less Void Ray casts.

Uniquely, Devourer comes with a number of talent options that encourage you to jump into melee range briefly for a few globals, before then quickly leaping back out. Void-Scarred especially emphasizes this playstyle, and the core talents are:

• Voidblade — 30-second cooldown ability that leaps to your target, dealing heavy Cosmic damage and generating Fury. Comes with a number of talents to empower it such as Duty Eternal, Devourer's Bite, Singular Strikes and Soulforged Blades.
• The Hunt — 90-second cooldown that charges to your target, dealing Cosmic damage and applying a DoT to them and up to 5 enemies in your path. Your hitbox remains active for a few seconds after this, allowing you to apply the dot to any targets you missed.
• Hungering Slash — The core of the "melee combo". After using Voidblade or The Hunt, they are replaced on your action bar with this ability, causing you to slash in an arc around you. This shatters 2 Souls, generates 10 Fury, and can be further augmented by Soulforged Blades, Singular Strikes and Demonic Instinct. Additionally, when used, it triggers Voidstep, granting a free cast of Vengeful Retreat that will deal Cosmic damage to nearby enemies when cast. This allows you to leap in, do the combo, and then quickly return to range.
• Voidrush — Adds extra value to Voidblade during Void Metamorphosis. This causes both it and The Hunt to briefly pause Fury drain when cast, and also reduces Voidblade's cooldown by 10 seconds after each Collapsing Star. This makes them extremely good for extending your transformations even further!

All of these talents combined create a strong incentive to mix in some quick melee combos for a big payoff. While they can be avoided, their benefits are so universal that it's hard to ignore how much the package brings to the table.

While Reap is positioned as a central part of the Devourer rotatation, unfortunately due to current tuning on the Beta it is not pressed on cooldown, instead being used to proc certain effects. It has a base 8-second cooldown, instantly dealing Cosmic damage to your target, and consuming up to 4 Soul Fragments. A variety of effects and talents also modify it in different ways:

• Void Metamorphosis — Transforms Reap into Cull while active, significantly increasing its damage. Its cooldown is also reduced by 1 second each time you cast Devour (the replacement for Consume).
• Scythe's Embrace — Causes Reap to also generate 10 Fury. Note - this does not cause it to gain bonus damage from Furious on the Class tree.
• Second Helping — Grants Reap a second charge.
• Umbral Blade — Reduces the cooldown of Reap by 1 second.
• Soulshaper & Moment of Craving — These both combine to form the main usage of Reap. Soulshaper increases its damage dealt by 8% per Soul consumed, and Moment of Craving allows your next Reap cast following a fully channelled Void Ray to consume up to 10 Souls. These effects serve as a large increase to Reap casts, and are the driving force for it within the rotation.
• Eradicate — Upgrades Reap to Eradicate after fully channelling Void Ray. This causes it to deal damage in a 25-yard cone in front of you, gaining all of the bonuses a standard Reap cast would. While not taken currently in single-target (as it doesn't interact with Cull), it's still a strong AoE option and could change over the course of testing.

Due to the current tuning on the Midnight Beta, Reap is only used in a handful of circumstances as a priority. Moment of Craving alongside Soulshaper raises its value to gather up the souls, and should be used when available. It can also be used (though at lower value) to gather up any Souls you're currently unable to reach if absolutely necessary. Lastly, with the Annihilator tree it's also key to activating Voidfall, so is much more present within its rotation.

While Soul Immolation is positioned on the Devourer tree as a key part of the rotation, currently it's in an unusual spot. This comes with a base 1-minute cooldown, though can be reduced to 30-seconds with 2 charges using Tempered Soul. When activated, this deals Fire damage to yourself, while generating 30 Fury and shattering 3 Souls over 5 seconds.

Its follow-up node provides a choice: Spontaneous Immolation vs. Tempered Soul. This allows for you to choose between either active activation (with more flexibility in when you use it), or a 5% chance passive trigger from any damaging spell - saving GCDs. Generally, Spontaneous Immolation wins out here, as the 5% chance averages out to roughly the same number of uses over the course of an encounter while having stronger Haste scaling. There's no major advantage with the way Devourer currently plays to having direct control over when these happen, so while Tempered Soul can be played if you'd prefer more predictability, it's not currently recommended.