Devourer Demon Hunter DPS Rotation, Cooldowns, and Abilities — Midnight Pre-Patch (12.0.1)

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. The goal for Void Metamorphosis is different for each Hero Talent Tree: Annihilator seeks to extend it as long as possible to leverage Emptiness, while Void-Scarred seeks to bounce in and out of it quickly to leverage Voidsurge procs.

• Cast The Hunt right before entering Void Metamorphosis.
• Cast Voidblade right before entering Void Metamorphosis.
• Cast Reap with 3 stacks of Voidfall.
• Cast Void Metamorphosis when available.
• 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 Reap if it will collect enough Souls to enable Void Metamorphosis.
• Cast Consume.

• Cast Collapsing Star when at 30 Souls.
• Cast Cull with 4 Soul Fragments.
• Cast Void Ray.
• Cast Cull with 3 Voidfall stacks, or 4 Soul Fragments on the ground.. Click for Notes

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

Devourer's gameplay loop is built entirely around its Fury and Soul generation loop, feeding into your Void Ray and Void Metamorphosis windows. Cycling quickly to use more of these abilities 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 three Collapsing Stars per window, so aim for that.
• In Single-target both Soul Glutton and Emptiness are avoided. This is allows us to put points in stronger talents such as Calamitous, and also stay in Void Metamorphosis longer to cast more Cull.
• Since you can cast Consume / Devour while moving, gather up Souls nearby while doing so to build toward Void Metamorphosis / Collapsing Star.
• Reap is used frequently following it's buffs. Look to use it outside of Void Metamorphosis whenever you're at 3 stacks of Voidfall, or with a Moment of Craving buff. Inside of Void Metamorphosis, it is used on cooldown with 4 or more Soul Fragments on the ground.
• Reap use is now frequent following its large buffs. Outside of Void Metamorphosis, it is used once right before Void Metamorphosis. While transformed, it is used on cooldown whenever 4 or more Soul Fragments are available.
• > Void Ray is used aggressively. Outside of Void Metamorphosis this should be whenever you reach 100+ Fury, and while transformed it is used on cooldown to pause Fury drain.
• > Void Ray is not used outside of Void Metamorphosis, as Consume is a more efficient Soul Fragment generator. Inside of Void Metamorphosis, Void Ray is used on cooldown to pause Fury drain and reset the cooldown of Cull.
• For Void-Scarred, the melee combo is quite robust. Depending on your current form, the sequence is:
  Outside: Voidblade / The Hunt are used prior to Void Metamorphosis, and Hungering Slash and Vengeful Retreat is ignored.
  Inside: Predator's Wake / Pierce the Veil ➜ Reaper's Toll ➜ Vengeful Retreat
  These can be done as isolated 3-part combos, or an extended 6-part cycle. New due to a bugfix, Void-Scarred now looks to carry one Hungering Slash proc into Void Metamorphosis. This will empower it into Reaper's Toll, and will be used before following the normal melee combo.
• At current tuning, Void-Scarred does not make use of Collapsing Star in Single Target. Since it doesn't have access to the Apex Talent - Midnight - or bonus effects from casting it, the damage doesn't outpace extra Devour casts. Once additional targets are introduced though, it does reintroduce it into the rotation.

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 Hungering Slash.
• Cast Vengeful Retreat with Voidstep.
• 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 Consume.

• Cast Vengeful Retreat with Voidstep.
• Cast Reaper's Toll.
• Cast Predator's Wake.
• Cast Pierce the Veil.
• Cast Eradicate.
• Cast Void Ray.
• Cast Collapsing Star when at 30 Souls.
• Cast Cull with 4 or more Soul Fragments for priority damage.
• Cast Devour.

Devourer's gameplay loop in AoE is built on cycling through Fury to power Void Ray, while also cycling through short, burst-heavy Void Metamorphosis windows. Its playstyle remains very similar to single-target, still utilizing Soul Glutton for more frequent entry. Some specific notes based on the build are:

Devourer's gameplay loop in AoE is built on cycling through Fury to power Void Ray, while cycling through short, burst-heavy Void Metamorphosis windows. It switches over to Soul Glutton to achieve that, still trying to squeeze in as many Collapsing Star casts as possible when playing Annihilator. Some specific notes based on the build are:

• In AoE, Soul Glutton is taken, so Void Metamorphosis windows are shorter. Aim to have as many casts of Collapsing Star as possible. In the Pre-Patch, this should be roughly 2-3 per Void Metamorphosis, but the number will depend on how many targets you are facing.
• Since you can cast Consume / Devour while moving, gather up Souls nearby while doing so to build toward Void Metamorphosis / Collapsing Star.
• In AoE, 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. Inside of Void Metamorphosis, Cull can be used with 4 or more Soul Fragments on the ground for increased priority damage. 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 whenever you're at 100 Fury, while inside it is used on cooldown.
• For Void-Scarred, the melee combo is quite 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 cast as isolated 3-part combos, or a longer extended 6-part cycle.

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 Consume until you have collected 46 Soul Fragments.
• Cast Reap.
• Cast Voidblade.
• Cast The Hunt.
• Cast Void Metamorphosis.
• Cast Cull.
• Cast Void Ray.
• Cast Cull.
• Cast Reaper's Toll.
• Cast Cull.
• Cast Vengeful Retreat.
• Cast Pierce the Veil.
• Cast Reaper's Toll.
• Cast Vengeful Retreat.
• Cast Predator's Wake.
• Cast Reaper's Toll.
• Cast Vengeful Retreat.
• Cast Devour.
• Pre-cast Consume 1 second before the pull.
• Cast Consume until 100 Fury.
• Cast Void Ray.
• Cast Eradicate.
• Repeat the above until Void Metamorphosis is ready.
• Cast Voidblade.
• Cast Void Metamorphosis.
• Cast Void Ray.
• Cast Eradicate.
• Cast Reaper's Toll.
• Cast Vengeful Retreat.
• Cast Cull.
• Cast Pierce the Veil.
• Cast Reaper's Toll.
• Cast Vengeful Retreat.
• Cast Devour.
• Note - Due to the Annihilator single-target build 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 when you can proc Voidfall.
• Cast Consume until you reach 100 Fury.
• Cast Void Ray.
• Continue with normal priority.

Your goal for is to reach your first Void Metamorphosis 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 and having a shorter cast time.
• 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 30 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 transformed, any Souls gathered after 40 disappear, so avoid holding onto Collapsing Star for too long.

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.

Due to a lack of apex talents in Pre-Patch, Void-Scarred forgoes the use of this ability in pure single target, instead opting to cast more Devour. This ability remains incredibly strong for Annihilator at all times, but Void-Scarred only makes use of it when additional targets are present.

Rolling Torment serves as a redundancy tool for excess Souls gathered while transformed. This rewards you with 5 Fury and 0.5% increased damage for 12 seconds per Soul present when your transformation expired. This means it's less punishing to gather Souls without reaching a Collapsing Star cast while in Void Metamorphosis, and also gives some nice resource kickback. This is especially helpful in reaching your first Void Ray after you leave, allowing you to restart your cycle faster.

Despite this, you still want some Souls left on the ground when your form expires. The main benefit is getting back into Void Metamorphosis faster, this talent simply means it's not quite as much of a disaster if you just missed out on a final Collapsing Star cast.

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, and 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;

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 both while channelling and briefly after ending. 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 50% when it strikes a single target, 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, with its core talents being:

• 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 both to that target 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 cast. 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, especially for Void-Scarred. While Annihilator currently avoids them in favour of a caster oriented playstyle, they are still strong independent talents.

Reap is positioned as a central part of the Devourer rotation. 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.
• Second Helping — Grants Reap a second charge.
• Umbral Blade — Causes Reap's cooldown to be affected by Haste.
• Soulshaper & Moment of Craving — 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 massively increase its damage.
• 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. This is a very powerful AoE tool.

Due to the current tuning, Reap is used in a handful of circumstances. Moment of Craving raises its value when used to gather up Souls, and should be used when the amount of Souls gathered will allow you to enter Void Metamorphosis. It can also be used (though at lower value) to gather up any extra Souls you're currently unable to reach due to boss mechanics if absolutely necessary. Lastly, with the Annihilator tree, it's the method in which it triggers its core effect - Voidfall - and as such is much more present within its rotation. Conversly, due to recent large buffs, Cull is large contributor to damage. For both Hero Trees, Cull is used on cooldown within Void Metamorphosis, as long as you will pickup 4 or more souls. This leads to a rotation where you aim to cast 2-3 Devour followed by a Cull.

While Soul Immolation is positioned on the Devourer tree as a core 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 casts (with more flexibility in when you use it), or a 5% chance to passively 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.