Demon Hunter Hero Talents — The War Within (Season 1)

This page is covers only the new Hero Talents available in The War Within. If you want to learn more about the best regular talents and complimenting builds for Havoc Demon Hunter, check out our Talents page:

Currently the recommendation for raid content is either, as they are extremely similar in terms of pure performance. Fel-Scarred is, however, much easier to execute giving it the edge.

Fel-Scarred has the advantage of much more potent cleave, and far more powerful cooldown windows thanks to the Metamorphosis empowerments. It also suffers less with downtime due to that, making it more suitable for many encounters. Its one downside is that some of its priority damage is lost due to suffering the same issue as Isolated Prey, where any adds present will reduce the damage done to your primary target as Focused Hatred will be deactivated.

Aldrachi Reaver is tuned slightly stronger than the alternative and has the advantage of requiring less movement talents, and a stronger ability to hit priority targets (which is important in Nerub'ar Palace). It is, however, much harder to execute and is punished heavily by downtime or target swapping so bear that in mind. It also provides more defense via Army Unto Oneself or Incorruptible Spirit

The Current recommendation for Hero Talents in Mythic+ is Fel-Scarred due to it providing a much more robust Mythic+ oriented damage profile.

Fel-Scarred has the edge due to its ability to deal huge frontloaded burst AoE around its Eye Beam and Metamorphosis casts. It does, however, struggle to focus as much on priority targets due to Focused Hatred. The freedom to target swap without needing to set up on each pull makes it much more flexible, making it the general recommendation.

Aldrachi Reaver is harder to execute and falls slightly short in terms of raw AoE power, but it provides more priority damage, giving it a niche that may be useful in certain dungeons. It also provides significantly better active defense due to Army Unto Oneself or Incorruptible Spirit.

Below are brief explanations of the effects the above-recommended hero trees have in each given content type.

3.

Best Hero Talent Builds for Havoc Demon Hunter

Fel-Scarred
Raid / Single-Target Aldrachi Reaver
Raid / Single-Target Fel-Scarred
AoE / Mythic+

3.

Best Fel-Scarred Single-Target Build for Havoc Demon Hunter

Fel-Scarred greatly empowers your Metamorphosis windows both through the active cast and your Demonic effect, granting powerful damage procs through Demonsurge. Each time we enter Demon form, we want to consume each of these effects from our empowered spells (two in Demonic, and 5 in Metamorphosis casts). It also turns Sigil of Flame into a powerful damage amplifier via Student of Suffering to align with each Eye Beam cast, making it a much more burst oriented damage profile.

For the 3 choice nodes Student of Suffering is the ideal pick, turning Sigil of Flame into an additional burst cooldown to overlap with Eye Beam. Set Fire to the Pain provides better defense, and Pursuit of Angriness provides slightly more mobility over the course of an encounter.

3.

Best Aldrachi Reaver Single-Target Build for Havoc Demon Hunter

Aldrachi Reaver adds a powerful proc to Throw Glaive in Reaver's Glaive, triggered by consuming souls. Due to this, it takes most supporting talents (but avoids Furious Throws), and it does not cast Throw Glaive outside of these procs. After casting Reaver's Glaive, our next cast of both Chaos Strike and Blade Dance is empowered. The playstyle is fairly similar to regular Havoc with the extra twist of cycling through procs to maintain Reaver's Mark.

Defensively, the tree generates a lot of Soul Fragments which provides extra passive healing, alongside Incorruptible Spirit for absorb shields. Alternatively, Army Unto Oneself is a strong extra defensive following each Felblade cast, giving it a lot of flexibility.

Of the 3 choice nodes on the tree, Preemptive Strike provides additional damage following each Reaver's Glaive, and Unhindered Assault is more useful for the Felblade resets.

3.

Best Fel-Scarred Mythic+ Build for Havoc Demon Hunter

Fel-Scarred in Mythic+ makes use of the huge follow-up burst window after each Demonic activation and Metamorphosis cast to trigger Demonsurge. It has a very standard Havoc gameplay style but significantly elevates the strength of both your Demonic follow-ups and your 2-minute burst window.

For the 3 choice nodes Student of Suffering is the ideal pick, turning Sigil of Flame into an additional burst cooldown to overlap with Eye Beam. Set Fire to the Pain provides better defense, and Wave of Debilitation has niche M+ value to help the tank, but Pursuit of Angriness provides a small amount of extra mobility, so it is up to preference.

Aldrachi Reaver centers around generating and consuming Souls to trigger Reaver's Glaive. It can also use The Hunt to snap generate a use when needed. Following each of these casts, Blade Dance and Chaos Strike are empowered and the ability you use second will be enhanced further. A rule of thumb is:

• In single-target consume Chaos Strike second to enhance Reaver's Mark.
• In AoE consume Blade Dance second to enhance Fury of the Aldrachi.

Ideally, you will always maintain Reaver's Mark on your primary target, and should avoid target swapping unless you have to.

Fel-Scarred is much simpler in execution, as it simply empowers your abilities further when triggering Demonic or entering Metamorphosis. Make sure to trigger each of the Demonsurge charges each time you do, two for Demonic and 5 for Metamorphosis (due to Demonic Intensity). You should also align Sigil of Flame (to trigger Student of Suffering) with Eye Beam casts.