Havoc Demon Hunter DPS Crucible of Storms Raid Guide — Battle for Azeroth (BfA) 8.2.5

In this section, you will find tips and details regarding each individual boss in the Crucible of Storms raid. This section will attempt to detail the finer points of what your specialization is capable of, but for standard information on the fight, please refer to the generic boss guides provided on the site.

Currently, Havoc swings between two popular builds: a heavily single target oriented Demon Blades build and a more versatile build making use of Blind Fury. Both bosses allow for either build to be played, but each tips section will focus on the build that will provide the damage profile most suited to the encounter. Note that each of these choices will assume you have ideal gear and Azerite traits to support them.

The Restless Cabal has an overwhelmingly high uptime of cleave opportunities, meaning that your Eye Beam and Immolation Aura have additional value per cast. This means using these talents will net you more overall boss damage assuming you can hit extra targets when needed, alongside being more front-loaded if you make use of Promises of Power. You can deviate and use a Demon Blades build if you wish to, but is less suited to the damage profile of the encounter currently.

• All of the Level 104 options have their uses here depending on your tactic. Soul Rending will provide you with constant healing throughout the encounter, but the fight is very intermittent so this is more of an ease of use choice. Desperate Instincts can give some additional damage reduction with Blur as most of the damage is predictable. Finally, Netherwalk provides the strongest use allowing you to immune the damage of the highest periods of damage — namely Crushing Doubt and Witness the End triggers. This is especially useful if you have high stacks of Promises of Power.
• Level 108 talents are all low impact on this encounter, the most you can gain is by using Master of the Glaive to fill additional global cooldowns with Throw Glaive when forced out of range by Crushing Doubt.

You should make sure to look at the The Restless Cabal guide to make sure you have a strong bearing on the mechanics of the encounter, as this section will cover small specific tips related to Havoc.

• For the majority of the encounter both bosses will be tanked together, meaning you should aim to hit both bosses with each Eye Beam and Blade Dance cast.
• Disrupt is a strong tool to deal with Witness the End casts, and you should co-ordinate with your raid which add you need to interrupt. Make sure to only interrupt when needed, so as to stagger the three individual activations and prevent a cast from completing when the debuff is present on the raid.
• Blur should be used during the Storm of Annihilation, as this is the most lethal portion of the encounter. Otherwise, use this if you find yourself with high stacks of Promises of Power and cannot be dispelled, or when out of the group with Crushing Doubt.
• Use Fel Rush and Vengeful Retreat to get out of the group before the Crushing Doubt effect expires if it is applied to you. The remainder of the encounter should not require much heavy movement so you can often save it for this.
• Netherwalk should be saved for emergencies, however if you are making use of the Promises of Power debuff you should use it as Crushing Doubt effects trigger as they will be lethal when at max stacks.
• Focus down the Visage from Beyond when it spawns, ideally saving Eye Beam to burn it down while cleaving the bosses nearby to prevent the Terrifying Echo cast. Make sure to mostly ignore it when it is inactive, just passively cleave it to keep it low.
• Darkness can be used if the raid stacks efficiently during either Storm of Annihilation or Crushing Doubt detonations to lower the risk of accidental deaths.
• Bloodlust/ Heroism will generally be used during the first or second Custody of the Deep activation to burn down the shield. This will rarely line up with your Metamorphosis cast, so do not go out of your way and hold it too long to line it up.

Uu'nat is made or broken by your single target damage, so you should aim to build around dealing as much as possible. This often leans toward the highest damage output on a single target, that being Demon Blades. If you can support this then use it, but Blind Fury will still work perfectly fine.

• All of the Level 104 options have their uses here depending on your tactic. Soul Rending will provide you with constant healing throughout the encounter, as there are frequent periods of high raid damage that need to be dealt with, especially in the tail end of the encounter. Desperate Instincts can give some additional damage reduction with Blur to deal with the predictable damage portions as they are particularly lethal. Lastly, Netherwalk provides the strongest use allowing you to immune certain high damage periods in the event of you getting two stacks from Maddening Eyes of N'Zoth, or if you are affected by Insatiable Torment during Gift of N'Zoth: Lunacy.
• Level 108 talents are all low impact on this encounter, the most you can gain is by using Master of the Glaive to fill additional global cooldowns with Throw Glaive when forced out of range by Maddening Eyes of N'Zoth beams.

You should make sure to look at the Uu'nat, Harbinger of the Void guide to make sure you have a strong bearing on the mechanics of the encounter, as this section will cover small specific tips related to Havoc.

• Avoid using your AoE tools such as Eye Beam, Immolation Aura, and Blade Dance during Gift of N'Zoth: Lunacy, as allies will turn hostile. This is the most dangerous period as players cannot be healed so any extra damage may kill them due to Insatiable Torment circles still being active.
• You should be using Bloodlust/ Heroism in Phase Three, after the cast of Storm of Annihilation used in the intermission has completed. This means that you should aim to have Metamorphosis ready for this burn.
• Make use of your defensive tool Blur when Gift of N'Zoth: Lunacy is applied as you will not be healed, and Feed on the Unworthy will be triggering in the melee camp. Otherwise, make use of it if you are accidentally hit by two beams during Maddening Eyes of N'Zoth. Netherwalk can be made use of here in an emergency.
• Fel Rush and Vengeful Retreat should be used to get out of the circles spawned during Phase Two by Unknowable Terror. Also use it and both of these tools to quickly move through one of the Maddening Eyes of N'Zoth beams, and then through the second when your debuff has faded.
• Disrupt is a strong tool to deal with Consume Essence casts from the Primordial Mindbenders in Phase Two, and should be used as often as possible to manage the adds when they are being burned down.
• Darkness can be used on the raid if stacked to help with the initial hit from Gift of N'Zoth: Lunacy before they become hostile, but is otherwise relatively low impact here.