Havoc Demon Hunter DPS Guide — The War Within (11.1.7)

Patch 11.1.7 contains almost no class changes, and is a minor patch to close out Season 2. If you are returning to Havoc Demon Hunter, check out the 11.1.5 changes instead. The only major feature of note in Patch 11.1.7, is the Durable Information Securing Container belt being added alongside Overcharged Delves. Recommendations for how to set this belt up can be found on our Gear Page.

Additionally, Blizzard has introduced a curated Rotation Assist tool that also comes with a one-button keybind option. Details on how useful this is for Havoc and any pitfalls it has can be found on our Rotation Page.

12th May Update

The Corruption and Puzzling Cartel Chip recommendations have been updated to account for recent tuning and additional items being added to the pool. Make sure to check them before spending any currency if you haven't recently!

Patch 11.1.5 is light on class changes across the board, and Havoc Demon Hunter received no major changes with its release. Puzzling Cartel Chips will be introduced following a quest released on May 13th that requires you to defeat bosses within the Liberation of Undermine raid, and you can check our Gear Page for purchase recommendations.

Patch 11.1 comes with a number of key changes that have a big impact on the spec, improving the core of Aldrachi Reaver, allowing it to compete with Fel-Scarred. Some extremely long term pain points have also been addressed, so for some this patch is something to be excited about. Key takeaways are:

• Baseline Abilities have received some buffs to even out hero tree balance and cover for certain talents that have been changed.
• Movement talents - in particular Inertia - has been reworked to also interact with Felblade, removing the need to use Fel Rush for damage. Cycle of Hatred is also now a consistent looping cooldown reduction effect for Eye Beam. Some other talent notes are inside the toggle.
  
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  • Any Means Necessary has been removed, and replaced with Screaming Brutality. This is the return of the Amirdrassil set bonus, causing Blade Dance to also trigger Throw Glaive on your primary target. A Fire Inside now also converts Immolation Aura to Chaos damage.
  • Cycle of Hatred now instead causes Eye Beam damage to reduce the cooldown of your next Eye Beam cast, stacking up to a 20-second reduction. Has also been reduced to 1 point.
  • Unbound Chaos is instead triggered by The Hunt and Vengeful Retreat, and can also be consumed by Felblade.
  • Felblade now also has a brief movement ICD after casting Vengeful Retreat, making it easier to trigger the leap back to your target.
  • Momentum has been renamed to Exergy, and instead causes The Hunt and Vengeful Retreat to increase damage dealt by 5% for 20 seconds.
• Wounded Quarry has been reworked into a powerful funnel debuff that drastically improves Havoc's priority damage to your Reaver's Mark target during AoE.

The changes do a good job at streamlining the movement-for-damage tools and has a significant impact on one of Havoc's pain points, as does a much more consistent Eye Beam cooldown cycle.

Easing this up also gives more room for the two hero talents to shine in their respective damage windows, with Aldrachi Reaver fitting in better with Screaming Brutality to support the Throw Glaive talents. Wounded Quarry also has a huge impact on their AoE damage profile, giving it a defined niche in a composition. Fel-Scarred does improve with the more frequent Demonsurge via Cycle of Hatred as well, though there are some awkward interactions that result from it.