Havoc Demon Hunter DPS Guide — Dragonflight 10.0.7
Welcome to our Havoc Demon Hunter guide for World of Warcraft — Dragonflight 10.0.7. Here, you will learn how to play as a Havoc Demon Hunter in both raids and Mythic+ dungeons: from the very beginning to maximizing your DPS.
Havoc Demon Hunter Overview
Havoc gameplay in Dragonflight revolves around a mixture of a build and spend resource management system paired with some short cooldowns that need to be used efficiently within the rotation. This loop causes an ebb and flow of high damage windows and key presses in between filling global cooldowns efficiently, creating a fast-paced melee with an engaging damage loop that is mostly GCD-locked regardless of build. It has excellent mobility, relatively strong survival and a variety of damage profiles available, whether it be burst, cleave or AoE, making it a great all-rounder.
Strengths and Weaknesses
Flexible talent allowing for different damage profiles
Powerful burst cooldown options that are very frontloaded, especially in AoE.
Core gameplay is easy to pick up.
Strong survival tools.
Flexible, instant mobility allowing for great positioning control.
Can switch targets without downsides, and can pool resources for instant burst.
Good group utility and provides
Chaos Brand.
AoE is tied to cooldowns, lowering sustained damage.
Some RNG is built into the resource system, which can lead to starvation at bad moments and flood at others.
Downtime can be punishing for single-target builds.
Certain powerful talent options can be dangerous in some encounters, reducing potential.
Havoc Demon Hunter changes in Patch 10.0.7
Havoc received some small quality of life changes in the patch, but is mostly unchanged:
Fodder to the Flame demons now have a 20% reduced spawn range, and the Demon Soul spawned by it will now land in front of it rather than a random direction.
Blind Fury now increases damage and duration by 20% (changed from just duration by 50%), keeping the damage increase roughly the same but reducing the time required to stand still and channel.
Havoc Demon Hunter changes in Dragonflight
Compared to Shadowlands and before, Havoc has seen a healthy improvement in the number of active abilities and tools available. Choices provided allow for a wider variety of abilities, filling out the rotation and giving more control over how you build your damage type. The most significant changes to the core gameplay include:
- Two core talents have been added in
Know Your Enemy and
Any Means Necessary that significantly improve the secondary stat scaling depending on your selection, fixing a long-term issue for Havoc.
Blade Dance has become a core rotational button largely due to the location of
First Blood on the tree and the variety of supporting talents throughout. This provides free cleave and a strong rotational hook in the main gameplay loop.
- A large number of
Throw Glaive talents have been added allowing the option for a low target cleave build to shine when using
Furious Throws,
Soulrend and
Accelerating Blade.
Essence Break has seen large improvements, giving Havoc access to a high potency short burst window that works both in single-target and AoE to align with the returning
Demonic windows.
Immolation Aura retains a lot of the Shadowlands effects and the newly added
Ragefire, giving it a constant AoE damage tool and some small funnel potential.
Momentum has been given more support tools making it much more appealing and can now be taken without sacrificing strong effects elsewhere. In particular
Initiative and
Tactical Retreat pair to encourage its use and further improve damage windows.
A lot of these changes come in packages that can be slotted interchangeably with each other giving a lot of room to tailor your damage profile to the situation while still maintaining a similar overall gameplay style. Click the button below to see a full list of changes for Havoc Demon Hunter:
Dragonflight Changes for Demon Hunters
We are maintaining a list of changes for Demon Hunters, so you can see what changes with every patch of Dragonflight.
Leveling a Havoc Demon Hunter
If you plan on playing a Havoc Demon Hunter but have not leveled one yet, you can take a look at our leveling guide for tips:
When you make it to max level, it can sometimes take effort to transition quickly to making use of the full suite of tools and abilities without having the help of some add-ons. We recommend getting used to some of these as you begin your journey rather than all at the end, making the process smoother and making you comfortable with your UI. You can check out our Add-ons page for some recommendations:
Basics of Havoc Demon Hunter Gameplay
Havoc comes with a tight core ability package that gives it an easy
pick-up-and-play aspect. Still, the core is expanded dramatically through
talents that add great depth. The primary loop involves generating
Fury via active abilities such as Demon's Bite /
Felblade and
Immolation Aura, and spending these on various
spender tools in
Eye Beam,
Blade Dance, and
Chaos Strike.
This is further expanded with certain talent selections, rewarding good
GCD and cooldown management while staying active.
Strong spender tools are generally used on cooldown unless you save them for
specific windows in an encounter. Eye Beam and
Blade Dance are
used regardless of target count on cooldown, and in between this,
Chaos Strike is used to burn off excess Fury. It also comes with a
long-duration cooldown in
Metamorphosis, granting 20% Haste and
empowering your two rotational spenders by converting them into
Death Sweep
and
Annihilation respectively.
Havoc also comes with extremely potent mobility tools in Fel Rush and
Vengeful Retreat, allowing you to reposition yourself around the
battlefield extremely quickly to stick to your target or avoid dangerous
mechanics.
For more context on the details of each ability, if you are new to the spec, we recommend looking through the Spell Summary first, as well as the Easy Mode page linked below.
How to Gear Up as a Havoc Demon Hunter
While it is hard to give a specific guarantee on what gear is best at this point, you can find some information and recommendations on the best direction to take your character on our dedicated gearing page. This also includes a basic Best in Slot list for this tier.
Once you have started to gear, you must ensure that you have the appropriate consumables, gems, enchants, and more. We have a dedicated page for exactly this, linked below. We also have a stats page, which provides more information on what each secondary stat does, and a general recommendation for what you should aim for.
End-Game as a Havoc Demon Hunter
Like all specs, Havoc looks very different when you move from the open world and leveling into the realm of end-game and progression. Therefore, we maintain a Mythic+, Raiding, and PvP guide for each respective content focus.
Improving as a Havoc Demon Hunter
If you are looking for an answer to a specific question, often these are common queries many players have. We keep pages that cover the most frequently asked questions and also mistakes players tend to run into.
Viability of Havoc Demon Hunter in the Current Patch
Patch 10.0.7 brings little in the way of concrete changes and is more oriented
toward quality of life improvements. Regardless, Havoc has proven already
to be a strong contender throughout Dragonflight in any content, and slots
comfortably into any composition or encounter type. Its flexibility and
desirable damage profiles, alongside being highly mobile and durable makes
it a go to raid staple while also bringing the required Chaos Brand
debuff. In Mythic+ on the other hand it brings a well suited package alongside
good control and utility tools, fitting into any setup without needing a
specific group to play off of. There is no reason for this to change in
the last patch of Season 1, so expect to see them in most groups and be
desirable regardless of what you are doing.
Changelog
- 24 Mar. 2023 (gear page): Updated for Primordial Gemstones hotfixes.
- 24 Mar. 2023 (enchants page): Updated for Primordial Stones hotfixes.
- 22 Mar. 2023 (gear page): Updated to account for Primordial Gemstone buffs.
- 22 Mar. 2023 (enchants page): Updated to account for Primordial Stone buffs.
- 20 Mar. 2023 (Legendaries): Reviewed for Patch 10.0.7.
- 20 Mar. 2023 (FAQ page): Reviewed for Patch 10.0.7.
- 20 Mar. 2023 (how to improve page): Reviewed for Patch 10.0.7.
- 20 Mar. 2023 (simulations page): Reviewed and updated with dungeon simulation section for Patch 10.0.7.
- 20 Mar. 2023 (gear page): Updated for Patch 10.0.7 with Annulet information.
- 20 Mar. 2023 (addons page): Reviewed and updated for Patch 10.0.7.
- 20 Mar. 2023 (enchants page): Reviewed for Patch 10.0.7.
- 20 Mar. 2023 (stats page): Reviewed for Patch 10.0.7.
- 20 Mar. 2023 (Vault of the Incarnates page): Reviewed and touched up for Patch 10.0.7.
- 20 Mar. 2023 (mythic+ page): Reviewed for Patch 10.0.7.
- 20 Mar. 2023 (rotation page): Reviewed for Patch 10.0.7.
- 20 Mar. 2023 (talents page): Reviewed and updated for Patch 10.0.7.
- 20 Mar. 2023 (spells page): Reviewed and cleaned up for Patch 10.0.7.
- 20 Mar. 2023 (easy mode page): Reviewed for Patch 10.0.7.
- 20 Mar. 2023 (this page): Updated for Patch 10.0.7.
- 24 Jan. 2023 (FAQ page): Reviewed for Patch 10.0.5.
- 24 Jan. 2023 (how to improve page): Reviewed for Patch 10.0.5.
- 24 Jan. 2023 (simulations page): Reviewed for Patch 10.0.5.
- 24 Jan. 2023 (gear page): Reviewed and updated for Patch 10.0.5.
- 24 Jan. 2023 (addons page): Reviewed for Patch 10.0.5.
- 24 Jan. 2023 (enchants page): Reviewed and updated for Patch 10.0.5.
- 24 Jan. 2023 (stats page): Reviewed for Patch 10.0.5.
- 24 Jan. 2023 (Vault of the Incarnates page): Reviewed for Patch 10.0.5.
- 24 Jan. 2023 (mythic+ page): Reviewed for Patch 10.0.5.
- 24 Jan. 2023 (rotation page): Reviewed for Patch 10.0.5, rotation tool refined.
- 24 Jan. 2023 (spells page): Reviewed for Patch 10.0.5.
- 24 Jan. 2023 (easy mode page): Reviewed for Patch 10.0.5.
- 24 Jan. 2023 (this page): Reviewed and updated for Patch 10.0.7.
- 01 Jan. 2023 (rotation page): Updated Opener.
- 31 Dec. 2022 (enchants page): Weapon Enchantment recommendation changed to Sophic Devotion.
- 31 Dec. 2022 (stats page): Raised the priority of Mastery in single target.
- 31 Dec. 2022 (Vault of the Incarnates page): Added Raszageth and other boss tips.
- 31 Dec. 2022 (easy mode page): Raised Mastery in Stat Priority.
- 11 Dec. 2022 (FAQ page): Reviewed for Dragonflight Season 1.
- 11 Dec. 2022 (how to improve page): Reviewed for Dragonflight Season 1.
- 11 Dec. 2022 (simulations page): Reviewed for Dragonflight Season 1.
- 11 Dec. 2022 (gear page): Updated for Dragonflight Season 1.
- 11 Dec. 2022 (gear page): Updated to Gear Page Format.
- 11 Dec. 2022 (addons page): Reviewed for Dragonflight Season 1.
- 11 Dec. 2022 (enchants page): Updated for Dragonflight Season 1.
- 11 Dec. 2022 (stats page): Reviewed for Dragonflight Season 1.
- 11 Dec. 2022 (Vault of the Incarnates page): Page added.
- 11 Dec. 2022 (mythic+ page): Reviewed for Dragonflight Season 1.
- 11 Dec. 2022 (rotation page): Updated for Dragonflight Season 1.
- 11 Dec. 2022 (talents page): Reviewed for Dragonflight Season 1.
- 11 Dec. 2022 (spells page): Fixed Formatting and Hotfixes.
- 11 Dec. 2022 (easy mode page): Reviewed for Dragonflight Season 1.
- 11 Dec. 2022 (this page): Reviewed for Dragonflight Season 1.
- 28 Nov. 2022 (FAQ page): Reviewed for Dragonflight launch.
- 28 Nov. 2022 (how to improve page): Updated for Dragonflight launch.
- 28 Nov. 2022 (simulations page): Reviewed for Dragonflight launch.
- 28 Nov. 2022 (gear page): Updated for Dragonflight launch.
- 28 Nov. 2022 (addons page): Reviewed for Dragonflight launch.
- 28 Nov. 2022 (enchants page): Updated for Dragonflight launch.
- 28 Nov. 2022 (stats page): Updated for Dragonflight launch.
- 28 Nov. 2022 (mythic+ page): Updated for Dragonflight launch.
- 28 Nov. 2022 (rotation page): Updated for Dragonflight launch.
- 28 Nov. 2022 (talents page): Updated for Dragonflight launch.
- 28 Nov. 2022 (spells page): Updated for Dragonflight launch.
- 28 Nov. 2022 (easy mode page): Updated for Dragonflight launch.
- 28 Nov. 2022 (this page): Updated for Dragonflight launch.
- 27 Oct. 2022 (mythic+ page): Added an additional, single-target-focused build.
- 24 Oct. 2022 (Legendaries): Updated for Dragonflight Pre-Patch.
- 24 Oct. 2022 (Torghast): Updated for Dragonflight Pre-Patch.
- 24 Oct. 2022 (Covenants and Soulbinds): Updated for Dragonflight Pre-Patch.
- 24 Oct. 2022 (FAQ page): Updated for Dragonflight Pre-Patch.
- 24 Oct. 2022 (how to improve page): Updated for Dragonflight Pre-Patch.
- 24 Oct. 2022 (gear page): Updated for Dragonflight Pre-Patch.
- 24 Oct. 2022 (addons page): Updated for Dragonflight Pre-Patch.
- 24 Oct. 2022 (enchants page): Updated for Dragonflight Pre-Patch.
- 24 Oct. 2022 (stats page): Updated for Dragonflight Pre-Patch.
- 24 Oct. 2022 (Sepulcher of the First Ones page): Updated for Dragonflight Pre-Patch.
- 24 Oct. 2022 (mythic+ page): Updated for Dragonflight Pre-Patch.
- 24 Oct. 2022 (rotation page): Updated for Dragonflight Pre-Patch.
- 24 Oct. 2022 (talents page): Updated for Dragonflight Pre-Patch.
- 24 Oct. 2022 (spells page): Updated for Dragonflight Pre-Patch.
- 24 Oct. 2022 (easy mode page): Updated for Dragonflight Pre-Patch.
- 24 Oct. 2022 (this page): Updated for Dragonflight Pre-Patch.
- 30 Jul. 2022 (Sanctum of Domination page): Updated for Season 4.
- 29 Jul. 2022 (Castle Nathria page): Updated for Season 4.
- 31 May 2022 (simulations page): Page reviewed for Patch 9.2.5.
- 20 Feb. 2022 (simulations page): Page reviewed and approved for Patch 9.2.
- 19 Feb. 2022 (Patch 9.2 Analysis): Checked for Patch 9.2 release.
- 24 Jan. 2022 (talents page): Reviewed and updated for Patch 10.0.5.
- 15 Jan. 2022 (Patch 9.2 Analysis): Page added with initial thoughts and information.
- 01 Nov. 2021 (Patch 9.1 Analysis): Reviewed and approved for Patch 9.1.5.
- 01 Nov. 2021 (simulations page): Reviewed and approved for Patch 9.1.5.
- 01 Nov. 2021 (Sanctum of Domination page): Updated for Patch 9.1.5 to more broadly accomodate Momentum/Demonic as equal.
- 10 Jul. 2021 (Sanctum of Domination page): Page added.
- 28 Jun. 2021 (simulations page): Reviewed and approved for Patch 9.1.
- 17 May 2021 (Patch 9.1 Analysis): Page updated with Covenant Legendaries.
- 27 Apr. 2021 (Patch 9.1 Analysis): Page created with initial information.
- 21 Jan. 2021 (Castle Nathria page): Updated for more recent logs following settling of Nathria release.
- 08 Dec. 2020 (Castle Nathria page): Updated for Shadowlands Season 1 release.
- 01 Dec. 2020 (Castle Nathria page): Added placeholder Castle Nathria page.
- 12 Oct. 2020 (simulations page): Page updated for the Shadowlands pre-patch.
- 12 Oct. 2020 (Ny'alotha page): Page updated for the Shadowlands pre-patch.
- 08 Jul. 2019 (The Eternal Palace page): Page added.
- 24 Jun. 2019 (Uldir page): This page has been reviewed for the release of Patch 8.2 and no changes are necessary.
- 24 Jun. 2019 (Battle of Dazar'alor page): This page has been reviewed for the release of Patch 8.2 and no changes are necessary.
- 24 Jun. 2019 (Crucible of Storms page): This page has been reviewed for the release of Patch 8.2 and no changes are necessary.
- 01 May 2019 (Crucible of Storms page): Updated with details for each boss.
- 15 Apr. 2019 (Crucible of Storms page): Guide added.
- 03 Feb. 2019 (Battle of Dazar'alor page): Page added.
- 10 Dec. 2018 (Uldir page): This page has been reviewed for Patch 8.1 and no changes are necessary.
- 12 Sep. 2018 (Uldir page): Updated following week 1 Uldir observations.
- 04 Sep. 2018 (Uldir page): Updated with initial tips for Uldir release.
- 09 Aug. 2018 (Uldir page): Page created in preparation for the eventual Uldir release (empty for now).
More Demon Hunter Guides
Guides from Other Classes
With our usual writer, Wordup, being unavailable for an indefinite period of time, this guide has been updated for Dragonflight by Shadarek, who currently raids in top 50 US guild Resonate-Bleeding Hollow.
- PvP Play with the Blues on the 10.1 PTR: March 31st
- Aberrus Raid Testing Schedule: March 30 - April 28
- Dragonflight Patch 10.0.7 Hotfixes, March 28th
- Upcoming 10.1 PTR Changes to Class Tier Sets: March 28th
- Dragonflight 10.1, Season 2 New and Removed Mythic+ Affixes
- Dragonflight Patch 10.1 PTR Development Notes, March 28th: Old Mythic+ Affixes Removed, New Ones Added
- Riders of Azeroth Spotted in Zaralek Cavern in Patch 10.1
- A Preview of the Druid Crucible Raid Tier Set in Patch 10.1