Havoc Demon Hunter DPS Guide (Legion 7.2.5)

Table of Contents

• ×Introduction
  • 1. Class Overview
  • 2. Patch 7.2.5 Changes
  • 3. Patch 7.2 Changes
  • 4. Strengths
  • 5. Weaknesses
  • 6. Viability in the Current Patch
  • 7. Contents
  • 8. ChangeLog
• +Easy Mode
  • 1. The Basics
  • 2. Talent Choice
  • 3. Stat Choice
  • 4. Basic Rotation
  • 5. ChangeLog
• +Spell Summary
  • 1. Spell Summary
  • 2. Main Resource
  • 3. Basic Abilities
  • 4. Movement Tools
    • 4.1. Movement Limitations
  • 5. Important Procs and Passives
  • 6. Offensive Cooldowns
  • 7. Additional Utility
  • 8. ChangeLog
• +Builds and Talents
  • 1. Talent Choices
  • 2. Talent Cheat Sheet
    • 2.1. Open World, Levelling and Questing
    • 2.2. Raids
    • 2.3. Heavy AoE and Dungeons
  • 3. Tier 1 (Level 99) Talents
  • 4. Tier 2 (Level 100) Talents
  • 5. Tier 3 (Level 102) Talents
  • 6. Tier 4 (Level 104) Talents
  • 7. Tier 5 (Level 106) Talents
  • 8. Tier 6 (Level 108) Talents
  • 9. Tier 7 (Level 110) Talents
  • 10. ChangeLog
• +Artifact Traits and Relics
  • 1. Artifact Progression
    • 1.1. Early Progression
    • 1.2. Patch 7.2 Post 35 Trait Path
  • 2. Artifact Ability
  • 3. Relic Choice
    • 3.1. AoE Specific:
  • 4. ChangeLog
• +Rotation, Cooldowns, and Abilities
  • 1. Single Target Rotation
    • 1.1. Opening Rotation
  • 2. Multiple Target Rotation
  • 3. Important Notes
    • 3.1. Demonic Build Explained
    • 3.2. Tier 2 Talents Explained
      • 3.2.1. Demon Blades Explained
    • 3.3. Tier 5 Talents Explained
      • 3.3.1. Momentum
      • 3.3.2. Nemesis
      • 3.3.3. Fel Barrage explained
    • 3.4. Mobility vs. Damage
    • 3.5. Eye Beam Explained
    • 3.6. Fury of the Illidari Explained
  • 4. Cooldowns
    • 4.1. Metamorphosis
    • 4.2. Chaos Blades
  • 5. Core Concepts
    • 5.1. Movement Abilities and Talents
    • 5.2. Fury Management
      • 5.2.1. Fury Management with Demon Blades
  • 6. Tier 19 Set Bonuses
  • 7. Tier 20 Set Bonuses
  • 8. ChangeLog
• +Stat Priority
  • 1. Basics
    • 1.1. Breakpoints
    • 1.2. Getting a Better Understanding
    • 1.3. Statistics
    • 1.4. 7.2.5 Stat Changes
  • 2. ChangeLog
• +Gems, Enchants, and Consumables
  • 1. Gems
  • 2. Enchants
  • 3. Consumables
  • 4. ChangeLog
• +Macros and Addons
  • 1. Macros
    • 1.1. Generic Macros for Demon Hunters
      • 1.1.1. Focus Interrupt Macro
  • 2. Addons
    • 2.1. Generic Addons for Demon Hunters
      • 2.1.1. ElvUI
      • 2.1.2. Boss Mods: Deadly Boss Mods or Bigwigs
      • 2.1.3. GTFO
      • 2.1.4. Parrot or Mik's Scrolling Battle Text
      • 2.1.5. Recount / Skada / Details!
      • 2.1.6. Grid and GridClickSets (Optional)
      • 2.1.7. Weak Auras
      • 2.1.8. Weak Auras
• +Gear, Legendaries, and Best in Slot
  • 1. Best in Slot List
    • 1.1. Trinkets
    • 1.2. Convergence of Fates & Cooldown Reduction
    • 1.3. Tier 19 & 20 Bonus Combinations
    • 1.4. Evaluating Upgrades with dynamic Item Levels
  • 2. Racial Bonuses
  • 3. Legendary Items
    • 3.1. 7.1.5 Legendaries
    • 3.2. 7.2 Legendaries
    • 3.3. 7.2.5 Legendaries
    • 3.4. Recommended Choices
  • 4. Loot Competition
  • 5. ChangeLog

General Information

Welcome to our Havoc Demon Hunter DPS guide for World of Warcraft Legion 7.2.5. Here, you will learn everything you need to know about playing a Havoc Demon Hunter in a raid environment and in Mythic+ dungeons.

About Our Author

This guide has been reviewed and approved by Kib, a lead theorycrafter for Havoc Demon Hunters, alongside playing in Strawberry Puppy Kisses in the world top 40. You can watch his stream on Twitch or follow him on Twitter.

1. Class Overview

Havoc, the DPS spec of the newly introduced Demon Hunter class in Legion is a resource based melee specialization with a focus on Global Cooldown locked gameplay with a builder spender style. It's balanced around your ability to make the most out of your Fury pool and reacting to unpredictable gains whilst using situation specific abilities to push it further. On top of that, it has a number of mobility tools turning it into versatile spec with multiple ways of capitalizing on them.

2. Patch 7.2.5 Changes

• Chaos Blades no longer scales with Mastery, and instead provides a flat 30% damage increase. Duration has been raised to 18 seconds to compensate.
• Fel Barrage no longer uses a charge system, and instead has cooldown reduction tied to other attacks.
• Prepared now generates 100 Fury over 10 seconds, instead of 40 over 5.
• Mo'arg Bionic Stabilizers have been reduced to 25% increased damage, from 50%.
• Tier 19 4-piece bonus has been reduced to 8% Critical Strike bonus on Chaos Strike, down from 10%.
• Achor, the Eternal Hunger has had its bonus effect reworked, focusing on healing from Vengeful Retreat casts instead of Blur.

3. Patch 7.2 Changes

7.2 added additional Artifact traits including the new golden trait, Chaotic Onslaught. Both the legendary bracers Mo'arg Bionic Stabilizers and legendary boots Loramus Thalipedes' Sacrifice have been buffed to activate their effect on the initial target as well, and Achor, the Eternal Hunger has received additional secondary stats.

4. Strengths

• Powerful burst single target damage.
• Flexible mobility allowing for great positioning control in encounters.
• Can switch targets without any downsides, and can pool resources for instant burst.
• Powerful, versatile cooldowns for different situations.

5. Weaknesses

• Can be reliant on Critical Strike to fuel burst DPS which can be inconsistent.
• AoE is tied to cooldowns, which hurts sustained damage.

6. Viability in the Current Patch

Havoc still provides a robust toolkit that can have applications in a majority of different encounter types. Talent diversity also allows to specialise in single target and AoE situations depending on the demand. Burst is exceptionally high as ever, and with a slew of survival tools and options Havoc is likely to remain a powerful choice in Tomb of Sargeras. For Mythic+, Havoc remains a fantastic addition to the group due to its ability to adapt to weekly affixes very fluidly.

7. Contents

To make it easy to navigate the guide, we have split it into 9 pages:

• Easy Mode: TL;DR to own without reading much;
• Spell Summary: see a summary of all your useful spells;
• Builds and Talents: learn how to choose your talents;
• Artifact Traits and Relics: discover how to level up your Artifact;
• Rotation, Cooldowns, and Abilities: master your rotation and your cooldowns;
• Stat Priority: read up on the respective values of your statistics;
• Gems, Enchants, and Consumables: choose the best gems, enchantments, etc.;
• Macros and Addons: step up your game with useful macros and addons;
• Gear, Legendaries, and Best in Slot: find the best gear you can wear.

8. ChangeLog

+ show all entries - show only 10 entries

• 15 Jun. 2017 (talents page): Clarified Chaos Cleave's place vs. First Blood.
• 14 Jun. 2017 (gear page): Added note regarding Tier 19/20 2/4pc combinations.
• 12 Jun. 2017 (spells page): Page reviewed and deemed updated for 7.2.5.
• 12 Jun. 2017 (rotation page): Updated for Patch 7.2.5 with Tier 20 set bonus information.
• 12 Jun. 2017 (artifact page): Page reviewed and deemed updated for 7.2.5.
• 12 Jun. 2017 (stats page): Updated for 7.2.5 changes to indicate the drop in Mastery value.
• 12 Jun. 2017 (enchants page): Page reviewed and deemed updated for 7.2.5.
• 12 Jun. 2017 (easy mode page): Updated for Patch 7.2.5 stat changes.
• 12 Jun. 2017 (this page): Updated to document Patch 7.2.5 changes.
• 10 Jun. 2017 (talents page): Updated for Patch 7.2.5 talent changes and choices following patch changes.
• 10 Jun. 2017 (gear page): Updated with Patch 7.2.5 Tier 20 gear choices and additional Legendary items.
• 31 May 2017 (gear page): Removed note regarding Convergence/Delusions
• 27 May 2017 (rotation page): Added note regarding Overwhelming Power with Demonic.
• 18 May 2017 (talents page): Clarified talents regarding Bloodlet in conjunction with legendary bracers in single target.
• 13 May 2017 (artifact page): Updated for new Critical Chaos values.
• 09 May 2017 (rotation page): Added note regarding using Felblade for movement.
• 19 Apr. 2017 (rotation page): Tweaks to Fel Barrage notes.
• 28 Mar. 2017 (stats page): No changes needed for Patch 7.2.
• 28 Mar. 2017 (talents page): Added note for Bloodlet regarding legendary bracer change.
• 28 Mar. 2017 (enchants page): Changed food recommendation to Lavish Suramar Feast.
• 28 Mar. 2017 (this page): Added summary of Patch 7.2 changes.
• 28 Mar. 2017 (gear page): Updated 7.2 legendary changes.
• 28 Mar. 2017 (artifact page): Updated for 7.2 with new trait paths.
• 28 Mar. 2017 (rotation page): No changes needed for Patch 7.2.
• 04 Feb. 2017 (gear page): Large update with new trinket sims and specifics on Convergence/Delusions.
• 10 Jan. 2017 (enchants page): Removed Versatility food, altered neck enchant to Mark of the Claw for 7.1.5.
• 10 Jan. 2017 (stats page): Altered priority to reflect nerfs to Chaos Cleave at 7.1.5 launch.
• 10 Jan. 2017 (rotation page): Updated for new information following Chaos Cleave change in 7.1.5, added Demonic section.
• 10 Jan. 2017 (artifact page): Updated for 7.1.5 for new Relic recommendations.
• 10 Jan. 2017 (talents page): Updated a large number of sections to reflect the changes in builds with the Chaos Cleave reduction to 10% and Demon Blades down to 60%. Added in Demonic recommendation.
• 09 Jan. 2017 (stats page): Added different stat priorities, depending on talent choices.
• 09 Jan. 2017 (rotation page): Patch 7.1.5 update.
• 09 Jan. 2017 (this page): Updated strengths and weaknesses for 7.1.5.
• 09 Jan. 2017 (gear page): Updated with 7.1.5 simulation results. Added Nighthold items and new Legendaries.
• 09 Jan. 2017 (easy mode page): Updated the page to be in sync with the rest of the guide.
• 09 Jan. 2017 (talents page): Rewrote most of the talent assessments following changes in Patch 7.1.5.
• 09 Jan. 2017 (spells page): Changed a few spell descriptions following tooltip changes in 7.1.5.
• 26 Nov. 2016 (easy mode page): Added section for easier playstyle.
• 25 Oct. 2016 (enchants page): Added a note about Potion of Prolonged Power.
• 25 Oct. 2016 (rotation page): Several adjustments to account for the changes of Demon Blades in Patch 7.1.
• 25 Oct. 2016 (talents page): Rewrote Level 100 talent explanations, following the change to Demon Blades in Patch 7.1.
• 25 Oct. 2016 (gear page): Updated BiS trinkets and added trinket simulations.
• 28 Sep. 2016 (rotation page): Updated opener.
• 22 Sep. 2016 (artifact page): Updated Artifact path.
• 21 Sep. 2016 (enchants page): Made Potion of the Old War the potion of choice.
• 05 Sep. 2016 (rotation page): Simplified rotation by adding checkboxes to hide or reveal specific lines (cooldown, talents, AoE, etc.).
• 02 Sep. 2016 (rotation page): Moved Fel Barrage up in the multi-target rotation.
• 29 Aug. 2016 (stats page): Updated for Legion's launch.
• 29 Aug. 2016 (enchants page): Updated for Legion's launch.
• 29 Aug. 2016 (rotation page): Updated for Legion's launch.
• 29 Aug. 2016 (this page): Updated for Legion's launch.
• 29 Aug. 2016 (artifact page): Added.
• 29 Aug. 2016 (talents page): Updated for Legion's launch.
• 29 Aug. 2016 (gear page): Updated for Legion's launch.
• 09 Aug. 2016 (talents page): Rewrote Level 100 talent assessments following Demon Blades' nerf.
• 05 Aug. 2016 (rotation page): Added Throw Glaive to Demon Blades rotation.
• 01 Aug. 2016 (this page): Guide added.