Havoc Demon Hunter DPS Mythic+ Tips — Dragonflight 10.2.5

Last updated on Jan 15, 2024 at 15:00 by Wordup 58 comments
General Information

In this guide, you will find tips and advice to tackle Mythic+ dungeons with your Havoc Demon Hunter in World of Warcraft — Dragonflight 10.2.5.

1.

Unique Challenges of Mythic+

In Mythic+ Dungeons, in particular at higher key levels, you will be presented with some of the most challenging and competitive PvE content available in WoW alongside Mythic Raiding.

Therefore, when playing Havoc, your responsibility to contribute to the group's success will be higher than in most raiding groups due to the smaller group size, so skill and execution of strategy are crucial. Being versatile and able to adapt to any situation is a key factor here and one of the main reasons that some talent choices are taken that differentiate from ideal raid selections.

Alongside damage, utility such as interrupts, dispels, and control is vital to handling many of the challenges you will find. The more you can bring to the table, the more aggressively you can pull and move through the dungeon comfortably.

In this guide, we will be discussing the finer points of Havoc Demon Hunter and how to get the most out of it, how to gear and set up your character, and some tips to push yourself further.

If you are unfamiliar with Mythic+ and its associated general mechanics, you can read more about it on our Dragonflight Mythic+ Season 3 page below.

If you would like to know more about how Havoc Demon Hunter or other specs are performing in Dragonflight Mythic+ Season 3, you can check out our Mythic+ tier list page below.

2.

Havoc Demon Hunter Mythic+ Talent Build

If you want more information about all of the talent options and whether some could be useful in certain situations, you should use our dedicated Talent page.

For Season 3, the "Ignition" AoE build serves best in all situations, with some small talent swaps that can be made depending on your preference and dungeon route. Due to it heavily relying on the Season 3 set bonus, we have also included an alternative no set bonus option to use until you acquire it.

3.

Build Details

Ignition M+ No Set M+
4.

Ignition M+

This build aims to take advantage of the free Throw Glaive Icon Throw Glaive casts from the Season 3 set bonus, alongside heavily investing into the Inertia Icon Inertia, A Fire Inside Icon A Fire Inside and Ragefire Icon Ragefire "Ignition" combo.

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Havoc's build options in Season 3 mostly center around the "Ignition" package that has consistently proven to be the strongest option for Mythic+. This aims to build out an extremely synergistic package centered around Immolation Aura Icon Immolation Aura alongside high-power burst options to pair with each Inertia Icon Inertia window.

At the very bottom of the tree, you currently have 3 options for the final point depending on how you are planning out your dungeon route:

  • Essence Break Icon Essence Break provides a mid-range burst cooldown that also provides strong single-target at the same time, making it a great all-rounder pick. It is also easier to plan around, and harder to waste uses. This is the most flexible and generally recommended option.
  • Glaive Tempest Icon Glaive Tempest brings a more consistent overall AoE pick that works up to 8 targets, fleshing out the rotational AoE of the build instead. This is mostly reserved for trash-heavy dungeons and Fortified weeks.
  • Fel Barrage Icon Fel Barrage brings a large burst AoE cooldown, but is capped at 5 targets. If played around properly, this is a potent damage moment but has less strength if routes do not support it, and sacrifices a lot of single-target to do so. This is generally more niche and not strongly recommended.

Your selection here is based on a few factors, most importantly your group composition and damage needs. The playstyle core is built around aggressively triggering Immolation Aura Icon Immolation Aura via A Fire Inside Icon A Fire Inside to generate Ragefire Icon Ragefire buildup. Alongside that, aim to trigger Inertia Icon Inertia to empower your chosen big AoE moment, each Eye Beam Icon Eye Beam cast and The Hunt Icon The Hunt.

4.

No Set Bonus

Due to a lot of the options in the regular Ignition build requiring the Season 3 set to take full advantage of, this provides an alternative. Instead of taking the Throw Glaive Icon Throw Glaive talent options, it instead picks up more general high-value

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This plays in a similar way to the Season 3 Ignition build, focusing heavily on the Inertia Icon Inertia and A Fire Inside Icon A Fire Inside synergy, but avoids all of the related Throw Glaive Icon Throw Glaive talents. It also has the same choice in the final row:

  • Essence Break Icon Essence Break provides a mid-range burst cooldown that also provides strong single-target at the same time, making it a great all-rounder pick. It is also easier to plan around, and harder to waste uses. This is the most flexible and generally recommended option.
  • Glaive Tempest Icon Glaive Tempest brings a more consistent overall AoE pick that works up to 8 targets, fleshing out the rotational AoE of the build instead. This is mostly reserved for trash-heavy dungeons and Fortified weeks.
  • Fel Barrage Icon Fel Barrage brings a large burst AoE cooldown, but is capped at 5 targets. If played around properly, this is a potent damage moment but has less strength if routes do not support it, and sacrifices a lot of single-target to do so. This is generally more niche and not strongly recommended.

Much of the same rules apply; focus on triggering Immolation Aura Icon Immolation Aura aggressively and playing around A Fire Inside Icon A Fire Inside resets to generate Ragefire Icon Ragefire. Aim to overlap Inertia Icon Inertia windows with your AoE of choice from the above three picks and Eye Beam Icon Eye Beam.

3.1.

Havoc Gameplay Strengths

The greatest advantage Havoc brings in terms of its damage profile is the aforementioned burst windows, depending on your talent selections. Alongside that, it loses virtually no priority damage to execute its AoE. In most situations, you will be AoEing from an anchor target with a regular rotation, making you excellent at focusing one main enemy down while doing full AoE alongside it.

Havoc also brings the versatility of multiple control tools, which means that the amount of disruption Havoc can bring to a dungeon (with something to deal with the majority of situations) means that most compositions can find at least one reason to bring it along.

3.2.

Tier Set Gameplay

Depending on your currently equipped set bonus, there are some small considerations. Due to there being a gap in acquisition at the start of the season, some small tips to play around them in Mythic+ are as follows:

4.

Tier Set Details

Tier 31 Tier 30
4.

Amirdrassil Set: Tier 31

Due to the set bonus from Amirdrassil having a very heavy focus on both Throw Glaive Icon Throw Glaive and The Hunt Icon The Hunt, talent builds are the primary way in which you play around these. They largely play themselves, allowing you to convert each Death Sweep Icon Death Sweep / Blade Dance Icon Blade Dance into free Glaive casts that also grant extra access to The Hunt.

Due to the cooldown reduction, it means you should plan around a cooldown closer to 45 seconds to a minute for each cast, and since we take Any Means Necessary Icon Any Means Necessary these casts are an extremely strong burst moment. Finally, you should ideally never reach the point where you actively spend resources and GCDs on a manual Throw Glaive Icon Throw Glaive, instead focusing on casting other abilities to take advantage of the 2-piece triggers.

4.

Aberrus Set: Tier 30

While no longer relevant in Season 3, this is still relevant when gearing up older characters in the season. This bonus is largely passive, focused on fast Fury cycling to trigger the buff and ramp up the damage of each Eye Beam Icon Eye Beam.

While there are talents on the tree that can be taken to focus on this more, none of those outside of the standard Ignition build are worth pathing to as it works well without them. Playing around this should be natural, and you should never be holding your Eye Beams to wait for stacks.

4.

Affixes in Dragonflight Season 3

As your key level climbs in Mythic+, you will encounter additional affixes each week throughout the season. The first activates at level 7, adding effects that trigger during combat, and the second begins at level 14, that trigger on enemy health thresholds or death. Havoc has some unique tools to deal with the following affixes, and those not mentioned require no change:

5.

Dealing With Affixes as Havoc

Entangling Incorporeal Storming Bursting Sanguine Spiteful
4.1.

Entangling

Entangling periodically snares all players in the group, spawning a circle around you and snaring you by 30%. If you do not snap the vine by getting out of the area within 8 seconds, you will be stunned for 3 seconds.

Havoc can very easily escape this with its movement tools in Fel Rush Icon Fel Rush and Vengeful Retreat Icon Vengeful Retreat. The second also has the advantage of removing snares when cast, so even if you do not escape the circle, it will be cleared.

4.1.

Incorporeal

Incorporeal spawns up to two Incorporeal Beings roughly every 45 seconds. These begin a 5-second cast Destabilize Icon Destabilize that, if successful, reduces the damage and healing done of all players by 50% for 10 seconds and can stack.

These enemies are vulnerable to all crowd control and interrupts, therefore Havoc should always play Imprison Icon Imprison during these weeks. The cooldown can sometimes be tight, and if so, using Disrupt Icon Disrupt to buy time beforehand is useful.

4.1.

Storming

Storming will cause in-combat enemies to spawn tornadoes that will rotate outward from their hitbox. If hit, these despawn, deal light damage, and knock you into the air.

All of Havoc's movement tools, such as Fel Rush Icon Fel Rush, work to regain control, but the best tool is simply using Glide Icon Glide to reset your momentum and move back toward your target.

4.1.

Bursting

Bursting causes each non-boss enemy to apply a stack of Burst to all players, dealing heavy Shadow damage over 4 seconds, and can stack. If this happens, it will refresh to the full duration.

The best way to counteract this is to stagger your damage carefully with your group; however, if a large number are set off at once, then using Darkness Icon Darkness is a very powerful tool to help your Healer keep up.

4.1.

Sanguine

Sanguine causes all non-boss enemies to leave behind a pool of Ichor, dealing 15% of players health in Shadow damage per second while inside. This also heals enemies by 5% while inside, and pools last for 12 seconds. Pools no longer stack if they are connected in Season 3.

Managing this is largely on the group and the tank moving enemies out of the area, while you aim to avoid them. Some will always slip through, however, so switching to Mortal Dance Icon Mortal Dance if you find it to be an issue is a good idea.

4.1.

Spiteful

Spiteful causes all non-boss enemies to spawn a Spiteful Shade, which fixates on a random player in the group. These slowly lose health, and deal heavy melee damage if they get close.

Due to how dangerous these are, having some form of control or escape when each group of enemies die is advised. Chaos Nova Icon Chaos Nova can be helpful to lock down a large group of them, and Blur Icon Blur is also an effective way of tanking them briefly while you look for a way to safety.

5.

Havoc Demon Hunter Mythic+ Rotation Considerations

Havoc in Mythic+ largely follows the same ruleset explained within the Rotation, Cooldowns, and Abilities page. Some small nuances related to cooldown planning are worth bearing in mind:

6.

Mythic+ Performance Tips

Cooldowns Rotational
5.1.

Havoc Cooldown Management

Due to Havoc having a high number of cooldown options available, a brief explanation of how to approach using them in Mythic+ that goes above their ideal performance use case are as follows:

5.1.1.

Metamorphosis

The cooldown of Metamorphosis Icon Metamorphosis is 2 minutes, meaning it is on a similar cycle to many specs. Making sure that you get as many uses out of this as possible is key, and leveraging the Eye Beam Icon Eye Beam reset from Chaotic Transformation Icon Chaotic Transformation provides an extreme amount of burst damage.

Depending on your group composition and routing, alongside which other talents you have selected, knowing where you plan to use this will dictate your spikes throughout a dungeon. You want to make sure you spend as little time waiting with this ready, but also look for opportunities to layer it over the biggest and most dangerous pulls in a dungeon.

5.1.1.

Eye Beam

This should be cast aggressively and on cooldown as much as possible. It is especially important to have it on cooldown before each Metamorphosis Icon Metamorphosis cast to take advantage of the reset. If you are not already in your Demon form as well, you should aim to pair it with Essence Break Icon Essence Break if you are playing with it. If a group is about to die, consider holding it so you can start strong.

5.1.1.

Essence Break

When taking Essence Break Icon Essence Break, your only important goal is to make sure to get a Death Sweep Icon Death Sweep cast out in AoE after hitting as many enemies as possible. The remainder of the buff does not matter much (unless using the Chaotic Transformation Icon Chaotic Transformation to get two casts) outside of single-target, where you should aim to fill with Annihilation Icon Annihilation.

5.1.1.

Fel Barrage

Fel Barrage Icon Fel Barrage is a very specialist AoE burst tool if taken. It requires a lot of planning, and for you to be much more mindful of your Fury gain/expenditure while active, requiring a full 256 to last for 8 seconds. What this means in gameplay is that, especially during AoE, any filler Annihilation Icon Annihilation / Chaos Strike Icon Chaos Strike casts you may usually do should probably be cut, and instead, use your active generation tools in Felblade Icon Felblade and Sigil of Flame Icon Sigil of Flame.

Because of how much damage this deals, you really want to plan your uses around the dungeon, and make sure you have a plan to maintain Fury after casting it. This is less important in single-target, so make sure you are aiming each window at larger pulls.

5.1.

Havoc Rotational Tips

While our rotation page covers the moment-to-moment requirements of executing Havoc from a performance perspective, there are some extra tips to keep in mind when managing your resources in a Mythic+ environment:

5.1.1.

Immolation Aura

Due to the Ignition build heavily centering around Immolation Aura Icon Immolation Aura, knowing how to manage this is important. A few key rules to bear in mind are:

  • You should never be sat at two charges, so A Fire Inside Icon A Fire Inside resets require a quick reaction.
  • Watch out for each expiration, and position accordingly so you do not waste Ragefire Icon Ragefire explosions.
  • Try to consume each Unbound Chaos Icon Unbound Chaos to trigger Inertia Icon Inertia each cycle, but not at the cost of extra casts of Immolation Aura.

The biggest part of this is reacting to the resets, and making sure you land your Ragefire Icon Ragefire bursts. Be careful when using movement tools such as Fel Rush Icon Fel Rush and Vengeful Retreat Icon Vengeful Retreat, as these will pull you out of range and waste the detonation.

5.1.1.

Inertia/Momentum

Inertia Icon Inertia provides an additional controlled burst window that follows after consuming Unbound Chaos Icon Unbound Chaos. Havoc has access to this quite frequently thanks to A Fire Inside Icon A Fire Inside, but due to the short duration, the main goal is to overlap it with high power cooldowns such as Eye Beam Icon Eye Beam, Fel Barrage Icon Fel Barrage and Glaive Tempest Icon Glaive Tempest depending on loadout.

Momentum Icon Momentum, on the other hand, is mostly activated by your regular rotation. In any downtime where you are forced into single-target Chaos Strike Icon Chaos Strike casts, consider filling in an extra Fel Rush Icon Fel Rush to build up more duration.

5.1.1.

Throw Glaive

With the Season 3 set and Throw Glaive Icon Throw Glaive supporting talents, this provides a large amount of damage, but the set will trigger them automatically. This means you should make sure to not cast it unless you are about to cap charges and do not expect to be casting Death Sweep Icon Death Sweep / Blade Dance Icon Blade Dance soon after.

If playing the Throw Glaive Icon Throw Glaive talent options without Tier 31, this is a Fury spender that is slightly less valuable than Death Sweep Icon Death Sweep, but above Annihilation Icon Annihilation and you should make sure one charge is always cooling down.

5.1.1.

Initiative

In Mythic+, due to the staggered nature of pulls and add spawns, be aware that you will have a much higher uptime of the effect. As such, leverage the extra reset from Vengeful Retreat Icon Vengeful Retreat after you have exhausted sources, or instead, use it solely for the additional Fury if you need to refill.

5.1.

Threat Management

Due to all of the different AoE burst tools that Havoc has, the on-pull damage Havoc deals can be high enough to take aggro if you are not careful. This makes Scars of Suffering Icon Scars of Suffering a required pick just to give some extra breathing room. Be very careful if frontloading casts such as The Hunt Icon The Hunt to engage, as there is often very little Havoc can do. Your best bet is an emergency Chaos Nova Icon Chaos Nova or dashing away with Fel Rush Icon Fel Rush to give tanks a chance to catch up.

For the details relating to the specific rotation rules Havoc operates by, use our dedicated rotation page.

6.

Havoc Demon Hunter Utility

Havoc Demon Hunter comes with various useful tools in specific situations, alongside some universally powerful options. This section is split between control tools and unique effects and survival abilities:

7.

Havoc Mythic+ Utility

Control Tools Defense & Other
6.1.

Single Target Crowd Control

Fel Eruption Icon Fel Eruption is a 4-second stun on a 30-second cooldown, at the cost of 10 Fury. This is a great single-target stop for priority targets, and due to being baseline it always provides a great extra tool for dangerous casts.

Imprison Icon Imprison is a 45-second cooldown hard crowd-control that breaks on damage. This can be used either as a stop, or can be used to lock a target down that you would rather skip, as enemies affected by this will not aggro as you run past.

Disrupt Icon Disrupt is Havoc's interrupt tool on a 15-second cooldown. It has the added advantage of an 18-yard range, and should be used aggressively on dangerous casts (see our Disrupt macro on the Havoc Demon Hunter macro page).

6.1.

AoE Crowd Control

Chaos Nova Icon Chaos Nova is an AoE stun tool available to Havoc that stuns all nearby targets for 2 seconds on a 45-second cooldown with a 25-Fury cost. This is great for disrupting large groups of enemies and, due to its instant activation, can be a strong AoE stop when multiple targets are casting at once.

Sigil of Misery Icon Sigil of Misery is an AoE disorient on a 2-second delay (1 with Quickened Sigils Icon Quickened Sigils) from the cast, so it can be difficult to reactively utilize misery to stop casts. It can, however, be used pre-emptively if you know a target timer to stop dangerous effects. This also shares diminishing returns with very few other abilities, making it extra valuable despite its long cooldown.

Metamorphosis Icon Metamorphosis may be our major cooldown, but on cast, it also stuns enemies within the impact area for 3 seconds. This should not really be something you use it for, but it can be used to great effect if you are also planning to use cooldowns during a pull.

6.1.

Defensive Tools

Blur Icon Blur is Havoc's primary active defense tool, reducing damage taken by 20% and granting 50% Dodge change for 10 seconds, on a 1-minute cooldown. Due to its low cooldown, this should be used aggressively in any dangerous situation, and is also great to buy some time if you get threat.

Deflecting Dance Icon Deflecting Dance grants an absorb shield during Death Sweep Icon Death Sweep / Blade Dance Icon Blade Dance for 15% of your maximum health. This is active for a very brief period of time, but allows you to outplay some damage moments by timing these casts during your rotation, providing a lot of survival.

Netherwalk Icon Netherwalk grants full immunity to damage and 100% movement speed for 6 seconds, but you are unable to attack, on a 3-minute cooldown. This is the most potent defensive tool Havoc has access to and can get you out of some of the worst situations, but you are not immune to debuff applications during this, so be careful. Make sure to also plan around its very long cooldown for the most dangerous moments.

Darkness Icon Darkness grants a 15% chance (increased to 30% in dungeons) to avoid any damage event for players stood within. This lasts 8 seconds on a 5-minute cooldown. The duration can be increased to 11 seconds with Long Night Icon Long Night, or the cooldown can be reduced to 3 minutes with Pitch Black Icon Pitch Black. This is strong for group survival, especially on repeat damage events such as DoTs to help your Healer keep up and should be planned around during high-intensity moments.

6.1.

Other Utility

Mortal Dance Icon Mortal Dance reduces enemy healing received by 50% for 6 seconds if they are hit with Blade Dance Icon Blade Dance / Death Sweep Icon Death Sweep. While niche, in any dungeon or during Sanguine weeks this can provide a lot of effective damage by cutting the amount of healing enemies take, alongside being both easy to apply and AoE.

Chaos Brand Icon Chaos Brand is Havoc's strongest reason to be brought to raid, and in Mythic+, it also provides a lot depending on the group composition. In any situation where your fellow damage dealers are providing a large amount of Magic damage (which includes the majority of specs), this is a lot of extra damage on top of what Havoc already brings.

Vengeful Retreat Icon Vengeful Retreat, while very niche, also breaks snares when cast, which can be useful to counter some mechanics.

Consume Magic Icon Consume Magic is Havoc's offensive dispel with a 10-second cooldown. This has the advantage of a 30-yard range and can be used to remove buffs from enemy targets.

7.

Gear and Trinket Options for Havoc Demon Hunter in Mythic+

There are no significant alterations to the gear choices you should be making compared to normal single-target and AoE situations; however, we heavily recommend simming your character to make sure. using Patchwerk and then Dungeon Slice profiles to see what can be optimized. Dungeon Slice also allows you to get a more accurate estimate of the bonus from enemy deaths due to the Fury gained via Shattered Souls Icon Shattered Souls pickups.

Trinkets tend to lean towards a 2-minute cooldown on use to pair with Metamorphosis Icon Metamorphosis, alongside a proc effect that provides damage throughout a dungeon. The upfront burst damage Havoc leans into is one of its best strengths, so amplifying that is encouraged. In Season 3, two on-use options that align are:

  • On-use: Witherbark's Branch Icon Witherbark's Branch / Ashes of the Embersoul Icon Ashes of the Embersoul
  • Passive Proc: Augury of the Primal Flame Icon Augury of the Primal Flame / Pip's Emerald Friendship Badge Icon Pip's Emerald Friendship Badge
  • Defensive: Fyrakk's Tainted Rageheart Icon Fyrakk's Tainted Rageheart

You can look at our gear page to know more about the gear to aim for.

7.1.

Crafting Considerations

Due to a large number of Embellishments being reduced in power for the launch of Season 3, there is no real different option compared to those recommended on our Gear page. The only point to note is that Blue Silken Lining Icon Blue Silken Lining is more unreliable due to the less predictable damage intake in Mythic+, so sticking to Toxic Thorn Footwraps Icon Toxic Thorn Footwraps might be the safer pick.

8.

Changelog

  • 15 Jan. 2024: Reviewed and touched up for mid-season 3 information.
  • 09 Nov. 2023: Restructured and updated for Patch 10.2.
  • 06 Nov. 2023: Updated link to Mythic+ hub.
  • 04 Sep. 2023: Updated for Patch 10.1.7, added Glaive Tempest/Ragefire build and switched it to the recommended choice.
  • 10 Jul. 2023: Reviewed for Patch 10.1.5, no changes necessary.
  • 01 May 2023: Updated for Patch 10.1 with details about new affixes, build remains the same.
  • 20 Mar. 2023: Reviewed for Patch 10.0.7.
  • 24 Jan. 2023: Reviewed for Patch 10.0.5.
  • 11 Dec. 2022: Reviewed for Dragonflight Season 1.
  • 28 Nov. 2022: Updated for Dragonflight launch.
  • 27 Oct. 2022: Added an additional, single-target-focused build.
  • 24 Oct. 2022: Updated for Dragonflight Pre-Patch.
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