Havoc Demon Hunter DPS Rotation, Cooldowns, and Abilities (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

On this page, we list your Havoc Demon Hunter core abilities and how they should be used together (rotation) in World of Warcraft Legion 7.2.5. We also explain when to use your various cooldowns. Then, we go deeper and present all the subtleties that you will need to know if you want to excel at playing a Havoc Demon Hunter.

The other pages of our Havoc Demon Hunter guide can be accessed from the table of contents on the right.

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. Single Target Rotation

Havoc's single target rotation hinges strongly on the combination of generation (either through active tools such as Demon's Bite or talents like Demon Blades) and your main spender, Chaos Strike. Past this, depending on talents, other spells enter into the rotation adding depth, making it important to manage both your resource and your other spell cooldowns.

• Demonic
• Fel Eruption
• Bloodlet

1. Cast Nemesis on your primary target, synchronise with Metamorphosis and Chaos Blades if possible.
2. Cast Fel Rush if about to hit 2 charges.
3. Cast Fel Barrage if taken.
4. Cast Fury of the Illidari.
5. Cast Eye Beam to trigger Demonic.
6. Cast Fel Eruption if taken.
7. Cast Throw Glaive with Bloodlet.
8. Cast Metamorphosis if available and not active.
9. Cast Chaos Blades.
10. Cast Blade Dance / Death Sweep with First Blood.
11. Cast Felblade if available and more than 30 Fury from your cap.
12. Cast Chaos Strike / Annihilation.
13. Cast Demon's Bite if Demon Blades is not taken.
14. Cast Throw Glaive if nothing else is available during empty Globals with Demon Blades.

Note that Eye Beam has since been removed from the Single Target rotation as the damage per Fury of Chaos Strike / Annihilation is much higher.

Also, when using Felblade, it can be used to quickly get back in range after a Fel Rush cast if the target hitbox is too small to efficiently move across it.

1.1. Opening Rotation

1. Use Potion of the Old War just before the pull.
2. Cast Metamorphosis to engage.
3. Cast Nemesis.
4. Cast Felblade to generate burst Fury.
5. Cast Chaos Blades.
6. Cast Death Sweep with First Blood taken.
7. Cast Fel Rush.
8. Cast Fel Barrage if taken.
9. Cast Fury of the Illidari.
10. Cast Annihilation.
11. Continue with Single Target Rotation.

2. Multiple Target Rotation

Havoc in multiple target situations depends largely on the number of targets and talent selections. Chaos Cleave largely fills your Fury spending casts with Chaos Strike, but Eye Beam and Blade Dance both enter into the rotation at certain target thresholds.

1. Cast Fel Rush with Fel Mastery taken at 30 Fury or lower from your cap, or if you are about to hit 2 charges at >3 targets, or to trigger Momentum if taken
2. Cast Vengeful Retreat at 85 or lower Fury if Prepared is taken, or to trigger Momentum if taken
3. Cast Fel Barrage if taken, sync with Momentum if taken.
4. Cast Fury of the Illidari, sync with Momentum if taken.
5. Cast Eye Beam, sync with Momentum.
6. Cast Blade Dance / Death Sweep at 3 targets and above.
7. Cast Throw Glaive with Bloodlet, try to sync with Momentum if taken.
8. Cast Blade Dance / Death Sweep on cooldown if First Blood is taken.
9. Cast Chaos Strike at 2 or more targets with Chaos Cleave.
10. Cast Throw Glaive at 2+ targets.
11. Cast Chaos Strike at 70 Fury or above, or 60 with Demon Blades.
12. Cast Demon's Bite to generate Fury without Demon Blades selected.

Note that Chaos Cleave makes Chaos Strike more valuable than Blade Dance until you reach 3 targets if taken. Fel Rush is also still used rotationally in AoE regardless of Fel Mastery, though it is even more important with the talent.

Aggressively using Fel Barrage whenever adds are active is a strong recommendation so you can make use of the cooldown reduction aspect. Momentum notes are a recommendation, and not a rule, if you cannot adhere to them when a wave of enemies spawn, still follow the priority and use the abilities.

3. Important Notes

3.1. Demonic Build Explained

There are a number of details to the new Demonic build that warrant explaining to prepare you for using it in dungeons due to its strength. There are some synergistic effects that all work together to make it powerful:

1. Blind Fury allows for a full Fury pool when the Demonic window begins.
2. Demonic Appetite generates additional Fury to sustain resources during the window.
3. Feast on the Souls allows for a reduced Eye Beam cooldown via the cooldown reduction.

These combined allow not only for the Demonic window to be very powerful, but also for you to enter it consistently. During AoE when you will be spawning frequent souls and reducing the cooldown, this is even better allowing you to repeatedly enter into Metamorphosis.

In Mythic+ and in certain raid encounters, fragments generated via Overwhelming Power can also help to fuel your Eye Beam casts. This can also open up using Unleashed Power for more crowd control options without any loss. Finally, Raddon's Cascading Eyes can cap this build off during large pulls to significantly reduce the cooldown without relying on souls to do so.

3.2. Tier 2 Talents Explained

Prepared if taken adds Vengeful Retreat into the rotation on cooldown, which has a significant effect on how frequently you are displaced in a fight, and needs to be played very carefully to avoid extra danger from deadly encounter mechanics. It also allows for an additional background source of Fury which can be useful during burst periods on targets to still be generating passively whilst spending, and additional activations of Momentum if taken.

Demon Blades on the other hand slows down your pace by removing your active generation tool Demon's Bite, and replacing it with a 60% chance proc from auto attacks to deal additional Shadow damage and grant 12-20 Fury. This adds an element of reactionary play as you will no longer be Global Cooldown locked, instead opting to wait for your Fury to passively generate from auto attacks. This makes the playstyle more chaotic in practice compared to the alternatives.

Finally, Demonic Appetite is the last option. This has the least impact on your rotation. The unpredictability of the proc now it has no internal cooldown, and the difficulty of reliably playing around the soul spawns hurts it a great deal and cannot be understated. Whilst it is theoretically simulated as the top talent, this effect makes it far less likely to be played optimally and as such is not recommended.

3.2.1. Demon Blades Explained

With 7.1, Demon Blades had a big change to the under-the-hood mechanics that make it work. The proc banking system is now gone, and replaced by a more simple flat 60% chance to deal additional Shadow damage and generate 12-20 Fury on each auto attack. This now happens regardless of whether you are or are not currently waiting out a Global Cooldown, so is completely passive and relatively predictable.

3.3. Tier 5 Talents Explained

This tier is very much a contentious point amongst players, so here I will try to explain as succinctly as possible the situation between Momentum and Nemesis. Fel Eruption will largely be left out, since it performs poorly enough that it cannot content with the others.

3.3.1. Momentum

This talent is, without a doubt, a high skill cap talent and as such if you are not comfortable with Demon Hunter and raid mechanics in general, it will be very punishing. Knowing when to capitalise on your casts, and when to save them to use both in conjunction for the buff and to avoid mechanics or stay on targets is a skill that needs to be practiced. Below is an image to show the optimal paths to use your activation skills to stay on target and minimise possible displacement that can have a large knock on effect.

With momentum there are two activation spells that trigger the short 4-second window for increased damage:

• Fel Rush with two charges on a 10-second cooldown;
• Vengeful Retreat on a 25-second cooldown (or 15 with Prepared).

There are some fundamental rules when using Momentum to bear in mind during combat. First, the spells that activate Momentum gain no benefit from the buff they trigger (meaning a Fel Rush cast is not boosted unless it is already active on you when it is cast). Regardless of this however, you should aim to never clip a Momentum window, and instead aim for maximum uptime. You should also aim to use your most powerful abilities during the window, so ideally you should have a bank of Fury when it begins. Casting Throw Glaive with Bloodlet is also of particularly high priority, as it snapshots the buff for the DoT effect. You should at the very least make sure you are not forced into casting Demon's Bite for its duration, as it deals very poor damage comparative to other abilities.

Lastly, due to the rule of not clipping, it should be known that using the Vengeful Retreat into Fel Rush combo is particularly bad now, as you burn up a full window. That means that positioning for the cast is vital, and using the diagram above should show where you should be aiming to move. Given that you can strafe Fel Rush and reposition before a Vengeful Retreat, this should be very doable with some practice, especially as most bosses now have quite large hitboxes to enable it.

3.3.2. Nemesis

Your alternative to Momentum if you do not feel comfortable with it, is Nemesis. This is a relatively simple talent, though there are small things you can do to help it. Generally, you sync it with Metamorphosis as that is your highest damage period, and if possible, try to apply it to targets about to die in AoE situations so that you can gain the buff on all targets hit, instead of the debuff on just your target.

3.3.3. Fel Barrage explained

With 7.2.5, Fel Barrage has been simplified, no longer having a charge system and instead having a flat 1-minute cooldown, with its damage tuned accordingly. All attacks have a chance to reduce this cooldown by 5 seconds, usually putting it on roughly a 30-40 second cooldown on average. Try to line it up with short term buffs such as Momentum, and be aware of the state of the cooldown in case due to it having some variance in availability.

3.4. Mobility vs. Damage

it is important to know that Fel Rush is still used in the Single Target rotation when not needed for movement due to its high damage per cast. Knowing when you need to move in a fight and saving charges pre-emptively however will net far more DPS by virtue of sticking to your target than the additional damage from using it on cooldown. This extends similarly to Vengeful Retreat with Prepared, but this takes more planning as it has no charge system to allow banking for future use.

Note as well, if you struggle to stay on a target with a small hitbox when using either of these skills offensively, if Felblade is taken and available, this can quickly move you back to the target efficiently whilst generating Fury in the process to power your Momentum windows.

3.5. Eye Beam Explained

Using Eye Beam is based upon pressure points in a fight where a large stack of enemies will be available for burst AoE. If there are no situations within the cooldown timer that you would be able to take advantage, then using it on cooldown in a general AoE circumstance is preferrable.

3.6. Fury of the Illidari Explained

Much like Eye Beam, Fury of the Illidari is an incredibly powerful burst AoE tool that only gets stronger with Artifact traits. Due to this, you should be holding it specifically for situations with extra targets if they are going to happen during an encounter, but try not to hold it for more than its entire cooldown duration so as not to waste uses.

4. Cooldowns

4.1. Metamorphosis

Metamorphosis is a powerful 30-second duration buff on a 5-minute cooldown, with a flat 25% increase to Haste allowing for more ability uses while active. Pooling 80 Fury or above before entering Metamorphosis is extremely beneficial to allow for a surge of Annihilation casts, and draining excess Fury in the last 5 seconds of the buff gets the most out of the bonus damage.

4.2. Chaos Blades

If you have taken Chaos Blades as your 110 talent, try to sync this up with your Metamorphosis whenever possible alongside Nemesis if selected. Make sure to use this on cooldown, and it syncs up very easily once you have 3 points in the Unleashed Demons trait.

5. Core Concepts

5.1. Movement Abilities and Talents

One of the unique features of Havoc is that it can leverage its movement tools in Fel Rush and Vengeful Retreat to increase its damage output and Fury generation with certain talents. Managing these is important if using these, and knowing whether it is safe to use them based on encounter types is especially important.

You can maneuver with Vengeful Retreat in one of two different ways. The first of these is a wall that you can consistently leap back into so that the displacement effect is muted and you remain in melee range of your target. Alternatively, the more consistent option is rotating your character before casting 90 degrees, so that you will move across the back of the targets hitbox, and remain in range upon landing. Do note at all times this spell will vault you backwards so you need to be aware of that when casting.

Fel Rush in much the same way requires a similar awareness of your environment to capitalise upon. Instead of focusing on moving backward however, you need to face the direction you want to rush and then turn back to your target when you arrive.

Also note that both of these spells incur a 1-second movement cooldown to prevent you using them to cancel each other out with the displacement, and as such you need to treat each cast individually and prepare for the movement to minimize the downsides.

5.2. Fury Management

With Havoc being so reliant on its resource, you need to be very aware of situations that encourage spending vs. the requirement to build. Depending on talents outlined above, that may be more or less active, and so you need to be planning around those.

The general rule is you never want to go into range of wasting Fury due to going over the cap with a generation cast. This means the spend breakpoint is 70 Fury before traits, due to Demon's Bite having a potential 30 per cast. With Demon Blades this is more flexible, but given how fast multiple procs can happen after you leave the Global Cooldown, it is safe to stick to the same rule.

Also be aware to adjust your rotation based on critical strikes from your Chaos Strike casts that refund 20 Fury due to the unexpected additional resources in your pool. In the same vein, successful interrupts through Consume Magic that grant 50 Fury can also increase your pool and trigger a spending sequence, so keep that in mind.

5.2.1. Fury Management with Demon Blades

When using Demon Blades, your Fury management is altered to account for the more sporadic nature of the generation. In single target, more appropriate rotational rules to adjust the original rotation look like this:

• Cast Fel Rush with Fel Mastery taken at 30 Fury from cap or lower, or if you are about to hit 2 charges.
• Cast Chaos Strike/ Annihilation at 30 Fury from cap or above, and drain Fury until unable to cast.
• Wait and allow Demon Blades to generate Fury again to continue the cycle.
• Cast Throw Glaive if out of range of any targets, or in empty Globals.

It is optimal to always attempt to initiate a Momentum window before you begin dumping your Fury into Chaos Strike in this way, but as it is now very predictable how much Fury intake you have, you can generally anticipate one to two Global Cooldowns before when this will happen and look to trigger the cycle.

6. Tier 19 Set Bonuses

Both of the bonuses from the Tier 19 set are are relatively simple, impacting your Fury generation directly or indirectly, and enhancing the power of Chaos Strike.

• 2-piece: Increases your Fury generation from all abilities by 10%.
• 4-piece: Increases your Chaos Strike critical strike chance by 8%.

The 2-piece bonus interacts with all sources other than the Legendary ring effect from Anger of the Half-Giants. This is a flat 10% increase to all resource gain and as such increases the uses of spenders such as Chaos Strike. The 4-piece bonus enhances Chaos Strike even further, increasing the frequency of refunds and playing into talents such as Chaos Cleave even further.

7. Tier 20 Set Bonuses

Both bonuses in the Tier 20 set orient themselves around Blade Dance, increasing both single target and AoE damage, and granting an additional source of Fury, making them very powerful.

• 2-piece: Blade Dance gains 20% increased Critical Strike chance.
• 4-piece: Blade Dance refunds 20 Fury if it hits at least one target.

Both of these bonuses effectively lock in First Blood as a talent choice in all situations, and when you pick them up you should make sure to switch to this. They are also powerful enough that you should neglect all Tier 19 bonuses as soon as possible at equal Item Level, and aim to complete this bonus as soon as possible due to how powerful it is.

When using this bonus, regardless of talents taken you will be using Blade Dance on cooldown, due to the additional bonuses and resource generation it provides.

8. ChangeLog

+ show all entries - show only 10 entries

• 12 Jun. 2017: Updated for Patch 7.2.5 with Tier 20 set bonus information.
• 27 May 2017: Added note regarding Overwhelming Power with Demonic.
• 09 May 2017: Added note regarding using Felblade for movement.
• 19 Apr. 2017: Tweaks to Fel Barrage notes.
• 28 Mar. 2017: No changes needed for Patch 7.2.
• 10 Jan. 2017: Updated for new information following Chaos Cleave change in 7.1.5, added Demonic section.
• 09 Jan. 2017: Patch 7.1.5 update.
• 25 Oct. 2016: Several adjustments to account for the changes of Demon Blades in Patch 7.1.
• 28 Sep. 2016: Updated opener.
• 05 Sep. 2016: Simplified rotation by adding checkboxes to hide or reveal specific lines (cooldown, talents, AoE, etc.).
• 02 Sep. 2016: Moved Fel Barrage up in the multi-target rotation.
• 29 Aug. 2016: Updated for Legion's launch.
• 05 Aug. 2016: Added Throw Glaive to Demon Blades rotation.