Havoc Demon Hunter DPS Rotation, Cooldowns, and Abilities — Dragonflight 10.2
On this page, you will learn how to optimize the rotation of your Havoc Demon Hunter in both single-target and multiple-target situations. We also have advanced sections about cooldowns, procs, etc. in order to minmax your DPS. All our content is updated for World of Warcraft — Dragonflight 10.2.
Havoc Demon Hunter Rotation
Welcome to the Rotation section of our Havoc Demon Hunter guide. If you came here without first checking over the Spell List/Glossary page, we recommend that you do so if you are new to the specialization. Understanding what your spells and abilities do will make it much easier to understand what is discussed on this page.
If you are looking for an introductory primer to get started and find the full breakdowns overwhelming, you can always start with our Easy Mode page to get yourself started with a close-to-optimal build and a more straightforward breakdown. While the recommendations on the page below are not strictly optimal for endgame, they provide an excellent springboard to get to grips with the core gameplay Havoc focuses on:
In addition to your rotation in general content, there is also a separate section of this guide devoted to how your playstyle may change in Mythic+ as situations are often less scripted and more hectic. Please take a look at the page below if you are looking for more tailored information for that content:
PvP
The content on this page is purely PvE-related. If you are looking for PvP Rotation Tips, visit our PvP page below.
Havoc Demon Hunter Rotations
Each of the sections below explain the rotation for Havoc at different target counts. Click the boxes to switch to the desired damage type.
Havoc Demon Hunter Rotation
The buttons below can be used to select between curated talent loadouts from our talent page. You can also use the switches below to add or remove individual talents you may also be using:
Talent Selections | ||
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T31 Set |
Havoc Demon Hunter Single Target Rotation
Havoc's single-target rotation in Dragonflight hinges strongly on two core loops. The first is
Fury build-and-spend through tools such as Demon's Bite
Demon Blades,
Immolation Aura and
Felblade to generate and
Chaos Strike /
Blade Dance
to spend. Second, it needs to manage Fury around rotational burst windows that follow from mid-range
cooldowns such as
Eye Beam,
Essence Break and
Inertia.
- Cast
Eye Beam with as little Fury as possible.
- Cast
Metamorphosis if
Eye Beam is on cooldown.
- Cast
Annihilation
- Cast
Sigil of Flame if under 90 Fury.
- Cast
Immolation Aura.
- Cast
Chaos Strike
- Cast
Fel Rush if nothing else is available.
Havoc's gameplay loop is heavily dictated by its gameplay loop, which shifts its priorities to activate powerful effects and fill out its gameplay core. Which you pick dictates the flow and what you need to think about aligning to get big payoff moments. Some key notes, including details based on your selections in the talent switches, are:
Eye Beam is still always used in single-target as a powerful cooldown and is only enhanced further by
Demonic providing a powerful follow-up. The frequency depends on if you have
Cycle of Hatred or not, and if you have
Blind Fury try to dump as much Fury as possible before casting it.
Havoc Demon Hunter AoE Rotation
In AoE situations, due to such a large portion of the Havoc Demon Hunter kit already dealing AoE or cleave damage, it is very similar to its single-target equivalent, with some slight deviations in priority:
- Cast
Eye Beam with as little Fury as possible.
- Cast
Metamorphosis if
Eye Beam is on cooldown.
- Cast
Sigil of Flame.
- Cast
Annihilation
- Cast
Fel Rush if nothing else is available.
- Cast
Chaos Strike
The majority of tools you make use of in single-target apply directly to
AoE, with the exception of Annihilation /
Chaos Strike that
fall to the bottom of the priority. Your focus depends on which key AoE
talents you have taken, and notes based on your selection in the talent
switches are:
Immolation Aura pulls a lot more weight in AoE due to the number of talents focused around it on the right side. The biggest of these is
Ragefire, which converts Critical Strikes into a large explosion as it fades paired with the increased access from
A Fire Inside thanks to the resets. If you do not select all of these, however, it is not a key focus.
Fel Rush is a low-priority filler that is just above
Chaos Strike. However, with some movement talents, it becomes more impactful.
Inertia will most likely be paired with
A Fire Inside for an "Ignition" build and should be triggered aggressively due to how much
Immolation Aura is being cast.
Momentum is maintained as much as possible over big casts, but is not done as a priority throughout an encounter.
Opener for Havoc Demon Hunter
The opening sequence for Havoc is quite set in stone, hinging on your management
of some key talents - most importantly Chaotic Transformation.
- Pre-cast
Immolation Aura 2 seconds before the pull.
- Pre-cast
Sigil of Flame 1 second before the pull.
- Cast
Immolation Aura if it was reset by
A Fire Inside.
- Repeat the
Immolation Aura /
Fel Rush cycle until a reset does not occur.
- Cast
Eye Beam.
- Continue with the normal priority list.
The most warping effects on the initial rotation are Chaotic Transformation
and
Essence Break, which provide a small window to deal huge burst if
managed correctly. The goal is to set yourself up in
Metamorphosis
via
Demonic, have
Momentum and
Inertia and and
Initiative active, and enter an Essence Break window where you can
Death Sweep, reset with
Metamorphosis, and
Death Sweep
immediately to squeeze them both into the short timeframe.
Tier Set Bonus for Havoc Demon Hunter
These are unique bonuses that are gained within content from each respective season of Dragonflight, found on armor pieces. These vary in power and, in some cases, can alter the rotation when equipped.
Dragonflight Set Bonuses
Amirdrassil Set bonus for Havoc Demon Hunter
Season 3 introduced the Amirdrassil set bonus that is still available. The bonuses granted by the Screaming Torchfiend's Brutality set are:
-
Demon Hunter Havoc 10.2 Class Set 2pc - Your
Blade Dance automatically casts
Throw Glaive on your primary target for 100% damage, and each slash has a 50% chance to also
Throw Glaive an enemy for 35% damage.
-
Demon Hunter Havoc 10.2 Class Set 4pc -
The Hunt damage over time effect lasts 6 seconds longer, and each time you
Throw Glaive, its remaining cooldown is reduced by 2 seconds.
This set locks in a lot of talents to enable it, but it is worth it.
Once you have the 4-piece equipped, it requires The Hunt and all supporting
Throw Glaive talents to get full value from the 2-piece:
Master of the Glaive /
Champion of the Glaive
Accelerated Blade
Furious Throws
Serrated Glaive
Soulscar
The primary target throw of Throw Glaive will consume a charge to
deal full damage, and any glaive sent out by
Blade Dance will gain the
effect of talents taken. This means there is no need to rotationally cast
Throw Glaive with the bonus taken, as the procs will naturally consume charges
for free when it triggers. It also means you need to plan around
a much lower cooldown on
The Hunt in your cycles when using the 4-piece.
You should aim to get this bonus as soon as possible and swap to the 2-piece
once you have it, even if you are using the previous tier set currently. Once you
do so, you should also fully switch to the Throw Glaive talents, as this
is where most of the value comes from.
Aberrus Set bonus for Havoc Demon Hunter
Season 2 introduced the Aberrus set bonus that is still available. The bonuses granted by the Kinslayer's Burden set are:
Demon Hunter Havoc 10.1 Class Set 2pc - Every 175 Fury you spend, gain Seething Fury, increasing your Agility by 10% for 6 seconds.
Demon Hunter Havoc 10.1 Class Set 4pc - Each time you gain Seething Fury, gain 15 Fury and increase the damage of your next
Eye Beam cast by 15%, stacking up to 5 times.
Much like the previous bonus, these are passive boosts that happen in the
background that you do not need to pay much attention to. There is no reason to
game either effect, and they will trigger through natural gameplay (and very frequently),
boosting up your overall damage, and each Eye Beam cast through repeat
triggers.
Vault of the Incarnates Set bonus for Havoc Demon Hunter
Season 1 introduced the Vault of the Incarnates set bonus that is still available. The bonuses granted by the Skybound Avenger's Flightwear set are:
Havoc Demon Hunter 2pc increases the Critical Strike chance of
Chaos Strike and
Blade Dance by 5%, and their critical damage by 10%.
Havoc Demon Hunter 4pc grants
Chaos Strike and
Blade Dance a 20% chance to increase all damage you deal by 8% for 6 seconds. Critical Strikes double the chance for this to trigger.
Both of these bonuses are flat boosts to all damage and further incentivize using Critical Strike - a stat Havoc already wants to stack. There is no reason to play around with the 4-piece; it should trigger naturally via gameplay, so treat them as extra damage.
Havoc Demon Hunter Cooldowns: Metamorphosis
Metamorphosis is a 20-second duration buff on a 3-minute cooldown
(which can be reduced to 2-minutes with
Rush of Chaos), granting a flat
20% increase to Haste, and converting two of your primary abilities for
the duration:
Chaos Strike becomes
Annihilation
Blade Dance becomes
Death Sweep
Each of these new abilities replace their respective spots on your action
bar and deal significantly higher damage, but behave the same and are affected
by all equivalent passives. Pooling 100 Fury or above before entering
Metamorphosis can be helpful in allowing for a surge of
extra
Annihilation casts, but do not delay pressing it in service of
this. Similarly, you should also drain excess Fury in the last 5 seconds of
the buff before you lose the benefits.
Chaotic Transformation also causes the active cast to reset
the cooldown on
Death Sweep and
Eye Beam. We play around
this effect, and make sure to have both abilities are on cooldown before
casting it to gain an extra use of each. This is especially potent when
paired with
Essence Break.
See our addons and macros page for a Metamorphosis macro.
Optional Read: Understanding Havoc Demon Hunter
Notes on Build Synergy
Havoc has a lot of talents that link up with each other in a powerful way, usually with one pick having a powerful interaction with another elsewhere on the tree. Examples of packages that are commonly taken together because of their synergy are:
Felblade paired with
Demon Blades
Initiative,
Tactical Retreat and
Momentum
A Fire Inside paired with
Inertia
Furious Throws,
Accelerating Blade, and
Soulscar
These packages often complement each other and enable different ability uses when picked in tandem but are not strong enough to incentivize them alone. For more information on the specifics, please refer to our talent page.
Due to the variety of talents that have such an impact on the rotation when taken, the section below has extra details on the specifics of how they are played. Crucial, but more general options are also listed under the Core Picks tab:
Noteworthy Talents
Movement Talents
Havoc comes with a number of unique talents that leverage its high mobility for additional damage. These are generally higher skill cap options, and require comfort to execute properly. Knowing when you need to commit your tools to amplify upcoming damage versus when you need to hold them to deal with mechanics is a skill that comes with experience. The key talents that build it up are:
Initiative +
Tactical Retreat
Unbound Chaos
Momentum or
Inertia
The first two are relatively intuitive in that it encourages you to cast
Vengeful Retreat on cooldown for the high Fury generation, and
Fel Rush
to consume the buff. The final choice node however requires more explanation.
To start with, below is an image that shows the optimal pathing around bosses
to maintain uptime without being forced out of range as much as possible:

Momentum
Slightly altered in Patch 10.2, this can now be reapplied all the way up
to 30 seconds, making it more of a maintenance buff. This is generally
something that gets activated throughout the rotation via the base priority.
It is important to make sure you have it active for high-damage events such as
Eye Beam,
Essence Break and
Fel Barrage, but most
of the time the natural gameplay of
Initiative will do this for you.
Do not overcommit to maintenance over spending Fury, but do aim for as high
of an uptime as possible.
Inertia
New in Patch 10.2, this brings back a similar playstyle to the old
version of Momentum, making it a short duration high-intensity burst moment.
This pairs extremely well with A Fire Inside, giving
extra charges to add some flexibility to your activators. You should make
sure when using this to not leave any
Unbound Chaos activations
on the table, and aim to overlap all of your high damage moments
(such as
Eye Beam and
Essence Break) pro-actively to
get the most value out of it.
Essence Break
Adds in an additional high-value damage window, but only lasts for 4
seconds, so needs all of your setup to be done before casting it
to get good value out of it. You always want to be in Metamorphosis
form when activating this, ideally via
Demonic due to the
benefits of layering this with
Chaotic Transformation to get
two
Death Sweeps out during it. Starting already in Demon form,
your goal with each cast should be:
- With
Metamorphosis:
Death Sweep into
Metamorphosis into
Death Sweep, finish with
Annihilation.
- Without
Metamorphosis:
Death Sweep into 2-3
Annihilation.
Depending on your Haste and whether you are affected by Bloodlust
this can be extremely tight to fit in, but is absolutely worth the payoff. In
AoE situations, you instead only need to fit in as many
Death Sweeps as
the above shows, ignoring the
Annihilation recommendations.
Throw Glaive Talents
While Throw Glaive is usually a low damage ability, there is a
large number of effects on the tree that, when combined, make it a potent
Fury spender. Talents that form this are:
Champion of the Glaive
Accelerated Blade
Furious Throws
Serrated Glaive
Soulscar
When all of these are combined Throw Glaive becomes a spender
that competes with
Annihilation that also gets stronger in cleave
situations. When playing this, you should always pair it with
Champion of the Glaive
to get the additional charge, which you should use to always keep it
recharging.
Tier 31 Set Bonus
When using the Season 3 set, these talents become mandatory, as the
free Throw Glaive casts triggered by
Blade Dance are extremely
efficient. This also means you do not need to actively cast Throw Glaive
to get the value, instead relying on the free activations.
Fel Barrage
Changed in Patch 10.2, this is an extremely potent AoE burst cooldown that also drains Fury extremely quickly. Due to it being capped at 8 seconds, it means you need to generate a total of 256 Fury throughout to maintain it from start to finish, meaning pooling is recommended.
Before entering into it, you want to make sure you have all of your
maintenance buffs prepared (in particular Inertia and
Initiative)
and avoid spending excess Fury while it is active. Active generation
tools such as
Felblade and
Sigil of Flame take priority
when this is active, especially if you fall behind. This extends to
refilling via
Blind Fury as well if taken.
A Fire Inside
New in Patch 10.2, this adds both an extra charge, the ability for
Immolation Aura casts to overlap each other, and
a 30% chance for it to reset when cast. This pairs especially well
with all of the right-side talents up to
Ragefire, and also
Inertia.
It is crucial when playing this to make sure you never leave it
at 2 charges and react to resets by pressing it repeatedly until it
actively goes on cooldown - you lose nothing due to the buffs overlapping.
When playing Inertia, you also ideally want to spend the
Unbound Chaos triggers in between these casts in single-target,
but in AoE, hitting the resets is slightly more valuable.
Core Picks
These are talents that are present in the majority of builds that have quite a large impact overall, but are not necessarily gameplay-altering.
First Blood
First Blood increases the damage
Blade Dance deals to your
primary target by 75% and converts it to Chaos damage, allowing it to scale
with Mastery. This significantly raises the priority of
Blade Dance
in all situations and turns it into a high priority, use on cooldown ability
at all target counts.
Felblade
Felblade provides an alternative active Fury generation tool
that is proc-related and fills in for
Demon's Bite when
Demon Blades
is taken, creating a steady flow of extra Fury. This is especially good as
Demon Blades allows us to generate Fury off the GCD so we can more actively
manage our resource.
Demonic
Demonic is a damage boost window effect. It will naturally be
triggered by your
Eye Beam casts rotationally, making sure to fill as
many Global Cooldowns during the 5 seconds as possible with Fury spenders. Priming
Immolation Aura or
Tactical Retreat if talented before you
trigger the window is excellent for setting up some background generation to fuel
your
Annihilation casts. Try to minimize the number of committal
generation tools such as
Demon's Bite if possible, but in some cases,
RNG forces your hand.
Know Your Enemy
Know Your Enemy increases your Critical Strike damage based on your
Critical Strike chance, significantly improving its scaling and also allowing
abilities that guarantee critical strikes (such as
Eye Beam with
Looks Can Kill) to still retain some boost from it. This also includes
all item effects and trinkets, so is always taken.
Any Means Necessary
Any Means Necessary converts all magic damage your abilities deal to
Chaos damage, causing your Mastery to increase their damage. This is extremely
good for overall scaling, and due to the easier access in Patch 10.2 is taken
in the majority of builds. This also includes
The Hunt, giving it extra
relevance for the Tier 31 set bonus.
Shattered Destiny
Shattered Destiny extends your active
Metamorphosis or
Demonic window based on Fury spent, having strong synergy with the
additional Haste it confers. This makes time with Metamorphosis active a
race to spend and keep it active, and provides a large single-target
increase due to how many extensions it provides. The path through
Cycle of Hatred
also gives even further access to your Demon Form, so creates a very
fast-paced resource cycling playstyle.
Fury Management
With Havoc being so reliant on its resources, you need to be aware
of situations that encourage spending vs. the requirement to build. The
general rule is to avoid wasting Fury due to overcapping with a generator.
This means the spend breakpoint is 90 Fury without talents, due to
Demon's Bite having a potential maximum of 30 per cast or 40 with
Felblade. With
Demon Blades, this is more flexible, but given
how fast multiple procs can happen, it is preferable to be spending more
aggressively when not pooling for certain effects.
Your rotation will also be adjusted around Chaos Strike casts
that grant a 20 Fury refund, as it may shift your upcoming priority when
they happen. Successful
Disrupt and
Consume Magic casts
with
Swallowed Anger also grant additional resources, so plan around
these if an encounter allows.
Fury Management with Demon Blades
When using Demon Blades, your Fury management is altered to
account for the more random nature of generation. In single-target, more
appropriate rotational rules to adjust the original priority look like this
(keep in mind these are un-ordered notes and simply small things that can help
to improve your gameplay):
- Cast
Chaos Strike/
Annihilation as frequently as possible unless pooling for burst windows.
- Cast
Felblade as frequently as possible, as long as you are below 80 Fury as your active generation tool.
- Cast
Sigil of Flame as a backup generation tool if you fall behind on generation.
- Wait and allow
Demon Blades to generate Fury again to continue the cycle, or collect any
Demonic Appetite orbs.
- Cast
Throw Glaive and
Fel Rush if out of range of any targets or during empty Globals.
Changelog
- 06 Nov. 2023: Restructured and fully updated for Patch 10.2 rework.
- 04 Sep. 2023: Reviewed for Patch 10.1.7, added loadout buttons in rotation section and restrucutred page.
- 10 Jul. 2023: Reviewed for Patch 10.1.5 with small tweaks for clarity and Isolated Prey highlights.
- 01 May 2023: Updated for Patch 10.1 with Serrated Glaive and notes added, and extra Essence Break combo notes.
- 20 Mar. 2023: Reviewed for Patch 10.0.7.
- 24 Jan. 2023: Reviewed for Patch 10.0.5, rotation tool refined.
- 01 Jan. 2023: Updated Opener.
- 11 Dec. 2022: Updated for Dragonflight Season 1.
- 28 Nov. 2022: Updated for Dragonflight launch.
- 24 Oct. 2022: Updated for Dragonflight Pre-Patch.
More Demon Hunter Guides
Guides from Other Classes
This guide has been written by Wordup, a frequent theorycrafter involved in a number of class communities. He is also an experienced player who has been in the world top 100 since the days of Sunwell, currently raiding in Echoes. You can also follow him on Twitter.
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