Havoc Demon Hunter DPS Spec, Builds, and Talents — Dragonflight 10.2

"Ignition" builds combine Inertia and A Fire Inside to create explosive burst windows that can be planned around. These are the new options in Patch 10.2, and currently, this is performing best in single-target:

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The single-target Ignition build is similar in spirit to the Essence Break heavy builds of previous patches, with an extra layer on top. It leverages the condensed damage boost of Inertia much better than it did previously with Momentum, further amplifying how strong each Essence Break window is. It also allows it to set up and execute extremely powerful Metamorphosis burst via Chaotic Transformation by using the two Immolation Aura charges to blanket the opener.

While this is less movement than was required in 10.1, it still requires you to be using both Fel Rush for Unbound Chaos and Vengeful Retreat for Tactical Retreat. This means planning and positioning is key, because your burst windows are so short in the follow-up.

"Ignition" builds combine Inertia and A Fire Inside to create explosive burst windows that can be planned around. This is especially potent in Mythic+ where burst is king:

Be sure to make use of the 'Copy Export String' button to import the best build directly into your game!

Similar to the single-target build, this leverages the powerful synergy between Inertia and A Fire Inside to set up strong burst windows for AoE. It completes the Immolation Aura path as well , unlike in single-target, picking up Ragefire to add even more AoE damage to the package. The final talent point to bring everything together in the final row depends on your preference:

• Fel Barrage - this provides incredible burst on a 1.5-minute cooldown, but is target capped at 5. The build can sustain the resources to keep it up for the whole 8 seconds, and keep it buffed via double Unbound Chaos to deliver incredible up-front damage. The limitation on targets and cooldown , however, means it requires planning and comfort to execute comfortably.
• Glaive Tempest - capped at 8 targets instead and gives an extra rotational AoE Fury spender that can more comfortably fit into the rotation. More flexible than the above, but leans more into sustained AoE rather than burst.
• Essence Break - easier to execute and plan around due to only having a 40-second cooldown instead. It also plays more comfortably when forced into single-target, but it provides less explosive power in comparison.

The previous best build is no longer as competitive but is still an option that is only slightly behind:

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While no longer as dominant, this still did see some improvements with the Patch 10.2 changes. It did, however, take a hit with the reduced impact of Shattered Destiny, which it relies heavily on to grant additional Metamorphosis. Its primary focus is extremely high Momentum uptime paired with Fury cycling via Cycle of Hatred to reduce the cooldown of Eye Beam. In between that, it overlaps every second Vengeful Retreat (plus Initiative) cast with Essence Break for a powerful burst window.

In some encounters, it is not realistic to make use of the heavy movement talents, or simply your preference may be a more static gameplay loop. This is an alternative that, while behind top builds by 5%, maybe more comfortable for you to play:

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Recent encounters have shown that, in some cases, it is not only unsafe but simply unrealistic to keep full uptime while using movement tools efficiently. When that appears, this is an alternative that comes at a modest performance hit, removing the entire Fel Rush and Vengeful Retreat suite in exchange for the strongest upfront damage tools we can get hold of.

It still goes for Cycle of Hatred as the central block of talents have the least dependencies on other talents. Alongside this, it picks up strong enabler talents for Eye Beam and Chaos Strike as they form the bread and butter of the build's damage delivery.

Due to all of the Tier 31 builds having a significant deviation in choices to fit in Throw Glaive and other supporting options, this exists for the period until you have access to it:

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This build is more of a low movement option mixed with a Cycle of Hatred build that takes the Eye Beam oriented talents to make use the Tier 30 bonuses, alongside cycling Fury quickly to trigger the old 2-piece. High-value movement options such as Initiative and Tactical Retreat are still picked up alongside the strongest Fury options like Blind Fury to round out the build.

This has very little room to flex any picks, as the entire package is very focused on producing the most single-target as possible through one primary method.

Due to all of the Tier 31 builds having a significant deviation in choices to fit in Throw Glaive and other supporting options, this exists for the period until you have access to it:

Be sure to make use of the 'Copy Export String' button to import the best build directly into your game!

This still follows a similar path to Ignition Tier 31 builds, however, it skips all of the Throw Glaive talents to instead pick up more traditional Chaos Strike related options instead. You can also make some small swaps if you want to adjust it for AoE damage:

• Your final point below the 20 gate can be swapped freely beteween three active options depending on preference:
  • Essence Break provides the most rounded single-target/burst AoE split, suited well for Mythic+
  • Fel Barrage provides explosive and condensed burst AoE at 5 targets, and works well if you can plan around the cooldown.
  • Glaive Tempest provides rotatonal AoE at 8 targets, and is suited as an extra tool to round out your AoE toolkit throughout a dungeon or encounter.

Ability	Explanation
Critical Chaos	Thanks to the other talents on the Havoc tree and the general leaning to Critical Strike, this confers extra benefits to Chaos Strike from the stat you will likely be stacking. Due to how busy the top of the tree is this is not always taken, but is a strong generation tool.
Demon Blades	Removes the need to actively generate via Demon's Bite, giving much more efficient generation. This is paired with Felblade to still maintain an active generator tool.
Burning Hatred	Provides additional Fury from Immolation Aura. Due to the increased focus on this later in the tree, and it now being mandatory pathing, this is always taken.
Insatiable Hunger	Increases the damage and Fury generation of Demon's Bite. Unfortunately, the GCD compression of Demon Blades that it competes with simply cannot be beaten, and the extra low-value globals this consumes means it should be avoided.
Dash of Chaos	Allows you to Fel Rush back to your starting position immediately following a cast. This does give extra Momentum uptime, but is more of a quality-of-life option which simply does not fit into a tree that is very squeezed for points.
Improved Fel Rush	Boosts the damage of Fel Rush, but not nearly enough to make it a desirable pick so should be avoided.
Improved Chaos Strike	Only rarely taken, and even then only in single-target focused builds. It simply lacks the throughput and flexibility of alternatives at this stage in the tree.
First Blood	Taken in every build and forms the core of keeping Blade Dance relevant in all situations as a use-on-cooldown rotational ability.
Accelerated Blade	Adds further damage to your Throw Glaive and compliments the other options later in the tree. Becomes a mandatory pickup with the Tier 31 bonus to empower it further.
Demon Hide	Provides a flat 3% increase to Magic damage done alongside 5% Physical damage reduction as well. Solid talent that is usually worth the point investment for its flexibility.
Netherwalk	A potent defensive tool that allows you to immune all damage, but on a long cooldown. Previously, this was hard to acquire, but is now mandatory pathing and is heavily recommended over Desperate Instincts.
Deflecting Dance	Another defensive tool that adds a modest absorb shield during your Blade Dance casts. This provides some good active defense and is mandatory pathing, so unless you need the healing reduction from Mortal Dance is strongly recommended.

The first 4 rows have a handful of key talents, such as First Blood, but mostly exist to set up the building blocks of where you will go deeper in the tree and the abilities you focus on. The way you path through here will often decide which sides of the tree you can efficiently access, so decisions here are important.

Ability	Explanation
Initiative	Provides an additional (but short) burst window at the start of an encounter and following Vengeful Retreat casts. Taken in the majority of builds, unless you are avoiding movement talents - which comes at a DPS loss.
Scars of Suffering	Grants a flat 4% Versatility and reduces threat generated by 8%. A high-value stat node that has the added benefit of reducing the chance enemies turn around and kill you, so is always taken.
Chaotic Transformation	Causes your Metamorphosis casts to also reset the cooldown of Blade Dance and Eye Beam. Empowers the up-front power of our 2-minute cooldown, and is always taken.
Furious Throws	The key building block to set up the Throw Glaive package that is completed later in the tree with Soulscar and Accelerating Blade. Required when playing with the Tier 31 set bonus.
Trail of Ruin	Adds an additional Chaos damage DoT to your Blade Dance casts that applies to all targets hit. Given the already high-priority of Blade Dance, this simply adds extra free damage to our best button.
Tactical Retreat	Adds further benefit to casting Vengeful Retreat by granting a surge of Fury generation while also reducing the cooldown, increasing the number of Initiative triggers possible.
Blind Fury	Provides a good path through to single-target options that further improve Eye Beam, and provides a good damage increase in all situations. Hard to fit in, however due to the point squeeze in the centre of the tree.
Looks Can Kill	Guarantees your Eye Beam to critically strike. Generally an optional talent due to the point squeeze alongside the already very high Critical Strike level at this point in the expansion.
Dancing with Fate	Leans in further to Blade Dance to empower the final strike, and is also always taken.
Growing Inferno	Causes Immolation Aura to ramp up damage the longer it is active, adding a large amount overall and working well with other Immolation Aura-related talents.
Unbound Chaos	Adds benefit to each Immolation Aura cast by empowering your next Fel Rush. Also becomes the activator for Inertia if taken.
Isolated Prey	Adds a pure single-target component to Eye Beam and Immolation Aura and is valuable, but should only be taken if there are no adds present in an encounter to deactivate it. This limitation makes it hard to fit in for most builds due to high-value alternatives.
Furious Gaze	A strong follow-up Haste window for your Eye Beam casts and Demonic windows. Strong, but sometimes hard to fit in because of the central block.
Serrated Glaive	Causes Chaos Strike and Throw Glaive to increase the target's damage taken by those abilities for 15 seconds. Very easy to activate and gains a lot of value, especially with the Tier 31 set bonus.
Burning Wound	Adds a significant damage increase to Immolation Aura that is easy to maintain but can only be applied to 3 targets. Works well in all scenarios and feeds into Ragefire in cleave.

Rows 5-7 form a lot of the core rotation, rounding out which abilities are essential to focus on and how the rotation cycle works with your mid-range cooldown abilities and effects. A lot of these talents are taken in blocks and dictate which of the final rows you have access to.

Ability	Explanation
Momentum	A powerful flat damage increase that can be easily maintained so long as you are actively using movement abilities like Fel Rush. If taken, this should have full uptime, but still gains a lot of its value from abilities you press rotationally on cooldown, regardless.
Inertia	A stronger alternative to Momentum that requires additional gameplay to execute. This also relies on A Fire Inside to grant additional access to the Unbound Chaos activators, and these casts have a condensed high damage window to use with high power abilities.
Glaive Tempest	A strong AoE ability that goes up to 8 targets, but unfortunately has a lot of competition below the 20-point gate.
Chaos Theory	A solid boost to your Blade Dance by causing each cast to empower your next Chaos Strike, but the value and lack of flexibility makes it hard to justify a point here, considering what it competes with.
Inner Demon	Powerful damage in all situations, adding bonus damage component to each of your Eye Beam's Demonic triggers, and Metamorphosis casts.
Restless Hunter	Increases the damage of your next Blade Dance or Death Sweep after leaving Metamorphosis by 50%. This also triggers if you refresh the buff by casting Metamorphosis, so makes good use of Chaotic Transformation. Unfortunately, it simply cannot compete with Inner Demon as a choice node here.
Soulscar	Adds a Mastery scaling component to Throw Glaive that amplifies its damage significantly, synergizing strongly with the other Throw Glaive talents on the tree. Rounds out the Tier 31 set bonus build.
Relentless Onslaught	While a good single-target node with better pathing than previously, simply cannot compete in Tier 31 and has some very strong talents, it does not outperform up against it.
Ragefire	Deals excellent AoE damage, funneling your Critical Strikes into a large explosion at the end. Works well with the other Immolation Aura enhancing talents on the tree.
Know Your Enemy	Causes Critical Strike to scale significantly better, increasing the damage dealt when you do, and is taken in every build. Also extends to trinkets and unique item effects.
Cycle of Hatred	Predominantly single-target focused, significantly reducing the cooldown of Eye Beam.
Chaotic Disposition	Adds a 7.77% chance to trigger damage events additional times whenever you deal damage. Think of this as just another form of Critical Strike and a proc that makes everything do a bit more, tuned very well.
A Fire Inside	Grants Immolation Aura a second charge, a 30% chance whenever you cast it to not trigger the cooldown, and allows multiple Auras to overlap. Amplifies the other Immolation Aura-related talents on the tree, and pairs extremely well with Inertia to form the Ignition build.
Essence Break	A powerful AoE and single-target burst cooldown that can be overlapped with the numerous other short-duration tools Havoc has. While short, there is enough room to fit in Death Sweep and at least two Annihilation casts every time.
Shattered Destiny	Spending Fury extends the duration of your active Metamorphosis form. While this was previously extremely good, the increased cost to trigger means it simply does not get the same value and is outperformed by alternatives.
Any Means Necessary	Converts the majority of non-Chaos abilities into Chaos, allowing it to scale with 80% of your Mastery bonus. It works especially well in AoE situations, and makes Mastery one of the two dominant stats.
Fel Barrage	An extremely potent 1.5-minute cooldown burst AoE tool, but is capped at 5 targets. This puts extreme strain on your Fury while active, costing 256 total to maintain for the full 8 seconds, but deals massive damage if you are able to last the entire time. A common pick in AoE heavy builds.

The final 3 rows contain some potent effects that increase Havoc's scaling potential, how the rotation fundamentally flows, and what target counts it is most effective at. You will almost always want a full 10 points spare to spend down here, as each point here is at a premium.

Below, we will look at the Class tree talents, dividing them up between those that are used for Throughput (and the reason why), Defense/Mobility and finally, Utility:

Ability	Explanation
Unrestrained Fury	Increases the Fury cap to 120, allowing more room to generate without overcapping and is always taken.
Bouncing Glaives	Increases the target count of Throw Glaive which is extremely important for the Cleave build on the spec tree.
Champion of the Glaive	Pairs well with the other Throw Glaive talents on the spec tree if you are taking those by adding flexibility with a second charge.
Felblade	Adds a high Fury generation tool that works well with Demon Blades, which can trigger the reset. Only has a half-GCD, allowing it to fill in GCDs that were lost from Demon's Bite easily and is always taken.
Aura of Pain	A flat increase to Immolation Aura Critical Strike chance. While modest, it is useful and works well with Immolation Aura-focused builds in the spec tree.
Demonic	Almost always taken over First of the Illidari because it drastically improves your Metamorphosis uptime alongside having better synergy with other talents on the Havoc spec tree.
Collective Anguish	Adds a secondary damage (and healing) effect to your Eye Beam casts for a good damage increase in all situations and is always taken.
Rush of Chaos	Reduces Metamorphosis' cooldown to 2 minutes, making it less awkward to line up with other cooldowns and is always taken.
Flames of Fury	Significantly increases the damage of Sigil of Flame, making it a potent AoE tool and a more worthwhile filler in single-target.
The Hunt	Deals a heavy amount of burst damage to both your target and enemies around it, alongside being a charge. It can also be converted to Chaos damage via Any Means Necessary further empowering it and is always taken, especially thanks to the Tier 31 set bonus.

The majority of these talents are always taken as there is a limited number of points that can be spent on the tree that purely affect damage - which is the aim of the game for Havoc.

Ability	Explanation
Blazing Path	Adds an additional charge to Fel Rush, effectively making it a mandatory pick not only for the pathing but for the sheer amount of flexible movement it provides. Is locked in if taking Momentum.
Charred Warblades	Additional passive healing for a single point that is generally worth grabbing on top of Havoc's other good self-healing options.
Soul Rending	Passive Leech that is enhanced during Metamorphosis, providing a large amount of sustain and is always taken.
Infernal Armor	While Armor only reduces Physical damage taken, the high uptime on Immolation Aura for some builds makes this worth taking, and helps you path through to other important nodes.
First of the Illidari	Strong passive magic damage reduction that is also required pathing to get to throughput talents, so it is always taken.
Will of the Illidari	Flat additional max Health that is a strong boost to passive survival. It can be awkward to access the tree, but it is recommended in all situations when possible.
Pursuit	Causes Mastery rating to increase your movement speed, providing free additional, passive movement at all times.

Havoc has some good options for both Mobility and Defense on top of its baseline toolkit within the tree, and as these are usually recommended to grab alongside the throughput talents in most of your builds.

Ability	Explanation
Sigil of Misery	Provides an AoE stop for enemy crowd control and is usually a good pickup if you have the points spare.
Imprison	While niche, has some applications in certain dungeons as enemies will not engage in combat while under the effect.
Improved Disrupt	Additional range on your interrupt is a nice quality-of-life boost.
Consume Magic	Should the content you are doing require a dispel, this is a good pickup both being at range and having the option to take Swallowed Anger to generate some Fury to compensate for the GCD. Is also required pathing for Aura of Pain.
Chaos Nova	AoE stun that is taken in any situation where they are needed (for example Mythic+).
Precise Sigils	A quality of life talent that allows you to fire Sigils at your target instead of aiming them, alongside a duration increase to the effects. This can be useful if you need help to use them efficiently.
Darkness	Powerful point-blank raid cooldown that is almost always taken.
Pitch Black	Reduces the cooldown of Darkness to 3 minutes and is often the go-to enhancement pick for the ability.

Many of the above tools are niche enough that they are selected based on the content you are doing if they are deemed necessary. The tree is flexible, has enough extra points to access most of these without much issue, and can tailor your build based on your group composition or needs.