Havoc Demon Hunter DPS Spec, Builds, and Talents — Dragonflight 10.2.5

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

On this page, you will find out the best talents for each tier for your Havoc Demon Hunter in World of Warcraft — Dragonflight 10.2.5. We also have default talent lists for various types of content, such as raiding or Mythic+. If you play with Warmode on, we have your PvP talents covered as well.

1.

Best Dragonflight Talent Builds for Havoc Demon Hunter

Note that these builds are popular build recommendations for various different damage profiles. For more specific recommendations for the Raid and Mythic+, check out the dedicated pages below.

2.

Talent Cheat Sheet for Havoc Demon Hunters

Season 3 has a lot of different talent options due to the freedom on the tree, though some options are currently more dominant due to the Season 3 set. With a solid core, it can branch out and specialize in either single-target or AoE, alongside having some excellent picks that gain similar value in both situations. You can also avoid the heavy movement talents if you really want to, but it does come at a performance loss:

  • Single Target - BEkAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAIJRkkgkkIJhkkAAAAAAASLEJEJtkkWaREIho0ikEB
  • AoE - BEkAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAIJJRSCSSiIhQCAAAAAAItQkEJJtkkWaBBkmo0ikEB
  • No Movement - BEkAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAIBRSCSSiIhIJAAAAAAg0CRSEJtkkGKJSSSIKNOQSEA

The section below provides details on how each build is set up, what it is strong for, and any potential swaps that can be made depending on the situation. You can use each of the buttons to switch to information about the respective build. Note that because of the Season 3 set, all builds take supporting Throw Glaive Icon Throw Glaive talents. An alternative Tier 30 section is also below to tide you over until you get the new bonus.

3.

Dragonflight Talent Builds for Havoc Demon Hunter

Ignition Single Ignition AoE Cycle No Movement No Set Single No Set AoE
4.

Ignition Single Target

"Ignition" builds combine Inertia Icon Inertia and A Fire Inside Icon A Fire Inside to create explosive burst windows that can be planned around. So long as movement is an option within an encounter, these builds currently perform the best:

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

The single-target Ignition revolves heavily around the combination of A Fire Inside Icon A Fire Inside, Inertia Icon Inertia and Essence Break Icon Essence Break. It leverages the condensed damage boost of Inertia much better than it does the alternative Momentum Icon Momentum, heavily empowering the strength of each Essence Break window. It also allows it to set up and execute extremely powerful Metamorphosis Icon Metamorphosis burst via Chaotic Transformation Icon Chaotic Transformation by using the two Immolation Aura Icon Immolation Aura charges to blanket the cooldown window.

No matter the variation on the build, whenever playing Ignition it requires you to be using both Fel Rush Icon Fel Rush for Unbound Chaos Icon Unbound Chaos and Vengeful Retreat Icon Vengeful Retreat for Tactical Retreat Icon Tactical Retreat. This means planning and positioning is key, because your burst windows are so short in the follow-up.

5.

Ignition AoE

"Ignition" builds combine Inertia Icon Inertia and A Fire Inside Icon 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 Icon Inertia and A Fire Inside Icon A Fire Inside to set up strong burst windows for AoE. It completes the Immolation Aura Icon Immolation Aura path as well , unlike in single-target, picking up Ragefire Icon 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:

  • Essence Break Icon Essence Break - easier to execute and plan around due to only having a 40-second cooldown. It plays much more more comfortably when forced into single-target or dealing with priority enemies, but it sacrifices some AoE to do so.
  • Glaive Tempest Icon Glaive Tempest - capped at 8 targets and gives an extra rotational AoE Fury spender that can more comfortably fit into the rotation. Particularly in Fortified weeks, this is a good pick when more AoE damage is required.
  • Fel Barrage Icon Fel Barrage - this provides high 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 Icon Unbound Chaos to deliver a large amount of up-front damage. The limitation on targets paired with the resource drain and the nerfs over the course of Season 3 has however, made this harder to justify due to the additional planning required. Not recommended, but still a powerful talent.
6.

Cycle Single Target

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

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

The Cycle build's primary focus is extremely high Momentum Icon Momentum uptime paired with Fury cycling via Cycle of Hatred Icon Cycle of Hatred to reduce the cooldown of Eye Beam Icon Eye Beam. It also uses the extension mechanic from Shattered Destiny Icon Shattered Destiny to bring time spent in Metamorphosis Icon Metamorphosis much higher compared to other builds. In between that, it overlaps every second Vengeful Retreat Icon Vengeful Retreat (plus Initiative Icon Initiative) cast with Essence Break Icon Essence Break for a powerful burst window.

7.

No Movement Build

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 roughly 5%, may be more comfortable for you to play:

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

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 Icon Fel Rush and Vengeful Retreat Icon Vengeful Retreat suite in exchange for the strongest upfront damage tools we can get hold of.

It still goes for Cycle of Hatred Icon 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 Icon Eye Beam and Chaos Strike Icon Chaos Strike as they form the bread and butter of the build's damage delivery.

8.

No Set Bonus Single Target Build

Due to all of the Season 3 builds having a significant deviation in choices to fit in Throw Glaive Icon 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 build is more of a low movement option mixed with a Cycle of Hatred Icon Cycle of Hatred build that takes the Eye Beam Icon Eye Beam oriented talents. High-value movement options such as Initiative Icon Initiative and Tactical Retreat Icon Tactical Retreat are still picked up alongside the strongest Fury options like Blind Fury Icon 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.

9.

No Set Bonus AoE Build

Due to all of the Season 3 builds having a significant deviation in choices to fit in Throw Glaive Icon 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 Season 3 builds, however, it skips all of the Throw Glaive Icon Throw Glaive talents to instead pick up more traditional Chaos Strike Icon 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 between three active options depending on preference:
    • Essence Break Icon Essence Break provides the most rounded single-target/burst AoE split, suited well for Mythic+
    • Fel Barrage Icon Fel Barrage provides powerful and condensed burst AoE at 5 targets, and works well if you can plan around the cooldown.
    • Glaive Tempest Icon Glaive Tempest provides rotational AoE at 8 targets, and is suited as an extra tool to round out your AoE toolkit throughout a dungeon or encounter.
9.1.

Raiding

While the above builds can be slotted into most encounters depending on what is required, some more bespoke tools may be required on some bosses. You can check out specific tips and builds for each of the Vault of the Incarnates encounters below:

9.2.

Mythic+

Mythic+ can potentially require a mix of specific AoE and Single-Target talents, depending on affixes and other variables. If you want more detailed advice about the selections (especially those relating to Utility), check out the dedicated page below:

10.

Havoc Demon Hunter Talents Explained

Many Havoc talent choices add additional abilities into the rotation or alter how you would play due to shifted priorities and synergy between certain abilities. We recommend you look at our rotation page linked below for more details.

Below, we will explain each of the key talents that are present on the tree, and the reasons for taking them, but for a list of all of the abilities and effects available to Havoc, you can use our Spell summary page:

11.

Havoc Demon Hunter Talent Details

Spec Rows 1-4 Spec Rows 5-7 Spec Rows 8-10 Class Talents
10.1.

Havoc Tier 1 Talents: Rows 1-4

Ability Explanation
Critical Chaos Icon 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 Icon 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 Icon Demon Blades Removes the need to actively generate via Demon's Bite Icon Demon's Bite, giving much more efficient generation. This is paired with Felblade Icon Felblade to still maintain an active generator tool.
Burning Hatred Icon Burning Hatred Provides additional Fury from Immolation Aura Icon 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 Icon Insatiable Hunger Increases the damage and Fury generation of Demon's Bite Icon 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 Icon Dash of Chaos Allows you to Fel Rush Icon Fel Rush back to your starting position immediately following a cast. This does give extra Momentum Icon 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 Icon Improved Fel Rush Boosts the damage of Fel Rush Icon Fel Rush, but not nearly enough to make it a desirable pick so should be avoided.
Improved Chaos Strike Icon 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 Icon First Blood Taken in every build and forms the core of keeping Blade Dance Icon Blade Dance relevant in all situations as a use-on-cooldown rotational ability.
Accelerated Blade Icon Accelerated Blade Adds further damage to your Throw Glaive Icon 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 Icon 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 Icon 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 Icon Desperate Instincts.
Deflecting Dance Icon Deflecting Dance Another defensive tool that adds a modest absorb shield during your Blade Dance Icon Blade Dance casts. This provides some good active defense and is mandatory pathing, so unless you need the healing reduction from Mortal Dance Icon Mortal Dance is strongly recommended.

The first 4 rows have a handful of key talents, such as First Blood Icon 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.

10.2.

Havoc Tier 2 Talents: Rows 5-7

Ability Explanation
Initiative Icon Initiative Provides an additional (but short) burst window at the start of an encounter and following Vengeful Retreat Icon Vengeful Retreat casts. Taken in the majority of builds, unless you are avoiding movement talents - which comes at a DPS loss.
Scars of Suffering Icon 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 Icon Chaotic Transformation Causes your Metamorphosis Icon Metamorphosis casts to also reset the cooldown of Blade Dance Icon Blade Dance and Eye Beam Icon Eye Beam. Empowers the up-front power of our 2-minute cooldown, and is always taken.
Furious Throws Icon Furious Throws The key building block to set up the Throw Glaive Icon Throw Glaive package that is completed later in the tree with Soulscar Icon Soulscar and Accelerating Blade Icon Accelerating Blade. Required when playing with the Season 3 set bonus.
Trail of Ruin Icon Trail of Ruin Adds an additional Chaos damage DoT to your Blade Dance Icon 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 Icon Tactical Retreat Adds further benefit to casting Vengeful Retreat Icon Vengeful Retreat by granting a surge of Fury generation while also reducing the cooldown, increasing the number of Initiative triggers possible.
Blind Fury Icon Blind Fury Provides a good path through to single-target options that further improve Eye Beam Icon 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 Icon Looks Can Kill Guarantees your Eye Beam Icon 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 Icon Dancing with Fate Leans in further to Blade Dance Icon Blade Dance to empower the final strike, and is also always taken.
Growing Inferno Icon Growing Inferno Causes Immolation Aura Icon 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 Icon Unbound Chaos Adds benefit to each Immolation Aura Icon Immolation Aura cast by empowering your next Fel Rush Icon Fel Rush. Also becomes the activator for Inertia Icon Inertia if taken.
Isolated Prey Icon Isolated Prey Adds a pure single-target component to Eye Beam Icon Eye Beam and Immolation Aura Icon 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 Icon Furious Gaze A strong follow-up Haste window for your Eye Beam Icon Eye Beam casts and Demonic Icon Demonic windows. Strong, but sometimes hard to fit in because of the central block.
Serrated Glaive Icon Serrated Glaive Causes Chaos Strike Icon Chaos Strike and Throw Glaive Icon 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 Season 3 set bonus.
Burning Wound Icon Burning Wound Adds a significant damage increase to Immolation Aura Icon Immolation Aura that is easy to maintain but can only be applied to 3 targets. Works well in all scenarios and feeds into Ragefire Icon 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.

10.3.

Havoc Tier 3 Talents: Rows 8-10

Ability Explanation
Momentum Icon Momentum A powerful flat damage increase that can be easily maintained so long as you are actively using movement abilities like Fel Rush Icon 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 Icon Inertia A stronger alternative to Momentum that requires additional gameplay to execute. This also relies on A Fire Inside Icon A Fire Inside to grant additional access to the Unbound Chaos Icon Unbound Chaos activators, and these casts have a condensed high damage window to use with high power abilities.
Glaive Tempest Icon 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 Icon Chaos Theory A solid boost to your Blade Dance Icon Blade Dance by causing each cast to empower your next Chaos Strike Icon Chaos Strike, but the value and lack of flexibility makes it hard to justify a point here, considering what it competes with.
Inner Demon Icon Inner Demon Powerful damage in all situations, adding bonus damage component to each of your Eye Beam Icon Eye Beam's Demonic Icon Demonic triggers, and Metamorphosis Icon Metamorphosis casts.
Restless Hunter Icon Restless Hunter Increases the damage of your next Blade Dance Icon Blade Dance or Death Sweep Icon Death Sweep after leaving Metamorphosis Icon Metamorphosis by 50%. This also triggers if you refresh the buff by casting Metamorphosis Icon Metamorphosis, so makes good use of Chaotic Transformation Icon Chaotic Transformation. Unfortunately, it simply cannot compete with Inner Demon as a choice node here.
Soulscar Icon Soulscar Adds a Mastery scaling component to Throw Glaive Icon Throw Glaive that amplifies its damage significantly, synergizing strongly with the other Throw Glaive talents on the tree. Rounds out the Season 3 set bonus build.
Relentless Onslaught Icon 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 Icon Ragefire Deals excellent AoE damage, funneling your Critical Strikes into a large explosion at the end. Works well with the other Immolation Aura Icon Immolation Aura enhancing talents on the tree.
Know Your Enemy Icon 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 Icon Cycle of Hatred Predominantly single-target focused, significantly reducing the cooldown of Eye Beam Icon Eye Beam.
Chaotic Disposition Icon 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 Icon A Fire Inside Grants Immolation Aura Icon Immolation Aura a second charge, a 25% 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 Icon Inertia to form the Ignition build.
Essence Break Icon 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 Icon Death Sweep and at least two Annihilation Icon Annihilation casts every time.
Shattered Destiny Icon Shattered Destiny Spending Fury extends the duration of your active Metamorphosis Icon 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 Icon 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 Icon Fel Barrage A 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. Due to the additional planning required, the payoff is not really worth the investment, but has some niche uses in certain encounters.

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.

10.4.

Demon Hunter Class Talents

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:

10.4.1.

Throughput Class Talents

Ability Explanation
Unrestrained Fury Icon Unrestrained Fury Increases the Fury cap to 120, allowing more room to generate without overcapping and is always taken.
Bouncing Glaives Icon Bouncing Glaives Increases the target count of Throw Glaive Icon Throw Glaive which is extremely important for the Cleave build on the spec tree.
Champion of the Glaive Icon Champion of the Glaive Pairs well with the other Throw Glaive Icon Throw Glaive talents on the spec tree if you are taking those by adding flexibility with a second charge.
Felblade Icon Felblade Adds a high Fury generation tool that works well with Demon Blades Icon 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 Icon Demon's Bite easily and is always taken.
Aura of Pain Icon Aura of Pain A flat increase to Immolation Aura Icon Immolation Aura Critical Strike chance. While modest, it is useful and works well with Immolation Aura-focused builds in the spec tree.
Demonic Icon Demonic Almost always taken over First of the Illidari Icon First of the Illidari because it drastically improves your Metamorphosis Icon Metamorphosis uptime alongside having better synergy with other talents on the Havoc spec tree.
Collective Anguish Icon Collective Anguish Adds a secondary damage (and healing) effect to your Eye Beam Icon Eye Beam casts for a good damage increase in all situations and is always taken.
Rush of Chaos Icon Rush of Chaos Reduces Metamorphosis Icon Metamorphosis' cooldown to 2 minutes, making it less awkward to line up with other cooldowns and is always taken.
Flames of Fury Icon Flames of Fury Significantly increases the damage of Sigil of Flame Icon Sigil of Flame, making it a potent AoE tool and a more worthwhile filler in single-target.
The Hunt Icon 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 Icon Any Means Necessary further empowering it and is always taken, especially thanks to the Season 3 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.

10.4.2.

Defense/Mobility Class Talents

Ability Explanation
Blazing Path Icon Blazing Path Adds an additional charge to Fel Rush Icon 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 Icon Momentum.
Charred Warblades Icon 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 Icon Soul Rending Passive Leech that is enhanced during Metamorphosis Icon Metamorphosis, providing a large amount of sustain and is always taken.
Infernal Armor Icon Infernal Armor While Armor only reduces Physical damage taken, the high uptime on Immolation Aura Icon Immolation Aura for some builds makes this worth taking, and helps you path through to other important nodes.
First of the Illidari Icon 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 Icon 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 Icon 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.

10.4.3.

Utility Class Talents

Ability Explanation
Sigil of Misery Icon Sigil of Misery Provides an AoE stop for enemy crowd control and is usually a good pickup if you have the points spare.
Imprison Icon Imprison While niche, has some applications in certain dungeons as enemies will not engage in combat while under the effect.
Improved Disrupt Icon Improved Disrupt Additional range on your interrupt is a nice quality-of-life boost.
Consume Magic Icon 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 Icon Swallowed Anger to generate some Fury to compensate for the GCD. Is also required pathing for Aura of Pain Icon Aura of Pain.
Chaos Nova Icon Chaos Nova AoE stun that is taken in any situation where they are needed (for example Mythic+).
Precise Sigils Icon 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 Icon Darkness Powerful point-blank raid cooldown that is almost always taken.
Pitch Black Icon Pitch Black Reduces the cooldown of Darkness Icon 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.

11.

PvP Talents (War Mode)

"War Mode" is an optional feature that enables open-world PvP encounters that confer some benefits when active:

  • Grants access to PvP talents in the open world.
  • 10% increase in World Quest rewards at max level.
  • 10% more experience gained while leveling.
  • Earn Conquest Points which can reward gear every week.

With the benefits of War Mode for leveling and PvE content, it is recommended to enable the feature to maximize your leveling and rewards at the maximum level. However, you will open yourself up to open-world PvP, so be aware of hostile enemy players who could interfere with you; this is a risk you will have to decide on your own if you want to take.

If you are interested in doing PvP as a Havoc Demon Hunter or want to know the basics of Havoc PvP gameplay and decision-making, check out our dedicated PvP guide.

11.1.

Havoc Demon Hunter War Mode Talents

In this section, we will rank the PvP talents for leveling and playing in open-world PvE scenarios.

11.1.1.

Havoc Demon Hunter PvP Talents

Generally, the selections are made to optimize your ability to kill enemies faster, increasing your pace when moving through content.

  1. Chaotic Imprint Icon Chaotic Imprint will always buff Chaos damage dealt, such as Chaos Strike Icon Chaos Strike and Eye Beam Icon Eye Beam. Also great to pair with talents such as Soulrend Icon Soulrend due to the conversion to magic damage, causing Throw Glaive Icon Throw Glaive to deal significantly more damage.
  2. Unending Hatred Icon Unending Hatred is just free additional Fury generation as you will frequently be taking damage in the open world.
  3. Sigil Mastery Icon Sigil Mastery reduces the cooldown of sigils, such as Sigil of Flame Icon Sigil of Flame and Elysian Decree Icon Elysian Decree, which can be a small DPS gain if these talents are taken.

Alternatively you can take Blood Moon Icon Blood Moon for a small bit of extra self-healing, or Rain from Above Icon Rain from Above as an emergency disengage tool.

Reverse Magic Icon Reverse Magic, Detainment Icon Detainment, Cover of Darkness Icon Cover of Darkness, Cleansed by Flame Icon Cleansed by Flame and Glimpse Icon Glimpse all have minimal uses in PvE, due to it being very focused on crowd control tools or pressuring enemy players into spending more resources than they would otherwise want to.

12.

Changelog

  • 15 Jan. 2024: Reviewed for Patch 10.2.5, small recommendation cleanups around AoE final point choices.
  • 13 Nov. 2023: Slight change to T30 AoE build tips and added low movement T30 single target.
  • 06 Nov. 2023: Updated for Patch 10.2
  • 04 Sep. 2023: Reviewed for Patch 10.1.7, changed AoE recommendation to Glaive Tempest/Ragefire, restructured page.
  • 10 Jul. 2023: Updated for Patch 10.1.5, added individual sections and the No Movement build recommendation.
  • 01 May 2023: Builds updated to account for Patch 10.1 changes, including Serrated Glaive as an option.
  • 20 Mar. 2023: Reviewed and updated for Patch 10.0.7.
  • 24 Jan. 2022: Reviewed and updated for Patch 10.0.5.
  • 11 Dec. 2022: Reviewed for Dragonflight Season 1.
  • 28 Nov. 2022: Updated for Dragonflight launch.
  • 24 Oct. 2022: Updated for Dragonflight Pre-Patch.
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