Havoc Demon Hunter DPS Spec, Builds, and Talents — The War Within (11.2.5)

In Season 3, before you have access to the Tier Set Aldrachi Reaver is firmly ahead. It brings stronger single-target, better cleave and has priority target/funnel capabilities as well. Its robust package makes it the recommended choice in raid content.

Once you get access to your new Tier Set in Season 3, the edge that Aldrachi Reaver is slightly smaller. It still comes with a far better cleave and priority damage toolkit though, which is only made better with the set. This flexibility keeps it as the recommended choice in raid encounters.

In Season 3, if you don't have access to the new Tier Set then Fel-Scarred is a bit behind in raid encounters. Its lower raw throughput paired with a less flexible damage toolkit means that, while it is capable of doing well, it can't quite keep up with Aldrachi Reaver.

After acquiring the Season 3 Tier Set, Fel-Scarred becomes much more competitive, becoming the recommended choice in pure single-target encounters. Its weaker cleave and issues with Isolated Prey however make it slightly less flexible, so is only suitable for certain encounters.

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In single-target, Aldrachi Reaver picks up all of the Throw Glaive talents to empower Reaver's Glaive, and uses Screaming Brutality to pull value out of them rotationally. It picks up Exergy and Tactical Retreat to further improve Eye Beam windows. The same build is currently used before and after acquiring the new Tier Set, as the synergies are already powerful. Some additional notes are:

In single-target, Aldrachi Reaver picks up all of the Throw Glaive talents to empower Reaver's Glaive, and uses Screaming Brutality to pull value out of them rotationally. It picks up Exergy and Tactical Retreat to further improve Eye Beam windows. While the Season 3 Tier Set is very strong, it doesn't have any impact on the recommended build. Some additional notes are:

The Fel-Scarred rotation in single-target focuses primarily on optimizing your Demonic and Metamorphosis windows. This means picking up all of the supporting Eye Beam talents, while avoiding disruptive movement talents. As a lot of its damage comes from Annihilation and Burning Blades, it also heavily invests in amplifiers for Chaos Strike. Some additional notes are:

The Fel-Scarred rotation in single-target focuses primarily on optimizing your Demonic and Metamorphosis windows. This means picking up all supporting Eye Beam talents, alongside Chaos Strike improvements to empower Annihilation, which feeds Burning Blades. The Season 3 Tier Set also has a heavy influence, as the 2-piece both encourages A Fire Inside and discourages pressing Blade Dance as often. This means some talents are switched to support Immolation Aura further. Some additional notes are:

• Cycle of Hatred through to Shattered Destiny is present in all builds, providing significantly more Metamorphosis uptime. Essence Break is also picked up to provide an additional multiplier for every other Demonic trigger.
• Aldrachi Reaver still picks up a lot of the high power Chaos Strike and Blade Dance modifiers, as a lot of the rotation is spent casting these as much as possible.
• On the class tree, it opts to pick up Sigil of Spite instead of Collective Anguish in the final gate. This is used as an additional way to generate a burst of Soul Fragments to trigger Reaver's Glaive. Similarly, The Hunt is always taken to guarantee a free proc every 1.5-minutes.
• Cycle of Hatred is a major factor for Fel-Scarred, and is required in all builds. This effectively doubles your Demonsurge triggers from Eye Beam, and also multiplies the value of other related talents by increasing the cast frequency.
• To pair with this, two points in Blind Fury is taken to amplify its damage. Alongside that, Isolated Prey provides another multiplier. This talent has some issues when secondary targets are involved, but in pure single-target scenarios is incredibly efficient. This is even more true with the Tier Set encouraging Immolation Aura talents.
• With the Season 3 Tier Set, A Fire Inside is required to maximize Immolation Aura uptime. That means the value of Growing Inferno through to Ragefire increases, and all are taken. To make room for this, Dancing with Fate and Chaos Theory are dropped.
• On the class tree, make sure to path through to Collective Anguish after the final gate to add a secondary AoE to your Eye Beam. The Hunt is picked up as a direct damage cooldown, and leftover points are spent on Flames of Fury to increase the value from your rotational Sigil of Flame casts.

In Season 3, before you have access to the Tier Set Aldrachi Reaver is the go-to choice in all AoE content, especially Mythic+. The advantages of Wounded Quarry for priority target damage, alongside a flexible build that maintains single-target gives it a unique edge. This is the current recommended choice:

In Season 3, after getting access to your Tier Set Aldrachi Reaver's advantages are even more pronounced. Wounded Quarry gets stronger due to both bonuses, and its single-target benefits are just as strong. This firmly makes it the recommended choice:

In Season 3, before having access to the new Tier Set, Fel-Scarred has a few issues in Mythic+. While it does provide strong burst AoE potential, it has to sacrifice some single-target to get there. This is more of an alternative playstyle if you enjoy it:

In Season 3, after acquiring your tier set Fel-Scarred does improve in Mythic+, providing strong AoE burst damage. While its single-target problems do improve in the build, having to sacrifice some key options to round out its AoE plus the inability to use Isolated Prey consistently causes problems. This means it remains a more niche alternative:

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In AoE situations, the Aldrachi Reaver is very similar in single-target, picking up all of the Throw Glaive to amplify Reaver's Glaive and pairing them with Screaming Brutality. Movement talents are all mostly dropped in favour of fully supporting Immolation Aura for additional AoE, alongside Essence Break being switched out for A Fire Inside. Without access to the Tier Set, the build still remains very similar due to the strong synergies for the tree. Some additional notes are:

In AoE situations, the Aldrachi Reaver is very similar in single-target, picking up all of the Throw Glaive to amplify Reaver's Glaive and pairing them with Screaming Brutality. Movement talents are all mostly dropped in favour of fully supporting Immolation Aura for additional AoE, alongside Essence Break being switched out for A Fire Inside. With the Season 3 Set the build remains the standard loadout for the tree, with no stronger swaps available. Some additional notes are:

The Fel-Scarred tree in AoE situations still heavily orients itself around Metamorphosis and Demonic, aiming to maximize burst in these windows. This means Cycle of Hatred and supporting Eye Beam talents are always taken, alongside A Fire Inside and Immolation Aura for strong, consistent AoE damage. It relies on Burning Blades to cover its single-target needs for Mythic+. Having no access to the Season 3 Tier Set has no strong influence on the build choices. Some additional notes are:

The Fel-Scarred tree in AoE situations still heavily orients itself around Metamorphosis and Demonic, aiming to maximize burst in these windows. This means Cycle of Hatred and supporting Eye Beam talents are always taken, alongside A Fire Inside and Immolation Aura for strong, consistent AoE damage. It relies on Burning Blades to cover its single-target needs for Mythic+. Having the Season 3 helps to cover single-target by providing a way to convert Immolation Aura into more Burning Blades, but has no influence on build choice. Some additional notes are:

• On the class tree, it opts to pick up Sigil of Spite in the final gate. This is used both for burst AoE and an additional way to generate Soul Fragments for Reaver's Glaive. Similarly, The Hunt is always taken as a way to guarantee a proc in key moments
• Movement talents are an optional pick-up in AoE, though their performance benefit is small enough that avoiding them is generally better. If you want to use these, switch Serrated Glaive and Looks Can Kill for both Tactical Retreat and either Inertia or Exergy. Often the execution requirements to line these up during busy pulls isn't worth it, so bear that in mind if you're uncomfortable.
• Essence Break is also an optional pickup for extra burst in exchange for the second point in Chaotic Disposition. This trades consistency for burst (and requires better execution), and is usually paired with the burstier movement talents for more multipliers.
• Immolation Aura provides a significant portion of Fel-Scarred's AoE damage, so all related talents (except for Isolated Prey) are taken. Screaming Brutality is also used to apply Burning Wound to targets efficiently. Lastly, Flamebound is also taken on the Hero Tree choice node.
• Movement talents are also avoided, as Fel-Scarred benefits from being able to set up burst quickly. Removing the extra danger and execution requirements from having to rotationally cast Vengeful Retreat significantly reduces risk in larger pulls.
• As many Eye Beam related damage amplifiers are picked up as possible, most importantly Blind Fury, Looks Can Kill and Collective Anguish. The only exception is Isolated Prey, which unfortunately cannot be activated nearly often enough to justify the point.

Aldrachi Reaver is well suited to Delves due to the high volume of Soul Fragment generation for sustain. It can handle larger pulls comfortably, though the extra management that Reaver's Mark requires can be awkward in some situations. Aside from that, it's still an excellent pick.

In Delves, Fel-Scarred leans heavily into dealing explosive burst damage very frequently, making it well suited for this type of content. Pairing that with high uptime on Metamorphosis for high self-sustain with Soul Rending makes the build very comfortable, and is the recommended choice.

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