Introduction
Welcome to the Method Havoc Demon Hunter guide written by Faithy. I have participated in the RWF event since the launch of Shadowlands and I'm a melee player for the Method raid roster.
In this guide we will deep dive into Havoc Demon Hunter and I will try to explain the class and how it is going to function in Dragonflight with the newly implemented systems.
First Impressions
With the release of Dragonflight and the reintroduction of the old-school Talent Tree revamp it opens up for multiple different builds and options for the general class and spec. Abilities we have grown accustomed to being baseline have become an option to pick and/or choose between in the General Class Tree. This opens up options to focus more on damage, survivability or Crowd Control, or a mixture of whatever you desire in certain scenarios.
Some new abilities have also been added as a pickable talent in the tree such as the following Shadowlands Covenant abilities: The Hunt, Fodder to the Flame, Elysian Decree and much more.
Why play Havoc Demon Hunter?
High Survivability
Havoc Demon Hunter is infamous for being very tanky. This is due to their super short Defensive Blur, and the crazy amount of self healing that you can gain throughout the Talent Tree such as:
- Soul Rending (5-10% Leech + 5-10% additional Leech in Metamorphosis)
- Fodder to the Flame (spawns a Demon which upon death heals you for 25% HP)
- Demonic Appetite (Spawns high amounts of Lesser Soul Fragments)
- The Hunt (25% of damage done heals you for 30 sec.)
- Charred Warblades (You heal for 5% of all Fire damage you deal.)
- Illidari Knowledge (3-6% Magic damage reduction)
And much more depending on your own picking throughout the Talent Tree.
Sustained AoE Damage + Burst
Havoc Demon Hunter has a super strong kit for AoE pretty much whatever way you go down the Havoc specific talent tree, and due to Havoc’s abilities other than Metamorphosis having a super short cooldown the damage you can burst is super consistent, however it’s also possible to focus more on Burst heavy AoE depending on your situation.
High Moveability
Havoc Demon Hunter is most likely the fastest moving class in World of Warcraft, this comes down the the base Demon Hunter tree having lots of movement abilities such as Fel Rush and Vengeful Retreat, which both have a short CD. Additionally there’s other talents which increase your move ability indirectly such as Pursuit and Felfire Haste.
Good Crowd Control and Raid Utility
Demon Hunter is pretty much a mandatory class in a Raiding environment due to the Chaos Brand passive they bring so it’s a guaranteed raid spot if you’re the only one in your guild/group. They also provide Darkness which is a strong Raid Cooldown which has the potential to heal a high amount if used correctly.
Havoc also brings a AoE Stun, slow and a single target stun if there’s a demand. They also have a True CC with Imprison and an AoE Fear with Sigil of Misery.
What has changed
Patch 10.1.7 Changes for Havoc Demon Hunter
There have been no changes to Havoc Demon Hunter with the introduction of the 10.1.7 Patch, however we should see lots of changes for the next upcoming Patch, 10.2!
10.1.5 Fractures in Time, Changes for Havoc Demon Hunter
There have been no changes to Havoc Demon Hunter with the introduction of the 10.1.5 Patch.
10.1 Mid-season changes for Havoc Demon Hunter
- Chaos strike/Annihilation damage increased by 10%.
- First Blood (Talent) damage bonus to first enemy struck increased to 95% (was 75%).
- Inner Demon (Talent) damage increased by 30%.
Pretty good buff to the overall damage of Havoc, especially for Single target putting us a lot more on par with other classes.
10.1 Changes for Havoc Demon Hunter
Havoc Demon Hunter has had a few buffs with the introduction of Patch 10.1, mostly being flat damage increases to abilities, with the outlier being the change to the Serrated Glaive talent choice:
- Demon’s Bite damage increased by 8%.
- Demon Blades damage increased by 8%.
- Felblade Damage increased by 8%.
- Chaos Strike/Annihilation Damage increased by 8%.
- Serrated Glaive now causes enemies hit by Throw Glaive to take 20% increased damage from Chaos Strike, in addition to its current effect.
- Serrated Glaive debuff duration increased to 15 seconds, and now retains up to 30% additional duration when refreshed (was 10 seconds).
- Accelerated Blade now causes Throw Glaive to deal 60% increased damage (was 20%) and its damage is reduced by 30% for each previous enemy hit.
- Fixed an issue that prevented Chaos Theory’s bonus to crit chance from affecting off-hand hits of Chaos Strike/Annihilation.
Currently there’s no changes to the playstyle of Havoc and we will continue using the same builds as in previous patches.
10.0.7 Changes for Havoc Demon Hunter
Havoc Demon Hunter has had very few changes with the introduction of patch 10.0.7, mostly being minor fixes to inconveniences in the spawn of Fodder to the Flame demons and a few swapped talent choice locations:
- Reduced the range that Fodder to the Flame Demons can spawn by 20%.
- The Demon Soul generated upon killing a Fodder to the Flame demon will now land close towards the Demon Hunter, whenever possible.
- Blind Fury now increases Eye Beam damage and duration by 10%/20% (was duration only by 25%/50%).
- Improved Fel Rush and the choice node of Desperate Instincts / Netherwalk have swapped locations in the specialization tree.
- Furious Throws and Fel Eruption have swapped locations in the specialization tree.
Nothing changes in the choices of talents due to the minor impact the Blind Fury and talent rotations has done.
Patch 10.0.7 introduces a new item, that being the Onyx Annulet, which is a ring containing three special sockets which can be filled with the newly introduced Primordial Stone Gems. There are 24' introduced gems with multiple different procs and utilities such as defensive, damage, healing and tertiary depending on what you prefer.
10.0.5 Changes for Havoc Demon Hunter
There has been no major changes to Havoc Demon Hunter in patch 10.0.5, only a slight nerf to our survivability and a buff to the damage of The Hunt.
- The Hunt’s Attack power increased from 184.44% to 245.92%
- Soul Rending’s Leech decreased to 5% at Rank 1 and 10% at Rank 2