Havoc Demon Hunter Playstyle and Rotation Guide

General Rotation

Aldrachi no mover priority list

1. Keep Reaver’s Mark on the target.
2. Death Sweep.
3. Vengeful Retreat.
4. Annihilation to consume Inner demon.
5. Eye Beam.
6. The Hunt (IMPORTANT: Need to throw any Reaver’s Glaives you have available before you hunt, otherwise The Hunt will not grant you a Reaver’s Glaive!).
7. Sigil of Spite.
8. Annihilation to not overcap on fury.
9. Blade Dance.
10. Metamorphosis.
11. Chaos Strike to not overcap on fury.
12. Sigil of Flame.
13. Immolation Aura to generate fury.
14. Fel blade to generate fury.

Notes

Important to keep your Reaver’s Mark on the target, while at the same time not wasting any uptime on the damage amp portion of Thrill of the Fight (lasts 10s).

Assuming you don’t lose a cast of Meta it’s always worth to hold your meta so that you can cast eyebeam before you press meta, since you’d then reset closer to 100% of the cooldown of Eye Beam.

Openers

Opener for Single target raid low mover Aldrachi build

1. Immolation Aura (pre-pull)
2. Sigil of flame (pre-pull)
3. The Hunt
4. Raver’s Glaive + Felblade (same global)
5. Tempered Potion + Trinket
6. Eye Beam
7. Death Sweep
8. Annihilation
9. Vengeful Retreat
10. Metamorphosis
11. Death Sweep
12. Annihilation
13. Eye Beam
14. Sigil of Spite
15. Normal priority

Opener for Mythic+ Inertia Aldrachi build

1. Immolation Aura.
2. Sigil of Spite (can pre cast before all mobs are gathered so it will go off when grouped).
3. Sigil of Flame (Good to do early to give you tank a chance to gather some aggro).
4. The Hunt.
5. Fel rush.
6. Tempered Potion + Trinket.
7. Reaver’s Glaive.
8. Eye Beam.
9. Immolation Aura.
10. Annihilation (applies Reaver’s Mark so use on prio target).
11. Fel Rush.
12. Essence Break.
13. Death Sweep.
14. Vengeful Retreat.
15. Metamorphosis.
16. Death Sweep.
17. Eye Beam.

Notes: Sigils are a bit more situational, it’s good to combine with sigil of spite as it does a fair amount of damage, however holding it for an extended time is not ideal. You can also move your Sigil of Flame to the end if you want to do your damage quicker for a shorter burst window.

Playstyle

Essence Break and the 40 second burst

Essence Break is a very powerful talent opening up for a very powerful Burst window for Havoc in both AoE and single target situations. When paired with Metamorphosis which is most commonly gained through Demonic + Eye Beam it makes Blade Dance an incredibly hard hitting ability in the 4 second debuff window and it's important to buff the damage of this short window as much as possible. This is made possible with Initiative which should always be activated right before the cast of Essence Break granting you an additional 25% crit in the burst window.

If you play with Chaotic Transformation it makes it possible to be able to cast 2 Blade Dances in Essence Break which is a very strong burst every 3 minutes when Metamorphosis lines up with Essence Break. So always pair up Meta with Essence Break if talented into Chaotic Transformation.

How to minmax Felrush + Vengeful without downtime

When Casting Felrush and Vengeful Retreat it’s important that you take into account where the cast will end up leaving you. You always want to cast the ability with the thought in mind you want to be in melee range of the Boss’s hitbox to not lose any uptime. It’s also important you don’t make the faulty move of putting yourself in front of the target due to its potential frontal abilities and the fact it can block your attacks.

I would recommend following the green lines in the picture below for the most optimal usage of your movement abilities.

Momentum uptime

Momentum has become a buff which is possible to keep up for the entire duration of a fight meaning it can have a 100% uptime. It’s very important to keep track of the buff due to its short Cooldown and make sure to use your Momentum activating abilities on CD. However Fel Rush is slightly different due to its low CD and double charges the most important thing is that you never have 2 charges of it.

Defensive usage

Havoc Demon Hunter is an immensely tanky Class with its crazy high amounts of self healing through various talents, making it a viable target to receive hits that aren't fatal if need be. Netherwalk is also a crucial ability in the Havoc kit depending on the situation, if there’s ever a need for an immunity, which is a common trope in especially a raiding environment.

Blur is a crazy short Cooldown Defensive so make sure to make good use of it, press it often however always make sure to have it available for the most important situations which would normally prove fatal.