Talent Builds
This section covers recommended talent builds for raid and Mythic+. I encourage you to use these builds as a starting point, but as they are not based on sims they may not be the most optimal. If Havoc receives support for pre-patch sims, these talent builds might receive updates.
Note: Essence Break is currently bugged on test servers, and is therefore not included in any of these builds. Once the bug is fixed, some talent builds might receive updates.
Aldrachi Reaver - Raid (Recommended)
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This build is reminiscent of the standard Aldrachi Reaver raid build from The War Within season 3, and plays very similarly, however, the opener changes slightly due to choosing Chaos Theory over Essence Break.
You can also opt to put a point in Blind Fury instead of Chaos Theory.
Fel-Scarred (Inertia) - Raid (Recommended)
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This build focuses more on stacking damage increases, such as Inertia and Student Of Suffering, making it a more bursty build.
Fel-Scarred (No Mover) - Raid
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This build is more or less identical to the raid build used in The War Within Season 3 for Fel-Scarred, and provides a No Mover option for those that prefer that type of gameplay.
Aldrachi Reaver - Mythic+ (Recommended)
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Updated version of the Season 3 The War Within Aldrachi Reaver Mythic+ build. Provides good AoE damage and amazing funnel damage.
Fel-Scarred - Mythic+
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This build provides great AoE damage, but can be lacking in priority damage and single-target.
For Delves and open world content you can play any of the builds listed above, but I believe the Fel-Scarred Mythic+ build works perfectly due to its strong cooldowns and heavy AoE damage.
Class Talents
Demonic, Collective Anguish and The Hunt have all been moved to the Havoc tree, and Sigil Of Spite has been removed. This gives Demon Hunter three new capstone talents: Wings Of Wrath, Long Night or Pitch Black (choice node) and Demonic Resilience.
New talents, Furious, Remorseless and Final Breath are all damage increases, so they are always taken.
Demon Muzzle has been changed, and now provides a magic damage taken reduction after interrupting an ability with Disrupt. This talent can be quite powerful in Mythic+.
Demon Hunters now have the option to remove Curse or Disease effects from themselves with Immolation Aura, thanks to the new talents Burn It Out and Soul Cleanse, which share a choice node.
Demon Hunter has received three new capstones!
Demonic Resilience grants a second Blur charge. Out of the three capstone talents, this one stands out as the obvious choice. Having two charges of Blur provides great flexibility in defensive usage.
Wings Of Wrath increases Glide speed by 10%, which isn’t very useful in most situations.
Between Long Night and Pitch Black, the obvious choice is Pitch Black, reducing Darkness cooldown from 5 minutes to 3 minutes. While this can be a useful talent, especially in raids, it isn’t a must-have in all situations.
Spec Talents
Eye Beam blasts all enemies in front of you for Chaos damage. The spec heavily revolves around Eye Beam, due to talents such as Demonic. Demonic causes you to enter demon form for 5 seconds when casting Eye Beam. It’s one of the strongest talents available to Havoc. It synergizes greatly with Cycle Of Hatred, giving the spec strong damage windows every 20 seconds.
Inner Demon and Chaotic Transformation now share a choice node. The obvious choice out of the two is Chaotic Transformation, resetting the cooldowns of Eye Beam and Blade Dance when casting Metamorphosis makes it a better damage cooldown, while also speeding up the Cycle Of Hatred stacking process.
Shattered Destiny now shares a choice node with Collective Anguish. Shattered Destiny provides great value in single-target by extending demon form based on Fury spent. While Collective Anguish can perform better in heavy AoE situations, the tree has better AoE options elsewhere.
Glaive Tempest is now a capstone. It’s been changed, and is now triggered when Blade Dance strikes 3+ targets, consuming 25 Fury. It’s a powerful AoE talent, but since it only provides value with 3+ targets, it opens up a problem for Havoc where taking Glaive Tempest essentially makes you play with one fewer bottom gate talent in low target count situations.
The Hunt is a powerful talent and is chosen in all situations.
No Mover, Low Mover and Mover Builds
A No Mover build doesn’t include any of these talents: Initiative, Tactical Retreat, Exergy and Inertia.
Low Mover builds play Initiative, and often Tactical Retreat, but do not include Exergy or Inertia.
Mover builds play all of the previously mentioned talents, including Exergy or Inertia.
Hero Talents
Aldrachi Reaver
The gameplay centers around Reaver's Glaive and how it interacts with Chaos Strike and Blade Dance. Soul Fragments act as a secondary resource for Aldrachi Reaver, as consuming 6 of them will convert your next Throw Glaive into Reaver's Glaive. The Hunt also triggers this conversion, however if you already have a Reaver's Glaive available, casting The Hunt effectively wastes a Reaver's Glaive use.
Thrill Of The Fight has been reworked from a 15% damage increase for 10 seconds, to now increasing the damage of your next Reaver's Glaive by 30%, and granting 6% Haste for 30 seconds. This means that it’s no longer needed to maximize Thrill Of The Fight uptime, making it a maintenance buff that you don’t think about.
With the removal of Sigil Of Spite and Sigil Of Flame, Aldrachi Reaver has received the talent Broken Spirit to make up for the soul generation. This makes up for around the same amount of souls generated, but adds an additional RNG aspect to the spec, which can lead to droughts in soul generation at times.
After casting Reaver's Glaive, Chaos Strike and Blade Dance are empowered. The first cast of the two gains a 10% damage increase, while the second gains a 20% damage increase. Fury Of The Aldrachi or Reaver's Mark will be enhanced further, depending on which sequence you cast Chaos Strike and Blade Dance following a Reaver's Glaive cast:
- Chaos Strike first, Blade Dance second: Fury Of The Aldrachi causes Blade Dance to cast 6 extra slashes (12 with Bladecraft), instead of 3.
- Blade Dance first, Chaos Strike second: Chaos Strike applies 2 Reaver's Mark stacks (3 with Bladecraft), instead of 1.
With the extra slashes from Fury Of The Aldrachi being a large portion of your damage, casting Blade Dance second is the better alternative in basically all situations.
Note: Although Blade Dance triggers it, Fury Of The Aldrachi is a separate damage event, and not part of Blade Dance itself.
Fel-Scarred
Fel-Scarred is heavily focused around Metamorphosis. In addition to Chaos Strike and Blade Dance, it also empowers Eye Beam and Immolation Aura. Entering demon form, and the first cast of each empowered ability induces a Demonsurge - an explosion that deals damage to targets around the player. As a result, Metamorphosis becomes a significantly stronger cooldown.
Although Fel-Scarred is mostly centered around buffing demon form, it still provides benefits outside of it as well. Monster Rising increases Agility by 8%, while Enduring Torment grants 5% Haste and increases Chaos Strike and Blade Dance damage by 15% outside demon form.
With the pre-patch, Fel-Scarred is receiving welcome improvements to gameplay. Demonsurge damage is now Chaos damage, instead of Fire damage, which causes Mastery to gain even more value than before. Additionally, every time you enter demon form, either through Eye Beam or casting Metamorphosis, Demonsurge always empowers Chaos Strike and Blade Dance. This allows us to cast the Empowered Eye Beam - Abyssal Gaze, without losing out on Demonsurge procs.