Stat Priority: Dex AR Reduced Elite Dmg; Wrists. Wraps of Clarity; Stat Priority: Cold% Dex Vit CHC; Hands. Gas Powered Automail Forearm; Stat Priority: CHD CHC AD CDR; Waist. Hunter's Wrath; Stat Priority: Dex Vit AR Skill: HA; Legs. Depth Diggers; Stat Priority: Dex AR Skill: HA; Feet. Antique Vintage Boots; Stat Priority: Dex Vit AR Armor. Shadowlands Legendary powers grant impactful gameplay effects for your Havoc Demon Hunter through the new Runecarving system. As your crafted Shadowlands legendary will be the most important piece of gear in the expansion, providing large performance benefits, it is crucial to pick the right legendary to craft and effectively spend your Soul Ash.
“It takes a big man to admit his mistakes, and I am that big man. – Michael Scott” — Michael Mitchell
Last time we talked about Demon Hunters, discussed Vengeance Artifact traits and ended with the recommendation that you not level in Vengeance spec. I’m willing to admit that advice may have been wrong. In the time since I last played Vengeance while leveling, it appears to have received a bit of a buff to its damage output. Previously, you sacrificed everything, what have you given significant damage output for survivability. But now, it seems, Vengeance leveling may be more viable.
Gear is one of the most important elements in WoW to strengthen your Havoc Demon Hunter, providing massive amounts of stats as well as armor, procs, and set bonuses. In this guide, we will explain how to obtain the best gear for your Havoc Demon Hunter in and how to check if a piece is BiS, an upgrade or just bad. Forgoing heavy armor, demon hunters capitalize on speed, closing the distance quickly to sever enemies with one-handed weapons. However, Illidari must also use their agility defensively to ensure that battles end favorably. They can command chaotic energies to inflict havoc on enemies, or they can focus their powers to resist damage.
Today, we’re going to take a look at the pros and cons of leveling as Vengeance versus Havoc.
Damage output and survivability
Not to mention the new Talent they added in Essence Break. It deals Chaos dmg and buffs the dmg of Chaos Strike and Blade Dance. So depending on the CD/Duration of that ability it will alter the rotation some. Maybe even pooling and having actual burst windows. All Demon Hunter specs are receiving the following abilities: Immolation Aura now.
Demon Hunter Chaos Dmg Go Through Armor Witcher 3
This is going to be the biggest difference by far, but as I said, that surprise won’t come from the survivability portion. If you’re soling as Vengeance, it’s hard for things to kill you. I went out and did a little experimenting and found that the only time I wasn’t able to keep myself alive was when an enemy used Curse of Doom to remove a significant portion of my health at once. It’s worth pointing out, most of this testing was done between levels 100 and 102. On my Priest, there seemed to be a significant increase in mob health/damage around level 104.
As far as the speed at which I killed enemies, that’s the part that surprised me. In a totally scientific and definitive analysis, I did several pulls of between 4 and 6 satyrs out in Val’sharah both as Vengeance and as Havoc. Between Immolation Aura, Sigil of Flame, and Soul Cleave, I was able to take down all the enemies fairly quickly and ended with full health most of the time. As Havoc, the enemies seemed to take longer to kill — that is, until I remembered to use Fury of the Illidari.
The combination of Fury of the Illidari and Eye Beam meant that groups of normal mobs fell over with ease, often dying before both abilities had ended. Again, this will likely change a bit at higher levels, but when all your cooldowns are up, Havoc is going to tear through groups of enemies faster than Vengeance can. However, the downside is that burst damage won’t help as much against rare mobs with more health and higher damage output. This I found to vary — in some cases I could kill enemies just fine as Havoc, in others I couldn’t — but overall it seemed like a safer bet to kill these as Vengeance.
Verdict: Vengeance is going to keep you alive through everything except burst damage, while sustained damage should be completely survivable. You’re not going to have the same burst as Havoc’s Fury of the Illidari plus Eye Beam combo, but your AOE will still be strong enough to take on just as many mobs.
Mobility
This one isn’t as big of an issue and will completely depend on how you play out in the world. As we’ve gone over before, Demon Hunter mobility is pretty insane. That’s still true of Vengeance, but not as true as it is of Havoc.
With Havoc, you’re able to Fel Rush up the sides of cliffs/hills that Vengeance sometimes can’t because of limitations on Infernal Strike. Not only that, but Vengeful Retreat adds a very strong mobility cooldown that works amazingly well with Fel Rush and Double Jump — provided you actually know how to use it (coughLiz cough).
Verdict: If you like exploring or enjoy using Demon Hunters’ unique mobility tools often, Havoc tops Vengeance.
End-game preparation
This one is harder to quantify, but it’s worth discussing. When you level as a particular spec, you tend to get a good feel for that spec’s rotation and talent synergy. This is especially true for Demon Hunters, who earn talents all the way through level 110. Blizzard has even said that part of the reasoning behind giving early access Demon Hunters only two tiers of talents and gating the rest behind leveling was because developers wanted players to get a feel for the basic rotation before complicating it with talents.
If you’re working toward something like the Momentum build for Havoc, it will absolutely help to get an idea of how your rotation evolves as a result of talents earned over the course of leveling. Vengeance, in my experience, has less of an issue with this but that’s because tanking is also a different game.
It’s not necessary to tank dungeons while leveling, but it certainly helps, since your rotation doesn’t change so much as the way you play does. Knowing when to use cooldowns, how to pull the right amount of mobs, when CC is necessary, and all other manner of tank-y things isn’t something you can really get a feel for while solo leveling. It’s not entirely the same, but if you’re nervous to PUG while leveling, you can always try pulling stronger rare mobs to practice using your cooldowns at the right time. If you really want to make it fun, pull them with some extra adds — it’ll give you a good feel for what your limits are while soloing and help prepare you for Halls of Valor pulls that inevitably end up grabbing the whole room.
Verdict: If Vengeance tanking is your end goal, solo leveling alone won’t always give you the best idea for how to play. It’s still solid, but I’d throw in some dungeons.
Demon Hunter Chaos Dmg Go Through Armor Mod
The final call
Demon Hunter Chaos Dmg Go Through Armor Quest
If you’re leveling as Havoc, well, you probably don’t care about what it’s like to level as Vengeance — but maybe you should. Not only is the damage output comparable to what Havoc can do, it’s also an invaluable tool if you ever find yourself up against more than you bargained for. Even if you don’t play Havoc flawlessly, the basic rotation of Shear, Soul Cleave, and Immolation Aura should be enough to keep you alive through most enemies.
Demon Hunter Chaos Dmg Go Through Armor Terraria
And if you were planning on tanking as Vengeance at max-level, then I say go for it. Vengeance soloing offers a solid experience and leads to fewer moments of panic thanks to defensives and the ability to draw in Soul Fragments. You do lose out on mobility and AOE burst, but not enough to significantly slow down your leveling experience.
Ultimately, it’s your call. There are ups and downs to leveling as both specs and it really depends on what you want to get out of your experience as a Demon Hunter. If you were on the fence about it before, though, hopefully this has assuaged any fears about Vengeance’s leveling viability.
Please consider supporting our Patreon!