THIS FAQ IN ITS CURRENT STATE IS OUT OF DATE
I don’t PvP, most answers (unless specified) are PvE only
All the answers here are generic, if you’re not sure about anything. Sim yourself. If you see some discrepancy, ask in the Discord.
Most answers are picked based on agreed responses in the class Discord, raider.io, warcraftlogs and simulations/discussion.
Numbers indicate choices on each talent row
E.g. 1133131 - BF + IH + GT + NW + CoH + FE + Demonic
_ indicates that the pick doesn’t matter on that row
E.g. 113_1_1
() around a number indicate the pick is recommended, but not required.
E.g. 333_2(2)1
() with several numbers separated by / indicates that there is a choice between these talents
E.g. 11(2/3)_1_1
TL;DR - Night Fae is our best overall covenant.
NF:
Ven:
Kyrian:
Necrolord:
High sustained ST and AoE throughput
Proc based (~1 per min) so can’t be controlled and coordinated in the same way as other covenant abilities.
Strong defensive CD in fleshcraft, however DH is already one of the more tanky dps classes.
PvP: NF
Raids: NF
M+: (2-15 : Anything goes), (15+ : NF)
General recommendation: NF, our best overall covenant
NOTE - Soulbind/conduit information for Kyrian, Venthyr and Necrolord is WIP
Growing Inferno - GI
Relentless Onslaught - RO
Unnatural Malice - UM - Night Fae only
Repeat Decree - RD - Kyrian only
Brooding Pool - BP
Niya, GI + RO + Burrs - For Single Target
Korayn, GI + UM + First Strike - For fort M+ or any fights where you can proc the buff on adds
Pelagos, GI + RO + RD - For Single Target
Mikanikos, GI + RO + RD - For M+
Nadjia, GI + RO + Dauntless Duelist- ST
Theotar, GI + RO + Wasteland Propriety - M+
Marileth, GI + RO + BP - Always
Emeni, GI + RO + BP - Alternative in M+?
TL;DR - Raid: Burning Wound, M+: Burning Wound >= Collective Anguish
Missives = Haste + vers
Would recommend that you craft rank 1 versions of the legendaries first (if you can afford it) to get a feel for them first.
TL;DR - Top tier Single Target, Best AoE/Cleave
Slot: Back - Chest is reserved for Domination Socket raid piece
BW is tied top damage in single target, and also brings the best cleave damage out of any legendary. Although it requires slightly more micromanagement of the DoT on multiple targets. Additionally BW has no rng so is an easy recommendation as a top-tier legendary for any scenario.
With increasing ranks of the powerful Growing Inferno conduit, this legendary will just become more and more powerful.
NOTE: This legendary will proc from demon blades.
NOTE: Don’t change your rotation, just let the procs happen.
Kib also has a plater tracking script in the Discord pins, if you prefer a more subtle approach.
All these are also linked in theUseful WeakAuras / Scripts section.
Burning Wound turns Immolation Aura into our highest DPET ability by far. You should cast Immo immediately IF delaying would cost you ticks or casts.
You can spread the BW debuff without having to tab away from your priority target by using a mouseover macro such as:
| #showtooltip/cast [@mouseover,harm,nodead][] Demon’s Bite |
|---|
NOTE - If this macro doesn’t work when you copy it, try deleting and retyping the apostrophe (‘) in Demon’s Bite. Sometimes the character set is wrong and the macro doesn’t recognise the ability. There is also a macro that combines this with Felblade and Shear in the Macros section at the bottom of the FAQ.
TL;DR - Top tier Single target
Slot: Waist - (Both are extremely close, but neck is available slightly earlier in raid. Don’t need to recraft if you already have on neck)
Darkglare’s Boon is a high DPS legendary in single target. It increases our 95% damage variance window from 10% to 15% so makes our performance slightly less consistent. However provides a solid alternative to Burning Wound in single target fights.
It’s performance in a short window of time (E.g. on a specific wave of add spawns or a trash pack) has a very large variance and such can’t always be relied upon. And it won’t scale excellently in AoE due to the square root scaling of Eye Beam. For this reason I can’t recommend it outside of ST.
DGB is closely tied into Eye Beam. As such it loses a significant amount of value when playing builds without CoH or Demonic. As such it’s generally only run with a limited number of non-demonblades builds.
NOTE - Annihilate down to below 70 fury between each EB cast in ST. Otherwise, recast EB immediately. Death sweep inbetween EB casts when appropriate in cleave/AoE.
TL;DR - Strong alternative AoE/Cleave legendary
Slot: Wrist - Additional early Socket
Collective Anguish is a simple, easy and solid pick in AoE scenarios. It scales well into larger AoE as Fel Devestation is uncapped, however is uncompetitive in single target. I expect it to lag behind in potential dps compared to BW in most cleave/AoE scenarios outside of very large dungeon pulls, however it still offers a solid and much simpler playstyle for M+.
NOTE - The Fel Devestation follows your character, but has a shorter and wider hitbox. The animation is incorrect
TL;DR - Strong alternative ST legendary
Slot - Waist (Hands are reserved for domination shard)
Chaos Theory is a competitive pick for single target dps, however it doesn’t have a clear advantage over BW or DGB and brings a more awkward playstyle, without the consistency of Burning Wound. It’s hard to recommend this legendary in single target, however it is available if you really prefer the playstle.
Additionally CT isn’t competitive in AoE/Cleave so it’s mostly relegated to being an alternative ST playstyle.
NOTE - This is not a full list of all build variations. It is only intended to give a general idea of the most recommended builds.
NOTE - These builds **are not ranked in performance!**They are often too close in performance, and will be more affected by fight/scenario differences. As people experiment with them in mythic and M+ this section will updated to reflect more substantial evidence.
Numbers indicate choices on each talent row
E.g. 1133131 - BF + IH + GT + NW + CoH + FE + Demonic
_ indicates that the pick doesn’t matter on that row
E.g. 113_1_1
() around a number indicate the pick is recommended, but not required.
E.g. 333_2(2)1
() with several numbers separated by / indicates that there is a choice between these talents
E.g. 11(2/3)_1_1
You can play any of these builds with either UBC or GT. I personally recommend UBC still with Korayn, but I fully expect that people will find success with GT as it is closer than it was before, and has a clear advantage is sustained cleave.
332_3(2)2 BW
TL;DR - Sim yourself, Haste = Vers > Mastery = Crit
Stats are pretty variable for DH, as a general rule: haste and vers are always good picks for legendary pieces. Mastery gains value if you’re running a build with talents like BF, CoH, GT or UBC. And crit loses some value when moving using BF or CoH as EB damage becomes more significant.
Overall, there’s no large payoff for stacking one specific stat super hard, or trying to completely avoid another stat generally (with maybe the exception of Mastery being less desirable for 331_221 CT in Single Target)
Some basic stat priorities based on stat combination sims. As always,sim yourself to get optimized gear sets. But these will give you an idea of what you’d expect from your sims.
(haste and vers are very close in ST, haste gains value in AoE)
TL;DR - Don’t rely on AoE sims
Sims are only as good as the question you are asking. So it’s important to understand the exact details of the sim you are running and how that would be reflected in real world performance.
For this fact, more complex sims are typically very specific, and it’s hard to understand what the sims are really showing or extrapolate these sims to real world cases.
Dungeon Slice and Hectic Add Cleave are unrealistic sims and should be avoided.
Patchwerk and cleave add are the simplest sims, and as such as the only recommended sims to run on your character. But cleave add shouldonly be run with a single boss, to keep the situational complexity down.
When running sims for M+, make sure to be realistic about the buffs you’ll have. Windfury totem is likely going to be very rare in M+. You should also exclude Monk debuff if necessary. Warrior AP is also rare in the current M+ climate, however shouldn’t affect much as AP scales evenly (unless you’re simming trinkets).
These are some options that you can apply to your sims to get more scenario relevant results. They are applied through the “Custom APL and SimC Options” at the bottom of most non-advanced sims.
When simming FB+DB for bosses, many bosses have small hitboxes where it is not optimal to use fel rush, you can disable this in sims using.
| skip_actions=fel_rush |
|---|
NOTE: Don’t use this if you’re trying to sim with Unbound Chaos as it will completely brick the talent!
Sims will by default have all of your cooldowns ready and use them on pull. If you want to test a short pull (e.g. a trash pull) without meta, you can use a similar command
| skip_actions=metamorphosis |
|---|
Bosses
Trash
5-8 bosses patchwerk, 40s-1min, without meta or lust, cov ability optional
If you want to sim for a specific pull you can always use a combination of the above with different fight lengths and cds. Butdon’t sim under 40 seconds without disabling metamorphosis. The APL isn’t designed for very short pulls and tends to freak out.
Also take shorter duration fights with a pinch of salt, since APLs aren’t optimized for these scenarios, and often mob timings / movement have a massive effect on these pulls.
Even when running a patchwerk sims, it’s not a good idea to try and fine-tune for AoE sim results, due to the massive variation in real scenarios.
A recommended strategy is to play a suitable AoE / M+ build, and then optimise in sims for single target using the suggested boss sims above. You can also try your setup in the recommended short trash sims and make AoE favoured picksIF there are pieces that are close in ST.
Don’t bother trying to gem for AoE, your sims will recommend a different set of gems every time you look at it. It’s reasonable to just gem for haste and ignore the sims or you’ll end up completely re-gemming and enchanting for a tiny theoretical gain every time you equip a different item.
The following is a rough approximation of the action priorities for Havoc. Note that it won’t account for temporal things like adds spawning/dying etc.. Situational modifications will almost always override the base action priority list.
Pick the first situation that matches your situation.
First Blood- 1+ target(s)
Chaos Theory + First Blood- 1+ target(s)
Chaos Theory- (1 target IF CT buff down ) OR 2+ targets
Trail of Ruin- 2+ targets
Otherwise- 3+ targets
Momentum DOES affect the Fel Rush that applied it.
First Strike DOES NOT affect the Fel Rush that applied it. You need to make sure you have First Strike active beforehand (by melee or immolation aura ideally)
If you know when an AoE scenario will be in advance UBC charges can be ‘banked’ by delaying your fel rush to the end of the ubc window (when your Immo cd will almost be finished), allowing you to get concentrate a massive amount of damage into a few globals, something that isn’t really possible with GT.
UBC triggers of Immolation Aura, due to the power of GI (and BW if equipped) you don’t want to lose Immo ticks. You should ideally hold UBC until Immo aura has finished dealing damage. On smaller hitbox target, just Fel Rushing can put you out of range and cost you globals, the following are ways to counteract this:
With Felblade/Demon Blades (Easiest)
Perhaps the more obvious one, simply hold UBC for Felblade, rush out and blade back in.
Hold UBC buff for EB, then rush out, then jump towards the mob and Eye Beam mid jump to minimize downtime. (You can EB mid jump without cancelling your momentum)
Without Eye Beam or Felblade/Demon Blades (Hardest)
Cast a normal ability (e.g DBi / CS), then start running away from target. Fel Rush back towards target as soon as GCD is over. The trick here is to be at max range as you cast your last ability so that you fel rush back into melee range without losing GCDs.
First Strike is a crit chance buff that is applied whenever you hit a target for the first time.
On trash packs you should open with an auto attack, or pre-cast immolation aura to avoid wasting time inside the buff (you want to frontload all your highest DPET abilities). Don’t open on a pack using glaive throw as it will simply waste potential time inside the buff.
You can extend First Strike by intentionally missing one or two mobs with your Eye Beam on pull, and then tagging them afterwards to get a refresh on First Strike. This helps negate the downside of casting guaranteed crit ability like Eye Beam, during the crit buff. And the extra few seconds of the buff are worth it.
You can jump, double jump or even glide before casting Eye Beam to get extra distance whilst casting.
Death Sweeping in the last GCD of meta, causes meta to extend for another GCD after Death Sweep, allowing you to potentially get another Annihilation in your Demonic window.
No Momentum
With Momentum
Always have a way back to your target when you cast Vengeful Retreat or Fel Rush
Felblade back to your target.
Metamorphosis to leap back into position
For Retreat
Fel Rush back in melee range.
For Rush
Jump Glide Eye Beam back into melee range
Vengeful retreat isoff the GCD. You should always be looking to fit in another spell when you retreat if possible. With the exception of Fel Rush and Glide since they share an internal CD.
You don’t want to have to hold vengeful retreat for fury, especially if you’re holding other movement CDs to get back after.
Always have a Fel Rush recharging
Always have a Fel Rush charge ready for your important spells:
The Hunt
Eye Beam (moreso with CA)
Last 6s of Immolation Aura
TL;DR - Single Target: 2x Veinripper, AoE/Cleave: 2x Poxstorm
Drops from - Painsmith Raznal
Veinrippers are the new proc weapons from the Sanctum of Domination. They bring a powerful Single Target proc when you are behind your target, or the target is snared / CCd.
Veinrippers will be a double equip in any single target or intermittent cleave scenario where you can meet the proc requirements.
Drops from - Margrave Stradama, Plaguefall; Weekly Vault
Poxstorms are the reining king of proc weapons in AoE still. Since the veinripper proc doesn’t scale off more than one target, and the stats they bring will be amplified in AoE scenarios.
Poxstorms will be a double equip in any scenario with 3+ targets.
In sustained cleave you can run 1x Veinripper and 1x Poxstorm to get a balance.
Poxstorms will also be used in any scenario where you can’t meet the veinrippers proc requirements reliably.
TL;DR - Phial of Putrefaction + Salvaged Fusion Amplifier
In general, aiming for damage proc or on-use trinkets is the best idea. Listed below are several of the stronger trinkets from each category.
NOTE - Sim yourself with the trinkets you have available.
Damage procs
Damage on Use
In M+, stat trinkets gain value, but they are generally more difficult to optimize. Stats gains value in AoE, so ideally aim to use these on large trash pulls rather than holding purely for bosses.
Stats On Use
Inscrutable Quantum Device - De Other Side
Pay attention to not waste this trinket on its alternative effects, E.g.
Titanic Ocular Gland - Eye of the Jailer, SoD
Permanent = Celestial Guidance + Sinful Revelation
Temporary = Shadowcore Oil (Although sharpening stones are very close to oils)
Potion = Phantom Fire
Permanent = 2x Lightless Force
Temporary = Sharpening Stones
Potion = Spectral Potion of Agility
TL;DR - Frost if you can gear enough crit.
Frost has a higher potential DPS ceiling if you gear into it correctly.
Unholy Set + Bek (Blood) + Cor (Frost)
Will no longer be providing simulations as part of the FAQ itself. This section will be notes on important discrepancies and things to look out for when simming or looking at other posted sims.
Sims only paint a very limited picture of overall performance, which will differ on a fight-per-fight scenario based on exact timings, mob priorities, etc.. As such these sims should only be used to get a general overview of build performance. Don’t take anything simmed here at face value.
This line placed in any macro before the /cast will prevent you from interrupting an Eye Beam or any other channel, allowing you to spam to get off your abilities as soon as Eye Beam drops.
/stopmacro [channeling]This can be integrated in a macro such as..
#showtooltip
/stopmacro \[channeling\]
/cast Chaos StrikeOr you can use the [nochanneling] condition to achieve a similar result. I prefer the first option though as it keeps the /cast line clean and easy to read, especially with more complex combination macros
#showtooltip
/cast [nochanneling] Chaos StrikeYou can replace Chaos Strike with any ability. Having these macros for Eye Beam, Chaos Strike, Blade Dance and Glaive Tempest would be recommended at a minimum.
This is a macro to quickly focus mouseover. It clears focus if you mouseover nothing.
/focus [@mouseover,nodead]
/stopmacro [@mouseover,nodead]
/clearfocusThis macro switches to the closest target you are looking at, without automatically cycling through mobs. This can be very effective for maintaining uptime with a DB build. As you can simply spam it to ensure you’re always hitting a target in melee. And you can use it to ‘scan’ target mobs to apply BW without mousing over them.
/cleartarget
/targetenemy [noexists][dead]The following macro is useful for CC abilities, allowing you to quickly stop something on a mob without tabbing. Example is for Disrupt but you can use any spell you want.
#showtooltip
/cast [@mouseover,harm,nodead][@focus,harm,nodead][] DisruptThis macro allows you to cast Metamorphosis where you’re standing without the leap, this allows you to move freely during the animation, providing you were on the ground when you used Meta.
#showtooltip
/stopmacro [channeling]
/cast [@player] MetamorphosisYou can replace @player with @cursor if you want to leap with Meta. I personally have 1 macro for @player and one for @cursor.
This macro combines a mouseover, with spec and talent checks to provide a single macro for 3 abilities. Combining elements like this is useful to saving space given limited character macro slots. This macro was initially intended for to mouseover Explosives, but works for BW as well.
#showtooltip
/stopmacro [channeling]
/cast [spec:2,@mouseover,harm,nodead][spec:2] Shear;[talent:1/3,@mouseover,harm,nodead][talent:1/3] Felblade;[@mouseover,harm,nodead][] Demon's BiteNOTE: If this macro doesn’t work when you copy it, try deleting and retyping the apostrophe (‘) in Demon’s Bite. Sometimes the character set is wrong and the macro doesn’t recognise the ability.
This macro replaces Demon’s Bite with a macro that targets the mob directly in-front of you when using Demon Blades. This can be spammed and won’t flick around like a normal tab target, and won’t ever get “stuck” on a target.
#showtooltip
/cast Demon's Bite
/stopmacro [talent:2/1][talent:2/2]
/cleartarget
/targetenemy [noexists][dead]A simple macro that you can spam to cast and cancel the Hunt quickly. Can just press “esc” but hey someone asked for it
/stopcasting
/cast The Hunt