Season 1 TWW Havoc Demon Huner - M+ Analysis

Classes Demon Hunter
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Before I get into my analysis of the class and performance of Havoc DH in M+ in Season 1, I want to call out that in any multi-character online game, there are going to be weak classes, average classes, and strong classes. Proper balance would cause the meta to shift from season to season and not allow the gap between the strongest and weakest classes to be so severe that the weaker classes are completely shut out of the top end content. This last point is where I believe the balance/tuning this season for Havoc was a failure as you will see in the high end key data.

Here is a look at the representation of Havoc in the top 2000 keys each week from week 9 to week 14 (Mythic Stats as the source). I chose this period as the average key for this data set was over 15, so we are truly seeing what people are playing at the top end.
Week 10: In 2 of top 2000 keys (Worst Melee Representation)
Week 11: In 9 of top 2000 keys (2nd Worst Melee Representation)
Week 12: In 1 of top 2000 keys (Worst Melee Representation)
Week 13: In 4 of top 2000 keys (Tied - Worst Melee Representation)
Week 14: In 1 of top 2000 keys (Worst Melee Representation)

The best representation Havoc has seen was 9 keys, meaning that at the best week, a Havoc Demon Hunter was in 1 out of 450 of the highest keys ran.

There are a number of factors that lend to the poor state of Havoc for M+. I will try to capture some of these in this post, but I am sure there are elements of the class I am missing.

  • Poor Damage Profile For M+ - Havoc is a burst damage class tied to a 40 second burst window around eye beam and a 2 minute window around Meta. You are extremely punished if you can’t make full use of these windows and your damage outside of these windows is one of the lowest in game (which causes some packs to be outside this damage window which feels awful to engage with). In the time frame referenced for representation, Havoc has had the lowest average DPS of any melee class, and has been ranked by Mythic Stats as F tier for damage.
  • Subpar Defensive Options - Havoc does get 3 defensives, but they are not strong options in my opinion. Blur is a 20% DR but may not save you on the highest keys through one shot mechanics. Netherwalk does provide a bubble, but you cannot use any abilities while it is active, meaning that it is often cut short just to avoid a single spike in damage (compare this to the bubble that paladin gets). Lastly we get Darkness, which is one of the worst group utility spells in the game. It only has a 15% chance to avoid damage, has a very small radius, and has a 5 minute cooldown. For a positive, the ability to Fel Rush out of a bad spot is an underrated defensive option.
  • Subpar Utility - No lust, no battle rez, no root break. The strongest part of our kit is our ability to apply stuns, but stuns were nerfed this season to only delay the cast of abilities. As far positives, the 15 second kick with extended range is extremely nice to play with and imprison does have some effective uses.

A look ahead to Season 2 - It is too early to say whether or not all of the changes they are making to Havoc will leave it in a better spot once next season starts. There are some significant nerfs to damage scaling that will need to be corrected with tuning, so we will have to wait and see what that looks like in a few months. Also, AR was not fun to play in my opinion and I am not sure yet if that was just due to FS being better for all content.

I do think Havoc has some inherent problems that will hold it back in Mythic +. If they do nothing to our defensive profile or utility, that puts a lot of pressure on the devs needing to make Havoc have extremely good damage or it will not see play at the high end. I really hope the devs also look at our defensives and/or utility instead of just tuning damage.

Lastly, I don’t think people should panic yet on the state of Havoc for next season. The meta constantly shifts from season to season. My hope for Havoc next season is that it is a competitive spec in Mythic + that doesn’t feel awful for a group to take or you don’t feel like you are holding your group back by playing it. Most importantly, have fun with the game and try a new class if you are not enjoying the current state of your class. I tried a new class 5 weeks ago and I am enjoying M+ again. Good luck everyone and see you in Season 2.

2 Likes
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I’m a minority :partying_face:

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Very good good read with alot of good solid information.

probably one of the biggest issue surrounding the spec. some will disagree but havoc needs to change and needs to get away from this burst damage profile and needs some consistency aswell as simplification. class is way to frustrating and lacks the competitive output for the effort put in.

they need to give us back some of our leech, and perhaps a soul leech mechanic like warlocks have since the classes are similar.

VR too but sadly its a dps button currently. double VR is very useful for the same reason.

I always figured havocs utility was its overall bulkiness and self sustainability, currently that is gone but in the past our ability to manage on our own and making us require less babysitting in a group and being an all around good overall dps class to take.

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i feel validated :rofl:

i only pug m+ and i can’t get into any 10s with i629 gear at io2442, im beginning to understand why carry services are a thing

5

Completely feel and agree with everything said and a nice write up :+1:.

Overall next season looks like even worse for havocs ,with weirdly bad tier set, fel scarred nerfed and damage capped ( atm fell scarred took a 30% nerf in m+ which is insane) , and aldrachi in m+ is a nightmare with completely anti synergetic damage profile in m+ which wants you to change targets often.

I am not optimistic about havoc in season 2 if not significant changes happen and i think its again a reroll angle,like it has been for many years, this time its even worse though

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We’ll see, can’t doom until 11.1! But you’re not wrong to worry lol