It's time for Demon Hunters to enter the stage in our spec highlights series, and the second tank class to be featured as well. Vengeance didn't quite get the decent/solid treatment Protection Warrior did, and we have Excidias here to cover what's happened. The focus is on general changes, talents and Covenants this time around, so let's get to it!



Exciting Changes for Vengeance Demon Hunters in Shadowlands

Due to Demon Hunter being a relatively new class that was added to the game, the great un-pruning didn't affect the class as much as others. The majority of the changes are found in the talent tree. Anyone familiar with Vengeance in BFA will feel right at home with the Shadowlands play style.





General Changes

Pain has been renamed to Fury. Souls heal for 6% total damage instead of 8%. Fel Devastation is baseline with a 1 minute cooldown and 50 fury cost. Revel in Pain is a new passive at level 58. When Fiery Brand expires, player gains a shield for 15 seconds based on the damage afflicted to the primary target. Soul Cleave is capped at 5 targets.



Talent Builds

There are currently two separate builds on the Beta. The first build is very similar to live, focusing on Spirit Bomb for damage. The second build is built purely for survival and maximizing Fiery Brand up time. There are small variations that may be warranted (ex. using Feed the Demon instead of Fracture) based on the content. Complete talent changes listed below.



1. Abyssal Strike / Fallout / Spirit Bomb / Fracture / Sigil of Chains / Demonic / Last Resort

Pros: Standard build that veteran players will instantly recognize and pick up. Spirit Bomb is not capped to 5 targets (Soul Cleave is capped at 5 targets) so scales well based on number of targets. Spirit Bomb does more damage than Soul Cleave and is fire damage so it isn't mitigated by armor. Cons: Lower up time of mitigation can cause windows of vulnerability. This may require tank swaps or kiting to survive higher Mythic+ keys.

2. Agonizing Flames / Burning Alive / Charred Flesh / Feed the Demon / Sigil of Chains / Demonic / Last Resort

Pros: Superior survival through Fiery Brand spread. Maximizing the up time of Fiery Brand through talents. The legendary power Fiery Soul drastically lowers the cooldown of Fiery Brand . Cons: Lower damage which can result in threat issues Soul Cleave is capped at 5 targets which can cause issues pulling more than 5.

Complete Talent Changes

Tier 15 Abyssal Strike : Talent no longer provides the 10 additional yards on Infernal Strike but instead a Sigil of Flame is dropped where the player lands. Agonizing Flames : Talent was reworked to increase the duration of Immolation Aura by 50% and increase the movement speed by 20%. This talent will work well with the Charred Flesh talent in tier 30. Felblade : This talent remains relatively unchanged. Tier 25 Feast of Souls : Talent remains the same as BFA. Provides a low amount of healing over time after Soul Cleave . Fallout: Talent remains the same as BFA. There is a 60% chance to rip a soul off of an enemy (up to 5 souls) for each target hit with Immolation Aura. Burning Alive : Talent remains the same as BFA. Fiery Brand will spread to an additional target after 2 seconds. Tier 30 Infernal Armor : Talent improves Immolation Aura by providing 20% additional armor and causes melee attackers to receive fire damage. The armor provided by the talent will work with other armor increasing abilities. Charred Flesh : Talent increases the duration of Fiery Brand by 0.5 seconds for each tick of Immolation Aura. Spirit Bomb: This has not changed in functionality but it has moved up several talent rows. The talent consumes up to 5 souls and deals fire damage to any enemy around the player for each soul consumed. This ability is not target capped. Tier 35 Soul Rending: Talent remains the same as BFA. Player gains 5% passive leech and an additional 25% leech during Metamorphosis. Feed the Demon : Talent remains the same as BFA. The cooldown of Demon Spikes is lowered by 0.5 seconds for each soul consumed. Fracture : Talent remains the same as BFA. Fracture replaces Shear . Slashes the target twice producing two souls. Two charges. Tier 40 Concentrated Sigils : Talent remains the same as BFA. Duration of sigils is increased by 2 seconds and they drop at the player's location. Quickened Sigils: Talent remains the same as BFA. All sigils activate 1 second faster and the duration is decreased by 20%. Sigil of Chains: Talent remains the same as BFA. Sigil pulls and snares all targets within it after 2 seconds. Tier 45 Void Reaver : Talent remains the same as BFA but was moved from Tier 50. Enemies struck by Soul Cleave will deal 6% less damage. Demonic : New talent. Fel Devastation causes the player to enter demon form for 6 seconds after the cast finishes. Soul Barrier : Talent remains the same as BFA but was moved from Tier 50. Shields player for 12 seconds. Any additional souls consumed during barrier will increase the amount of the shield. Tier 50 Last Resort : Talent remains the same as BFA. When sustaining fatal damage, transform into Metamorphosis instead. Ruinous Bulwark : New talent. Fel Devastation heals for an additional 15% and 50% of overhealing is converted into a shield for 10 seconds. Bulk Extraction : New talent. Deal fire damage to any targets around the player while extracting up to 5 souls. Souls are instantly consumed.



Covenants

Kyrian Elysian Decree : Places a sigil that activates after 2 seconds. Deals arcane damage and shatters up to 3 souls. 60 second cooldown. Necrolord Fodder to the Flame : Summon a demon to fight. Once vanquished, the demon's soul is released and a pool of demon blood spawns that lasts for 30 seconds. Fighting within the pool increases attack speed by 20% and reduces the damage received by 10%. 2 minute cooldown. Venthyr Sinful Brand: Brand an enemy with the mark of the Venthyr, reducing their melee attack speed by 30%, casting speed by 30%, and inflicting shadow damage over 8 seconds. Activating Metamorphosis applies Sinful Brand to all nearby targets. 60 second cooldown. Night Fae The Hunt: Charge the target, striking them for nature damage, rooting them in place for 3 seconds and inflicting additional nature damage over 6 seconds to any target in the path. Heal for a percentage of damage dealt to the hunt target over 60 seconds. 1.5 minute cooldown.

Vengeance and the Covenant Choice

With the current tuning, Vengeance Demon Hunter has low damage with their base kit. Sinful Brand is doing roughly a third of the overall damage which is basically forcing Venthyr as the right choice for all the content. The Hunt was performing decently and could be more fun to play with, and Elysian Decree is affected by legendaries that affect sigils. Unless tuning occurs, Venthyr is the mandatory choice based on performance alone.





Conclusion

Vengeance is a fun tank to play but it still suffers from mitigation up time. Demon Spikes and Metamorphosis up time is much lower than other tanks relative up time of their respective mitigation. This disadvantage can be seen in any fight where tanks don't switch or in Mythic+. Kiting will have to be an option in higher keys when mitigation is down, assuming the monsters allow for kiting. The overall damage of the spec is also lower than most tanks. Sinful Brand provides a large DPS increase and is deemed borderline essential, a must have purely based on the damage output. Like the previous expansions, Vengeance will be stuck in a standard cookie cutter build with very few variations.

Overall, Vengeance will still be the same fun tank that it has been since Legion. It is currently sitting around the middle to lower end of all tanks due to the tank tuning that occurred on September 9th.





Other Spec Highlights:

Balance Druid Restoration Druid Beast Mastery Hunter Marksmanship Hunter Arcane Mage Outlaw Rogue Elemental Shaman Enhancement Shaman Shadow Priest Affliction Warlock Protection Warrior