I will get to the point, i hope that this reaches whoever is designing havoc dh. Please for the love of GOD give up the momentum already that thing is horrible, it feels horrible to play it feels horrible to have to use mobility for damage, and on top of that it makes everything else more difficult to balance. When havoc is bad it is useless, when havoc is good it pushes it into being overpowered, the whole momentum playstyle needs to be deleted from the game no sane havoc main is ever going to tell you that they enjoy playing it and i personally dont care about opinions of FOTM rerollers.
You did great with havoc changes for dragonflight, the talents are great, i would personally give havoc more survivability (more leech) and an easy to use burst like the one we had in legion, but in turn reduce the overall damage and the random AF nature of it.
TLDR: remove momentum from the game, dont nerf it dont rework it, REMOVE IT. Please dont make this horrible clunky degenerate playstyle be the “framework” which you use to develop havoc further.
There’s plenty of viable builds that don’t require momentum with minimal sacrifice to damage. I for one like momentum and hope its stays as a viable option, it’s nice to have something that rewards you taking the time to learn a different way of playing your spec, it adds a layer of difficulty to dh that isn’t about how complex your rotation is or tracking combo points and resource but instead tests you on positional awareness and rewards risk taking.
Momentum build is the meta currently. Most games have a list of things, talents or items that will simply be considered the best by users. This does not mean that it is the only right option. Havoc can also be developed differently. Well, unless you really care about a few percent, then yes, it is advisable to use what currently gives the best performance. However, no one is forcing you to play like everyone else. It’s just your choice really.
As someone who has played a lot of DH and at an above average skill level, I can agree on something; I hate the fact that momentum and vengeful retreat is part of our rotation.
I do think having to use vengeful retreat is a playstyle that can be overcome when there’s a lot of bosses with large hitboxes, but it still feels kinda weird, and in combination with essence breaks hitbox being kinda off, you can get into some unfortunate situations.
Having to use fel rush to amp your damage is such a unique yet uninteresting playstyle to me. I would love to have more control about positioning in raids and dungeons, and people tend to absolutely hate to play with demon hunters because it’s no fun watching this huge demon model flying around, coming at you with a fel rush while e.g. quacking on them. I do however not think momentum should be removed, but perhaps changed to work a bit differently, maybe closer til legion momentum.
Either way I see the following changes to help somewhat with putting together a more competitive build that does not necessarily require momentum: Havoc talent tree change ideas
The move of unbound chaos will allow for better VR timings without having to use fel rush in the rotation at all. Also will free up a talent point to put into netherwalk / fel eruption without having to lose much dps.
The move of Relentless Onslaught makes it a choice to pick when going the single target build, instead of being a dead talent. And the move of serrated glaive makes it fit better with throw glaive package, where it should below after all, yet the talent is probably still too weak to be used at this point.
I do also think fodder should be reworked, dealing with the demon is just terrible in PvE, it’s in interesting and doesn’t really fit in the current way it works.
Elysian decree needs to go or be completely reworked, doesn’t fit Havoc in its current state at all.
