Vengeance Demon Hunter Guide

📊 Stat Priority

General (Annihilator, both survival and DPS): Item Level / Agility > Haste ≈ Critical Strike > Mastery > Versatility. Haste is consistently called out as your best secondary both offensively and defensively because it speeds up Fracture, Fury generation, and your whole mitigation loop. The top-50 M+ Vengeance spread sits roughly in the ~24% Haste / ~24% Crit / lower-Mastery / ~8% Versatility range — but this shifts with your gear, so sim your own character.

Item level wins: there is rarely a magic secondary amount that lets you survive something you otherwise couldn't — higher ilvl (more Agility, Armor, Stamina) is almost always the upgrade over a perfectly-itemized lower piece.

Diminishing returns: all secondaries soften after roughly +20% from gear, so balance rather than stacking a single stat. Minor stats: Leech > Avoidance > Speed for a tank.

🎁 Tier Set, Trinkets & Consumables

Tier set (Catalyst-eligible): 2pc = Fracture deals 35% more damage. 4pc = Fracture gains a 30% chance on cast to trigger a fire explosion hitting all nearby targets. It's a clean passive damage gain with no rotation change and no defensive value — a real upgrade, but don't sacrifice a lot of item level to rush the 4pc.

Top trinkets (raid): Gaze of the Alnseer (Agility proc — Myth-track it unless you'll get it from the Dreamrift soon), Umbral Plume (passive Crit), Heart of Wind (passive Haste). M+ alts: Solarflare Prism (scales with target damage taken), Heart of Wind. Stat trinkets generally pull ahead for tanks since they add both damage and effective health.

Gems: Flawless Deadly Peridot in prismatic slots + Indecipherable Eversong Diamond in the meta slot. Enchants: Ring — Silvermoon's Alacrity; Legs — Forest Hunter's Armor Kit; Helm — Empowered Hex of Leeching. Embellishment/Folio: Method's gearing favors Haste-leaning Omnium Folio powers (e.g. Burning Haste). Sim consumables for your kill window; default to a Haste/Crit-leaning flask + the current top combat potion.

🎯 Threat & Aggro

Threat comes from your damage — there is no separate threat rotation. The tools that gather and hold a pack:

• Torment — single-target taunt (8s CD, baseline). Applies the Focused Assault debuff so the taunted enemy takes +3% damage from you.
• Sigil of Flame — drop it on a pack to tag everything; your main pre-pull threat sigil (place ~1s before the pull so it detonates as you arrive).
• Infernal Strike — leap onto a pack to engage instantly and apply Immolation Aura damage on landing; your primary gap-closer for grabbing distant mobs.
• Immolation Aura — pulsing AoE that holds threat on everything around you and feeds Soul Fragments.
• Fracture — your core builder and biggest single-target threat button (buffed 35% by the tier 2pc).
• Spirit Bomb / Soul Cleave — Soul Fragment spenders; Spirit Bomb spreads threat across the whole pack at 5+ fragments.
• Sigil of Spite — damage + spawns 3 Soul Fragments; helps snap threat early.
• Throw Glaive — ranged tag to pull a straggler or grab a mob before you reach it.

🚀 Opener

Pre-place your sigil, leap in, and front-load Metamorphosis + Fiery Brand so your first burst window lands on the pull. Build and immediately spend Soul Fragments to start the self-heal loop.

1. Sigil of Flame ~1s before the pull (so it detonates as combat starts)
2. Metamorphosis + Infernal Strike to leap onto the pack
3. Fiery Brand on the priority target (40% damage taken reduction window)
4. Immolation Aura
5. Sigil of Spite (spawns 3 Soul Fragments)
6. Fracture
7. Spirit Bomb (or Soul Cleave) to spend fragments and start healing
8. Soul Carver
9. Fel Devastation while enemies are stacked
10. From here, follow the priority below

⚔️ Single-Target Priority

1. Metamorphosis on cooldown (unless saving for an Annihilator meteor/Voidfall window) — major burst + defensive
2. Fiery Brand on cooldown for the damage and the 40% DR
3. Sigil of Spite on cooldown (damage + 3 Soul Fragments)
4. Soul Carver on cooldown
5. Fracture to build Soul Fragments (and Voidfall stacks under Annihilator)
6. Spirit Bomb at 5+ Soul Fragments
7. Soul Cleave at 3-5 fragments if Spirit Bomb is on cooldown
8. Immolation Aura on cooldown
9. Fel Devastation when available
10. Sigil of Flame on cooldown
11. Felblade to close gaps / generate Fury
12. Throw Glaive as the ranged / out-of-range filler

💥 AoE / Multi-Target Priority

Same skeleton as single-target, but lean on Spirit Bomb (AoE fragment spender), keep Immolation Aura rolling, and line up Fiery Brand + Fel Devastation so the whole pack is branded for the bonus damage. Midnight's raised AoE caps mean big pulls reward fragment-spam — don't let Immolation Aura overcap fragments via Fallout.

1. Metamorphosis on cooldown for the AoE burst window
2. Fiery Brand to brand the pack (Burning Alive spreads it)
3. Immolation Aura on cooldown — but avoid overcapping Soul Fragments from Fallout
4. Sigil of Spite + Sigil of Flame on the stack for damage + fragments
5. Soul Carver on cooldown
6. Fracture to build fragments
7. Spirit Bomb at 5+ Soul Fragments (your main AoE spender + heal)
8. Fel Devastation with as many Fiery-Branded targets as possible
9. Soul Cleave only if Spirit Bomb is down and you'd overcap fragments
10. Throw Glaive / Felblade as filler

⏱️ Cooldowns

All of your majors carry both offense AND defense. Press them on cooldown rather than hoarding — under Annihilator, Metamorphosis comes up faster the more meteor barrages you drop, so delaying it just delays the whole engine.

Metamorphosis~1.5-2 min (reduced by World Killer)

Your signature burst AND defensive: +40% max health, +200% armor, plus damage/haste boosts. Under Annihilator, World Killer cuts its cooldown by ~10s per meteor barrage so it cycles much faster. Use on cooldown unless you're about to hit a 3-stack Voidfall window.

Fiery Brand2 charges (~1 min recharge)

Brands a target, reducing the damage IT deals to you by 40% for the duration — your single best tank cooldown against a hard-hitting enemy. Burning Alive spreads the brand to nearby mobs in AoE. Keep at least one charge for the next dangerous cast.

Soul Carver~1 min

Big chunk of Fire damage that also carves out Soul Fragments over its duration — fueling your Spirit Bomb heals. Press on cooldown in both ST and AoE.

Fel Devastation~40-60s

Channeled frontal Fire beam that deals heavy AoE damage and heals you. Maximize value by firing it while the pack is Fiery-Branded and stacked in front of you.

The Hunt~1.5 min (if talented)

Long-range charge that roots the target, deals strong damage, and heals over time — doubles as a gap-closer to reach a runner or re-engage a pack.

🛡️ Active Mitigation & Soul Fragments

Vengeance survives by layering Demon Spikes against physical hits and Soul Fragment self-healing against everything. Priorities, in order:

1. Keep Demon Spikes rolling — 2 charges, off the GCD. Each cast greatly reduces physical damage taken and boosts dodge. Bridge the gap between charges with your other cooldowns; macro it to Fracture (with Feed the Demon) so charges refresh on their own and uptime stays high.
2. Build and SPEND Soul Fragments — Fracture, Immolation Aura, Sigil of Spite, and Soul Carver spawn fragments (orbs that linger ~30s). Consuming them via Spirit Bomb or Soul Cleave heals you for the larger of ~6% of recent damage taken or ~1% max health per fragment. Don't sit at 5+ fragments — that's wasted healing and a dead spender.
3. Spend before you spike, not after — Spirit Bomb at 5+ fragments not only heals but also leaves a damage-reduction layer; bank a spender for an incoming hit rather than dumping fragments while healthy.
4. Fiery Brand the threat — the 40% DR window is your best answer to a single scary attacker; pre-brand the next dangerous cast.

💚 Defensive Toolkit

Layer these by damage type: Demon Spikes vs physical, Soul Fragment healing + Metamorphosis effective-health vs everything, and Fiery Brand to blunt a specific attacker.

Demon Spikes2 charges

Off-GCD physical mitigation + dodge buff. Your bread-and-butter active mitigation; keep near-100% uptime, especially through melee-heavy packs. Macro to Fracture for hands-free refresh.

Metamorphosis~1.5-2 min

+40% max health and +200% armor for the duration — a huge effective-health and physical-DR wall. Doubles as your burst window; under Annihilator it returns faster the more you barrage.

Fiery Brand2 charges

Reduces damage the branded enemy deals to you by 40%. The go-to button for a single hard-hitting boss/elite; Burning Alive spreads it in AoE.

Spirit Bomb / Soul CleaveFragment spenders

Your active self-heal — consuming Soul Fragments heals for ~6% of recent damage taken (or ~1% max HP) each. Spirit Bomb at 5+ fragments is the strong AoE heal + DR layer.

Sigil of Misery~1.5 min

AoE incapacitate/fear sigil — a damage-avoidance tool to neutralize a dangerous pack or a deadly cast you can't otherwise stop.

Imprison~45s

Single-target CC on Demon/Undead/Beast/Humanoid; with Detainment the target is immune to damage/healing — usable as a pseudo-interrupt or to remove one threat from a pull.

The Hunt / Fel Devastationon CD

Both heal you while dealing damage — folding self-sustain into your offensive buttons. Fire Fel Devastation while taking heavy AoE to claw health back.

🧰 Utility & Crowd Control

🗝️ Mythic+ Tips

• Drop Sigil of Flame ~1s before pulling, then Infernal Strike in — threat is already ticking when you land and there's no AoE taunt to bail you out.
• Sigil of Chains is a sleeper pull tool — pull scattered ranged mobs into one stack so your Spirit Bomb / Immolation Aura AoE hits everything.
• Keep Demon Spikes near-100% uptime through physical packs; macro it to Fracture so it refreshes automatically.
• Don't sit at 5+ Soul Fragments — spend Spirit Bomb to heal and leave the DR layer; banked fragments are wasted self-healing.
• Save Metamorphosis + Fiery Brand for pull-defining burst/spike windows, but under Annihilator press Meta freely — barrages return it fast.
• Sigil of Silence / Sigil of Misery are AoE cast-denial; use them to skip a whole caster pack's dangerous cast when single kicks aren't enough.
• Annihilator is the M+ pick (run by ~47 of the top 50); Aldrachi Reaver is undertuned right now.

⌨️ Macros & Addons

WeakAuras is not supported in Midnight (12.0) — use Blizzard's built-in Cooldown Manager (importable configs on Wago.io). Addons: ElvUI, DBM/BigWigs, GTFO, OmniCD, and a sigil/Soul-Fragment tracker via Cooldown Manager.

#showtooltip Disrupt
/cast [@mouseover,harm,nodead][@focus,exists,harm,nodead] Disrupt

#showtooltip Torment
/cast [@mouseover,harm,nodead][] Torment

#showtooltip Fracture
/cast Demon Spikes
/cast Fracture

#showtooltip Sigil of Chains
/cast [@cursor] Sigil of Chains

🚫 Common Mistakes

• Letting Demon Spikes fall off through physical packs — that's your main mitigation; macro it to Fracture and keep it rolling.
• Hoarding Soul Fragments — sitting at 5+ wastes self-healing and a spender; spend Spirit Bomb / Soul Cleave to heal and layer DR.
• Sitting on Metamorphosis under Annihilator — it returns faster the more you barrage, so delaying it stalls your whole damage and defensive engine.
• Forgetting there's no AoE taunt — drop Sigil of Flame and out-damage with Immolation Aura + Spirit Bomb; you can't peel a loose pack with a button.
• Wasting Fiery Brand on trash instead of saving a charge for the hardest-hitting enemy's DR window.
• Running Aldrachi Reaver by habit — it's undertuned this season; Annihilator is the correct pick in nearly all content.