Today I would like to talk about a talent build for Vengeance Demon Hunter that does not get enough credit in the popular guides and forum threads at the moment — the Spirit Bomb DPS build.
For this build, you will be casting Spirit Bomb whenever there is a soul fragment around. Spirit Bomb is a level 108 talent choice which launches a nearby Soul Fragments at your target, dealing Fire damage to all nearby enemies and afflicting them with Frailty for 20 seconds. We will not concern ourselves too much with the Frailty debuff as it is constantly applied to our targets through our Spirit Bomb spam. The Fire damage, on the other hand, is what makes this build great for high Mythic keystone dungeons as we get to self-heal from all Fire damage dealt.
Pros
- High consistent damage and self-healing which scale with more targets
- Amazing for Skittish affix when AOE threat is a major issue
- Highly engaging rotation akin to playing a DPS
- Does not require any specific Legendary gear to play well
Cons
- Weak against large Magic damage spikes, especially from certain bosses during Tyrannical affix
- Highly engaging rotation akin to playing a DPS
Talents
Level 99: Abyssal Strike reduces the cooldown of Infernal Strike by 40%, from 20 seconds to 12 seconds. When paired with the level 102 talent Flame Crash, it is the best talent for sustained AOE by increasing the uptime of your Sigil of Flame on your targets.
Level 100: Fallout makes it such that the initial burst of Immolation Aura has a high chance of shattering soul fragments from your targets. One common mistake is to use Immolation Aura early before moving into melee range of new group of targets. Doing so renders this talent useless and limits the potential of the Spirit Bomb talent build. Watch when you use it!
Level 102: Flame Crash does not directly affect the generation of soul fragments but as mentioned above, the synergy with Abyssal Strike is amazing for sustained AOE.
Level 104: Soul Rending is picked for emergency self-healing when you are in Metamorphosis. It is also one of the few counters to Necrotic affix since Leech ignores any healing reduction. Feed the Demon is useless for this build as using soul fragments to cast Spirit Bomb does not count as consumption. Although Fracture does help to create more soul fragments, it is not recommended as it does not fit well into the rotation due to few empty globals. You are also better off dumping your Pain resource into Demon Spikes and Soul Cleave, especially if you have the 4 piece Tier 19 set bonus.
Level 106: Sigil of Chains is an amazing tool for multiple scenarios. Its ability to pull a large group of enemies into one spot ensures that your Spirit Bomb hits all of them and helps your group to AOE them more efficiently. In the event that you need to kite, it also slows the movement speed of affected targets by 70% for 6 seconds which makes for a very powerful snare.
Level 108: Spirit Bomb has seen many buffs, with its damage increased from 150% to 252% of your attack power in patch 7.1 and a change from Shadow to Fire damage in patch 7.2. The latest change synergize well with our Charred Warblades artifact trait, as 15% of all Fire damage dealt turns into self-healing. While many prefers Fel Devastation as a form of burst healing / damage, Spirit Bomb still comes out on top for overall damage and healing done over the course of a dungeon.
Level 110: Last Resort has its cooldown increased from 3 minutes to 8 minutes in patch 7.1.5 but it is still a very powerful survivability cooldown. With the buff to our other defensive traits, we no longer need to rely on Last Resort as frequent but only turn to it when we truly need it. Soul Barrier will never be picked as we will be channelling all soul fragments into Spirit Bomb. This makes Demonic Infusion the only alternative, only if you have not acquired your T19 4 piece.
Rotation/Priority List
- Leap into a fight with Infernal Strike. This activates a Sigil of Flame through your Flame Crash talent.
- Use Immolation Aura to immediately generate soul fragments from your Fallout talent.
- Cast Spirit Bomb to use up all the soul fragments.
- Use Soul Cleave to avoid wasting Pain and when there are zero soul fragments lying around.
- Use Soul Carver to generate more soul fragments which you will funnel into further Spirit Bomb casts.
- Use Infernal Strike or Sigil of Flame to maximize uptime of Sigil of Flame damage over time debuff on your targets.
- Use Shear to fill empty globals, if any.
Pain Management
Follow the general rule of getting up to 70–80 before using your abilities. As this talent build provides you with few empty globals outside the Spirit Bomb rotation, you will cap out on your Pain resource relatively quickly. To avoid wasting any Pain, you can consider the following:
- Pause your Spirit Bomb rotation to cast Demon Spikes, but always keep one charge around when you truly need it.
- Use Soul Cleave when there are no soul fragments lying around.
Stats
You will almost always want to equip your highest item level gear for the agility and armour. All secondary stats are quite close to one another. My personal preference for this build is as such:
- Critical Strike
- Mastery
- Versatility
- Haste
At the end of the day, playing better will always deliver better results than gearing better.
Give this build a try and let me know whether you like it. Feel free to drop me any questions in the comments below and I will do my best to answer.
Good luck and have fun!
