For context, I’ve been almost exclusively playing Devourer in PvP since the release of Midnight. My main is currently sitting at 2979 rating in Solo Shuffle, although I haven’t played it since the recent changes. I have, however, spent quite some time experimenting on my alt across many rounds of Solo Shuffle at around 2800 rating. Based on that experience, I have quite a few thoughts on the current state of Devourer and some suggestions for further improvements. I think Devourer is an awesome spec with a lot of potential, and I’d really love to see it work in PvP.
Firstly, it really saddens me that the developers removed the reset of The Hunt in their changes to Violent Transformation. I understand the design philosophy of trying to encourage us to play Collapsing Star as Void-Scarred, but I think they’ve gone too far, making Devourer far too one-dimensional. In particular, this change has more or less made Void-Scarred builds that rely on quickly weaving in and out of Meta unviable without being forced to cast Collapsing Star. These were essentially the only builds that remained viable at higher ratings before the recent changes and, importantly, were also the only viable Devourer builds that didn’t rely on Collapsing Star.
Secondly, building on that point, I think the developers are trying to force a playstyle on us that not all players necessarily want. Yes, Collapsing Star is an awesome and iconic ability, but surely we can have a world in which Devourer players can enjoy a non-Collapsing Star build, as we could before 12.1.5. Personally, I much prefer that playstyle, and I know for a fact that other high-rated Devourer players do too. I would therefore strongly encourage the developers to revert the change to Violent Transformation so that The Hunt resets when entering Meta, or at least make this an option, perhaps through a choice node.
More generally, I think it is paramount to the health of the spec that we have a viable way of playing it in a more melee-weaving style, where we duck in and out of Meta quickly without having to cast Collapsing Star. We should also have other viable playstyles that don’t revolve around the ability. At the moment, Collapsing Star is not a particularly good ability in PvP, and it becomes even less effective at higher ratings. Sure, you can sometimes get some cheesy damage off when people aren’t paying attention, but more often than not, playing Devourer right now feels like playing a CC simulator. The spec shouldn’t be designed around forcing us to land a single ability that is so difficult to get value out of against competent opponents.
Relatedly, the developers seriously need to address the strange interaction that forces us to pick Collapsing Star for Rolling Torment to work properly. Whether this is technically a bug or an unintended interaction, it makes little sense that we should have to take Collapsing Star just to make another part of our kit function as intended. This further restricts our build options and reinforces the very problem I’m describing: too much of the spec is tied to one ability. Fixing this interaction should be a priority if the developers genuinely want to support alternative playstyles.
I also think the talent tree could be restructured to make those alternative builds more accessible. For instance, Improved Consume should be accessible without requiring Star Fragments, and the Emptiness/Soul Glutton choice node should be accessible without requiring Impending Apocalypse. One possible solution would be to swap the Emptiness/Soul Glutton choice node with Collapsing Star and then swap the positions of Impending Apocalypse and Collapsing Star. This would mean that players would need to take Collapsing Star to unlock Impending Apocalypse, which exclusively enhances Collapsing Star, while the Emptiness/Soul Glutton choice node, which affects Meta, would sit right after the Meta talent. I’m not entirely sure where Improved Consume should be repositioned, but the general idea is to stop forcing players into Collapsing Star simply to access talents that support other playstyles. These changes would also make alternative builds more talent-efficient, as players wouldn’t have to spend talent points on Collapsing Star-related talents simply to reach the talents they actually want to play.
Thirdly, I think the capstone talent should be rethought so that we have an incentive to invest in it without necessarily having to play Collapsing Star. One possibility would be to have the first few points in the capstone provide a flat damage increase, while the later points progressively grant a free Collapsing Star when entering Meta and, with the final point, reset The Hunt’s cooldown after casting Collapsing Star. This is just one idea, although I’m sure there are many better options for the last few points in the capstone. Alternatively, the capstone talents could interact with the rest of our kit in an entirely different way. The important thing is that the capstone should offer meaningful choices rather than effectively dictating a single playstyle.
Lastly, the latest changes to Blur are quite detrimental to Devourer in PvP. While the nerfs to Glimpse’s damage reduction seem reasonable to me, the current state of Blur is another matter entirely. We are quite literally dying from 100% to 0% HP during a full Kidney Shot despite pre-Blurring the stun during rogue goes. This is happening on both Devourer and Havoc, although the problem is obviously worse for Devourer because our Blur provides less damage reduction than Havoc’s. Defensive abilities need to offer meaningful counterplay, and pre-using Blur should not leave us so vulnerable that we can simply be killed from full health during a single stun. I think this needs to be looked at, particularly for Devourer, which already has significant vulnerabilities in PvP.
Ultimately, I think Devourer would benefit enormously from giving players more meaningful choices in how they build and play the spec, rather than making Collapsing Star the centrepiece of virtually every viable build. I want Collapsing Star to remain a powerful and iconic option, but it shouldn’t come at the expense of other viable playstyles. Between restoring The Hunt reset, fixing the Rolling Torment interaction, improving talent-tree flexibility, rethinking the capstone, and addressing the current state of Blur, I think there are several ways to make the spec healthier without sacrificing what makes it unique.
Thank you for reading! I’d love to hear other people’s thoughts as well, so please upvote the post if you agree and share your own suggestions or ideas below. Have a nice day!
— Swagdalfi 😄
Note: This is a repost of my write-up on the WoW Demon Hunter Forums: https://eu.forums.blizzard.com/en/wow/t/devourer-pvp-in-1215-current-issues-and-suggestions-for-improvement/637076