Some minor clarifications on the initial demon hunter announcement.
Weapons
Perhaps contrary to the official page, Demon Hunters will only be able to wield a brand new weapon type unique to the class: Glaives. They may be given access to other weapon types after the expansion, but during Legion the only weapon we need to worry about will be our artifact glaive. Hopefully the artifact glaive will have many different visual options since our transmog will be limited. There will probably be two glaive artifacts: one for each spec.
The glaive weapon type will come in a set, so like a two-hander that comes in two halves.
It was hinted that the artifact glaive was previewed in the character creation slides presented during the initial announcement, so here are those pictures again:
Gear
Since demon hunters are the fourth class to equip leather, lots of people have raised concerns that so many people needing the same gear will cause problems. Blizzard has attempted to alleviate these concerns by clarifying:
- Tier comes from tokens, not a specific armor type, so demon hunters and other leather wearers aren’t directly competing for the same drops all the time.
- Raids will likely drop more leather to compensate for the increased demand.
Tanking Style
The Demon Hunter tanking style is said to be more avoidance-based, as compared to a monk which has a little bit of everything, especially healing, or a death knight that is slow and deliberate. Demon Hunters might specialize in damage reduction and prevention up front, but be weaker at recovering damage once it has happened, similar to a protection warrior.
Miscellaneous
- There will be an additional character slot to accommodate demon hunters.
- Demon Hunters will start at a higher level (above 90), but the decision on what level hasn’t yet been made.