- Author: Malphaz
- Date: June 10, 2019
- Expansion: WotLK Classic
Welcome to the Survival Hunter DPS guide for World of Warcraft Wrath of the Lich King 3.3.5a. In this guide, you will learn about playing a Survival Hunter in a raid. The guide includes Talents, Glyphs, Gems, Enchantments, Add-ons, Gameplay & Skill rotation tips.
Talent Tree
Glyphs
Major Glyphs
Minor Glyphs
Gems
Gems are situational and depend on the build and equipment. They are used to reach the required stat caps.
- Meta: Relentless Earthsiege Diamond
- Red: Delicate Cardinal Ruby
- Yellow: Rigid King’s Amber or Smooth King’s Amber
- Blue: Shifting Dreadstone x1
Yellow gems should be picked depending on the required stats. Hit rating should be a priority.
Enchants
- Head – Arcanum of Torment
- Shoulder – Greater Inscription of the Axe
- Cloak – Major Agility
- Chest – Powerful Stats
- Bracers – Greater Assault
- Gloves – Major Agility
- Waist – Eternal Belt Buckle
- Legs – Icescale Leg Armor
- Boots – Superior Agility
- Melee weapons – Massacre for two-handed or Superior Potency for one-handed
- Bow – Heartseeker Scope
Rotation
Survival Hunters don’t have a rotation, just some basic rules.
- Serpent Sting and Black Arrow are always used on the target.
- Afterward, use Aimed Shot and Explosive Shot
- If they are on cooldown, then use Steady Shot
- Use Freezing Arrow when additional monsters spawn
Stat Priority
Hit -> Agility -> Crit -> Attack Power & Armor Penetration -> Haste
Hit cap for raids is 8% (263 rating). New hunters should aim for at least 5% (164 rating) to always hit level 80 mobs. 3% can be obtained from Focused Aim, another 1% from Draenei passive Heroic Presence.
Agility is the main stat for Survival Hunters. No cap here, stack as much as possible as it converts into damage. Next, you should aim for 60% Crit Chance while buffed. Haste is down the list, probably one of the least required stats in the build.
Pets
Now, let’s talk about Pets.
First of all, we have to decide which pet do we need. In terms of PVE and Raiding our top 3 pets are:
- Wolfs – Furious Howl is what makes this pet #1
- Wasps – Sting can be a powerful debuff, but it doesn’t stack with similar effects on the target.
- Raptors & Cats – Less DPS than Wolfs and Wasps, but still viable.
The talent tree for our pet is Ferocity. Unlike Beast Mastery Hunters we can’t tame Exotic Creatures and don’t have those extra 4 talent points.
Don’t forget to use Kill Command and other pet skills when you can!
Explosive Trap glyph is hands down BiS over Steadyshot in SV, as you’ll have it down 24/7 unless the boss is mobile. Only then, do you ever use Black Arrow as it’s crap in comparison to Explosive trap. You could also atlernatively get serpent sting glyph to save globals and focus on using Explosive Shot every CD with a Cancel Cast macro for it.