Survival Hunter WotLK Guide
Survival Hunter DPS guide for WotLK 3.3.5a: rotation, cooldowns, the 0/15/56 talent build, glyphs, stat priority and BiS gear for ICC and Ruby Sanctum.
Survival is the Hunter built around one shot: Explosive Shot. It makes up something like a third or more of your damage, so the whole spec is about pressing it on time, never clipping its damage over time, and using Lock and Load procs well. It also brings a real utility to the raid: Hunting Party gives mana back to healers, and you keep Misdirection and the traps of the class.
This guide covers the shot priority, the cooldowns, the talents and glyphs we run, the stats to reach and the mistakes that cost the most. It is written for Icecrown Citadel 25 and Ruby Sanctum on 3.3.5a. The short overview is in the class guide.
1.How the Survival Hunter plays
Survival is a cycle. Kill Shot in the execute phase, Explosive Shot every time it is ready, Black Arrow on cooldown, Aimed Shot and Serpent Sting, and Steady Shot as the filler. The advanced version is a four-step rotation that alternates Explosive Shot with the other abilities and fillers, so the damage over time of the shot is never cut short.
The important part of the spec is the proc: a Lock and Load gives you two free Explosive Shots, and the traps and Black Arrow can trigger it. Manage your damage over time carefully, so you do not clip it while you use the free shots.
2.Shot priority
- Kill ShotWhen the boss is under twenty percent health.
- Explosive ShotNever miss its cooldown. It is your main source of damage.
- Black ArrowOn cooldown. It also triggers Lock and Load.
- Aimed ShotOn cooldown. On multi-target fights, use Multi-Shot in its place.
- Serpent StingKeep it up on the target.
- Steady ShotThe filler for everything else.
Never clip an Explosive Shot damage over time: it is the most common and the most costly mistake in the spec. On heavy AoE fights, use Explosive Trap and Volley, with Misdirection and Feign Death to keep your threat under control.
3.Cooldowns and raid utility
Survival has a short list of cooldowns, and all of them are worth using on time.
A large haste increase for a short time. Use it as a part of your burst, together with your other cooldowns.
Redirects your threat to the tank. Always use it on the tank before a pull.
A pet cooldown that fits with your other burst tools.
Has no global cooldown. The guides we read combine it with Rapid Fire and Call of the Wild in a single "burst" macro.
Damage over time on the ground, and it can trigger Lock and Load. Use it when it is ready.
Drops your threat. Use it with Misdirection on heavy AoE fights when you pull too much.
4.Talents and glyphs
Our recommended Survival build is the 0/15/56 in the calculator, built around Explosive Shot, Black Arrow, Hunting Party, Sniper Training, Thrill of the Hunt and Wyvern Sting. The Wyvern Sting talent is a requirement in the tree that leads to Noxious Stings.
The major glyphs are Explosive Trap, Explosive Shot and Serpent Sting. The guides we read use the Kill Shot and Steady Shot glyphs too, and swap the Steady Shot glyph for Explosive Shot when your critical strike chance is below about sixty percent. A Wolf is the standard pet.
You fire an explosive charge into the enemy target, dealing 146-174 Fire damage. The charge will blast the target every second for an additional 2 sec.
Fires a Black Arrow at the target, increasing all damage done by you to the target by 6% and dealing 786 Shadow damage over 15 sec. Black Arrow shares a cooldown with Trap spells.
Increases your total Agility by an additional 3%, and your Arcane Shot, Explosive Shot and Steady Shot critical strikes have a 100% chance to grant up to 10 party or raid members mana regeneration equal to 1% of the maximum mana per 5 sec. Lasts for 15 sec.
Increases the critical strike chance of your Kill Shot ability by 15%, and while standing still for 6 sec, you gain Sniper Training increasing the damage done by your Steady Shot, Aimed Shot, Black Arrow and Explosive Shot by 6% for 15 sec.
Gives you a 100% chance to regain 40% of the mana cost of any shot when it critically hits.
A stinging shot that puts the target to sleep for 30 sec. Any damage will cancel the effect. When the target wakes up, the Sting causes 300 Nature damage over 6 sec. Only one Sting per Hunter can be active on the target at a time.
The periodic damage from your Explosive Trap can now be critical strikes.
Increases the critical strike chance of Explosive Shot by 4%.
Increases the duration of your Serpent Sting by 6 sec.
5.Stats, gems and gear
The priority is hit, then agility, then critical strike (up to about sixty percent unbuffed), then attack power, then armor penetration, and haste last. Haste is the worst stat for Survival, because the rotation waits on cooldowns anyway.
A high critical strike chance also keeps the Exposure Weakness debuff up for the raid, so it is worth more than it looks. The best items are in the BiS list below.
- Hit
- Agility
- Critical Strike
- Armor Penetration
263 (230 with Draenei), lower with Focused Aim
Same hit mechanics as MM.
No hard target — lower priority than MM
A meaningful part of Survival damage is magical (Black Arrow, Explosive Shot), so ArP is weaker for this spec than for MM. Agility and Crit matter more.
Berserking (+20% ranged attack speed on a 3-min cooldown) is strong burst, Beast Slaying adds 5% damage to beasts, and Bow Specialization gives +1% ranged crit. Orc is close — Blood Fury plus Command (+5% pet damage) is real for Beast Mastery.
Heroic Presence gives the party +1% hit, valuable to the whole raid. Dwarf offers Gun Specialization (+1% crit with guns) and Stoneform.
Oathbinder, Charge of the Ranger-General
Fal'inrush, Defender of Quel'thalas
Deathbringer's Will
Sharpened Twilight Scale
Sanctified Ahn'Kahar Blood Hunter's Headpiece
Sanctified Ahn'Kahar Blood Hunter's Tunic
6.Common mistakes
• Clipping Explosive Shot damage over time.
• Missing an Explosive Shot cooldown window.
• Forgetting Misdirection before the pull.
• Poor positioning during movement phases.
• Spending your Lock and Load procs without looking at the damage over time you already have.
7.On the bosses
Survival is strong on adds and target switching, and it has few penalties for changing targets. A few notes:
Use Explosive Trap, Multi-Shot and Volley on the adds, with Misdirection and Feign Death for threat.
You have few penalties for switching targets, and you keep mobile. Use your traps to trigger Lock and Load.
Keep the Explosive Shot cycle going through the phase changes.
Keep your damage going during the transitions, and help with the Spirits in the last phase. See the Lich King guide.
8.Questions people ask
Yes. It is strong on multi-target fights and on fights with a lot of target switching, and it brings a mana return to the healers.
Never miss an Explosive Shot and never clip its damage over time.
A Wolf is the standard choice.
No. It is the worst stat for the spec, because the rotation waits on cooldowns.