Survival Hunter DPS Spec, Builds, Talents, and Pet Talents — Dragonflight 10.2.6
On this page, you will find out the best talents for each tier for your Survival Hunter in World of Warcraft — Dragonflight 10.2.6. We also have default talent lists for various types of content, such as raiding or Mythic+. If you play with Warmode on, we have your PvP talents covered as well.
If you were looking for WotLK Classic content, please refer to our WotLK Classic Survival Hunter talents.
Best Dragonflight Talent Builds for Survival Hunter
Note that these builds are generic recommendations for various content. For more specific recommendations for the Raid and Mythic+, check out the dedicated pages below.
Dragonflight Talent Builds for Survival Hunter
Best Single-Target Talent Build for Survival Hunter
This build is optimal for pure single-target situations.
Be sure to make use of the 'Copy Export String' button to import the best build directly into your game!
Best T30 Single-Target Talent Build for Survival Hunter
This build is mostly competitive before you get your T31 4PC bonus.
Be sure to make use of the 'Copy Export String' button to import the best build directly into your game!
Best AoE/Mythic+ Talent Build for Survival Hunter
This is our recommended build for AoE scenarios. This works well for AoE Fights in Raids, as well as most Mythic+.
Be sure to make use of the 'Copy Export String' button to import the best build directly into your game!
Best T30 AoE/Mythic+ Talent Build for Survival Hunter
This is our recommended build for AoE scenarios before you obtain the new T31 Set Bonus. This works well for AoE Fights in Raids, as well as most Mythic+.
Be sure to make use of the 'Copy Export String' button to import the best build directly into your game!
Talent Explanations for Survival Hunters
Note that we do not explain EVERY Talent in the tree on this page. We only explain Talents that are part of our optimal builds for single-target and AoE. For full details and explanations of every Talent, please visit our Spells page via the button below.
Class Talents
Row 1-4
Kill Shot | Strong DPS button and a mandatory pick. |
Posthaste | Essential as one of our strongest mobility talents. |
Improved Kill Shot | A passive, powerful increase to our Kill Shot's damage. |
Counter Shot | Our main interrupt. |
Natural Mending | Provides incredible CDR to Exhilaration and is a must-pick for survivability. If you are not using Exhilaration very liberally, you can get away with dropping a point here for other utility. |
Tar Trap | Not great, but it leads us on a path to better talents, as we need to get to the left side of the tree later on. |
Survival of the Fittest | A strong defensive for both one-shots and powerful DoTs. |
Row 5-7
Tranquilizing Shot | Useful for many scenarios and leads us to better talents on the left side of the tree. |
Nature's Endurance | Must-pick, as it doubles the damage reduction of Survival of the Fittest. |
Born To Be Wild | A solid pick for lower Turtle and Cheetah cooldowns, making it strong for both survivability and mobility. |
Improved Tranquilizing Shot | An incentive to Tranquilizing Shot when we can, and leads us nicely to the left side of the tree, which becomes important. |
Intimidation | Hugely useful for add control in Mythic+ and some Raiding scenarios. |
Binding Shot/ Scatter Shot | Both viable options in this choice node and are necessary to pick up other essential Talents. For most Mythic+, we recommend Binding Shot, but Scatter Shot can be used as a single-target cast stopper, similar to Intimidation. |
Rejuvenating Wind | Increases our maximum health and gives our Exhilaration some extra power, which can be useful or weak depending on how liberal you are with Exhilaration usage. This is mandatory for the maximum HP. |
Camouflage | Useful for skips and out-of-combat self-healing in Mythic+. It is useless for Raiding, though. |
Hunter's Avoidance | A much-needed boost to our survivability on unavoidable mechanics. |
Pathfinding | A solid boost to movement speed, but you can drop a point here to pick up other utility as needed. |
Row 8-10
Keen Eyesight | A strong DPS increase and is a mandatory pick. |
Master Marksman | A strong DPS increase and is a mandatory pick. |
Serrated Shots | Affects Serpent Sting, making it worth using. |
Arctic Bola | A bit of a DPS increase, and we pick it at the lack of other options. |
Serpent Sting | Not actually used as an ability, but we need it to get to the hugely important talent below. |
Death Chakram | Introduces a mini-cooldown to our rotation, enhancing our burst a little and focuses on amplifying other damage, even though it does not do a ton of damage on its own. |
Explosive Shot | Incredible for AoE paired with the Ranger Talent. |
Poison Injection | Incredible synergy with our Viper's Venom Talent that we talk about later, and is a free, high DPS increase. |
Spec Talents
Row 1-4
Raptor Strike | One of our core abilities, and mandatory to progress. |
Wildfire Bomb and Tip of the Spear | Fundamental to our spec and are necessary to continue. |
Ferocity | A solid, flat DPS increase. |
Harpoon | A bit of utility and a damage increase, all in one, via the talent that it leads to. |
Bloodseeker | A substantial, flat DPS increase. |
Aspect of the Eagle | Not strictly included in our builds, but it can be a DPS increase for encounters where you are forced out of melee at particular intervals. |
Terms of Engagement | Adds a DPS component to Harpoon. |
Row 5-7
Guerrilla Tactics | A solid DPS increase, especially when paired with Wildfire Infusion. |
Lunge | Mandatory after its Patch 10.1 changes. |
Butchery | A crucial AoE button, not only doing hefty damage on its own but also reducing our Wildfire Bomb cooldown via other talents. |
Mongoose Bite | The bread and butter of our single-target rotation especially. It accounts for over 50% of our damage in single-target, and a big amount on AoE as well. |
Intense Focus | Strong for all situations and gives us more Focus to execute the rest of our rotation. |
Improved Wildfire Bomb | A strong, flat DPS increase. |
Frenzy Strikes | Immensely powerful and enables a big part of our AoE rotation. |
Flanking Strike | A super-powered Kill Command. |
Spear Focus | Enhances the damage of our most important button and is mandatory for single-target. |
Viper's Venom | The reason that we choose Poison Injection in the Class Tree! |
Sharp Edges | Just a bit of flat DPS. It is nothing special, and this is the talent you might swap out to grab Lunge or Aspect of the Eagle or both. |
Sweeping Spear | A solid DPS increase in all situations. |
Row 8-10
Wildfire Infusion | Useful to all builds, as there is nearly always something you can use the special effects for, whether you are on single-target or AoE. |
Quick Shot | A bit of flat DPS. |
Coordinated Assault | Our main cooldown used for most scenarios. |
Fury of the Eagle | A powerful burst AoE button and is used for all situations due to our T31 Set Bonus. |
Ranger | Nearly always useful as it buffs several valuable abilities for us. |
Coordinated Kill | Amplifies our Coordinated Assault AoE cooldown and leads to another powerful talent for AoE. |
Birds of Prey | A powerful cleave talent. |
Bombardier | Excellent for single-target. |
Mythic+
Depending on affixes and other variables, Mythic+ can require a mix of AoE and Single-Target talents. You should check out our page below if you want advice specific to Mythic+.
Rotation for Survival Hunter Talents
Some talents will require you to play in a particular way to get the most out of them. You can find more information on how your rotation will look after selecting your talents on our rotation page below.
Best Pet for Survival Hunter in Dragonflight
We have made a dedicated page for Hunter Pets information that we recommend you check out!
PvP Talents for Survival Hunter in Dragonflight
War Mode offers several benefits for you in the open world.
- PvP talents enabled in the outdoor world.
- At least 10% increase in World Quest rewards at maximum level.
- 10% more experience gained while leveling.
- Earn Conquest Points, which can reward gear every week.
With the benefits of enabling War Mode for leveling and PvE content, it is recommended to enable the feature to maximize your leveling and rewards at maximum level. However, you will be available for open-world PvP, and the possibility of being "ganked" while leveling or doing World Quests exists.
PvP Talents (War Mode) for Survival Hunter
In this section, we will rank the PvP talents best for leveling and doing solo / small group PvE content. Below is a ranking of all PvP Talents for Survival Hunter
Best PvP Talents for Survival Hunter
- Survival Tactics is useful for negating powerful casts from mobs and other players that you cannot otherwise stop.
- Mending Bandage is a potent out-of-combat heal that also clears lingering debuffs.
- Hunting Pack is a valuable speed increase for leveling and open world content.
You can consider the other options essentially down to preference.
For details on how to play in Survival Hunter PvP, please visit our Survival Hunter PvP page.
Changelog
- 19 Mar. 2024: Reviewed for Patch 10.2.6.
- 29 Jan. 2024: Updated the default M+ build to a No-CD Build.
- 15 Jan. 2024: Updated for Patch 10.2.5.
- 28 Nov. 2023: Updated the ST and Mythic+ Talent Builds.
- 12 Nov. 2023: Added a T30 Mythic+ Build.
- 09 Nov. 2023: Small change to the Mythic+ build, for more single-target.
- 06 Nov. 2023: Updated for Patch 10.2
- 04 Sep. 2023: Restructured the page and updated for Patch 10.1.7
- 10 Jul. 2023: Updated for Patch 10.1.5.
- 23 Jun. 2023: Updated the AoE and AoE No CD Builds in light of recent APL changes.
- 26 May 2023: Added a Bombardier and Spearhead Build.
- 19 May 2023: Updated the layout of the page.
- 13 May 2023: Updated the recommended AoE/Mythic+ Talents.
- 01 May 2023: Reviewed for Patch 10.1.
- 20 Mar. 2023: Updated for Patch 10.0.7.
- 24 Jan. 2023: Updated the recommended M+ build.
- 08 Jan. 2023: Updated the recommendation status of Lunge, and re-checked Talents for correctness in light of recent buffs.
- 11 Dec. 2022: Updated for Dragonflight Season 1.
- 28 Nov. 2022: Updated for Dragonflight launch.
- 29 Oct. 2022: Updated the recommended low-target AoE Venthyr build further.
- 27 Oct. 2022: Updated the recommended low-target AoE build and fixed an issue with the string.
- 26 Oct. 2022: Added a Kyrian-based Talent Build that emphasizes strong burst, primarily for high-target Mythic+ keys.
- 24 Oct. 2022: Updated for Dragonflight pre-patch.
More Hunter Guides
Guides from Other Classes
This guide has been written by Azortharion, a Hunter Theorycrafter and Guidewriter since 2014, and considered one of the best Hunters in the world. He is an accomplished player with dozen of top parses for all specs throughout the game's history. He is also the Founder/Owner/Head Admin of Trueshot Lodge, the Hunter Class Discord. You can find him on his stream on Twitch and his channel on YouTube. He also has his own personal Discord server where you can freely ask him any Hunter questions you may have!
- April Trading Post Rewards in Action (Video)
- Season 4 Dungeon Testing: March 26th - April 1st
- 700,000 Plunder Mark Has Been Passed
- Dragonflight 10.2.6 Hotfixes, March 26th
- Slime Cat Mount Returns in Dragonflight Season 4
- Full Trading Post Rotation for the Month of April 2024
- Dragonflight Season 4 PTR Development Notes: March 26th
- Dragonflight Season 4 Now Available on the PTR