Mists of Pandaria Classic Survival Hunter Rotation and Cooldowns

Hunters had a significant class update in Cataclysm with the changeover from Mana to Focus as a resource. Consequently, Hunters did not receive substantial changes going from Cataclysm to Mists of Pandaria. For every Hunter specialization, the rotation will feel largely similar to how it played in the previous expansion.

Always start by ensuring all the required buffs are active, you have Aspect of the Hawk up, and Hunter's Mark is on the target. However, Explosive Shot will now automatically apply Hunter's Mark for you, so only take the time to do this while out of combat with nothing else to do.

1. Cast and maintain Serpent Sting.
2. Explosive Shot.
3. Kill Shot below 20%.
4. A Murder of Crows.
5. Black Arrow.
6. Glaive Toss.
7. Arcane Shot if you have enough focus remaining to not delay other abilities.
8. Cobra Shot as filler to generate focus, which will also maintain Serpent Sting.

When Lock and Load procs, you are able to use three Explosive Shot back-to-back. Unlike Cataclysm, the DoT from Explosive Shot now stacks and will not clip. You can use it back-to-back without any damage loss.

For multi-target, the Survival Hunter rotation changes depending on the number of targets available. For 2 or 3 targets, just replace Arcane Shot in the rotation above with Multi-Shot. Also ensure to cast Explosive Shot at different targets to apply Hunter's Mark separately.

For larger AoE pulls with 4 or more targets, use the priority listed below.

1. Multi-Shot once to apply Serpent Sting.
2. Explosive Trap.
3. A Murder of Crows on a priority target, if they will live the duration.
4. Black Arrow on a priority target, if they will live the duration.
5. Glaive Toss.
6. Explosive Shot only during Lock and Load procs when they are free to cast.
7. Multi-Shot to spend focus.
8. Cobra Shot to generate focus.

Hunters have several cooldowns that can be lined up for huge burst windows. While the actual timings may vary per fight, in general you should line up all of these on pull and then use them on cooldown afterwards, overlapping them when possible.

• Rapid Fire is a Hunter's most important cooldown. It increases your ranged attack speed by 40% for 15 seconds.
• Rabid is a cooldown that Ferocity pets receive that massively increases your pet's attack power.
• Fervor is a talent you might take that will give you Focus back on-use. Use this during other cooldowns when you drop low on focus, but have other shots available.
• Stampede is a new cooldown that summons all pets to the encounter for a brief window. Use this in your opener in conjunction with other cooldowns.

Hunters have only two main aspects that you can utilize in combat: Aspect of the Hawk and Aspect of the Cheetah. Use Aspect of the Hawk the vast majority of the time, and as your default option. If you ever need to move, you can use Aspect of the Cheetah for a slight boost in movement speed, but this is generally not recommended most of the time in raid encounters so the likelihood of taking damage with it active is high. Aspect of the Pack is also a raid-wide version of Cheetah, which should be used very sparingly and only if you are confident the raid will not take damage while it is active.