Mists of Pandaria Classic Survival Hunter Spell Summary
On this page, we present you with all spells and procs that you need to understand as a Survival Hunter in Mists of Pandaria Classic.
Survival Hunter Spells, Cooldowns and Abilities
Hunter deals incredible damage as a ranged DPS, but is even better known for
their wide-ranging utility that allows them to do odd-jobs better than almost anyone
else in a raid. Spells like
Misdirection,
Frost Trap,
and tracking spells such as
Track Humanoids are staples of the Hunter
toolkit.
All of the Hunter specializations bring the same raid buff,
Trueshot Aura.
This aura increases the attack power of all raid members by 10%.
of all raid members by 10%. This aura can only be brought
by Hunter, Warrior,
or Death Knight.
Aspects
Hunter will always have one of their Aspect abilities active. These are
essentially different buffs where you can choose which one you want to have
active. As a default, you should always be in
Aspect of the Hawk during combat for
the extra ranged attack power. All of the different Aspects are listed below.
Aspect of the Hawk — increases your ranged Attack Power. This is the default choice to use when your goal is to deal damage.
Aspect of the Cheetah — increases your movement speed by 30%. This is a great Aspect to use whenever you are running anywhere and know you won't be hit.
Aspect of the Pack — the same as Aspect of the Cheetah, except it affects your whole party and raid, not just you.
Core Rotational Abilities
These are your core damaging abilities that you will use frequently, either while leveling or at max level.
Explosive Shot — one of your most powerful damaging ability as a Survival Hunter. This is a 2-second DoT that will blast the target three times for a large amount of fire damage. Your rotation is based around maximizing the use of this shot.
Black Arrow — a powerful DoT on a 30 second cooldown. This is incredibly important to keep active both for the damage and because it will proc
Lock and Load.
Kill Shot — only usable while the target is below 20% health, but deals a massive burst of damage. This is your single hardest hitting ability and should be used whenever possible.
Multi-Shot — another core damage ability specifically for cleave and AoE. On multiple stacked targets, this becomes your primary way to spend Focus. Additionally, due to
Serpent Spread, Multi-Shot will apply
Serpent Sting to all targets hit.
Hunter's Mark applies a debuff on the target that lasts 5 minutes, increasing the ranged Attack Power of anyone who attacks the target. This can only be active on one target at a time, and should always be up. Cast this before you engage a new enemy, since it will not start combat with them. Keep in mind that in Mists of Pandaria, your
Explosive Shot will automatically mark your target with this.
Arcane Shot — an instant shot that deals Arcane damage. This is the primary way you will spend excess focus on single target, as long as it does not delay other shots.
Serpent Sting — a damage-over-time effect that deals Nature damage. All
Hunter specs will always maintain this in their rotations.
Cobra Shot — is your basic filler spell, which is used to regenerate Focus. Additionally, Cobra Shot will extend the duration of your Serpent Sting, meaning you'll never need to recast it on single target.
Traps
Traps are one of the Hunter's most iconic class features, allowing them to place traps on the
ground that will do something when an enemy walks over them. You can only have
one trap of each type (Fire, Frost, and Nature) out at a time. You also have the option to enable
Trap Launcher which allows you to place traps at range.
Explosive Trap — a Fire trap that deals a burst of Fire damage to all enemies within 10 yards when triggered, and additionally puts a Fire damage-over-time effect on all of the enemies hit. This is a powerful AoE ability when dealing with lots of targets.
Freezing Trap — a Frost trap that freezes the enemy who triggers it for 1 minute. This prevents all action while frozen, but any damage will break the freeze.
Ice Trap — drops a patch of ice on the ground when triggered that slows all enemies inside by 50%. This can be very useful for kiting large groups of enemies.
Snake Trap — a Nature trap that will spawn several angry, venomous snakes when triggered which will die after 15 seconds. While alive they will attack whoever triggered them.
Tracking Abilities
Hunter are able to use their tracking abilities, such as
Track Humanoids or
Track Beasts, to track specific types of
enemies. You can only have one tracking ability active at any time and, while
active, you will be able to see all enemies of the type you are tracking on your
minimap.
Track Humanoids — tracks nearby Humanoids on your mini-map, which includes both friendly and enemy players.
Track Beasts — tracks nearby Beasts on your minimap.
Track Undead — tracks nearby Undead on your minimap. This does not include Undead players.
Track Hidden — tracks nearby hidden targets on your minimap. This includes players who are stealthed.
Track Elementals — tracks nearby Elementals on your minimap.
Track Demons — tracks nearby Demons on your minimap.
Track Giants — tracks nearby Giants on your minimap.
Track Dragonkin — tracks nearby Dragonkin on your minimap.
Pet Abilities
While pets have their own abilities, you also have several abilities related to healing, feeding, and interacting with your pet in general. All of your abilities related to your pet are listed below.
Tame Beast — allows you to tame a Beast, making it your pet.
Call Pet — this will call your pet to your side if your pet is alive and currently dismissed. In Mists of Pandaria, Hunters now have multiple versions of call pet that allow you to choose from up to five pets to call.
Revive Pet — revives your pet if it is dead.
Feed Pet can be used on food in your inventory to feed your pet, healing it while out of combat. Different pets will eat different types of food.
Dismiss Pet — dismisses your pet from your side until you use
Call Pet to bring it back. This is very useful whenever you want to make sure your pet does not accidentally pull extra enemies, such as when you jump down from a ledge.
Mend Pet — heals your pet over 10 seconds when used.
Beast Lore — tells you information about the type of pet you have, including its category, diet, and lore.
Cooldowns
These are the few cooldowns that Hunter have. Cooldowns are powerful
abilities that do something special, but have a longer cooldown
period before you can use them again. These can be incredibly important abilities,
but due to their long cooldown periods, require careful consideration and
planning for where you should make the best use of them.
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.
Utility Spells
Hunter have several important utility spells in their arsenal that enable
them to do things that other classes cannot.
Counter Shot — is Hunter's interrupt ability. This is a new, long-awaited addition in Mists of Pandaria.
Misdirection — requires that you target a friendly player or your pet to use. It places a 30 second buff on you, and will last for 4 seconds once you attack something. For those 4 seconds, all threat you generate is given to your initial friendly target instead.
Deterrence — makes you untargetable and unable to be hit with direct spells or attacks for 5 seconds. Do not think that this is an immunity; it tends to have weird interactions with some abilities. This additionally reduces all damage taken by 30% while active.
Concussive Shot — is an instant shot that slows the enemy target by 50% for 4 seconds. This is very useful when kiting in PvE and PvP.
Distracting Shot — an instant shot that taunts the target to attack you. If you need to get an enemy's attention, this is how you do it.
Scare Beast — similar to
Warlock's
Fear, but only usable against beasts. This is also usable against
Druid in their beast forms.
Eagle Eye — allows you to see very far away. This is useful for scouting out in the world.
Disengage — this was changed in Wrath, and is now an amazing mobility spell. This works like the retail version, propelling you backwards a short distance through the air when used.
Feign Death — causes you to play dead, which drops your combat along with all threat against any target that was attacking you. This is also very useful in PvP, as it causes enemy players to lose you as their target when you use this ability.
Flare — throws a flare at a location, revealing hidden targets in that area and makes them unable to hide again while the flare is active. This is very useful for fighting against a
Rogue or
Druid when you do not want them to stealth.
Tranquilizing Shot — an instant shot that removes an enrage effect and a magic effect from the enemy.
Master's Call — a spell that you command your pet to case. It will cause your pet to remove all roots and snares from itself and your target, also granting both targets root/snare immunity for 4 seconds.
Scatter Shot — an instant shot that disorients the target for 4 seconds.
Wyvern Sting — an instant sting that sleeps the target for 30 seconds.
Widow Venom — an instant shot that reduces the healing the target takes for 30 seconds.
Camouflage — become pseudo-invisible, where you're stealthed while standing still, but can still be seem by players while moving. You cannot be hit by attacks outside of melee range while active though. This breaks once you deal or take damage in combat.
Changelog
- 21 Jun. 2025: Guide created.
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This guide has been written by Impakt, an Officer in BDGG, the #2 North American guild on retail. In addition to live WoW, he has also been a classic theorycrafter and enthusiast for many years. You can watch him stream on Twitch, or follow him on Twitter.