WotLK Classic Survival Hunter Rotation, Cooldowns, and Abilities
On this page, you will learn how to optimize the rotation of your Survival Hunter in both single-target and multiple-target PvE situations in WotLK Classic. We also have advanced sections about cooldowns, procs, etc. in order to minmax your DPS.
Introduction
In Vanilla and TBC, Hunters had to deal with clipping auto shots, resulting in a complex
rotation revolving around weaving in abilities optimally between autos. In Wrath,
auto-shot clipping is finally gone. You will always auto-shot normally, even while casting
Steady Shot. This means our rotation is now far simpler and easier
to manage, falling back to a basic priority list.
Single Target Rotation
Always start by ensuring all the required buffs are active, you have Aspect of the Dragonhawk
up, and
Hunter's Mark is on the target.
Kill Shot
Explosive Shot
Explosive Trap
Kill Command
- Maintain
Serpent Sting
Aimed Shot
Steady Shot as your filler.
Kill Command is off the GCD. You can simply macro it into
other spells to ensure you always use it properly.
Lock and Load Procs
When Lock and Load procs, you are able to use three
Explosive Shot
back-to-back. Normally the DoT from your explosive shot would override the previous
cast, but we can avoid that by down-ranking Explosive Shot casts. Whenever you get a Lock and Load
proc, you still still follow the priority list above, but outside of when
Kill Shot
is available you can just spam
Explosive Shot as follows.
Explosive Shot Rank 4
Explosive Shot Rank 3
Explosive Shot Rank 4
Different ranks of Explosive Shot have different DoTs, meaning they will not clip each other. This is the fastest and highest damage method of using your Lock and Load procs.
Trap Weaving
With the brand new addition of Trap Launcher in Season 4, Hunters
never need to worry about trap weaving ever again. You will now always use Explosive Trap
on cooldown regardless of the number of targets or the size of their hit-box. Just throw
your trap from a safe distance away and rejoice at being a range DPS once more!
AoE Rotation
Hunter AoE revolves entirely around two buttons: Explosive Trap
and
Volley. Volley is significantly more powerful in Wrath than in
TBC, and actually makes Hunter AoE some of the strongest in the game. Properly setting
up an Explosive Trap into Volley spam on an AoE pack will do absolutely incredible damage
that very few other classes can even hope to compete with.
Cooldowns
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.
Call of the Wild is a cooldown that Ferocity pets can talent into. It gives both you and your pet 10% more AP for 20 seconds.
Changelog
- 27 Sep. 2023: Updated for Phase 4.
- 30 Jul. 2023: Minor updates for later phases.
- 17 Jan. 2023: Updated for Phase 2.
- 01 Sep. 2022: Page added.
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.
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