Hunter Hero Talents — The War Within (11.2)

This page is specifically about Hero Talents in The War Within. If you want to learn more about the best regular talents for Survival Hunter, check out our Talents page:

Pack Leader has by far the strongest single-target DPS and is the default pick for virtually all raiding.

Sentinel has awful single-target DPS and should be avoided in Raiding.

Sentinel has the best overall damage profile for Mythic+ of our two Hero Talents.

Pack Leader has strong single- and priority-target damage, but generally falters in efficiency and is more of a niche pick for dungeons like Streets with smaller pulls and a heavy single-target emphasis.

2.

Best Hero Talent Builds for Survival Hunter

Pack Leader Build Sentinel Single-Target Build Sentinel Mythic+ Build

3.

Best Pack Leader Build for Survival Hunter

Pack Leader is very straightforward to build, with the same setup being optimal for nearly all scenarios. The only real flex pick here might be Horsehair Tether, which you can swap to Slicked Shoes when and as needed, but it is a pretty minor effect.

3.

Best Sentinel Single-Target Build for Survival Hunter

Sentinel is very straightforward to build. The only thing we swap for AoE is Overwatch/ Crescent Steel, with the latter providing more Sentinel hits overall on a single target, because you will generally only get the Overwatch trigger once in such scenarios.

We also have a choice between Sentinel Watch and Eyes Closed. The former offers a shorter cooldown, and the latter offers a stronger cooldown. Generally speaking, we pick Eyes Closed, although if you are running Symbiotic Adrenaline in your Spec Tree, Sentinel Watch usually becomes better, though this is not typically recommended.

3.

Best Sentinel Mythic+ Build for Survival Hunter

Sentinel is very straightforward to build. The only thing we swap for AoE is Overwatch/ Crescent Steel, with the former providing a lot more Sentinel hits in AoE scenarios. Get a single target below 20% HP, and watch mobs melt from 20-0% HP.

We also have a choice between Sentinel Watch and Eyes Closed. The former offers a shorter cooldown, and the latter offers a stronger cooldown. Generally speaking, we pick Sentinel Watch, although if you are running Relentless Primal Ferocity in your Spec Tree, Eyes Closed becomes better, though this is not typically recommended.

Sentinel is essentially completely passive. Lunar Storm is activated by Wildfire Bomb, and when it comes "off cooldown" (meaning its debuff expires), that resets the cooldown of Wildfire Bomb, so keeping an eye on this and being ready to use your Bomb to not overcap its charges is important. Other than that, it's very barebones.

But, other than that minmax, Sentinel is completely passive.

Pack Leader has a fairly modest effect on your rotation. Kill Command will get bumped in priority whenever it can summon a Beast thanks to Howl of the Pack Leader, and Raptor Strike/ Mongoose Bite can become important on AoE when you have Hogstrider stacks. You will regularly get significant Wildfire Bomb cooldown reduction whenever Kill Command summons a Beast. For the most part, though, Pack Leader plays fairly close to a "baseline" Survival Hunter.