Survival Hunter DPS Easy Mode — The War Within (Season 1)
On this page, we explain how to easily play Survival Hunter in World of Warcraft — The War Within (Season 1), using the simplest rotation, talent tree, stat priority, gear setup, etc., without sacrificing performance.
Foreword
This section is intended for players who are new to the game or class, have no intentions of raiding Mythic difficulty, or simply want a more straightforward way to play their specialization without being overwhelmed by the numerous priorities and active abilities that need to be taken into consideration for optimal play.
The Basics of Survival Hunter in The War Within
Survival is quite simple in its execution and it is an ideal spec for someone new to raiding, or just WoW in general. It is one of the most popular specs in the game's history and has seen use in many World First kills.
If you are completely new to Survival and need more information on the abilities available to you, you can check out our Spell Summary page.
Beginner's Guide to Survival Hunter in The War Within
Best Mongoose Bite Talents for Survival Hunter in The War Within Season 1
This is an alternative build for purely single-target scenarios. It is more traditional and simple, but it does not have the incidental cleave benefits of our primary, Sic 'Em-based build. The pure single-target performance is basically identical, though if you are getting Power Infusion from a Priest, this build is actually slightly better for pure single-target.
Flexible Talents
While I strongly recommend that you run the build exactly as listed, there are a few changes you could make to suit your personal preferences, though I cannot stress enough that significant deviations are likely to cost you significant performance. A lot of work went into every talent picked, combining simulations of single-target, pure AoE, and mixed dungeon simulation scenarios with a variety of pull sizes and durations.
- If you want a 45-60s cooldown instead of a 2-minute one, swap Eyes Closed in the Hero Tree and Relentless Primal Ferocity in the Spec Tree for Sentinel Watch and Symbiotic Adrenaline, respectively. This is around a 2% DPS loss on average, but can suit some encounters and situations better.
Be sure to make use of the 'Export Talents' button to import the best build directly into your game!
Best Beginner Mythic+ Talent Build for Survival Hunter in The War Within Season 1
This is my recommended build for Mythic+ for beginners. It differs from the optimized build by dropping Flanking Strike and Exposed Flank for 2x Explosives Expert, saving you an extra button in the rotation while making your primary, exciting button have a shorter cooldown.
Be sure to make use of the 'Export Talents' button to import the best build directly into your game!
Beginner Survival Hunter DPS Rotation
The goal of Survival is chiefly to maximize your Tip of the Spear coverage on all of your abilities. Ensure that the buff is up whenever you cast a Flanking Strike, Wildfire Bomb, Explosive Shot, Kill Shot.
Beyond this, use Raptor Strike/ Mongoose Bite as a filler and Focus spender, with Kill Command being your Focus and Tip generator.
AoE Rotation for Survival Hunter
On AoE, we focus far more on Wildfire Bombs, which deal amazing AoE damage. We reduce their cooldown by using Butchery on cooldown. If single-target is about maximizing Mongoose Bites, AoE is all about throwing as many Bombs as possible!
It is still extremely important to ensure that Tip of the Spear is active for all of your special abilities.
Defensive Spells for Survival Hunter
Exhilaration is your primary self-heal and it has a rather short cooldown thanks to the Natural Mending Talent. Use this when you drop below 50% HP to help out your Healer!
Aspect of the Turtle is your immunity. It can be used to completely negate the damage and effects of most spells targeted on you. Use it if you are assigned to, or in a pinch if you worry that an upcoming mechanic will kill you!
Survival of the Fittest is our most powerful defensive besides Turtle, a 30% damage reduction with 2 charges on a 1.5-minute cooldown each. Use it to reduce damage taken from hard-hitting mechanics. Optimal use of this ability entails using it proactively, before heavy incoming damage.
Fortitude of the Bear is an extra defensive that comes from using a Tenacity Pet (more on that in the Pets section!). It increases max health by 20% and heals you for that amount too. This defensive can be used after heavy damage, or to survive things that might one-shot you.
Feign Death is a very unique Hunter ability. It can be used to drop aggro and combat, and it can also be used to stop casts on you — mobs will usually stop casting mid-cast if you appear to be dead! It will also dispel all Poison and Disease effects from you.
This is just some of the key utility of Survival Hunter. We highly recommend checking out the fully detailed Spell Glossary page below to see everything explained in detail.
Best Pets for Survival Hunter
The most important thing to say about Pets is that they all deal the same DPS. The only difference is in utility and defensive capabilities!
First of all, you need to find out if you need to be using Bloodlust/ Heroism in your group. Only Hunters, Mages, Evokers, and Shamans can use Bloodlust, so if there is no one else of those classes in your group, then it is on you!
If you do need to Bloodlust, you need to use any Ferocity Pet, since these come with the Primal Rage Bloodlust Ability. Use this website to find a cool Ferocity Pet for Lusting purposes!
If you do not need to Bloodlust, then the best Pet is a personal choice Tenacity Pet or the aforementioned Ferocity Pet. Tenacity Pets come with the Fortitude of the Bear defensive and 5% Max Health, but you lose out on the 4% Leech which is better for prolonged self-sustain!
Best Talents for Survival Hunter in The War Within
This is the Easy Mode page which presents things in a simplified manner with simplified builds. For our detailed, fully-fledged Talent and Rotation guides, click below!
Stat Priority for Survival Hunter in The War Within
The general stat priority for a Survival Hunter is:
- Mastery;
- Crit/Haste;
- Versatility;
While the stat priority for classes is normally the same for both the Easy Mode page and our full guide, subtle differences can still occur. If you want to see the full explanation of the stat priority, as well as the absolute top choices for the priority, head to our full stats page below.
Changelog
- 09 Sep. 2024: Preliminary update for The War Within Season 1.
- 22 Aug. 2024: Updated for The War Within.
- 23 Jul. 2024: Updated for The War Within Pre-Patch.
- 07 May 2024: Reviewed for 10.2.7.
- 22 Apr. 2024: Reviewed for Season 4.
- 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
- 06 Nov. 2023: Updated for Patch 10.2
- 04 Sep. 2023: Reviewed for Patch 10.1.7
- 10 Jul. 2023: Updated for Patch 10.1.5.
- 13 Jun. 2023: Updated the Easy Mode rotation and builds to be easier to follow.
- 01 May 2023: Reviewed for Patch 10.1.
- 20 Mar. 2023: Reviewed for Patch 10.0.7.
- 24 Jan. 2023: Reviewed for Patch 10.0.5.
- 11 Dec. 2022: Updated for Dragonflight Season 1.
- 28 Nov. 2022: Updated for Dragonflight launch.
- 24 Oct. 2022: Updated for Dragonflight pre-patch.
More Hunter Guides
Guides from Other Classes
This guide has been written by Azortharion, a Hunter Guidewriter, Theorycrafter, and top player since 2014, who is widely considered one of the best PvE Hunters in the world. He is an accomplished player with hundreds of top parses across all Hunter specs. He is the Head Admin of Trueshot Lodge, the official 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!
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