Survival Hunter DPS Easy Mode — Shadowlands 9.1

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.

Survival is a versatile melee spec capable of quite powerful single-target and sometimes very powerful AoE. It also has great crowd control capabilities for a melee.

For a detailed explanation of all the abilities that Survival Hunter has, check out our Spell Summary page.

The talents listed below are selected either for ease of use, or for more a more simple to understand gameplay style. Whilst in a number of cases there are alternatives on the tree that will provide more if played well, they create much more room to play incorrectly and reduce your performance. Due to this, treat this as a starting point and a primer.

You can find a more detailed guide on Talent choices that are designed for optimal DPS on our Talents page below.

• Level 15: Alpha Predator
• Level 25: Guerrilla Tactics
• Level 30: Natural Mending
• Level 35: Bloodseeker
• Level 40: Posthaste
• Level 45: Tip of the Spear
• Level 50: Wildfire Infusion

The general single-target stat priority for a Survival Hunter is:

1. Haste;
2. Versatility;
3. Critical Strike;
4. Mastery.

Haste is the best stat for Survival by a significant margin, and you should be looking out for it on your pieces of gear. Item level should still be the primary concern, but a Haste piece might be better than a higher item level piece without Haste.

For more information, please visit our dedicated page.

Remember to read and treat this rotation as a priority list. If the top option is not available), move on to the next and so on.

1. Cast Kill Command on cooldown. Try not to be at high Focus when using it.
2. Cast Wildfire Bomb on cooldown.
3. Cast Kill Shot on cooldown when your target is below 20% health.
4. Maintain the Serpent Sting DoT by refreshing it whenever there is less than 5 seconds remaining on it.
5. Cast Raptor Strike to spend Focus when there is nothing else to do. Try to never let your Focus reach maximum by using this ability aggressively when you are close to the Focus cap.

On 3 targets and above, you should use Carve on cooldown. You should still focus on casting Kill Command and Wildfire Bomb on cooldown.

Use Aspect of the Eagle when you will be out of range for a sustained period of time, allowing you to DPS from range.

Use Coordinated Assault as many times as possible during the fight. Try and stack it with Bloodlust/ Heroism.

Visit our dedicated rotation page below for more details on how to master the Survival Hunter rotation.

The best Covenant for Survival Hunters is Kyrian, with either the Forgelite Prime Mikanikos or Pelagos Soulbind for Raiding and Mythic+ respectively.

Night Fae with Niya is also very competitive, and unless you are doing high-end competitive content, then you can choose either of these Covenants and be more than fine for all types of content.