Survival Hunter DPS Rotation, Cooldowns, and Abilities — Dragonflight 10.1

Last updated on Jun 03, 2023 at 12:21 by Azortharion 27 comments
General Information

On this page, you will learn how to optimize the rotation of your Survival Hunter in both single-target and multiple-target situations. We also have advanced sections about cooldowns, procs, etc. in order to minmax your DPS. All our content is updated for World of Warcraft — Dragonflight 10.1.

If you were looking for WotLK Classic content, please refer to our WotLK Classic Survival Hunter rotation.

1.

Survival Hunter Rotation for Dragonflight

Welcome to our Rotation page for Survival Hunters. On this page you will find everything you need to know about actually playing the spec in Raiding and Mythic+ scenarios.

1.1.

Easy Mode

If the rotations below seem overwhelming to you, you might benefit from visiting our Easy Mode page which outlines a close-to-optimal rotation in simpler terms.

1.2.

PvP

The content on this page is purely PvE-related. If you are looking for PvP Rotation Tips, please visit our PvP page below.

Important Abilities, Procs and The General Rotation of Survival Hunter

To play Survival Hunter, there are a few basic mechanics you must understand to fully unlock the potential of the spec.

The spec is mostly about maximizing the benefit of Mongoose Bite Icon Mongoose Bite and generating Focus for its use with Kill Command Icon Kill Command. On top of this, you have to react to Survival's extremely powerful Kill Shot Icon Kill Shot procs, while keeping Wildfire Bomb Icon Wildfire Bomb off two charges.

1.3.

Talent Switch

Use the buttons below to select your talents to see how that changes the rotation. This affects both the single-target and multi-target rotation.

Note that some talents are pre-selected, based on our recommended builds from the Talents page linked below. We recommend that you de-select talents you are not using in your current situation to make the rotation easier to read.

Active Talents Passive Talents/Effects
Aspect of the Eagle Icon Aspect of the Eagle Coordinated Kill Icon Coordinated Kill
Butchery Icon Butchery Deadly Duo Icon Deadly Duo
Carve Icon Carve Hydra's Bite Icon Hydra's Bite
Coordinated Assault Icon Coordinated Assault Poison Injection Icon Poison Injection
Death Chakram Icon Death Chakram Ranger Icon Ranger
Explosive Shot Icon Explosive Shot Viper's Venom Icon Viper's Venom
Flanking Strike Icon Flanking Strike 4pc Tier Set Bonus
Fury of the Eagle Icon Fury of the Eagle
Mongoose Bite Icon Mongoose Bite
Serpent Sting Icon Serpent Sting
Spearhead Icon Spearhead
Stampede Icon Stampede
Steel Trap Icon Steel Trap
Terms of Engagement Icon Terms of Engagement
Wildfire Bomb Icon Wildfire Bomb
Wildfire Infusion Icon Wildfire Infusion
Bombardier Icon Bombardier
2.

Pre-Combat Checklist for Maximum DPS

3.

Best Survival Hunter Single-Target Rotation in Dragonflight

  1. Cast Death Chakram Icon Death Chakram on cooldown.
  2. Use Kill Shot Icon Kill Shot to spend Coordinated Assault Icon Coordinated Assault procs during Coordinated Assault Icon Coordinated Assault. Check the Macros Page for some important, relevant macros for this.
  3. Cast Wildfire Bomb Icon Wildfire Bomb while Shredded Armor Icon Shredded Armor is up, if it is close to reaching 2 charges
  4. Use Kill Command Icon Kill Command at less than 60 Focus, if you have more than 1 stack of the Deadly Duo Icon Deadly Duo Talent Buff.
  5. Cast Mongoose Bite Icon Mongoose Bite if there is only 1 GCD of Mongoose Fury Icon Mongoose Fury left, to make sure you maximize use of the buff.
  6. Use Kill Shot Icon Kill Shot on cooldown.
  7. Use Flanking Strike Icon Flanking Strike on cooldown if you are below 60 Focus.
  8. Activate Coordinated Assault Icon Coordinated Assault on cooldown.
  9. Cast Kill Command Icon Kill Command if you are below 70 Focus or if the 4PC buff Shredded Armor Icon Shredded Armor is not active.
  10. Spam Mongoose Bite Icon Mongoose Bite when Shrapnel Bomb Icon Shrapnel Bomb is active, to stack the bleed.
  11. Use Wildfire Bomb Icon Wildfire Bomb if it is about to reach 2 charges.
  12. Spam Mongoose Bite Icon Mongoose Bite during Mongoose Fury Icon Mongoose Fury.
  13. Use Mongoose Bite Icon Mongoose Bite if you are above 60 Focus
4.

Best Single-Target Opener for Survival Hunter

This Opener assumes that you are using the recommended Raid Talents for Survival Hunter, which you can find on our Talents page.

  1. Use Death Chakram Icon Death Chakram.
  2. Use Harpoon Icon Harpoon to reach the target, and to activate Terms of Engagement Icon Terms of Engagement.
  3. Cast Kill Command Icon Kill Command to activate the 4PC Buff.
  4. Cast Wildfire Bomb Icon Wildfire Bomb to get it off cooldown.
  5. Start your Mongoose Fury Icon Mongoose Fury window with a Mongoose Bite Icon Mongoose Bite.
  6. Continue your normal rotation, according to the priority list above.
5.

Best AoE Rotation for Survival Hunter

The AoE rotation is all about maximizing your Wildfire Bomb Icon Wildfire Bombs, and reducing their cooldown with Butchery Icon Butchery which also does heavy damage in its own right. Underneath this, you still want to maintain a strong single-target rotation, especially since your Kill Shot Icon Kill Shots are going to cleave for heavy damage, making them a high priority.

The AoE rotation for a Survival Hunter is based on the following priority system.

  1. Cast Kill Command Icon Kill Command if the 4PC debuff Shredded Armor Icon Shredded Armor is down.
  2. Use Death Chakram Icon Death Chakram on cooldown.
  3. Activate Coordinated Assault Icon Coordinated Assault on cooldown
  4. Use Kill Shot Icon Kill Shot during Coordinated Assault Icon Coordinated Assault. Check the Macros Page for some important, relevant macros for this.
  5. Cast Wildfire Bomb Icon Wildfire Bomb if it is about to reach 2 charges or if Coordinated Assault Icon Coordinated Assault is off cooldown, meaning you want to dump all of your charges before entering Coordinated Assault Icon Coordinated Assault. You also want to cast Bombs on cooldown while Coordinated Assault Icon Coordinated Assault is up.
  6. Use Wildfire Bomb Icon Wildfire Bomb on cooldown.
  7. Use Fury of the Eagle Icon Fury of the Eagle on cooldown. Check the Macros Page for an important macro for this ability.
  8. Use Flanking Strike Icon Flanking Strike on cooldown if you are below 60 Focus.
  9. Spam Mongoose Bite Icon Mongoose Bite. Use it strategically on targets with over 8 stacks of Latent Poison Icon Latent Poison to spend the stacks generated.
  10. Cast Kill Command Icon Kill Command if you are below 70 Focus.
  11. Use Mongoose Bite Icon Mongoose Bite when there is nothing else to do, which is pretty rare!
6.

Best Dragonflight AoE Opener for Survival Hunter

This Opener assumes that you are using the recommended Mythic+/AoE Talents for Survival Hunter, which you can find on our Talents page.

  1. Cast Kill Command Icon Kill Command to activate the 4PC Buff.
  2. Use Death Chakram Icon Death Chakram.
  3. Cast Wildfire Bomb Icon Wildfire Bomb.
  4. Cast Wildfire Bomb Icon Wildfire Bomb.
  5. Cast Butchery Icon Butchery
  6. Cast Kill Command Icon Kill Command to refresh the 4PC Buff.
  7. Cast Butchery Icon Butchery
  8. Cast Coordinated Assault Icon Coordinated Assault.
  9. Cast Kill Shot Icon Kill Shot
  10. Continue your normal rotation, as defined by the priority above.
7.

Survival Hunter Tips and Tricks for Mythic+

For information about Mythic+ as a Survival Hunter, please refer to our Mythic+ page.

8.

Best WeakAuras for Survival Hunters in Dragonflight

WeakAuras can have a tremendously positive effect on your performance. Since this is a broad topic, we made a page dedicated to it.

9.

Rotation Help for Survival Hunter

Thanks for reading my Rotation Guide for Survival Hunter. If you have any questions about it that you would like to ask me directly, feel free to drop into my Discord Server and drop me (Azortharion) a ping at any time.

10.

Changelog

  • 03 Jun. 2023: Updated the AoE opener slightly.
  • 26 May 2023: Updated the AoE opener significantly to better reflect the AoE rotation change.
  • 25 May 2023: Important AoE Rotation Update, and updated the default checkboxes, and added information about an important Fury of the Eagle Macro.
  • 13 May 2023: Small wording change in the 4PC Rotation Line.
  • 01 May 2023: Reviewed for Patch 10.1.
  • 20 Mar. 2023: Reviewed for Patch 10.0.7.
  • 24 Jan. 2023: Small rotational fixes.
  • 11 Dec. 2022: Updated Harpoon's role in the rotation.
  • 11 Dec. 2022: Rotational update for the Set Bonus.
  • 30 Nov. 2022: Updated mentions of Kill Command having 2 charges in the priority to "cap charges" to encompass both situations with and without Alpha Predator.
  • 28 Nov. 2022: Updated for Dragonflight launch.
  • 24 Oct. 2022: Updated for Dragonflight pre-patch.
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