Survival Hunter DPS Spec, Builds, Talents, and Pet Talents — Midnight Season 1

Note that these builds are generic recommendations for various content. Check out the dedicated pages below for more specific recommendations for the Raid and Mythic+.

Note that Sentinel is currently bugged and moderately underperforming its projections, which is why you will temporarily see Pack Leader more commonly around the community in the early parts of the season. Blizzard are aware of the bug and a fix is expected soon.

2.

Best Talents for Survival Hunter in Midnight

Single-Target — Pack Leader Mythic+ — Pack Leader Delves — Pack Leader Single-Target — Sentinel Mythic+ — Sentinel

2.1.

Best Pack Leader Single-Target Talents for Survival Hunter in Midnight Season 1

This build is our best Pack Leader single-target build, used for most raid encounters.

Be sure to make use of the 'Export Talents' button to import the best build directly into your game!

2.2.

Best Pack Leader Mythic+ Talent Build for Survival Hunter in Midnight Season 1

This is the optimal Pack Leader build for all things Mythic+. It is based on extensive simulation and analysis of Mythic+ performance across a wide variety of scenarios, and has an optimal blend of both single-target and AoE. There are builds that do more AoE, but they all lose more single-target than they gain in terms of AoE, and vice versa.

2.2.1.

Survival Hunter Utility Talent Considerations

• Your "flexible" Talent points are, in my recommended order of most disposable:
  • Kodo Tranquilizer
  • Emergency Salve is only useful in certain dungeons, and is worthless in others.

Be sure to make use of the 'Export Talents' button to import the best build directly into your game!

2.3.

Best Pack Leader Delve Talent Build for Survival Hunter in Midnight Season 1

This is the optimal Pack Leader build for all things Delves. It is similar to our Mythic+ build, as the demands are basically the same.

Be sure to make use of the 'Export Talents' button to import the best build directly into your game!

2.4.

Best Sentinel Single-Target Talents for Survival Hunter in Midnight Season 1

This build is our best Sentinel single-target build, used for most raid encounters.

Be sure to make use of the 'Export Talents' button to import the best build directly into your game!

2.5.

Best Sentinel Mythic+ Talent Build for Survival Hunter in Midnight Season 1

This is the optimal Sentinel build for all things Mythic+. It is based on extensive simulation and analysis of Mythic+ performance across a wide variety of scenarios, and has an optimal blend of both single-target and AoE. There are builds that do more AoE, but they all lose more single-target than they gain in terms of AoE, and vice versa.

2.5.1.

Survival Hunter Utility Talent Considerations

• Your "flexible" Talent points are, in my recommended order of most disposable:
  • Kodo Tranquilizer
  • Emergency Salve is only useful in certain dungeons, and is worthless in others.

Be sure to make use of the 'Export Talents' button to import the best build directly into your game!

Midnight introduces new Apex Talents, unlocked between Level 80 and 90. Survival gets:

1. Raptor Swipe
2. Raptor Swipe
3. Raptor Swipe

They cause Raptor Strike to occasionally turn itself into Raptor Swipe, dealing increased damage, and causing it to hit multiple targets as well. Very simple and passive, yet very powerful.

Available at level 71 Hero talents are mutually exclusive trees you can choose to slightly alter gameplay and visuals. Survival Hunter can choose between Sentinel and Pack Leader.

Sentinel is our simplest Hero Talent, adding almost nothing in terms of gameplay intrigue or complexity. It regularly gives you Sentinel's Mark procs when you spend Tip of the Spear, significantly buffing the damage of your next Wildfire Bomb. In addition, when you activate Takedown, the Takedown button itself will turn into Moonlight Chakram, a filler ability that does heavy damage on use. We try to use this as a filler, since we only get one use of it during Takedown.

Defensively, Sentinel gives us Don't Look Back, which procs nearly constantly and offers a great deal of passive tankiness.

Numbers-wise, Sentinel is optimal for virtually all things single-target. For Mythic+ and "mixed" fights in the raid with cleave/AoE moments, it's the best choice for most people in most situations, especially for being simpler to play. I only recommend deviating from Sentinel if you're a hardcore Mythic+ player and you want the priority target damage offered by Pack Leader, but remember that you will need 2 good Daggers to play Pack Leader.

Pack Leader is considered the more "hardcore" Hero Talent to play for Mythic+. Occasionally, your Kill Command will trigger a Beast via Howl of the Pack Leader. These Beasts simply do damage, or increase your damage done. In addition, your first Kill Command after Takedown will summon a Stampede; a line of pets that do heavy AoE damage to all targets caught within. We detail its usage more on our Rotation page.

Defensively, Pack Leader gives us Shell Cover, which buffs the effectiveness of our Survival of the Fittest. Not great.

Numbers-wise, Pack Leader has excellent priority-target damage in Mythic+, and I recommend it for hardcore/competitive-level Mythic+ where this actually matters.

War Mode offers several benefits for you in the open world.

• PvP talents enabled in the outdoor world.
• At least 10% increase in World Quest rewards at maximum level.
• 10% more experience gained while leveling.
• Earn Conquest Points, which can reward gear every week.

With the benefits of enabling War Mode for leveling and PvE content, it is recommended to enable the feature to maximize your leveling and rewards at maximum level. However, you will be available for open-world PvP, and the possibility of being "ganked" while leveling or doing World Quests exists.

In this section, we will rank the PvP talents best for leveling and doing solo / small group PvE content. Below is a ranking of all PvP Talents for Survival Hunter

1. Survival Tactics is useful for negating powerful casts from mobs and other players that you cannot otherwise stop.
2. Mending Bandage is a potent out-of-combat heal that also clears lingering debuffs.
3. Hunting Pack is a valuable speed increase for leveling and open world content.

You can consider the other options essentially down to preference.

For details on how to play in Survival Hunter PvP, please visit our Survival Hunter PvP page.

For Mythic+, Pack Leader is the "hardcore" best choice. It is much harder to get the most out of due to Stampede aiming and positioning and occasionally holding on to Howl of the Pack Leader procs for the next pack, and does not actually perform better than Sentinel in single-target and AoE specifically. Its priority target damage is where it shines by over 10% compared to Sentinel.

If you do not know that you are a hardcore, min-maxing sort of player, then I honestly think you should just stick to Sentinel for Mythic+. It saves you having to learn an extra Hero Talent, it saves you having to worry about getting two Daggers, and if you are not doing very high Mythic+, the priority target DPS difference is honestly irrelevant, as that advantage is invisible on the DPS meter and will only save you a few seconds over the course of a key.

Depending on affixes and other variables, Mythic+ can require a mix of AoE and Single-Target talents. You should check out our page below if you want advice specific to Mythic+.

Some talents will require you to play in a particular way to get the most out of them. You can find more information on how your rotation will look after selecting your talents on our rotation page below.

We have made a dedicated page for Hunter Pets information that we recommend you check out!