Survival Hunter DPS Spec, Builds, Talents, and Pet Talents — Dragonflight 10.0.7

On our Spells page below, you can see a full explanation of every ability and Talent for Survival Hunter. We recommend checking it out to familiarize yourself before studying the build below!

This talent setup is mostly single-target focused, but has acceptable cleave as well and will work for most raid encounters.

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

This is our recommended build for encounters with cleave and intermittent AoE, as well as Mythic+ dungeons.

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

Survival's Spec Tree has two very useful "utility"-oriented talents in Lunge and Aspect of the Eagle. Both can be a substantial DPS increase as it allows you to continue your primary rotation from range when you need to.

The best talent to drop one (or both) of to get these Talents is Sharp Edges. It is hard to give a general recommendation about whether to do so, but you should pay attention to whether you are missing out on attacks due to being out of range and choose accordingly.

For single-target, there is not a lot of playstyle variation within the build, without losing a ton of damage. The core of the spec remains the same with all alternative builds.

In AoE scenarios and Mythic+, you can drop a point of Sharp Edges to pick up Fury of the Eagle. This will do less damage overall, especially on single-target, but has a very different, melee-focused, bursty playstyle that you might prefer.

Note that we do not explain EVERY talent in the tree on this page. We only explain ones that are part of our optimal builds for single-target and AoE. For full details and explanations of every Talent, please visit our Spells page via the button below.

• Kill Shot is a strong DPS button and a mandatory pick.
• Posthaste is essential as one of our strongest mobility talents.
• Improved Kill Shot is a passive, powerful increase to our Kill Shot's damage.
• Counter Shot is our main interrupt.
• Natural Mending provides incredible CDR to Exhilaration and is a must-pick for survivability. If you are not using Exhilaration very liberally, you can get away with dropping a point here for other utility.
• Tar Trap is not great, but it leads us on a path to better talents, as we need to get to the left side of the tree later on.
• Survival of the Fittest is a strong defensive for both one-shots and powerful DoTs.

• Tranquilizing Shot is useful for many scenarios and leads us to better talents on the left side of the tree.
• Nature's Endurance is a must-pick if you can get it, as it doubles the damage reduction of Survival of the Fittest.
• Born To Be Wild is a solid pick for lower Turtle and Cheetah cooldowns, making it strong for both survivability and mobility.
• Improved Tranquilizing Shot is a bit of an incentive to Tranquilizing Shot when we can, and leads us nicely to the left side of the tree, which becomes important.
• Intimidation is hugely useful for add control in Mythic+ and some Raiding scenarios.
• Binding Shot/ Scatter Shot are both viable options in this choice node and are necessary to pick up other essential Talents. For most Mythic+, we recommend Binding Shot, but Scatter Shot can be used as a single-target cast stopper, similar to Intimidation.
• Rejuvenating Wind increases our maximum health and gives our Exhilaration some extra power, which can be useful or weak depending on how liberal you are with Exhilaration usage. This is mandatory for the maximum HP.
• Camouflage is useful for skips and out-of-combat self-healing in Mythic+. Still, practically useless for Raiding.
• Hunter's Avoidance is a much-needed boost to our survivability on unavoidable mechanics.
• Pathfinding is a solid boost to movement speed, but you can drop a point here to pick up other utility as needed.

• Keen Eyesight is a strong DPS increase and is a mandatory pick.
• Master Marksman is a strong DPS increase and is a mandatory pick.
• Serrated Shots affects Serpent Sting, making it worth using.
• Arctic Bola is a bit of a DPS increase, and we pick it at the lack of other options.
• Serpent Sting is not actually used as an ability, but we need it to get to the hugely important talent below.
• Death Chakram introduces a mini-cooldown to our rotation, enhancing our burst a little and focuses on amplifying other damage, even though it does not do a ton of damage on its own.
• Explosive Shot is incredible for AoE paired with the Ranger Talent.
• Poison Injection has incredible synergy with our Viper's Venom Talent that we talk about later, and is a free, high DPS increase.

• Raptor Strike is one of our core abilities, and mandatory to progress.
• Wildfire Bomb and Tip of the Spear are also fundamental to our spec and are necessary to continue.
• Ferocity is a solid, flat DPS increase.
• Harpoon is a bit of utility and a damage increase, all in one, via the talent that it leads to.
• Bloodseeker is a substantial, flat DPS increase.
• Aspect of the Eagle is not strictly included in our builds, but in the Utility Talents section above, we discuss its usage. It can be a DPS increase for encounters where you are forced out of melee at particular intervals.
• Terms of Engagement adds a DPS component to Harpoon.

• Guerrilla Tactics is a solid DPS increase, especially when paired with Wildfire Infusion.
• Lunge is similar to Aspect of the Eagle. It is not used in our default builds, but since it doubles the radius of Butchery, it can have substantial DPS impacts and is worth picking in scenarios where this can be utilized.
• Butchery is a crucial AoE button, not only doing hefty damage on its own but also reducing our Wildfire Bomb cooldown via other talents.
• Mongoose Bite is the bread and butter of our single-target rotation especially. It accounts for over 50% of our damage in single-target, and a big amount on AoE as well.
• Intense Focus is strong for all situations and gives us more Focus to execute the rest of our rotation.
• Improved Wildfire Bomb is a strong, flat DPS increase.
• Frenzy Strikes is immensely powerful and enables a big part of our AoE rotation.
• Flanking Strike is like a super-powered Kill Command.
• Spear Focus enhances the damage of our most important button and is nearly always picked.
• Viper's Venom is the reason that we choose Poison Injection in the Class Tree!
• Sharp Edges is just a bit of flat DPS. It is nothing special, and this is the talent you might swap out to grab Lunge or Aspect of the Eagle or both.
• Sweeping Spear is a solid DPS increase in all situations.

• Wildfire Infusion is useful to all builds, as there is nearly always something you can use the special effects for, whether you are on single-target or AoE.
• Quick Shot is a bit of flat DPS.
• Coordinated Assault is our main cooldown used for AoE and Cleave Scenarios. Paired with other talents, this becomes extremely powerful for cleave.
• Fury of the Eagle can be used in Mythic+ and represents a burstier playstyle.
• Ranger is nearly always useful as it buffs several valuable abilities for us.
• Coordinated Kill amplifies our Coordinated Assault AoE cooldown and leads to another powerful talent.
• Spearhead is the main cooldown of our single-target build, giving us significant burst on a relatively short cooldown.
• Birds of Prey is an immensely powerful cleave talent.
• Deadly Duo pairs with Spearhead to extend and empower it, making it immensely powerful for single-target builds.

Mythic+ can potentially require a mix of certain AoE and Single-Target talents, depending on affixes and other variables. If you want advice that is specific to Mythic+, you should check out our page below.

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.

Firstly, it is important to note that all pets do the same damage. They only differ in their utility and occasionally defensive capabilities.

For Raiding and Mythic+, we recommend using a Ferocity Pet for the 10% Leech, and Primal Rage. The specific family does not matter much, but you may consider a Mortal Wounds pet such as a Carrion Bird, Ravager, Scorpid, or Wasp, as reducing the healing of an enemy is the same as increasing your damage against it!

Cunning Pets provide a movement speed bonus, trading in defensive passives for mobility. This is useful when you are farming old, trivial content.

You can see a list of all pet families and their special abilities on the Spells Summary page of this guide.

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 make yourself available for open world PvP, and the possibility to be "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 avoiding powerful casts from mobs and other players, and lets you regularly clear debuffs.
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 to be essentially down to preference.

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

Pets do not have talent trees. Instead, different types of pet belong to one of three difference specs: Ferocity, Tenacity, and Cunning.

Each specialisation grants your pet a few specific abilities. Currently, there is no DPS difference between the different pet specs. The only differences are in utility.