Survival Hunter DPS Spec, Builds, Talents, and Pet Talents — The War Within (Season 1)

This is my recommended build for purely single-target scenarios. This build is fairly "cookie-cutter", meaning that we pretty much just get to pick every single single target-focused Talent there is, without really having to make tough choices.

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!

This is my recommended build for Mythic+, including high Mythic+.

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.

• In very high, super-organized Mythic+ with carefully planned routes and very ambitious pulls, you may prefer swapping to a 2-minute build with a stronger, but less frequent burst — To do this, swap Sentinel Watch (from the Hero Tree) and Symbiotic Adrenaline over to Eyes Closed and Relentless Primal Ferocity, respectively. I do not recommend this for almost anyone, but the option is there.
• To go for absolute maximum AoE, drop Alpha Predator, Flanking Strike, and Exposed Flank for 2x Explosives Expert and Fury of the Eagle. You gain 2% AoE, at the cost of 3-4% single-target, which is not generally a good trade-off.

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

This is my recommended build for Raid encounters that feature significant AoE. It seeks to keep as much of Survival's single-target power as possible, such as Mongoose Bite, while grabbing some of the most essential pieces of "kit" for AoE, particularly of the more bursty variety which Raid AoE tends to be. We only lose 4-5% of our peak single-target with this build while doing excellent AoE.

Survival has several talents that lets us basically choose what our cooldown cadence should be. This build is a 2-minute build by default, but if you find that a fight's add spawns demand a 1-minute, or even 45-second sort of AoE cadence, then you can choose Symbiotic Adrenaline and/or Sentinel Watch to facilitate this.

• If you want to lean further into burst AoE with Fury of the Eagle, though at a 2% additional single-target loss, the best options to drop and facilitate this would be Mongoose Bite and Bloody Claws.

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

The Delves build is very similar to our Mythic+/AoE build, but is further optimized for short-lived mobs. We drop Talents that take time to get value like Contagious Reagents and Bloodseeker, in favor of straightforward, short-term DPS increases like Explosives Expert and Fury of the Eagle.

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