Survival Hunter DPS Spec, Builds, Talents, and Pet Talents — Dragonflight 10.0.7
On this page, you will find out the best talents for each tier for your Survival Hunter in World of Warcraft — Dragonflight 10.0.7. We also have default talent lists for various types of content, such as raiding or Mythic+. If you play with Warmode on, we have your PvP talents covered as well.
If you were looking for WotLK Classic content, please refer to our WotLK Classic Survival Hunter talents.
Dragonflight Talent Explanations for Survival Hunter
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!
Best Dragonflight Raiding Talent Build for Survival Hunter
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!
Best AoE and Mythic+ Talents for Survival Hunter
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!
Utility Talents
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.
Alternative Viable Builds
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.
Best Talent Build Explanations for Survival Hunters
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.
Survival Hunter Class Tree Rationale and Explanations
Row 1-4
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.
Row 5-7
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.
Row 5-7
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.
Survival Hunter Spec Tree Rationale and Explanations
Row 1-4
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.
Row 5-7
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.
Row 8-10
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+
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.
How To Use Survival Hunter Talents
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.
Best Pet for Survival Hunter in Dragonflight
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.
Survival Hunter Dragonflight PvP Talents
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.
PvP Talents (War Mode) for Survival Hunter
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
Best PvP Talents for Survival Hunter
Survival Tactics is useful for avoiding powerful casts from mobs and other players, and lets you regularly clear debuffs.
Mending Bandage is a potent out-of-combat heal that also clears lingering debuffs.
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.
Pet Talents
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.
Changelog
- 20 Mar. 2023: Updated for Patch 10.0.7.
- 24 Jan. 2023: Updated the recommended M+ build.
- 08 Jan. 2023: Updated the recommendation status of Lunge, and re-checked Talents for correctness in light of recent buffs.
- 11 Dec. 2022: Updated for Dragonflight Season 1.
- 28 Nov. 2022: Updated for Dragonflight launch.
- 29 Oct. 2022: Updated the recommended low-target AoE Venthyr build further.
- 27 Oct. 2022: Updated the recommended low-target AoE build and fixed an issue with the string.
- 26 Oct. 2022: Added a Kyrian-based Talent Build that emphasizes strong burst, primarily for high-target Mythic+ keys.
- 24 Oct. 2022: Updated for Dragonflight pre-patch.
More Hunter Guides
Guides from Other Classes
This guide has been written by Azortharion, a Hunter Theorycrafter and Guidewriter since 2014, and considered one of the best Hunters in the world. He is an accomplished player with dozen of top parses for all specs throughout the game's history. He is also the Admin of Trueshot Lodge, the Hunter Class Discord, and you can watch his stream on Twitch. He even has his own personal Discord channel where you can get notifications about when the guides get updated and have direct communications with him.
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