Survival Hunter PvP Talents and Builds (Season 4)
Choosing the right PvP and PvE talents is a prerequisite to proper performance in PvP. This guide goes through the various talent choices available to you as a Survival Hunter and gives you the best combinations you can take.
This page is part of our Survival Hunter PvP Guide.
Best Dragonflight Talent Builds for Survival Hunters
Note that these builds are generic recommendations for arena. There are multiple viable Survival builds and tweaks that are very powerful in certain matchups. A description of each talent point is below.
Dragonflight PvP Talent Builds for Survival Hunters in Arena
High Mobility Talent Build for Survival Hunters
This build has mobility and burst from Spearhead.
This build loses some consistent damage from Spear Focus and Ferocity.
Use this build in matchups where you feel that you would get value from the mobility of Spearhead.
Swap Bombardier for Birds of Prey if you need more cleave damage.
In games where cleave damage would be useful, you can change Poison Injection for Hydra's Bite for more aoe damage. An example of this would be playing into a Demonology Warlock where you can combo this with a Ferocity pet for leech via Predator's Thirst.
In games where you feel an undispellable root would be valuable, take a point out of Arctic Bola and Explosive Shot to take a point in Serrated Shots and Steel Trap (although most of the time you would not do this because Explosive Shot deals a lot of burst damage).
Note that you are still able to root enemies with Entrapment.
Be sure to make use of the 'Copy Export String' button to import the best build directly into your game!
High Mongoose Bite Talent Build for Survival Hunters
This build has high Mongoose Bite damage from Spear Focus which will help your overall damage as well as increase your burst damage when dumping focus. This build also adds consistent damage through Ferocity.
This build loses the mobility and some of the burst potential from Spearhead as well as the added cleave damage from Bombardier/ Birds of Prey.
In games where cleave damage would still be useful, you can change Poison Injection for Hydra's Bite for more aoe damage. An example of this would be playing into a Demonology Warlock where you can combo this with a Ferocity pet for leech via Predator's Thirst.
In games where you feel an undispellable root would be valuable, take a point out of Arctic Bola and Explosive Shot to take a point in Serrated Shots and Steel Trap (although most of the time you would not do this because Explosive Shot deals a lot of burst damage).
Note that you are still able to root enemies with Entrapment.
Be sure to make use of the 'Copy Export String' button to import the best build directly into your game!
PvP Talents for Survival Hunters
You can choose 3 of the following PvP talents. Each of them has their uses, but some are better for certain strategies and matchups than others.
Survival Tactics is mandatory in almost all matchups, and the others can be replaced based on your team's composition, preference, and strategy.
Powerful PvP Talents for Survival Hunters
Survival Tactics is the best overall PvP Talent. It turns Feign Death into your best defensive ability by negating damage for three seconds. This talent is very powerful into burst specializations when timed correctly. When facing specialisations that do not have spiky damage (for example Affliction Warlock), there are likely better options.
Chimaeral Sting is a versatile ability that can be used in many ways, for example:
- To silence an enemy healer while bursting their partner (note that it does damage on application, and the silence only applies after 3 seconds, so you cannot chimaeral sting during or immediately after a trap)
- To silence a healer before swapping to them (particularly good against priests as they cannot use Pain Suppression when silenced, when they would been able to if you swapped with Intimidation)
- To peel a DPS on their go (for example, use Chimaeral Sting on a Mage when they cast Dragon's Breath; they will still be able to Polymorph your healer, but will be silenced immediately afterward and not be able to capitalize on the Polymorph, or to cancel a Shaman's Lightning Lasso when you know it is coming)
- To cancel a Restoration Druid's Tranquility by casting Chimaeral Sting before they use it
- To deny a healer's trinket by casting Chimaeral Sting when they are stunned (when they trinket the stun, they are instantly silenced)
- To apply a powerful slow to a melee DPS when you have no other options
Mending Bandage is a powerful talent specifically into Feral Druids and Assassination Rogues. Use this to dispel bleeds and poisons from your party when they are stunned, or use it on yourself when you have high bleeds on yourself and are not stunned. Particular effects you will want to remove are Deathmark and Feral Frenzy.
Tracker's Net is a situationally powerful crowd control on melee DPS. Use this when there is a melee on the other team that you do not intend to kill (as any damage over time effect will break the root) that doesn't have many root-breaking abilities available.
Sticky Tar Bomb is another powerful crowd control for melee DPS but is more versatile than Tracker's Net. Use this into any melee that requires a weapon (or Marksmanship/Beast Mastery Hunters) to counter their burst abilities. You can also use this ability to stop an Arms Warrior from being able to parry attacks during Die by the Sword, or to stop a Windwalker monk from being able to use Fists of Fury during Serenity.
Tranquilizing Darts is a very powerful talent into Restoration Druids specifically (especially if they are playing with caster DPS or Demon Hunters who you can interrupt Counter Shot for the maximum benefit) but has little value in other specializations. You should press Tranquilizing Shot after Restoration Druids press Overgrowth or Swiftmend when using this talent.
Diamond Ice makes your Freezing Trap undispellable but reduces the duration and makes the target immune to all spells while active. This is useful:
- Against Shadow Priests, Demon Hunters, and Affliction/Destruction Warlocks that are otherwise able to dispel your Freezing Trap
- To crowd control DPS players without the healer being able to dispel the trap
- To keep a target at low health (you can trap a target at low health and swap to another enemy, and their healer will not be able to recover the target's health during the trap). This is a strategy that is particularly effective in 2v2 arena
Interlope is powerful into casters and hunters. You can Interlope your healer when they are stunned, to eat an enemy Hunter's Freezing Trap or use it on yourself/your team to absorb spell casts. The pet positioning requirement of this spell can make it awkward to use, but when used properly, it is a very powerful defensive talent. (Remember that you need to talent into Misdirection to use this!)
Niche or rarely used PvP Talents for Survival Hunters
Hunting Pack is a mobility talent that vastly reduces the cooldown of Aspect of the Cheetah and applies its buff to your teammates but requires your teammates to be within 15 yards. There are better talents available to you in most cases but this is occasionally worth taking.
Wild Kingdom will help you keep your pet alive. With proper positioning of your pet and using Mend Pet and Exhilaration properly, your pet should not die often. Remember that if your team already has a Mortal Strike effect, you can use a Mechanical family pet, which will be significantly more tanky than a regular pet anyway.
Changelog
- 22 Apr. 2024: Added Season 4 meta talent builds.
- 22 Apr. 2024: Reviewed for Dragonflight Season 4.
- 23 Mar. 2024: Guide re-written.
- 15 Jan. 2024: Reviewed for Patch 10.2.5.
- 06 Nov. 2023: Reviewed for Patch 10.2
- 04 Sep. 2023: Reviewed for Patch 10.1.7
- 11 Jul. 2023: Updated the Talent Build.
- 09 May 2023: Updated for Dragonflight Patch 10.1.
- 30 Jan. 2023: Updated the recommended talent build.
- 11 Dec. 2022: Updated for Dragonflight Season 1.
- 22 Nov. 2022: Updated for Dragonflight pre-patch.
- 29 Jul. 2022: Reviewed and updated for Shadowlands Season 4.
- 31 May 2022: Reviewed for Patch 9.2.5.
- 22 Feb. 2022: Updated the recommended talents.
- 10 Nov. 2021: Updated Tier 6 Regular Talent.
- Updated PvP Talents.
- 03 Jul. 2021: Updated PvP Talents.
- 30 Mar. 2021: No updates needed for Patch 9.0.5.
- 16 Oct. 2020: Updated Talent Table.
- Updated Tiers 3 and 4 Regular Talents.
- Updated PvP Talents.
- 09 Sep. 2020: Updated Pet Talents.
- 20 Feb. 2020: Updated PvP Talents.
- 28 Jan. 2020: Page added.
Other PvP Guides
This guide is written and maintained by Slo, a Multi-Gladiator and Multi-Rank 1 Solo Shuffle Hunter. You can find Slo on YouTube, Twitch, and Reddit
- Crush Season 4 Mythic+ with Quazii Plater
- Black Temple Timewalking Cache Gear Cannot Be Catalyzed
- How to Upgrade Fyr'alath and Nasz'uro in Dragonflight Season 4
- Black Temple Timewalking Chest Has a Chance to Contain Ashes of Al'ar!
- Tama's Dragonflight Helper WeakAura Updated for Season 4
- Grim Batol Boss Model Updated in the War Within
- Timewalking Cache Hotfix, Items Sent Out to Affected Players
- Splintered Spark of Awakening Clarifications