PVE WotLK Survival Hunter DPS Guide (Short)

Welcome to our PVE Survival Hunter guide for WoW WotLK. This guide will show you what you need to know to play the Hunter class as Survival.

Talents

This is the most common Survival hunter build. It goes deep into survival to get Explosive Shot and then gets Aimed Shot from the Marksmanship tree.

Glyphs

Major Glyphs

• Kill Shot or Aimed Shot
• Explosive Shot
• Steady Shot

Minor Glyphs

• Glyph of Feign Death
• Glyph of Revive Pet
• Glyph of Mend Pet

Gems

Gems can change based on your build, equipment and caps. You may need to adjust your gems to account for your gear.

• Meta: Relentless Earthsiege Diamond
• Red: Delicate Cardinal Ruby
• Blue: Shifting Dreadstone (1)
• Yellow: Smooth King’s Amber or Rigid King’s Amber

Enchants

You may need to adjust your enchants to your gear.

• Head: Arcanum of Torment
• Shoulder: Greater Inscription of the Axe
• Back: Enchant Cloak – Major Agility
• Chest: Enchant Chest – Powerful Stats
• Bracers: Enchant Bracers – Greater Assault
• Gloves: Enchant Gloves – Major Agility
• Waist: Eternal Belt Buckle
• Legs: Icescale Leg Armor
• Boots: Enchant Boots – Superior Agility
• Weapon: Enchant 2H Weapon – Massacre (2h) or Enchant Weapon – Superior Potency  (1h)
• Ranged: Heartseeker Scope

Stat Priority

1. Hit (8%, 263 rating) 5% should be your first goal.
2. Agility 
3. Armor Pen
4. Critical Strike (60% while buffed)
5. Attack Power
6. Haste

You need 8% hit cap for raids. you should first shoot for 5% for dungeons and work your way to that 8% number.

To start off with Agility is the primary stat for Survival hunters. Agility has no cap and just keeps ramping up your damage as you add on more. 

Rotation

Survival doesn’t have a “rotation” in the typical sense. There is more of a priority list.

•  Black Arrow and Serpent Sting should always be on the target.
• Next you would use Aimed Shot and Explosive Shot
• If both of these are on CD use Steady Shot

Pets

Pets are very important to BM Hunters. One of the hardest choices a hunter has to make is which pet to use. These are the popular raiding pets.

• Wolves have less damage but buff you with Furious Howl
• Wasps can provide Sting which is a really good debuff. (It doesn’t stack with similar effects.
• Raptors and Cats have lower DPS but are still viable.

The Ferocity talent tree is the way to go. Here is a build to get you started.
Sadly, we don’t have the extra 4 talents Beast Mastery does nor can we tame exotic creatures.