Best Survival Hunter DPS build for PvE/Raiding [BFA 8.2] (2024)

Top Tier Hunter DPS build for World of Warcraft Raids in Patch 8.2.0

You can find all our Pocket Guides for other World of Warcraft classes right here: Best WoW Builds

Spec Overview

Survival Hunter is currently the second best DPS class in World of Warcraft: Battle for Azeroth.It ranks #2 on our WoW DPS Tier List Unlike the other two Hunter's specializations, Survival is melee and offers unparalleled mobility for a melee character. At the same time, it has a very high single-target and AoE DPS and is one of the most well-rounded classes in World of Warcraft. Survival Hunter can also control Pets, and you can time your powerful attacks with them. Survival Hunter utilizes two-handed weapons, mainly Spears and Staves, and if you decide to min-max your build, it appears that Gnome race leads by a small margin on the DPS charts.

Pros	Cons
Very high burst AoE damage	Hectic AoE rotation
High single-target DPS	You will never find a room for two Survival Hunters in a Raid party
Amazing mobility for a melee class	Mediocre defenses compared to other melee classes
Easy and powerful single-target rotation
Decent crowd-control

Statistics Priority

The Best Talent Choices

Level 15:Recommended choice - Alpha Predator

Alpha Predator -which gives your Kill Command two charges, and causes it to deal 30% increased damage. It's one of the two recommended options on this tier, while it provides the highest DPS in the hands of a more experienced player, it is slightly more difficult to master than playing withViper's Venom.

Viper's Venomis another viable choice on this tier. It gives your Raptor Strike a chance to cause your next Serpent Sting free and do an additional 250% damage initially. It's fairly easy to use and fits into most of the possible situations, making it a more suitable choice for general usage. Terms of Engagement, on the other hand, increases the damage of Harpoon and makes it generate 20 Focus over 10 seconds. It has no use in higher tier content, but can be very useful during leveling and exploring.

Level 30:Recommended choice - Guerrilla Tactics

Guerrilla Tactics -which causes yourWildfire Bomb to have two additional charges and deal 100% increased damage, is the best choice on this Tier. It is the best choice for both single-target DPS and when burst AoE damage is required.

Hydra's Biteshines when you can apply multiple poisons using Serpent Sting combined with Latent Poison. However, it has greatly reduced usability in short fights and when you have to deal with multiple targets. Butchery is a decent AoE attack which helps you deal with multiple enemies instantaneously.

Level 45:Recommended choice - Natural Mending

Natural Mending -Reduces the remaining cooldown of Hunter'sExhilarationby one second for each 20 Focus you spend on abilities; This gives you on average a 30 seconds cooldown reduction. This grants very good self-healing in Raids and Mythic+ Dungeons boosting your survivability greatly

Trailblazerincreases your movement speed by 30% if you have not attacked for 3 seconds which is a nice mobility bonus between packs, but in general quite useless in actual encounters.Camouflage grantshealing over time and puts you into stealth for one minute. It grants considerably less healing compared to Natural Mending and is usually used in PvP builds

Level 60:Recommended choice - Bloodseeker

Bloodseeker - causes your Kill Command to inflict bleeding on your target for 8 seconds, and increases your (and your Pet's) attack speed by 10% for every bleeding enemy. It is the single best pick for this Tier which is useful in all types of situations. It makes you deal considerably more damage than other Talents here, and it truly shines in fights against several targets

Steel Trapdeals a moderate amount of damage and immobilizes your target for 20 seconds. It deals way less damage than Bloodseeker, and can only be considered as a crowd-control skill. On the other hand,A Murder of Crows has near to none usability, making it only viable during leveling and open world farming when the cooldown reset makes it a valid choice.

Level 75:Recommended choice - Posthaste

Posthaste -Using Disengagewill remove all movement impairing effects and grant 50% increased movement speed for a short duration. It's our recommended Talent choice for this tier which grants decent mobility bonuses and greatly helps out with repositioning yourself.

Born to be Wild reduces the cooldowns ofAspect of the Cheetah and Aspect of the Turtle which is the best option when it comes to pure mobility.Binding Shotis an AoE snare which lets you snare multiple enemies if they move 5 yards away from the position of the arrow. Since it is no longer an AoE stun, it has greatly reduced utility and is very situational.

Level 90:Recommended choice - Mongoose Bite

Mongoose Bite - replacesRaptor Strikeand becomes a powerful attack that deals increased damage with each consecutive hit, stacking up to 5 times. This scales greatly with high Attack Speed/Haste making it the best pick on this tier. It works best during single-target fights.

Tip of the Spearcauses Kill Command to increase the damage of your Raptor Strike by 20%, stacking up to three times. Overall, a very competitive choice when it comes to DPS in both AoE and single-target fights, however, we find it more suitable with characters with slightly lower Haste Rating. Flanking Strike makes you and your pet charge on your target dealing high burst damage. It can be found useful in Mythic+ Dungeons. It could also be used in PvP to finish off your enemies, but in general, it grants significantly less DPS than Mongoose Bite.

Level 100:Recommended choice - Wildfire Infusion

Wildfire Infusion - casting Wildfire Bomb makes your next cast have an additional effect. It grants the highest bonus DPS out of all Talents on this tier and since you can see which bonus you got, you can adjust your rotation accordingly for optimal performance.

Birds of Preymakes your Raptor Strike and Carve increase the duration ofCoordinated Assault by 1.5 seconds with each cast. This is the preferred choice if it comes to solely increase your single-target DPS. Chakrams, on the other hand, is a decent AoE/cleave ability, however, because of high cost and cooldown, it's not recommended.

Basic Survival Hunter Rotation

Survival Hunter'srotation may seem complex at first because of various effects Wildfire Infusion can have, and how it's affected by Alpha Predator. If you have played other builds, you may see how it affects the decision making for Survival Hunters.

Use the following priority list to maximize your Single Target Damage output:

Coordinated Assault should be always cast at the beginning of your fight. It's your primary offensive cooldown
Serpent Stingshould be used whenever the DoT falls off
Wildfire Bomb should be used when it's close to reaching two stacks. For additional effects when using Wildfire Infusion you can read below
Mongoose Bitewhich is your core rotational ability. It should be heavily prioritized if you have five stacks of Mongoose Fury
Kill Command should be used to put iton cooldown and generate extra Focus. Remember to dump it into extra casts ofMongoose Biteif you are lucky with the cooldown resets	⇒
Reapply Serpent Sting when it's about to expire
Use Wildfire Bomb when there is nothing else to do. Remember to take into consideration the extra effect
Volatile Bomb refreshes your Serpent Sting cooldown, and it should be used shortly before its DoT is about to expire or when you are about to reach two stacks of Wildfire Bomb.Not reaching two stacks should be one of your priorities	⇒
Shrapnel Bomb causes Raptor Strike/Mongoose Biteto inflict bleeding that can stack up to three times. It should be used if you have at least 60 Focus to make sure that you can apply all three stacks during its effect	⇒
Pheromone Bomb coats enemies in Pheromones, giving your Kill Command a 100% chance to reset cooldown when used against affected enemies. It should be used when you want to build up Focus or when there is nothing else to do in your rotation. Just make sure you dump excess Focus on Mongoose Bite before using it	⇒⇒
Multiple Targets Rotation is very similar to your single-target rotation, just make sure to:
Apply Serpent Sting's DoT on every enemy youare fighting
Follow up the same rules when using Wildfire Bomb, just make sure that you have both (all preferably all the other) enemies in the radius of your Wildfire Bomb
Use Carve for good AoE/cleave damage and to reduce your Wildfire Bomb's cooldown
Use Kill Command whenever off-cooldown to generate Focus since multi-target fights are much more demanding in that matter
Survival Hunter's offensive cooldowns:
Coordinated Assault is your primary offensive cooldown and should be used whenever you engage enemies
Aspect of the Eagle increases the range of your attacks which increases your DPS in fights against multiple targets and where repositioning is required
Survival Hunter's offensive cooldowns:
Exhilaration isvery solid self-healing ability which greatly increases your survivability in Radis and Mythic+ Dungeons
Aspect of the Turtle is Survival Hunter's core defensive cooldown. It makes you immune to most attacks and abilitiesand reduces your damage taken by 30%. However, during its effect, youare unable to attack
Survival of the Fittest is a very solid defensive ability which reduces all damage taken by youand your pets by 20% for 6 seconds
Survival Hunter's utility cooldowns:
Aspect of the Cheetah grants increased movement speed. Initially, it grants a very strong burst followed by a smaller one
Feign Death allows you to drop threat from enemies and avoid some of the skills targeting you
Flare reveals stealth and invisibleenemies
Mend Pet heals your Pet for 35% of its total life
Tar Trap is a very powerful AoE slow
Muzzle interrupts spell casting and prevents spells from the same school to be cast in the next 3 seconds
Intimidation commands your Pet to stun a single-target for 5 seconds
Misdirection allows you to redirect the threat from you to a selected party member (or your pet). It is a great Raid/team utility skill which can help you manage adds
Harpoon makes you jump to your target and root it in place

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