WoW Forever Survival Hunter Guide

Survival Hunter is the spec WoW Forever changed the most. The old trap-and-sting tree is gone, and in its place is a hybrid that fights at range and in melee: Predator's Edge makes your melee abilities crit harder, Strider Kick adds a weapon hit on an 8-second cooldown, Expose Prey turns attacks on your marked target into extra Mongoose Bite charges, and Lacerating Strikes closes the tree with a bleed. The result is the spec at the top of most level 60 damage simulations, but also the one that asks the most of you, because the strongest way to play it means running in and out of melee range between shots.

This guide is written for level 60 and the live game as of the November 11 hotfixes. ConquestCapped checked every Survival talent against the Forever talent data on November 14, so the builds and numbers below follow the live game, not old Classic values. You will find where Survival stands among the damage dealers, the best race, a raid build and a dungeon build in talent calculators you can edit, the Legacy talents worth taking, the stat priority, how melee weaving works, the rotation for raids and dungeons, the pet question, macros, common mistakes, enchants and consumables, gear and professions.

Is Survival Hunter Good in WoW Forever?

Yes. ConquestCapped's WoW Forever tier list puts Survival in S tier for dungeons and raids, and one community simulation against a level 63 boss after the November 10 hotfixes put it first among all specs at about 1,324 damage per second, more than 250 ahead of the next spec. Most of that damage still comes from range. In another simulation run after the November 11 hotfix, Auto Shot did 26% of the total, Arcane Shot 12% and Serpent Sting 11%, while melee swings and Raptor Strike added another 20%. Nobody has fought a raid boss yet, so treat every ranking as a forecast until the raids open on December 9.

The catch is execution. The simulated number assumes you weave melee attacks between your shots without losing time, on a boss that never moves. The same simulation found that a pure melee Survival Hunter does about 30% less damage. Survival also brings no raid buff of its own, so its spot depends on the damage you actually deal. The table sums up what the spec does well and where it struggles at 60.

Survival vs Beast Mastery and Marksmanship

Beast Mastery is the easiest Hunter spec and leans on the pet and two hawks from Summon Hawk, so it loses damage whenever the pet dies. Marksmanship stays at range, can drop the pet with Lone Wolf and is the only spec that brings Trueshot Aura to the raid. Survival borrows from both: its best raid build takes 20 Marksmanship points, including Lone Wolf, and adds melee hits in the time other Hunters spend waiting for cooldowns. If you want steady ranged damage with less movement, Marksmanship is the calmer choice. Our WoW Forever Hunter guide compares all three specs and the class changes behind them.

Best Race for Survival Hunter

Every Hunter race can play Survival, and simulations put the best and worst racials within about 1% of each other, so pick the faction you want first. Racials that add crit, Haste or Attack Power help both your shots and your melee hits, which is why they matter a little more for Survival than for other Hunters. Here is what each race gives a Survival Hunter.

Night Elf is the best Alliance choice, with Human close behind. On the Horde, Windshaper Skyborne edges out Orc and Troll for Survival, because its Haste never runs out and the raid build plays without a pet, which leaves Orc's Command unused. Every race is compared for all three specs in our best Hunter race in WoW Forever guide.

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Survival Hunter Talents at 60

Every level 60 Survival build takes the same core of 26 points: Improved Tracking, Savage Strikes, Surefooted for 3% Hit Chance, Clever Traps, Predator's Edge, Strider Kick and Expose Prey. The rest decides how you play. The raid build puts 20 points into Marksmanship and fights without a pet, while the dungeon build goes into Beast Mastery for a pet, two hawks and faster melee swings.

Best Survival Hunter Raid Build: 0/20/31

This is the weaving build for raid bosses and the one behind the top simulation results. It plays a two-handed weapon and Aspect of the Hawk, shoots whenever your ranged abilities are ready and steps into melee for Raptor Strike, Strider Kick and Mongoose Bite in between. Marksmanship adds crit, Careful Aim and Lone Wolf, which is 20% more damage for not having a pet out.

These talents shape how the build plays.

• Predator's Edge 5/5. Your melee abilities deal 30% more critical strike damage. It does nothing for white hits.
• Expose Prey 2/2. Every shot and swing against a target with Hunter's Mark on it has a 10% chance to let you use Mongoose Bite for 10 sec, so you no longer need to dodge first.
• Strider Kick 1/1. Deals 100% melee weapon damage on an 8-second cooldown and gives you 30% run speed for 3 sec, which shortens every trip in and out of melee. It is not an interrupt.
• Resourcefulness 2/2. Traps and melee abilities cost 60% less Mana, and your ability crits let 50% of your Mana regeneration continue while casting for 30 sec.
• Lightning Reflexes 5/5. 15% more Agility, your main stat for both shots and swings.
• Careful Aim 5/5. Adds 100% of your Intellect as Attack Power, so mail and leather with Intellect suit you.
• Lone Wolf 1/1. 20% more damage with all attacks while no pet is out.
• Lacerating Strikes 1/1. Mongoose Bite also leaves a bleed for 40% of its damage over 21 sec. A new Bite refreshes the bleed instead of stacking it, so the capstone is small, but a two-hander makes it bigger than in any other build.

Trueshot Aura now buffs every ranged attacker in the raid. If another Hunter in your raid already brings it, move that point into Mortal Shots for 5/5. If you prefer to keep a pet, a common alternative drops Lightning Reflexes, Lacerating Strikes and Lone Wolf for Deadly Aspects, Focused Fire and Unleashed Fury in Beast Mastery.

Survival Hunter Dungeon Build: 16/4/31

Dungeon trash dies fast and comes in packs, and you have a tank to hold everything in place. This build plays in melee with a pet, Aspect of the Beast and either a two-hander or two one-handed weapons. Deadly Aspects gives your melee swings a chance to speed up by 30%, Summon Hawk adds two hawks that keep fighting while you are in melee, and Survivalist's Discipline brings your traps down to an 18-second cooldown, so you can drop Explosive Trap on almost every pack.

The Survival tree keeps both Resourcefulness and Survivalist's Discipline here, because cheap traps every 18 seconds are your best area damage, and it pays for that with two points of Lightning Reflexes. Lethal Attacks 4/5 in Marksmanship adds crit with the points left. If you dual wield, remember that Raptor Strike, Mongoose Bite and Strider Kick use only your main-hand weapon, so that one should be the slow, hard-hitting one.

Survival Talents to Skip

Some Survival talents look useful but add nothing to your damage in PvE.

• Deflection, Deterrence and Counterattack. Parry and a strike after a parry. Bosses should never face you, so these are for PvP.
• Entrapment and Survival Tactics. Roots from traps and hit chance for traps and Feign Death help in PvP, not against a raid boss.
• Improved Wing Clip. A chance to root with Wing Clip, a PvP tool.
• Survivalist beyond 3 points. Health is nice, but you take it only to reach the next row.

Every Survival change compared to Classic is explained in our WoW Forever Hunter talents guide, and you can plan your own build in our WoW Forever talent calculator.

Legacy Talents for Survival Hunter

Legacy talents are account-wide perks that you unlock by playing, and a Hunter wants a different set from most raid builds. Gourmand makes food buffs last twice as long, so one Grilled Squid lasts through a long raid night. The Quick and the Dead makes your abilities free after a resurrection until you enter combat again, which covers rebuffing and calling your pet back after a wipe. Reagent Economy does little for a Hunter, because your abilities use no vendor reagents.

To reach those perks, the build also takes Reinforce for less durability loss when you die and one point in Permanence, which makes the rest benefits of your camp last longer. The last 5 points go into Diplomat for the reputations behind your gear and enchants. How every Legacy tree works is covered in our best WoW Forever Legacy talent builds guide.

Survival Hunter Stat Priority

A weaving Survival Hunter scales from two weapons at once. Your shots use the ranged weapon and your melee abilities use the melee weapon, but Agility, crit, Hit and Attack Power help both. In Forever, one point of Agility gives 2 ranged Attack Power, 1 melee Attack Power and a little crit, about 1% crit for every 53 Agility, and Careful Aim turns each point of Intellect into Attack Power. Hit comes first among stats, because a missed swing cannot proc Expose Prey and a missed shot deals nothing. This is the order for the raid build before the raids:

1. Weapon damage: a fast-firing ranged weapon with high damage per second and a slow two-hander
2. Hit Chance up to 8%
3. Agility
4. Intellect, as long as you have Careful Aim
5. Critical Strike Chance
6. Attack Power
7. Strength, which counts only for melee
8. Stamina

Surefooted gives 3% Hit, so you need 5% from gear, or 4% as a Dwarf. With a two-hander, 8% covers your abilities, your shots and your white swings. Two one-handed weapons need roughly 27% to 29% Hit before their white swings stop missing a raid boss, which no one can reach, so dual wielders should also stop at 8% and let those misses go. Some guides use 9% as a safe target until someone tests it on a level 63 boss. Expertise does nothing for your shots, but it lowers the chance that a boss dodges your melee hits, so it is worth a little more to Survival than to other Hunters. In the dungeon build, which has no Careful Aim, Intellect drops below Attack Power and Strength.

Every cap and the talents that add hit are explained in our WoW Forever hit cap guide, and how each reworked stat works in our WoW Forever stats and itemization guide.

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Survival Hunter Rotation and Cooldowns

Survival has a priority list, not a fixed sequence. Your ranged shots and your melee abilities run on separate cooldowns, and the skill of the spec is filling every gap in one with the other. The raid build does that with weaving, the dungeon build stays in melee and lets the pet and hawks do the rest.

How Melee Weaving Works

Weaving means stepping into melee range when your shots are on cooldown, hitting with your melee abilities and stepping back out before the next shot is ready. Hunters cannot shoot inside 8 yards or reach a target in melee beyond 5 yards, so the trip has to be short. These rules make it work:

• Auto Shot has a 0.5-second cast again, and you have to stand still for it. Move only while it is on cooldown, then stop for the cast.
• Raptor Strike does not trigger the global cooldown. It replaces your next main-hand swing, so queue it and press Strider Kick or Mongoose Bite at the same moment, and both land together.
• Strider Kick gives 30% run speed for 3 sec, so use it as the last hit of a trip to get back to range faster.
• Never wait in the gap between 5 and 8 yards, where neither your weapon nor your bow can reach.
• Use a swing timer add-on, or the default swing timer, to see when your next shot and swing are due.

Single-Target Priority for the Raid Build

Before the pull, turn on Aspect of the Hawk, put Hunter's Mark on the boss and pick the tracking that matches its creature type, such as Track Humanoids for a humanoid or Track Beasts for a beast, because Improved Tracking adds 5% damage only against the tracked type. Open with Aimed Shot while the tank picks the boss up, then follow this order:

1. Keep Hunter's Mark on the boss. Without it, Expose Prey cannot proc.
2. Use Mongoose Bite as soon as it lights up. A new proc does not stack, so an unused one is wasted.
3. Keep Serpent Sting on the target. It is about 11% of your damage on a long fight.
4. Cast Arcane Shot on cooldown, and never delay Auto Shot for anything else.
5. In the gaps, step in for Raptor Strike and Strider Kick, then step back out.
6. Drop Immolation Trap at the boss's feet on cooldown during a melee trip if the boss lives longer than 15 sec.
7. Use Aimed Shot when you can stand still for its cast. It shares a cooldown with Multi-Shot.

On fights where you cannot weave, such as a boss that moves a lot or a phase where melee range is deadly, stay at range and keep the same order without step 5 and step 6. You lose damage, but much less than you lose by dying.

Full Melee Priority for Dungeons

The dungeon build fights like a melee class. Switch to Aspect of the Beast, which adds 110 melee Attack Power and lets Deadly Aspects speed up your swings. Send the pet in on the pull and put Hunter's Mark on the main target, then:

1. Keep two hawks from Summon Hawk on targets that live longer than about 10 sec. They share a cooldown with Arcane Shot and keep fighting while you stand in melee.
2. Use Mongoose Bite as soon as it lights up.
3. Keep Raptor Strike queued on every cooldown.
4. Use Strider Kick on cooldown.
5. Drop Immolation Trap on a target that will live for the full 15 sec.

AoE and Trap Use

On three or more targets, open with Multi-Shot while the pack runs to the tank, then drop Explosive Trap in the middle of it. With Clever Traps the trap deals 30% more damage, and in the dungeon build Survivalist's Discipline brings it back every 18 seconds. Only one Fire trap can be active at a time, so Explosive Trap and Immolation Trap replace each other. On a large pack that stays in place, Volley adds steady damage, but it costs a lot of Mana. Keep your traps for damage, and when a pack is too big, place Freezing Trap on one target to take it out of the fight.

Cooldowns and Threat

Survival has one damage cooldown, and the rest of your toolkit keeps you alive and out of the tank's way.

• Rapid Fire. In Forever, it speeds up your melee swings as well as your shots by 40% for 15 sec. Use it on the pull together with your racial, such as Blood Fury, Berserking or Elune's Light, and any on-use trinket.
• Feign Death. Drops all threat when you pull aggro, and it is the first button to press when a pack turns on you.
• Disengage. Lowers your threat on the current target without dropping combat.
• Tranquilizing Shot. Removes a Frenzy from an enemy, and a raid may assign it to you on bosses that enrage.
• Freezing Trap and Frost Trap. Crowd control for the pack you cannot kill yet. Fire and Frost traps can be active at the same time.

Mana Management

Mana is the limit of a weaving Survival Hunter, because every shot and every melee ability costs it. These habits keep the bar up through a long fight.

• Take Resourcefulness in every build: it cuts the cost of traps and melee abilities by 60%, and your ability crits keep part of your Mana regeneration running while you fight.
• Do not put Serpent Sting or Immolation Trap on targets that die in a few seconds.
• Keep Hunter's Mark for bosses and priority targets in dungeons rather than marking every trash mob.
• Wear Intellect pieces with the raid build, since Careful Aim turns them into Attack Power as well as Mana.
• Bring Major Mana Potion for long boss fights, and ask a Paladin for Blessing of Wisdom.

Pet or Lone Wolf

For raid bosses, Lone Wolf is the simpler and stronger choice in current simulations. You get 20% more damage, nothing dies to raid-wide damage and there is no pet to manage while you weave. In dungeons, a pet earns its place: a fast cat is the safe damage pick, a wolf with Furious Howl buffs a group full of melee, and a tallstrider with Dust Cloud lowers the armor of a boss if no Warrior or Rogue already does. Turn your pet's Growl off before every dungeon so it does not pull threat from the tank. Our WoW Forever Hunter pets guide lists every family and where to tame the best ones.

Useful Macros for Survival Hunter

Raptor Strike does not use the global cooldown, so you can press it together with Mongoose Bite. This macro starts your melee swing, casts Mongoose Bite when it is lit and queues Raptor Strike in the same press:

#showtooltip Raptor Strike
/startattack
/cast Mongoose Bite
/cast Raptor Strike

In dungeons, a mark macro sends the pet in and marks the target with one key:

#showtooltip Hunter's Mark
/petattack
/cast Hunter's Mark

A burst macro lines up Rapid Fire with your racial. Keep only the line for your own race:

#showtooltip Rapid Fire
/cast Rapid Fire
/cast Blood Fury
/cast Berserking
/cast Elune's Light

Survival Hunter Mistakes to Avoid

These are the habits that cost a Survival Hunter the most damage or Mana in Forever.

• Forgetting Hunter's Mark on the boss, which turns Expose Prey off.
• Sitting on a Mongoose Bite proc. A second proc does not stack, so it is lost.
• Standing in the gap between 5 and 8 yards, where you cannot shoot or swing.
• Moving during the 0.5-second Auto Shot cast, which delays every shot.
• Using the wrong tracking, which turns off the 5% from Improved Tracking.
• Leaving Aspect of the Hawk on in melee with the dungeon build, or Aspect of the Beast on at range with the raid build.
• Reading Predator's Edge as a bonus to all crits. It only boosts ability crits.
• Expecting Lacerating Strikes to stack. Each Bite refreshes the same bleed.

Enchants and Consumables for Survival Hunter

Enchant the pieces you plan to keep through the raids, and remember that a Survival Hunter enchants two weapons. Agility is the best stat on every slot, and the ranged weapon takes a scope instead of an enchant. These are the strongest options before the raids:

For raids, bring these consumables:

• Elixirs: Elixir of the Mongoose for 25 Agility and 2% crit, plus one Attack Power elixir such as Juju Might or Winterfall Firewater.
• Flask: Flask of Natural Precision, which lowers the chance that your melee attacks are dodged or parried by 2% inside Hyjal Summit and the Barrow Deeps.
• Weapon buff: Elemental Sharpening Stone for 2% crit on your melee weapon, or Dense Sharpening Stone while it is too expensive.
• Food: Grilled Squid for 1% crit for 15 min.
• Potions: Major Frenzy Potion for 80 Attack Power for 30 sec, and Major Mana Potion for Mana.
• Ammo: Thorium Headed Arrow or Thorium Shells, and a full quiver or ammo pouch for every raid night.

Where every formula drops is in our best enchants in WoW Forever guide.

Survival Hunter Gear Overview

Survival is the only Hunter spec that needs a real melee weapon, but the ranged weapon still matters most, since Auto Shot alone is about a quarter of your damage. For the raid build, look for a slow two-hander with high damage: Treant's Bane and Barbarous Blade from Dire Maul or Arcanite Reaper from Blacksmithing. For the dungeon build, Dal'Rend's Sacred Charge and Dal'Rend's Tribal Guardian from Upper Blackrock Spire are the best dual-wield pair and form a set together. Hand of Justice from Blackrock Depths is a Survival trinket, because its extra attacks trigger only on melee hits.

Hunters wear mail, but Forever adds no armor specialization bonus, so a leather piece with better stats is simply better. Devilsaur Gauntlets and Devilsaur Leggings from Leatherworking are strong pre-raid choices. Expect to share melee weapons with Warriors and Rogues, so agree on loot before the run.

Every slot with its alternatives is listed in our WoW Forever Hunter BiS guide, and the set bonuses for the raids are in our WoW Forever Hunter tier set guide.

Best Professions for Survival Hunter

Leatherworking with Skinning is the strongest pair for a Survival Hunter. Leatherworkers craft Devilsaur Gauntlets and Devilsaur Leggings and many strong Bind on Pickup pieces while leveling, and your pet can start the next fight while you skin. Read our WoW Forever Leatherworking guide for the route to 300.

Engineering with Mining is the other strong choice. Engineers make Sniper Scope for their own ranged weapon, their own ammo and Goblin Sapper Charge for packs, and the gadgets help in PvP too. As secondary professions, Cooking gives you the crit food, and First Aid saves Mana between pulls.

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More Guides for Your Survival Hunter

These guides cover the rest of the Hunter in Forever: the class overview with all three specs, every talent change, the best race for each spec, the best gear for every slot and where Survival stands among all specs.

WoW Forever Survival Hunter FAQ

These are the questions players ask most often about Survival Hunter in WoW Forever.