[Hunter PvE] THE SURVIVAL HUNTER HANDBOOK

[neokaramani]

THE SURVIVAL HUNTER HANDBOOK
By: Disastershot (Illidan-US)

I would first like to start out by saying that I have been using survival heavily since the release of WotLK and am currently a core hunter in my guild working on High end Ulduar Progression (The last couple Hard modes needs for algalon) and would like to give the hunter's here a quick look into how to give yourself the most damage for the gear level you are running.

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GEAR [Gems/Enchants/Set Bonuses]
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As a survival hunter your Primary focus for gear is Agility which will benefit your Attack Power and Crit Chance. Armour Penetration is a bonus on some gear but you should never take that stat if it it would result in a Attack Power or Crit Chance. I would recommence downloading an addon called "RatingBuster" which will immediately give you a spreadsheet of what you gain and lose one each gear switch.

As a survival Hunter You should be using the +21 Agility and 3% Crit Damage increase meta. Every other slot EXCEPT one should be all +20 agility gems. that lost slot you didn't fill should be on the piece of gear that has the best set bonus and you should gem that with a +10 Stats (This will enable your meta gem). The only exception to this is if you need to get hit capped in which you would change out on +20 agility gem for a hit rating gem (Hybrid or full, whatever caps you)

In order to get Hit capped you need to get 8% hit chance which you can check by scrolling over your hit chance number.

Your enchants should ALWAYS be for either agility or attack power (Assuming you are hit capped). This should be pretty self explanatory by looking at the enchant list. The only one that isn't a direct benefit to agility or attack power is the chest which will be the +10 Stats enchant.

As a set bonus, the only real one that will real one that will give you a amazing amount of dps increase is the 4 set of tier 8 which you want to obtain by any means necessary. If that means dropping 30 attack power and 1% crit for that bonus, do it. Its essential.

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PREPARATION[Spec/Buffs/Flask's/Glyph's/Pet]
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The primary spec for survival hunter's is this with slight variation depending on your personal needs: The World of Warcraft Armory

Pet build: The World of Warcraft Armory

From test run's and overall data, the hunter community has determined the Wolf pet to be the number 1 DPS pet so I highly recommend using that with the talent tree posted above.

The only modifications you may are spec into Focused Aim if you are under hit capped (That gives 1% per talent point) and more/less into Imp AotH depending on how your haste is with full raid buffs (This can be determined by casting steady shot with all raid buffs, if the cast takes longer than 1.5 seconds than you need to spec that or get more haste gear).

As a hunter your paladin buff priority should be Might > King's > Wisdom > Sanctuary so for example if there is only 2 paladins, get Might + kings, 1 get Might ect ect...

You should ALWAYS be using Flask of Endless Rage in order to buff your AP damage and be using either a Fish feast for food buff OR Blackened Dragonfin for the agility/stamina.

The Glyphs that should be used as a hunter are: Explosive Shot, Kill Shot, and Aimed shot (Aimed shot can be interchanged with Serpent sting). Also put Feign death as your minor glyph to have more Threat dumps.

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PLAYSTYLE[Rotation/Tip's]
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The survival hunter does not use a solid rotation due the procing of Lock n' Load but works of a Priority queue system which means you hit the spell as it pop's based on how high on the list that shot is. In other words, if two spells pop at the same time you hit the one which is higher on the list (Simple concept).

Survival Hunter Priority Queue : KILL SHOT > EXPLOSIVE SHOT > BLACK ARROW > SERPENT STING > AIMED SHOT > STEADY SHOT. You also want to have an IWIN Button (A macro to trigger all your cool down abilities IE: Rapid Fire, Wrath stone, any other trinket) and hit that when the boss is at 20-25% in order to have it also affect the damage from your killshot.

As a hunter you want to always keep your threat in check by use of a Threat monitor such as Omen. You can reduce your threat by several ways such as Misdirecting the tank every 30 seconds and Feign Deathing to do a complete Aggro Dump. A quick tip on Misdirecting, It does count tick damage from serpent sting and dark arrow toward your three shots so try to use it as an opening and hit Explosive Shot > Aimed shot to maximize the threat given to the tank. Also Make sure to feign death anytime you aggro is above 85%.

As a hunter, you gain the most DPS from standing still due to the Sniper training talent so attempt to stay still as much as possible and where the fight allows (Dont be standing in fights like hodir).

Also make sure to keep your pet alive to the best of your ability, put the pet on auto attack on the boss but don't have it stand in and die due to boss abilities like the explosions from mimiron and such since a dead pet does not provide the buff that increases your attack power and lowers your DPS. In short, a non-attacking alive pet is better than a dead pet.

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FAQS:
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Q: Will you update this post as you think of more info?
A: Yes, this was written as a one time through, off the top of my head, guide in order to help anyone wanted to become a better hunter. Ill update as I remember or learn more info.

Q: Should I replace ______ piece of gear for ________ piece of gear as a survival hunter?
A: Always look at the Attack Power and crit chance gain and lost using the RatingBuster addon. If you gain 5 AP but lose .5% crit, it isnt worth it. Just remember that the more AP And Crit, the better. Don't be stacking armor pen if its costing you a lot of other more important stats and just use some common sense as your decision. Worst comes to worst, do test runs and see which piece is better.

Q: I hear MM is a better spec than survival damage wise.
A: In test runs and controlled damage spreadsheets, MM has proven to be slightly more DPS at a very high end gear level (Tier 8.5 equiv gear or better). I recommend doing what you are more comfortable with, both specs are very high damage yielding when done right and both can be good.

If you have any questions please feel free to post them or PM me and I will be more than happy to answer them, also if I left anything out go ahead and post it so I can explain it more in my threat. Thank you for reading :wave:

[Fintie123]

"Survival Hunter Priority Queue : KILL SHOT > EXPLOSIVE SHOT > ::::ARK ARROW:::::: > SERPENT STING > AIMED SHOT > STEADY SHOT."

A real Survival hunter does NOT write "Dark Arrow" instead of "Black Arrow".

[neokaramani]

"Survival Hunter Priority Queue : KILL SHOT > EXPLOSIVE SHOT > ::::ARK ARROW:::::: > SERPENT STING > AIMED SHOT > STEADY SHOT."

A real Survival hunter does NOT write "Dark Arrow" instead of "Black Arrow".

wrote this on a caffeine high, there will be a few mistakes but the idea remains the same

btw: fixed

[cinimod1]

good guide man i really liked it unfortunaly i cant +rep i need to get more active in the threads XD but ya really great guide i liked it a lot.

[Aldun]

You're telling exactly what so many guides on AJ, EJ, Wowhead, MMOchampion and even on MMOwned (from me) tell...

[Aldun]

Also, some comments on your post:

As a hunter you want to always keep your threat in check by use of a Threat monitor such as Omen. You can reduce your threat by several ways such as Misdirecting the tank every 30 seconds and Feign Deathing to do a complete Aggro Dump. A quick tip on Misdirecting, It does count tick damage from serpent sting and dark arrow toward your three shots so try to use it as an opening and hit Explosive Shot > Aimed shot to maximize the threat given to the tank. Also Make sure to feign death anytime you aggro is above 85%.

Misdirect does NOT dump your aggro...
Also, never use Explosive shot for Misdirection.

You also want to have an IWIN Button (A macro to trigger all your cool down abilities IE: Rapid Fire, Wrath stone, any other trinket) and hit that when the boss is at 20-25% in order to have it also affect the damage from your killshot

Killshot works from on 20%, not 25%. Also, most bossfights lasts longer then 5min, so you should use your macro more then just at 20%, and with 2min CDs, also use em even if Rapid isn't up. You might also add to NEVER use rapid in combination with Bloodlust/heroism (unless you really really really need a quick nuke).

Your enchants should ALWAYS be for either agility or attack power (Assuming you are hit capped). This should be pretty self explanatory by looking at the enchant list. The only one that isn't a direct benefit to agility or attack power is the chest which will be the +10 Stats enchant.

Its not just a choice for Agi or AP.. Its always Agi > Ap as long as an enchant excist for it. Also, Icewalker when underhitcapped, and engineers should have some variation in enchants as well (Cloak, hands). Might also want to add the Eternal Belt Buckle, and the enchant for Gun/bow.

In order to get Hit capped you need to get 8% hit chance which you can check by scrolling over your hit chance number.

Might wanna add the pure number for it

As a hunter, you gain the most DPS from standing still due to the Sniper training talent so attempt to stay still as much as possible and where the fight allows (Dont be standing in fights like hodir).

You should be standing still for Autoshot as well.. And for Hodir, you can just stand still as long as you stand at a Fire. (Except with flashfreeze).

The primary spec for survival hunter's is this with slight variation depending on your personal needs: The World of Warcraft Armory

Wait.. 2/3 Noxious Stings? What..?