Survival Hunter Guide — Class Guides · WoW Wrath of the Lich King

Agility, traps and survivability, with tools that keep enemies at range and talents that help in melee.

A ranged fighter in leather, and later mail, who fights at a distance with a bow, gun or crossbow, tames beasts as pets and controls enemies with traps and stings. More about the hunter

Class: Hunter
Roles: Damage
Used for: Raids and dungeons, Player versus player
Top talent: Explosive Shot
Popular builds: 2
Version: WoW Wrath of the Lich King

How to play

Survival in Wrath is built on Explosive Shot, a fire shot that hits three times, and Lock and Load, which lets you fire two Explosive Shots in a row for free. Black Arrow adds damage and triggers Lock and Load, and Hunting Party gives the raid Replenishment.

Keep Serpent Sting and Black Arrow up, Explosive Shot whenever ready (twice on Lock and Load), Aimed Shot when ready, Kill Shot below 20% and Steady Shot to fill. Survival is strong from the start of the expansion because it gains a lot from Agility.

In arenas, Wyvern Sting, Counterattack and traps give control.

At a glance

Single-target damage
Damage to groups
Survivability
Utility for the group
Solo play and leveling
Ease of play

Rated 1 to 5 against the other specs in WoW Wrath of the Lich King.

Rotation and priorities

1Serpent Sting and Black Arrow kept up.
2Explosive Shot whenever it is ready, and twice in a row on Lock and Load.
3Kill Shot below 20% health.
4Aimed Shot (Multi-Shot on packs) when ready.
5Steady Shot to fill.
6Rapid Fire with trinkets and Heroism.

Strengths and weaknesses

Strengths

Replenishment for the raid.
Strong from early gear.
Traps and Wyvern Sting for control.

Weaknesses

Relies on procs.
Falls behind Marksmanship in heavy armour penetration gear.
Mana runs short.

Stats and gear

Stat priority

Most valuable first. Bars compare each stat with the best one; a cap in the note means the stat drops off once you reach it.

1
Agility
2
Hitto 263 rating
3
Critical strike
4
Attack power
5
Haste
6
Intellect

What to look for

Agility above everything: Survival multiplies it.
Hit to 263 rating.
Agility gems.

Items worth chasing

Fal'inrush, Defender of Quel'thalasA raid crossbow.
Deathbringer's WillA trinket that procs Strength, Agility or haste.
Darkmoon Card: GreatnessA trinket that procs your best stat.

Builds

Each bar splits the build's talent points by tree.

Beast Mastery
Marksmanship
Survival

Survival Raider
DamagePvE
1556
0/15/56
Raid damage with 56 points in Survival, down to Explosive Shot, and 15 in Marksmanship.
- Wyvern Sting 1/1
- Black Arrow 1/1
- Sniper Training 3/3
- Hunting Party 3/3
- Explosive Shot 1/1
Glyphs: Glyph of Serpent Sting (major), Glyph of Explosive Trap (major), Glyph of Kill Shot (major), Glyph of Feign Death (minor), Glyph of Revive Pet (minor), Glyph of Mend Pet (minor)
Open in the talent calculator Theorycrafting
Survival Gladiator
DamagePvP
1556
0/15/56
Arena and battleground damage with 56 points in Survival, down to Explosive Shot, and 15 in Marksmanship.
- Wyvern Sting 1/1
- Master Tactician 5/5
- Black Arrow 1/1
- Hunting Party 3/3
- Explosive Shot 1/1
Open in the talent calculator Theorycrafting Talent order by level

Key talents

Explosive Shot · top talent, up to 1
You fire an explosive charge into the enemy target, dealing 144 plus 14% of your Ranged Attack Power-172 plus 14% of your Ranged Attack Power Fire damage. The charge will blast the target every second for an additional 2 sec.
Lightning Reflexes · tier 6, up to 5
Increases your Agility by 15%.
Expose Weakness · tier 7, up to 3
Your ranged criticals have a 100% chance to grant you Expose Weakness. Expose Weakness increases your attack power by 25% of your Agility for 7 sec.
Wyvern Sting · tier 7, up to 1
A stinging shot that puts the target to sleep for 30 sec. Any damage will cancel the effect. When the target wakes up, the Sting causes 300 Nature damage over 6 sec. Only one Sting per Hunter can be active on the target at a time.
Thrill of the Hunt · tier 7, up to 3
Gives you a 100% chance to regain 40% of the mana cost of any shot when it critically hits.
Master Tactician · tier 8, up to 5
Your successful ranged attacks have a 10% chance to increase your critical strike chance with all attacks by 10% for 8 sec.
Noxious Stings · tier 8, up to 3
If Wyvern Sting is dispelled, the dispeller is also afflicted by Wyvern Sting lasting 50% of the duration remaining, and increases all damage done by you on targets afflicted by your Serpent Sting by 3%.
Black Arrow · tier 9, up to 1
Fires a Black Arrow at the target, increasing all damage done by you to the target by 6% and dealing 785 plus 10% of your Ranged Attack Power Shadow damage over 15 sec. Black Arrow shares a cooldown with Trap spells.
Sniper Training · tier 9, up to 3
Increases the critical strike chance of your Kill Shot ability by 15%, and while standing still for 6 sec, you gain Sniper Training increasing the damage done by your Steady Shot, Aimed Shot, Black Arrow and Explosive Shot by 6% for 15 sec.
Hunting Party · tier 10, up to 3
Increases your total Agility by an additional 3%, and your Arcane Shot, Explosive Shot and Steady Shot critical strikes have a 100% chance to grant up to 10 party or raid members mana regeneration equal to 1% of the maximum mana per 5 sec. Lasts for 15 sec.

Survival abilities by level

When each ability arrives: trained abilities at the level a trainer first teaches them, talent abilities (gold frame) at the first level the talent can be taken.