Survival Hunter PVE Guide – Cataclysm

Welcome to the PVE Survival Hunter Guide for World of Warcraft Cataclysm!

This guide will teach you how to play a Survival Hunter in a raid. It covers talents, glyphs, gems, enchantments, rotation, and gameplay tips.

This talent build takes the standard Survival Hunter talents.

Prime Glyphs

• Glyph of Arcane Shot
• Glyph of Explosive Shot
• Glyph of Kill Shot

Major Glyphs

• Glyph of Disengage
• Glyph of Raptor Strike
• Glyph of Trap Launcher

Minor Glyphs

• Glyph of Feign Death
• Glyph of Lesser Proportion
• Glyph of Revive Pet

Gems are situational and depend on the build and equipment. They are used to reach the required stat caps.

• Meta – Agile Shadowspirit Diamond
• Red/Prismatic – Delicate Queen’s Garnet, Delicate Inferno Ruby, or Delicate Chimera’s Eye (Jewelcrafting)
• Yellow
  • If Socket Bonus is not at least +10 Agility – Delicate Queen’s Garnet or Delicate Inferno Ruby
  • Otherwise, Deadly Lava Coral or Deadly Ember Topaz
• Blue
  • If Socket Bonus is not at least +10 Agility, Delicate Queen’s Garnet or Delicate Inferno Ruby
  • Otherwise, Glinting Shadow Spinel or Glinting Demonseye

• Head – Arcanum of the Ramkahen
• Shoulder – Greater Inscription of Shattered Crystal or Swiftsteel Inscription (Inscription)
• Cloak – Enchant Cloak – Major Agility or Enchant Cloak – Greater Critical Strike or Swordguard Embroidery (Tailoring)
• Chest – Enchant Chest – Peerless Stats
• Bracers – Enchant Bracer – Agility or Draconic Embossment – Agility (Leatherworking) with Socket Bracer (Blacksmithing)
• Gloves – Enchant Gloves – Major Agility with Synapse Springs (Engineering) or Socket Gloves (Blacksmithing)
• Waist – Ebonsteel Belt Buckle or Grounded Plasma Shield (Engineering)
• Legs – Dragonscale Leg Armor or Dragonbone Leg Reinforcements (Leatherworking)
• Boots – Enchant Boots – Assassin’s Step
• Rings – Enchant Ring – Agility (Enchanting)
• Weapon – Enchant 2H Weapon – Mighty Agility
• Ranged – Flintlocke’s Woodchucker

• Agility
• Hit Rating (to 8% hit cap)
• Haste (to soft cap, which is 757 including raid buffs and Pathing)
• Critical Strike
• Mastery
• Haste

Have Aspect of the Hawk up while DPSing, unless your raid requires Nature Resistance, in which case you can use Aspect of the Wild. Aspect of the Fox can be useful when you have to move a lot.

Single Target Rotation

Whenever you trigger a Lock and Load proc, fire three Explosive Shots in a row, waiting .1 seconds between each one so they don’t override

• Use Hunter’s Mark
• Use and maintain Serpent Sting (refreshed by Cobra Shot, so generally only once is required)
• Use Explosive Shot on cooldown
• Use Kill Shot when target is below 20% health
• Use Black Arrow on cooldown, assuming target will live through duration of Black Arrow
• Use Arcane Shot if you have focus to cast Explosive Shot, Kill Shot, and Black Arrow afterwards
• Use Cobra Shot

Multi Target Rotation

When facing 2-3 enemies, use the Single Target Rotation, but replace Black Arrow with Explosive Trap. Use the following rotation vs 4 or more enemies.

• Cast Multi-Shot on cooldown whenever you have enough focus
• Use Explosive Shot when you get a Lock and Load proc
• Use Kill Shot when target is below 20% health
• Use Cobra Shot when you don’t have the focus for Multi-Shot

Cooldowns

• Use Rapid Fire with Call of the Wild, but not with Bloodlust/Heroism/Time Warp or Bestial Wrath