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re: The Survival Hunter - spec

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Mareb

Since SV can pump out max hunter DPS now, if you're going to spec it you should probably know how to play it. The spec is a lot more involved compared to beast mastery and you really need to know what you're doing in order to maximize your output. I've been researching lately and here is a good discussion I found. I've copied this post, but it's much more friendly to the eyes if you view the OP on their forum.
http://elitistjerks.com/f74/t38137-survival_hunter_wotlk/


1.0 Specc � Talent discussion

Sample Builds:

After 3.0.8 the speccs that are mentioned the most are these or subtle variation of these speccs:

01-18-52

and

06-14-51

1.1 Some Talents:

Improved Tracking
A simple talent that gives 5% damage for 5 talentpoints. Decent. You no longer need an add-on to switch tracking to targettype.
Survivalist � Hunter vs. Wild
Stamina is a good raiding stat anyway for fights that have healthchecks (e.g. HWNa�jentus) with these talents all that stamina on our gear even adds to our damage. Scales with BoK. Good talents.
Lock and Load
Because Explosive is our most damaging shot, this is a fine talent. If you use L&L, using an addon to show the proc maybe nice to react to the changing rotation within the timeframe. I myself use Elkano�s BuffBars to show me a huge bar centre of my screen when L&L proccs.

When Lock and Load procs you can either spam Explosive shot while making sure all dots have ticked before the next is applied (this takes 0.5 secs and can be tracked with a lot of add-ons - even Quartz can be set up to show the debuffstimer), or you weave a special (Aimed/Serpent/Multi) in between the Explosive shots.

Try to not overwrite the last tick of the Explosive shot effect with a new Explosive shot.
Lightning Reflexes
Simply mandatory
Expose Weakness
No longer Raidwide but good damagescaling, ~20% of Agility as AP with 2/3 points (factoring in uptime). More is no longer really necessary now that it�s just for your own benefit. With enough Crit you may even want to try with just one point in EW.
Wyvern Sting � Noxious Stings
Since you�ll probably be using Serpent Stings for the Glyph or L&L anyway, these 4 Talentpoints will give you an additional 3% damage to all other shots while the target is stinged. With a bonus CC ability on top. Fair enough.
Sniper Training
Sniper Training is situational. But it appears that a good number of Bossfights allow a range > 30 yards. With the reduced cooldown of Killshot the secondary critgain becomes a bit more interesting. There is no real good alternative for the points IMO. Get RangeDisplay to go with this Talent.

Hunting Party
Our new Raidbuff, gives Replenishment. Good talent, 2/5 seems to be enough for a sufficient uptime at the moment. Other classes will bring the same buff (ShadowPriests and Retribution Paladins), the buff doesn't stack.
Explosive shot
Our best shot. Has been massively boosted in patch 3.0.8. Increasing the amount of Explosive Shots fired will be the cornerstone of SV Hunter dps. Because of this a rotation including 'Trapdancing', a rotation where you use Immolation Traps to trigger Lock and Load, has become very viable.
Killer Instincts, Master Tactician and Thrill of the Hunt are all no-brainers.

1.2 The remaining 20 odd talents go into MM and BM trees.

ImpAspectotHawk
Good for Survival Hunters because of the lengthened casttime of Steady Shot. You�ll need 522.738 Hasterating to bring the SteadyShot casttime down to 1,5 seconds again. You could do with less Hasterating when you have points in this talent. Uptime is influenced by hasterating and weaponspeed. With the Glyph of Aspect of the Hawk you can do with less points in Imp Aspect of the Hawk to ensure enough haste to reduce Steady to GCD under Quick Shots. Even when you've reached the Haste softcap both Imp Aspect o/t Hawk and the Glyph are a boost to your white damage.
MM Tree

Lethal Shots is mandatory.
Carefull Aim is mandatory.
At least 1 point in Go for the Throat is mandatory at the moment.
Focussed Aim is optional when you're not hitcapped and/or need gear-itemisation for other things then +Hit. At the moment this talent doesn't appear to lend +Hit to your Pet.
Mortal Shots was changed to only grant the critdamagebonus to specialshots, the high critpercents that SV Hunters have stil make this a very good talent.
Aimed Shot has become very viable to specc for in 3.0.8 to reduce the number of (badly scaling) Steady shots and to have another instant shot when moving.

BM Tree

Focussed Fire, good.

2.0 Rotation

In WotLK with the unlocking of Autoshots and Specialshots, max-dps rotations depend on what damage an ability deals relative to others. Manacost per shot is also a factor since the use of more expensive shots may mean more time spent in AotViper. Note that Arcane Shot and Explosive Shot share a CD and therefor Arcane Shot should never be used in a SV Hunter rotation.

A SV Rotation revolves around the following priority list:

1. Kill Shot
2. Explosive Shot
3. Aimed/Multi-Shot (optional?)
4. Serpent Sting
5. Steady Shot

When Trapdancing, your rotation will involve running up to the Boss, placing an Immolation Trap and running back out to continue your rotation. Use instants to continue dealing damage while moving and don't move backwards but strafe or turn/jumpshot. You may also want to use Raptor Strike while you're placing your trap (yes this can be macroed to your Immolation Trap).

Using either Aimed Shot or Multi-shot in your rotation may be optional but can be very beneficial. The idea is that you reduce the amount of (badly scaling) Steady Shots in your rotation and replace them with better shots. Aimed has some value over Multi for being a true instant shot. You have to spend a Talentpoint however. Multi-shot may work for you as well.

To ensure the use of Kill Shot when available, you can just macro it to your Steady Shot/Aimed Shot/Serpent Sting button with a /cast Kill Shot /cast 'Special Shot' line in your macro.

How you should adjust your rotation to Lock and Load procs has been detailed above under the Lock and Load talent entry.
Also, like Explosive Shot during Lock and Load, refreshing Serpent Sting instead of reapplying it after the last DoT has ticked is a loss in DPS.

3.0 Itemisation

You should allways check Shandara's spreadsheet to judge the relative importance of a given stat for a Hunter with your gear and specc. The following pointers are in general.

3.1 Haste
Like MM Hunters and unlike BM Hunters, SV Hunters value Hasterating because the Steady shot casttime is 2.0 secs (1.7 secs counting the quiver). Bringing the Steady Shot cast time down to the GCD is a dps increase. As said, this requires 522,7 hasterating. When you're specced into ImpAotH, you can do with less.

Since the nerf to Steady Shot in 3.0.8 Haste is a bit less important because you want to use less Steady Shots in your rotation. However it's still a mandatory filler shot and also, since Explosive Shot is on a 6 sec CD, getting Steady down to 1,5 secs, will wield more Explosive shots in your rotation, which will in turn lead to more dps. Every tenth of a second your Steady Shot lasts longer than the GCD, delays your next possible Expolosive Shot by that amount.
3.2 Agility
Relative to the other Hunter speccs, SV Hunter should value Agility higher. This is offcourse because of the scaling through LR, but also because of EW procs and the fact that - unlike Attackpower - Agi lends to your critpercent. It is however not the be all end all stat it was in TBC, because your EW no longer affects the entire Raid.
3.3 Crit
Because of proc on crit talents, this should be relative highly valued as a SV Hunter. It increases the uptime of EW and Hunting Party and increases your Pets focusregen. Crits return mana through TotHunt as well.
3.4 Attack Power
New and improved, now with scaling through Raidbuffs. Still counts towards your Pets Attack Power at 22%.
3.5 Intellect
Intellect has become a very relevant stat for Hunters including SV Hunters to the point that we should no longer value Rogue gear as highly as we did in TBC. The reason is twofold.
1. Carefull Aim gives 1 AP for each Int with three talentpoints invested.
2. More Int means a higher manapool, thus a higher return from the ReplenishmentBuff that Hunting Party lends and a higher return when in AotViper, thus less time spent in AotViper.
In 25-men Raids you are pretty much guaranteed all manaregenerationbuffs and probably have little manaproblems. In 10-men raiding however mana is a very big concern, mind this in your itemisation reflections.
3.6 Weaponspeed
With the unlocking of Autoshots and Specialshots, weaponspeed no longer dictates the weapon of choice. DPS is the most relevant, followed by the stats on said weapon. After that, a slow weapon may be better because some shots do not use normalised speed in the damagecalculations, leading slow weapons to do more damage. On the other hand, all sorts of on hit/crit effects/procs benefit from a fast weapon.
4.0 Glyphs
(Courtesy of Mattaos - BM Hunter topic)

4.1 Major

Glyph of Aspect of the Hawk makes less points in Hawk mandatory to reach the soft hastecap. After the soft cap, 6% haste to autoshots is not bad either, also increases Quick Shots uptime. Also valuable in speccs with only 1 or 2 points in Imp Ao/tHawk.
Glyph of Steady Shot
Glyph of Serpent Sting (Allows extra Steady Shots and Explosive Shots before reapplication)

4.2 Minor

Glyph of Mend Pet (Allows the pet to gain happiness in combat)
Glyph of Revive Pet (Allows a faster pet rez during pushback spells)
Glyph of Feign Death (Allows more frequent threatdumps)

5.0 Pets

For all queries about Pets refer to the Hunter Pet Walhalla: Petopia: Compare Pet Family Skills
At the moment the following Pets have been refered to as valid Raiding Pets in terms of damage and/or Raidbuffs/Debuffs.

5.1 Tenacity Pets

The Tenacity talent Roar of Sacrifice lends nice Raidutility. Be ware that it doenst cost you your Pet however. With the nerf to Scorpids, Tenacity Pets probably arent that usefull in raiding anymore.

5.2 Ferocity Pets

Ferocity Pets bring Call of the Wild. Using this together and/or timed with Bloodlust/Heroism is a good boost in damage. No longer Raid Wide, now only applies to the Pet and the Hunter.

Cat - Brings Rake, a Bleed DoT damageeffect.

Raptor - Savage Rend, a Bleed DoT damageeffect. Relies on Pet crits so may be dubious for a SV Hunter because of our low Petcrit number.

Wolf - Furious Howl. Boosts Raid AP periodically.

Wasp - Sting, deals damage and reduces the targets armor. If no-one in the Raid brings this debuff then Wasp may prove a good boost to RaidDps.

There has been some talk that a Moth may be worth your time. Testing is insufficient at this time.

5.3 Cunning Pets

In 10-men raiding these pets are valid in my experience because of the Roar of Recovery ability reducing Viper uptime.

Sporebat - for the minor reduce armor debuff if no-one in the Raid brings it.

Wind Serpent - Highest Cunning dps pet.

5.4 Sample Pet Builds
(Courtesy of Mattaos - BM Hunter topic)

Ferocity Pet Calculator - Wowhead (High DPS build)

Tenacity Pet Calculator - Wowhead (Can also drop RoS for 2/2 BotRhino for added survivability, though RoS can be used on the MT/OT)

Cunning Pet Calculator - Wowhead

For Pets that bring a Buff or Debuff, mind that these probably share a slot with other Buffs/Debuffs and that these do not stack. Check these links for compatibility World of Warcraft - English (NA) Forums -> Changes to Debuffs, Buffs, and Raid Stacking , Raid Stacking 101 A Dwarf Priest and Patch 3.0.2 - On Debuffs, Buffs, and Raid Stacking

6.0 Professions

6.1 Crafting professions

ALCHEMY

Mixology, at 50 skillpoints, but only for Elixers and Flasks you can create yourself.

BLACKSMITHING

Bracer Socket

Gloves Socket

Both require you to remain Blacksmith in order to keep the bonus.

ENCHANTING

2x Ring enchants for a total of 64 AP. Enchanter only.

ENGINEERING

BoP Headslot item, unlike in TBC these won't last you the first few Tierlevels, but at least they have Agility now: [truesight Ice Blinders]

Some utility as wipe recovery with [Gnomish Army Knife] and FD.

INSCRIPTION

Shoulderslot enchant Shoulderenchant which is better then the Sons of Hodir counterpart by 64 AP.

JEWELCRAFTING

Can use three of these Gems:

[Bright Dragon's Eye]
[Delicate Dragon's Eye]
[Brilliant Dragon's Eye]
[Quick Dragon's Eye]
[Rigid Dragon's Eye]
[Smooth Dragon's Eye]

Over the normal Rare Gems.

LEATHERWORKING

Bracer Enchant that is 64 AP better then the commonly used alternative.

6.2 Gathering Professions

Skinning for additional 32 Critrating
Mining for added 50 Stamina
Herbalism adds a Heal (of moderate power, comparable to Gift of the Naaru)

7.0 Enchants

7.1 Head

Inscription bought with Knights of the Ebon Blade Rep [Arcanum of Torment]
When under the Hitcap you may want to consider this still from the Cenarion Expedition [Arcanum of Ferocity]

7.2 Shoulders

Inscription bought with Sons of Hodir Rep [Greater Inscription of the Axe]

7.3 Back

Major Agility Enchant Cloak - Major Agility - Spell - World of Warcraft

7.4 Chest

Powerful stats Enchant Chest - Powerful Stats - Spell - World of Warcraft

7.5 Wrists

Greater Assault Enchant Bracers - Greater Assault - Spell - World of Warcraft

7.6 Hands

Crusher Enchant Gloves - Crusher - Spell - World of Warcraft
Precision Enchant Gloves - Precision - Spell - World of Warcraft
Greater Assault Enchant Gloves - Major Agility - Spell - World of Warcraft

7.7 Waist

Create socket (Blacksmithing) [Eternal Belt Buckle]

7.8 Legs

Frosthide Leg Armor [Frosthide Leg Armor]
Icescale Leg Armor [Icescale Leg Armor]

7.9 Feet

Greater Assault Enchant Boots - Greater Assault - Spell - World of Warcraft
Superior Agility Enchant Boots - Superior Agility - Spell - World of Warcraft
Icewalker Enchant Boots - Icewalker - Spell - World of Warcraft


7.10 Weapon

Accuracy Enchant Weapon - Accuracy - Spell - World of Warcraft
Superior Potency Enchant Weapon - Superior Potency - Spell - World of Warcraft
Exceptional Agility Enchant Weapon - Exceptional Agility - Spell - World of Warcraft
Major Intellect Enchant Weapon - Major Intellect - Spell - World of Warcraft (TBC enchant - still good)

7.11 Two Handed Weapon

Massacre Enchant 2H Weapon - Massacre - Spell - World of Warcraft

7.12 Ranged Weapon

+15 damage [Diamond-cut Refractor Scope] (Hardly an option since the scope only buffs autoshots)
+40 Hasterating [Sun Scope]
+40 Critrating [Heartseeker Scope]

8.0 Gems

WotLK Gem Index
With thanks to Faerdael

9.0 Some modds

For Rangefinding with ST: RangeDisplay - Addons - Curse
For showing L&L Procs: NeedToKnow - Addons - Curse and
EventAlert - Addons - Curse

P.S. You can of course sent me PM�s with requests or summations to alter the above if Ive made mistakes or was incomplete.

Edited in light of patch 3.0.8 on the 22nd of january 2009
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