Survival Hunter PvP Guide for WotLK Classic
Welcome to our PvP Survival Hunter guide for Wrath Classic. Here you will learn all you need to know to properly play Survival Hunter in PvP scenarios.
Overview
Survival is the more control-oriented Hunter specialization. Survival's
main appeal is its control ability Wyvern Sting. Wyvern Sting is an instant sleep that lasts for 8
seconds, which allows for some amazing CC chains when played correctly. Survival lacks
the burst potential that Beast Mastery and Marksmanship bring, but still has excellent
sustained damage thanks to
Black Arrow and
Explosive Shot.
Survival is the least popular Hunter PvP spec, but still has some reasonable viability,
although will be worse on the high-end of arena compared to the other specs.
Talent Build
This is the general arena build you would take as a Survival Hunter. This is
a bit more rigid than the other builds above, as all of the points in Survival along with
Aimed Shot are critical talents
to take. This leaves you with only a handful of points to put elsewhere in the tree. You could opt
into a couple of more offensive talents such as
Sniper Training, but the
condition that you need to stand still for 6 seconds is usually too difficult to do in arenas.
The trap talents such as
Entrapment and
Resourcefulness are incredibly good,
and allow you to combine
Wyvern Sting and
Freezing Trap
for an incredible CC chain that is almost impossible to avoid without the other
team working together to stop you.
PvP Gameplay Tips for Hunters
Playing Against Melee
As stated above, Hunters are excellent at kiting. This is an incredibly
powerful tool against melee, giving you the advantage in most fights. Focus on
keeping your target a reasonable distance away, usually 30+ yards when possible.
You want to keep them well out of melee range, but not max distance. Ideally,
you want to be able to turn around and follow them if they try to run without
letting them run outside of your max range. Use Concussive Shot on
cooldown while making use of your instant abilities like
Serpent Sting,
Explosive Shot, and
Arcane Shot while on the move. If
you have the space, stop for just enough time to get an
Auto Shot
off when you can.
Melee will sometimes get into your minimum range. Unless they are close to
death, do not try to fight melee in melee range, since they will have the
advantage. Your main goal should be to get away from them so you can go
back to kiting more. Make use of Wing Clip, and always ensure you
have either
Disengage for a quick getaway or
Deterrence
to stop the incoming burst. Save instant-CC abilities like
Scatter Shot for when they are on top of you, giving you a
4-second window to move away and set up to kite again.
In arenas, melee will have the option to line-of-sight (LoS) you more, since
you cannot hit what you cannot see. This is why many Hunters choose to play the
slower-paced drain build, as rushing and finishing off players is actually quite
difficult sometimes because of LoS around pillars. Remember to drop traps and
utilize Aspect of the Cheetah when you can to help catch up if you
are chasing someone down. Traps specifically can be placed around pillars as an
obstacle, forcing players to either run into them or take a longer kite path
around the trap.
Freezing Trap
Freezing Trap is your most powerful crowd control ability, freezing
a target for 8 seconds if they walk over the trap (10.4 when talented into
Trap Mastery). Freezing Trap
is one of your best tools against melee, since it gives you an on-use obstacle
to play around. They either have to avoid it, which means you can run around it
using it like a pillar, or they run into it and are frozen for an extended period.
Also, remember that in Wrath of the Lich King Classic Hunters now have access to Freezing Arrow,
which is a ranged version of
Freezing Trap. You should swap permanently
to using Freezing Arrow once it is available.
Playing Against Ranged
Against ranged, your goal should be to keep them as far away as possible. As
a Hunter, you will out-range them due to your Hawk Eye talent. This
allows you to get attacks off at range before moving back out of their max
range once they start casting. This is one of the best skills to work on, and
is what can make for a great Hunter. Positioning properly can be challenging, and
can require you to predict what and when they might cast. This can be harder
against Mages due to their
Blink, allowing them to quickly close the
gap and get casts off. If you want to set up some burst, consider using
Wyvern Sting into an
Aimed Shot,
Auto Shot, and a
Explosive Shot in quick succession.
This will be a devastating amount of damage, and potentially will finish off
your target. If it gets your target low enough, a
Kill Shot is our hardest
hitting ability, and is usually enough to kill anything you can hit with it.
Mana Drain
Viper Sting is an incredibly powerful ability against any class
that uses Mana. Especially early on, Mana pools will be low, making your Viper
Sting even more effective. Keep this up on whatever target you are fighting,
while kiting them at max range until they are out of Mana. Once they are
completely out, you can finish them off easily without having to worry about
them casting into you. It is hard to understate just how important this is in
arena against any caster or healer.
Feign Death
Another great use of Feign Death, besides dropping combat, is
that it drops your enemy's target. If a Mage is trying to cast a
Frostbolt at you, but you Feign Death before it finishes, their
target will drop and their cast will stop. This can be a great way to stop them
and delay them in getting an important cast, such as
Polymorph or
Fear, off on you.
Stats
While your offensive stat priorities do not really change as a Hunter, you now also need to worry about defensive stats: Stamina and Resilience. Resilience is your most important defensive stat, and is even stronger now in Wrath Classic. Resilience gives you flat damage reduction from all sources, making it incredibly valuable in reducing your damage intake for PvP. Additionally, Resilience reduces your chance to be crit, and reduces the damage done by critical strikes. Stamina, of course, increases your health pool, making you harder to burst down. There is no set priority, but generally you should still be trying to get lots of Agility and your offensive stats while going for gear that also brings Stamina and Resilience. The easiest way to achieve that is through the PvP arena gear.
Gearing
The list linked below will include the best possible gear set up for a Hunter in PvP.
Survival Hunter Arena Teams and Compositions
When it comes to evaluating Survival Hunter's place within the Arena, we have created a number of guides devoted to listing a variety of popular team compositions which you can find below.
Changelog
- 08 Oct. 2023: Updated for Phase 4.
- 18 Jan. 2023: Reviewed for Phase 2 release ahead of Ulduar raid release.
- 24 Sep. 2022: Page added.
This guide has been written by Impakt, an Officer in BDGG, the #2 North American guild on retail. In addition to live WoW, he has also been a classic theorycrafter and enthusiast for many years. You can watch him stream on Twitch, or follow him on Twitter.
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