WoW Classic Survival Hunter Leveling Guide 1-60
On this page, you will find our Level by Level Survival leveling guide for WoW Classic. Make sure to use the slider to make the guide adapt to your level. For more general leveling information, please refer to our Hunter leveling guide. We also have an Marksmanship Hunter leveling guide and a Beast Mastery Hunter leveling guide.
If you were looking for TBC Classic advice, please refer to our TBC Classic Survival Hunter leveling guide.
Foreword
Survival is a viable Hunter spec at level 60 for PvP, but is far worse than Beast Mastery for leveling. One of the main issues that you will run into is that you pet cannot hold threat well, and with Survival this problem becomes even more severe. For dungeons Survival can be good since you are not relying on your pet to tank, but your pet will be doing a large portion of your damage while leveling due to a lack of real stats, meaning Beast Mastery is also going to do the most damage. It is possible to level as a Survival Hunter, but know that it will be worse than Beast Mastery in almost every regard.
Leveling Rotation, Talents, and Trainer Skills
Move the slider below to make the guide update to your level!
Talent Tree
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This is a rough build that you could follow while leveling as Survival, but for the
most part you can choose whatever you want. Improved Concussive Shot is
an excellent choice if you think you will be PvPing while leveling in place of
Efficiency, and Survival specifically has some great survivability and
PvP options if you want to go that route. The critical talents to pick up are
Lightning Reflexes,
Killer Instinct, and
Wyvern Sting for the damage and control.
Survival also brings more melee options than the other two specs. Deterrence,
Counterattack, and
Improved Wing Clip all give you more things
to do in melee range, which can help you out both for leveling and in PvP. Attacking in melee
will still be significantly worse than just using your bow, but you have the option.
Leveling Rotation
- Command your pet to attack the target;
Hunter's Mark;
Aimed Shot;
Auto Shot;
Serpent Sting;
Auto Shot;
Aimed Shot if you are fine on Mana;
Arcane Shot if you are fine on Mana;
Multi-Shot if you are fine on Mana;
Auto Shot until the enemy is dead.
The key from 1-10 is getting as many auto shots
off as possible before the target reaches you. The best way to accomplish this
is by kiting backwards, moving in between each shot. At level 8 Concussive Shot
can help with this.
Do your class quest to get your pet. Once you have your pet, your kill speed and efficiency should become much better. Make sure you are careful with your threat, and try to let your pet tank whenever possible.
Multi-Shot is a powerful attack, but
can cause you to pull aggro off your pet if you use it on multiple enemies. It is
incredibly powerful, but losing auto shots from enemies running into your dead zone
will be a bigger damage loss.
Feign Death is a great way to drop threat
while fighting enemies. You can combine this with
Aimed Shot or
Multi-Shot
to deal a burst of damage right before dropping threat to ensure your pet keeps
aggro.
List of Trainer Skills to Buy
All Hunter specs benefit from upgrading the same skills, so our list of skills to buy from trainers is the same, regardless of the spec. For this reason, you will find that list in our general Hunter leveling page.
Hunter Quests
While leveling, Hunters gain a huge power spike when they complete their level 10 class quest and get a pet. This is incredibly important for leveling, as outlined below.
How to Advance as a Hunter at Level 60
Well done on hitting maximum level in WoW Classic! Now that leveling is over, you can learn more about level 60 gameplay by reading our DPS Hunter Guide, which covers every facet of gameplay at 60 in detail.
The best individual pages to read through are as follows.
- The DPS Hunter Talent builds guide has the best builds for Level 60 covered. We propose builds for all specializations, with a focus on Beast Mastery for solo play and Marskmanship for raiding.
- Our PvP Hunter guide is where you can find PvP builds for all 3 specializations, as well as various tricks and tips for PvP combat.
- Goldmaking Guide for Hunters is a page with details on where / how to farm gold quickly as a Hunter when you are Level 60.
- The DPS Hunter Rotation guide is where you can read on how to optimize your PvE damage and how to prioritize your abilities.
- DPS Hunter Stats guide contains detailed information on all Hunter stats, including a list of their priority for damage dealing.
- Our Gear guide for DPS Hunters lists all the optimal pieces of gear that you will want to farm at Level 60, in order to optimize your damage.
Changelog
- 17 Nov. 2024: Reviewed for Classic re-release.
- 23 Sep. 2019: Guide added.
Classic Dungeon Guides
Classic Profession Guides
Classic Race Guides
Classic Class Overviews
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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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