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Cyverion
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re: The Survival Hunter in WotLK

0
1.0 Specc – Talent discussion

Sample Build:

After 3.1 the spec that is mentioned the most is this one or subtle variation of this spec:

0-15-56

You should allways check Shandara's spreadsheet to judge the relative importance of a given talent for a Hunter with your gear. The given spec has been found for BiS gear and tested by Hunters on the Testrealm.

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 should 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). Refreshing SerpSting or BA between the ES is an option.

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
In 3.1 SerpentSting is still better damage per GCD so you should be using it 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 has been buffed so that it's now less situational. The buff lasts 15 secs, so you have to stand still for 6 secs somewhere in those 15 secs for the buff to stay active.

Hunting Party
Gives Replenishment. Now also boosts Agility for 1% per talentpoint. The reason only 2/3 is chosen in the specc mentioned above is that 3/3 Resourcefullnes is better damage as per the spreadsheet. YMMV, use the spreadsheet to see what variation of the given spec is better for your gear.
Explosive shot
Our best shot after Kill Shot.
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.

MM Tree

Lethal Shots, Carefull Aim, Mortal Shots and 1 point in Go for the Throat are mandatory at the moment.
Focussed Aim is optional when you're not hitcapped and/or need gear-itemisation for other things then +Hit. Doesn't lend +Hit to your Pet.
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

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. You may still want to combine 1 talentpoint in this talent and combine it with the Glyph of the Hawk
Focussed Fire, good. Although you'd now have to sacrifice a lot of very good talents in the SV tree to get to Focussed Fire.

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. Black Arrow
4. Aimed/Multi-Shot
5. Serpent Sting
6. Steady Shot

Note that Kill Shot is now on the GCD and can thus no longer be simply macroed to all your other shots to ensure maximum usage!

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 and Hunting Party, 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

1. Glyph of Explosive Shot
2. Glyph of Kill Shot
3. Glyph of Serpent Sting (Allows extra Steady Shots and Explosive Shots before reapplication)

4. Glyph 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.
5. Glyph of Steady Shot Surpassed in strength by those mentioned above and the fact that your trying to minimise the amount of filler SS's in your rotation.

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.

When choosing a Pet mind that the difference in percentual damage/hitpoint/armor scaling has now been equalised for all Pet families. A Pets special ability and talent tree has become the only selection criterium because of this.

5.1 Tenacity Pets


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 Hunter and Pet's AP periodically. Now theoretically the most damaging Raiding Pet.

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)

*Updating these later*

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

*Updating these later*

ALCHEMY - courtesy of ov3rl0rd

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

Flask of Endless Rage provides a total 244 AP, or 64 extra, which is on pair with the other professions;
Elixir of Mighty Agility provides 45*1.35*1.15 = 69.8625 agi, which rounds up to 70, excluding Kings, for a total 77 agi raid buffed
Elixir of Mighty Thoughts provides 45*1.35 = 60.75 int, which rounds up to 61, again, excluding Kings, for a total 67 int raid buffed
77 agi = 0.924 crit chance
EW provides 77*0.25 = 19.25 AP, so the pair of elixirs gives a total (77+67+19.25)*1.1 = 179.685 AP, which rounds up to 180, including AP buff, and the Flask gives 268.4, which rounds down to 268. Overall, Flask is 268 AP and the pair of elixirs is 180 AP and 0.924% crit.
Spreadsheet shows that with Mixology, the pair of elixirs and the flask have less than 1 dps difference if mana doesn't matter, but the larger mana pool is a 30 dps increase if mana ends sometime during the fight.

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

Since 3.1 there are a few Tinkers that are worthwhile. In 3.2 these are reported to get a further boost.

Hand-Mounted Pyro Rocket - Spell - World of Warcraft (Boosted to 1654 to 2020 Fire damage in 3.2. possibly)
Nitro Boosts - Spell - World of Warcraft (+12 Hit and +12 Crit in 3.2 possibly)
Flexweave Underlay - Spell - World of Warcraft (Boosted to 23 Agility in 3.2 possibly)

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.


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