Hunter vs. Wild
3 Point Talent
Increases you and your pet’s attack power and ranged attack power equal to 10/20/30% of your total Stamina.
Overview
Hunter vs. Wild causes you and your pet’s attack power to scale based on a percentage of your total stamina.
Why take it?
Hunter gear is loaded with stamina, so this talent is useful for PvP as well as PvE. This talent combined with Survivalist can provide for a juicy attack power gain. Not to mention extra HPs are always welcome.
For example, if I am currently sitting at 1642 stamina, with 5 points in Survivalist and 3 points in Hunter vs. Wild, it will increase my attack power by 542 along with an additional 30% AP boost to my pet. Since Explosive Shot damage scales off of attack power, you want as much of it as you can get your mitts on.
Why not take it?
If you’re Beast Mastery or Marksmanship.
Killer Instinct
3 Point Talent
Increases your critical strike chance with all attacks by 1/2/3%.
Overview
Killer Instinct provides up to 3% of additional crit rating for the Hunter.
Why take it?
It’s cheap additional DPS along with being a prerequisite for Wyvern Sting and Noxious Stings. Survivalist PvP Hunters are definitely going to need Wyvern Sting and raiding SV Hunters are going to want Noxious Stings for added DPS. Plus, 3% added crit rating for 3 points is just yummy, yummy.
Why not take it?
If you’re Beast Mastery or Marksmanship.
Counterattack
3 Point Talent
A strike that becomes active after parrying an opponent’s attack. This attack deals [AP * 0.2 + 342] damage and immobilizes the target for 5 sec. Counterattack cannot be blocked, dodged, or parried.
Overview
Counterattack is a melee ability which immobilizes the opponent for 5 seconds. It is only available after a parry.
Why take it?
Counterattack can be a powerful ability for escaping melee damage in PvP. A 5 second immobilize is quite handy for creating distance between you and your enemy.
Why not take it?
In order to spec for Counterattack one must dump 3 points into Deflection, thus making it actually a 4 point talent. While the Counterattack skill is nice, having to drop 4 points in order to acquire it is far too costly. Furthermore, Deflection is arguably the most useless talent in the SV tree. Its greatest benefit is the 50% disarm effect reduction, yet that can quickly be answered via the application of a Titanium Weapon Chain which also grants 28 hit rating.
In short, you’re spending 4 points for a seldom used melee ability which only activates after an 8% chance of parry. Survival Hunters have Scatter Shot, Frost & Freezing Trap, Disengage, Deterrence, Master’s Call, and of course Wing Clip, which are all effective tools to escape melee damage and obtain distance. At the price of 4 talent points, Counterattack is a superfluous skill.
Until Blizzard realizes that Counterattack needs to be a Hunter baseline ability, I say pass.