My Survival Guide to Surviving in PvP as a Survival Hunter: Part One

Say that five times fast…

I’ve specced Survival for PvP in the past, but never for very long. However, once BM was laid to rest last week, I decided to jump ship and become an explosives expert. Since there may be other displaced BM PvPers like myself, I figured I’d provide a glimpse at my spec, as well as share some of what little knowledge I possess concerning Survival Huntering in the realm of player versus player combat. 😉

Keep in mind that I’m not an elite PvPer. I’m decent and I’m competitive, but I am in no way an authority on hardcore Hunter PvP. I usually do pretty well in both BGs and arena, but I am always out looking for ways to step my game up. Although I’m feeling a lot smoother with it this go ’round, I’ve never remained Survival for more than a few weeks. If anyone has any advice or constructive criticism pertaining to this post, macro suggestions, tactics, and especially arena strategies, then please share.

Well let’s get started…

My 0/15/56 Survival Hunter PvP Build

Survival Hunter PvP Build

This is pretty close to about 90% of Survival PvP builds, give or take a few points.

The following is a brief explanation of which talents I grabbed and why. I even went all WoWHead on the tooltips for you guys. 🙂

Beast Mastery Talents

No talents are chosen from the BM tree for my build. I could see where some Hunters may want to dip into Endurance Training for a little added insurance, but one hallmark of the Survival tree is added health and survivability. I’m sitting well over 26K health unbuffed, so I saw better use for these points elsewhere.

Marksmanship Talents

Mortal Shots, Lethal Shots, Careful Aim and Aimed Shot are mandatory. Mortal Shots and Lethal Shots are necessary for PvP burst, but most importantly, they get you down the tree to Aimed Shot. For those players new to PvP, know that you absolutely must have Aimed Shot if you plan entering battlegrounds or arena.

I dropped one point into Go for the Throat for a little added DPS, but that’s a matter of preference. I just like the extra 300 or so damage from the pet special that I get with every crit. 😀

Another talent worth mentioning in the Marksman tree is Focused Aim. I didn’t pick it up because I’m at nearly 6% hit via gear alone, but if you’re not at the PvP hit cap of 5% then you’re going to want to drop a point or two in here.

Survival Talents

The added range from Hawk Eye is very important for PvP. We can be locked down pretty easily, so the further we can be pew-pewing away from our target(s), the better. Improved Tracking on the other hand, is not so important for PvP. The couple of extra points can make a bigger difference further down the tree.

I only throw one point into Entrapment because ice traps can be resisted quite often, therefore negating this talent. Also, I feel one point is a better value since you still get half the duration with only 1/3 of the points. Trap Mastery is great for added CC, as well as increased damage from traps and Black Arrow. Even if Survival Instincts only provided a 4% crit bonus to Explosive Shot it would be a must have, but it also gives you 4% damage reduction. Gotta max it.

5/5 Survivalist for the added hit points, but also because it’s a prerequisite for Hunter vs. Wild. Survival Hunters have 30% of their stamina converted to attack power. How solid is that..?!

1/1 Scatter Shot… mandatory. Although, it should be *cough* baseline. 😡

Survival Tactics provides a nice reduction to trap resistances, but I like it most for its 4 second reduction to the Disengage cooldown.

3/3 T.N.T. and 3/3 Lock and Load for the sexy burst. Maxing both of these is mandatory.

3/3 in Hunter vs. Wild for the incredible stamina to AP conversion for the Hunter and pet. 3 points here buys my pet and I nearly 600 attack power apiece. 😀

3/3 Killer Instinct for an extra 3% crit.

5/5 Lightning Reflexes for the 15% added agility.

3/3 Resourcefulness gets trap and Black Arrow cooldowns to 24 seconds, plus it increases mana efficiency. Also, when combined with the 4 pc PvP set bonus, it brings trap CDs down to 22 seconds! I say max it.

2/3 Expose Weakness is all I need to keep the buff active. With a 66% chance to proc, it’s likely it’ll refresh during the 7 second duration.

1/1 Wyvern Sting… mandatory.

3/3 Thrill of the Hunt for mana efficiency.

When it comes to PvP, I’m not usually a huge fan of talents that have only a 10% proc rate, but Master Tactician is too good for me to pass up. With 5/5 in this talent, it boosts crit by 10% (equivalent to 459 crit rating) for 8 seconds. That’s huge. When combined with Survival Instincts and Glyph of Explosive Shot, this talent puts me well over a 50% crit rate for my Explosive Shot. That helps to cut through some of that pesky resilience. 😉

1/1 Black Arrow… mandatory.

I go 3/3 in Hunting Party mainly for the guaranteed mana replenishment, but the 3% added agility is a nice bonus as well. 2/3 could probably get the job done here, but I like the 100% uptime myself.

Last but not least, 1/1 in Explosive Shot. It’s a good idea to pick this one up. 😉

Rather than go into why I didn’t pick up certain talents, I’ll just leave those answers for comments and questions you may have.

Survival PvP Glyphs

Glyph of Aimed Shot – This glyph is a must have for any PvP Hunter spec. The 2 second cooldown reduction helps us to maintain the uptime on the healing debuff. Don’t leave home without it.

Glyph of Explosive Shot – 4% added crit for Explosive Shot. A no-brainer.

Glyph of Disengage – Along with 2/2 in Survival tactics, this glyph will reduce the cooldown on Disengage to a mere 16 seconds.

Pets

Tenacity Spec for a CrabDepending upon your play style and whether or not you like to arena, pet choices can be fairly subjective. However, I feel there are two pets that set themselves apart from all others as top choices. Those being crab and spider.

The reason I recommend these two pets is because they both possess valuable snare abilities. Both can lock down a target for 4 seconds, which is highly advantageous for battlegrounds, and invaluable for arena.

I go with a crab because I like what the tenacity tree has to offer. Crabs are sturdier mainly due to Blood of the Rhino, and possess some great PvP abilities such as Charge and Intervene.

However, spiders have some pretty cool abilities for PvP as well… First off, their snare can be cast from range, allowing the pet to lock down a target without getting into harmful melee range. They are extremely fast, which is fantastic for PvP. They also have a nice ability called Bullheaded, which acts like sort of a pet PvP trinket along with added damage reduction. Depending on how they’re specced, they can also dish out a little added damage over that of a Tenacity pet.

I’m going to advise against Ferocity pets because they’re just too squishy. Although their DPS is good, a dead Ferocity pet puts out a lot less damage than a live and attacking hardy ‘n’ tanky specced Tenacity pet would. Heart of the Phoenix is somewhat of an answer to the problem, but you have to sacrifice DPS in order to get it. Also, Ferocity doesn’t have Roar of Sacrifice, which is pretty necessary for PvP in my opinion. Overall, Cunning and Tenacity just offer a better arsenal of talents as far as level 80 PvP is concerned.

This is how I have my Crab set up… Garwulf’s Crab Spec

I haven’t tried a spider yet, but if I should choose to, here’s how I might talent him up… Garwulf’s Spider Spec

Gear Itemization, Enchants and Gems

Obviously, hit rating is important until you reach the magical PvP hit cap of 5%. There are a few racials and talents that can increase misses above 5%, but I’d recommend against stacking hit in place of another stat once you reach 5%. 5% will get the job done for PvP.

If you plan on PvPing, then resilience is obviously a stat you’re going to need. I like to run with 800 or more, but I’d suggest a bare minimum of 600. If you arena, then I wouldn’t recommend going with anything below 700, since Hunters are nearly always the first focus fire target in any match.

As a Survival Hunter, the one stat you’re going to want to stack above all others is agility. This is due to the synergy it has with Lightning Reflexes and Expose Weakness. Attack power is good for Survival, but always itemize agility over attack power whenever possible.

Since Survival gains 30% attack power from stamina, piling on health is not a bad idea either. While I wouldn’t necessarily advise going all out with the stamina, choosing things like Frosthide Leg Armor over Icescale Leg Armor isn’t a bad call.

Intellect is always a good idea for the 1 to 1 attack power conversion from Careful Aim, in addition to the deeper mana pool.

Crit rating is a decent stat, but I’d put it behind attack power and definitely behind agility in order of importance. Armor Penetration is another stat that’s alright, but don’t go out of your way for it. Survival’s bread and butter is attack power based fire damage which is not affected by armor penetration.

Don’t worry about haste at all for PvP. Haste is a PvE stat, and not a very important one at that.

Last but not least, if you plan on doing some arena, then there is one other stat you need to seriously consider. This is spell penetration. You don’t need a ton, but 75 spell penetration is ideal. This can be obtained by a 35 spell pen cloak enchant and 2 20 spell pen gems, or by slotting 3 epic spell penetration gems. The reason for this is to burn through the 76 resistance provided by the Druid’s Gift of the Wild.

Druids are ever present in arena, and since SV thrives off of fire damage, it is important to be able to neutralize the Druid’s GotW.

Coming Soon… Part Two of My Survival Guide

I started to run out of steam, so rather than delay the post, I decided to break it apart. More on this subject very soon, including mechanics, strategy, macros and addons.

51 thoughts on “My Survival Guide to Surviving in PvP as a Survival Hunter: Part One”

  1. Hi MattLE,

    I agree with you on Savage Strikes for low-level PvP. I’ve had Raptor Strike crits as high as 483 on my 19 hunter. Hunter melee is fairly powerful at those low levels with the appropriate gear.

    The problem is… this skill becomes much less attractive in the 20-29 bracket. It still does alright damage, but the abilities are on long 5 and 6 sec CDs respectively. Savage Strikes is really only useful as a mop-up skill when trying to finish someone – beyond that, it’s usefulness is debatable past level 19.

    If it ain’t broke, then don’t fix it… but, were I level 27, this would be my PvP spec: http://www.wowhead.com/talent#cZ0eVooZc:0

    All in all though, it sounds like you’re doing quite well and have done some homework. If you’re having success as is, then no need to change unless you’re ready to give up your dream of being a melee hunter. 😉

    As you level, I strongly advise you go all in for Marksmanship. MM is incredibly powerful in the 30-39 and 40-49 brackets. Readiness and the added burst of Aimed Shot is just insane. If you can amass some decent blues (turn off your experience for a bit if need be), and maybe throw on a couple of enchants, you’ll be blowing people up like nobody’s business.

    Reply
  2. I’ve only played WoW for 2 months. I haven’t read through all of the comments posted here but I want to know if anyone else has played with the Talent: Savage Strikes much at low level PvP? Though I have not played with it past level 30 I get crits like crazy with Savage Strikes maxed from level 17 and kept it till now at 27 with my Raptor Strike and Mongoose Bite. Once I hit level 20 I’d follow Raptor/Mongoose(macro) with Wing Clip/Disengage(macro), Concussive Shot and then the usual array while they are slowed and my Pet is beating on them. I also think this is a beauty Talent for me when I am out of mana and I am forced into melee situations and or overwhelmed or both. I’m out of mana and overwhelmed or both a lot in BG’s. Maybe I overkill with my casting shots (epsecially Serpent Sting)? I also notice that even casters will run close to me so I can’t shoot and then I pop em with Raptor/Mongoose combo(macro) and they are usually almost dead or dead on the spot providing I crit, and I crit a lot using Raptor/Mongoose with this talent maxed. I am a 27 Troll. This is my current build – http://www.wowarmory.com/talent-calc.xml?cid=3&tal=000000000000000000000000000051051310000000000000000000020000000000000000000000000 – hope link works >=\ – This will certainly change and alter as I continue to level because I’m gonna dig into SV tree soon. I am not twinked. I use the highest 2H dmg weapon I have at my disposal. I try to keep half my gear with STA attributes and the other half with AGI and I think I have a ring that adds a few points to Crit Rating (I have nothing special). I use a Spider and a Crab. So far the Spider seems to be of better value in WG for flag cap / return or defensive reasons. I use the crab in personal duels and AB do dish out a little extra dmg. I usually walk out of the BG’s in the top 5 people for kills and killing blows. Lemme know what you guys think. Maybe I can improve this lowbie PvP build or be persuaded to not go into Savage Strikes at all in Low Level PvP. Thanks to you all in advance who give feedback. Thanks Gar for this awesome site and you probably already know your PvP button at top of page is broke at the moment o.O If not, I hope you see this soon. Take care.

    Reply
  3. I would like to thank you i am working with your spec you have here and it has made a heck of alot of difference to my game. I actually “Look” like i know what i am doing now. Even got a good job from the son. (hard to get if you knew my elitist son” lol
    thanks again
    Yag

    Reply
  4. Hey, great guide. re examining my spec as I write this.

    I roll BGs with a carrion bird, The constant AP debuff with damage is something I couldnt resist. any thoughts?

    Reply
  5. Hi buddy ive noticed as a BM / SV hunter i take alot of crap from MM hunter because they think we are all wrong and since i havent tried MM i dont know … so my question is do SV hunters have the edge over MM hunters??

    ty

    Reply
  6. I still think you should have 3/3 in entrapment. It is not because I want the 4 second entrapment from frost trap, but because even with diminishing returns I will have a 2 second entrapment from snake trap. This let´s me get from especially warr charge+intercept, even without using disengage. 😀

    Reply
    • Raxornet,

      A lot of hunters like 3/3 Entrapment. In fact, if I were to go SV again for PvP, I’d probably experiment with it myself. The extra time on the snare can seem like an eternity in PvP, plus as you said, it sort of helps account for DR.

      I’m thinking one point from Improved Tracking and one point from Hunting Party would be the places to borrow from to fill out Entrapment.

      Reply
  7. k…thankyou for the help…i didnt even know that hunters mark can be removed at all so thats helps to..thanks for all the help great guide too

    Reply
  8. ty for that for the helpful tips..i do have one more question i forgot to mention. i realized that rapid killing would only activate when i killed someone so i was thinking because i keep hunters mark on my enemys at all times why not put it in inproved hunters mark for a 10% damage bonus it wouldnt need to be proced and its like second nature for me to use it??/ any ideas?

    Reply
    • The extra 50AP is so-so, plus Hunter’s Mark gets removed a lot in PvP. It also eats up a GCD to reapply, so it’s not a gimme that you’ll always have it up. I don’t really see any other configuration for the points in the MM tree, apart from maybe taking 1 point from GftT. Thing is, that’s a pretty important point not only for DPS, but also to make sure your pet has enough focus for its special ability.

      Reply
  9. Hi molock,

    Careful Aim is just an amazing talent, especially since it’s such a value at only the 2nd tier. I could never imagine not going 3/3 in it for any build. Rapid Killing is really only useful in PvP for the buff you gain after a killing blow. Thing is, you have to get the killing blow in order to receive the buff, which can be a real crap shoot in PvP.

    Most importantly though…

    Survival Hunters do not use Arcane Shot. This is why Imp Arcane Shot is not included. 😉

    Reply
  10. garwulf i love the guide you have laid out but i have a question. why not take 3 pionts out of careful aim and the 1 piont out of go for the throat and put 3/3 pionts in improved arcane shot and 1 piont in rapid killing instead. Im just thinking that arcane shot is one of the mosted used shots by the hunter and the extra 15% bonus plus rapid killing 10% bonus gives good amount of damge. But there has to be a reason u dint so im just wondering.

    Reply
  11. Very nice guide, helped a lot =)
    This is my first time commenting, although I’m reading your blog for a long time… but this time I must say it: I WANT you UI, BADLY!!

    keep on the great work 🙂

    Reply
    • Mtniel,

      Scorpids could still be useful in drain type situations, so as to bury your Viper Sting under their poison, but I feel as if there are too many other better choices. It’s hard to beat the snares that crabs, spiders and ravagers provide. Their abilities are going to come in handy no matter who you’re playing against, where as a scorpid really only shines vs teams where you need to drain a healer.

      Reply
  12. Taurion,

    Noxious Stings is better than 3/3 Improved Stings, because it adds 3% damage to all of your shots. If you have the T9 2pc bonus then it’s a good idea to spec into both.

    For PvP, neither talent is needed.

    Reply
  13. Good Morning !!

    Garwulf let me ask you something, dont you thing that was better take 3 points of noxius sting and apply 3 points in improved sting so you can get a higher dps from serpent sting.

    Thank´s and have a nice weekend !!! XD

    Reply
  14. Garwulf, nice site, very helpful.

    I’ve been using the giant wasp found in sholo – the purple one. Not only does it prevent stealth, it attacks hard knocking the toon over. Also, it’s a huge flying critter that is constantly in the face – hard to see anything. And besides, everyone hates wasps.

    Reply
    • Is that the hive queen? If so, grats on that one. A very cool pet and one you can’t get anymore of course.

      Due to its size, I bet it’s great for PvP. I’d love to see how big it gets when enraged. o.O

      Reply
  15. Hey Garwulf, it’s me again! I was just wondering if theres any chance you would update this guide… You know, with a new spec an all…

    Reply
  16. @ mystichalo

    Spell pen is for Explosive Shot, not for traps.

    75 Spell pen is enough to negate GotW and helps in the off chance a Pally decides to throw up a fire resist aura.

    Reply
  17. dude why would a hunter need spell penetration for the traps to actually hit and not be resisted? most of the time u can just dispell the gift from the druids

    Reply
  18. I’ve played around with the flares quite a bit, but i have yet to actually see one help me out. I’ve basically given up on them.

    You’re probably right about not taking a pet specifically for one class. However, I was never a big BM user, so I’m not quite as reliant on my pets to help me out in pvp. I’ve been all Survival all the time since I hit 80. Due to that, I guess, I’m used to fending for myself and view my pet as just an extra chuck of dps. I can generally outplay most other classes without using a pets stuns except for rogues, so thats why I go that route.

    With that said, I havent been doing PVP for nearly as long as you have. Lately, I’ve been basically picking a class or two at a time and finding ways to handle each of them. My friend was a rogue, so they were one of the first ones I focused on. Pally’s are known as the most OP class in pvp, so I’ve put in some work on fighting them as well. Lately the ones I’ve been having the most trouble with are Warlocks and good Disc Priests. Any tips for them?

    Reply
  19. I use a cat in my pvp. Reason being – Rogues. I’ve had issues with Rogues in the past stunlocking me, then just vanishing until they can do it again. Cats can gore a target and give them a bleed effect, which a rogue (as far as I know) has no way of getting out of. The bleed will knock them out of hiding every time it does its periodic damage. Pretty handy. I have a rogue buddy that does a lot of pvp, and when I switched to my cat, I beat him 4/4 in duels.

    Reply
    • Hi Kraigus,

      Cats and Raptors are both good choices for handling Rogues. Although they’re one of the classes that really get under my skin as Survival, I still prefer a pet that works pretty good vs. all classes, as opposed to one that’s more specialized for one class.

      I mainly try to keep a flare up at all times and a trap at my feet if I know a rogue is lurking about. That combined with my resilience is usually enough for me to get the upper hand, unless of course I don’t have any CDs available. In that case, I just grab my ankles and take it.

      Reply
  20. @Dalaila
    There is not enough of a difference in terms of damage between pets to make a significant difference in PvP, which is why it becomes more of an issue of special ability. All pets will do a certain percentage of your total damage, but the difference from pet to pet in a PvP scenario is going to be negligible.

    Reply
  21. @ Dalaila

    The point I am trying to make is a player shouldn’t necessarily choose a pet for it’s damage, but for it’s utility and CC. In my post I indicated that a live tanky-specced Tenacity pet will likely produce more damage than a dead Ferocity pet.

    In PvP, pets are not used so much by MM and SV Hunters for damage output. What they’re mainly used for is utility, interrupts and a little added dps come kill time.

    So yes, pet DPS is pretty negligible unless you’re BM. 😉

    Reply
  22. > pet DPS is pretty negligible
    > unless you’re BM.

    In all the fairness, pet damage can be anything from 10% to 13% of your total DPS when MM specced. A dead or badly talented pet would be a bad loss for you in any case 🙂

    Reply
  23. @ Perceuss

    I went on a spider hunt in Zul’Drak last night, but no luck. While not hugely different from the crab, I like the thought of keybinding web and just using my spider when it’s time for the kill. At the very least, I want to compare the two and see which I prefer.

    @ Mackboy

    Glad you liked the post. I’ll get the follow up done as soon as I can. Welcome to the site btw. 🙂

    @ Boz

    Pet DPS is pretty negligible unless you’re BM. The bear’s AoE attack isn’t really a benefit for PvP. In fact, aoe skills can be a problem if the target is near a cc’d target that the bear might likely break.

    The Tallstrider could be fun, plus you’ll set yourself apart from the herd of spider and crab hunters.

    @ Sorcholia

    131 if you’re Draenei or 164 for everyone else.

    Reply
  24. A quick question : I know that the hit rating is:
    8% for pve = 263 hits

    What is the hits point i need for 5% hits caps approx?

    For 5% = ?? hits

    Reply
  25. @Garwulf

    Excellent feedback; thank you! The only reason I mentioned a Bear was due to their multi-target attack. It’s the only pet that does damage to multiple targets in one shot. Still, I’m leaning towards the Tallstrider. While it may not benefit me as directly as a single-target pet special like the Hyena, in Wintergrasp and BG I am hoping it will be a lifesaver where enemies are typically clustered. I’ll have to think about it; let me know if you have any additional thoughts, and I look forward to the next entry.

    Cheers.

    Reply
  26. love the post ive been lookin for the rite spec n now ive found it great work, cant wait for the next post

    p.s awesome site just found it the other day made my home page 🙂

    Reply
  27. Nice post Garwulf I had to harass my buddy that is a JC and the other that is a scribe to make some new stuff for me. I have been toying with the Ravager…but I am not getting enough from it I love the knock down it does to Hordies..but I don’t know so I am on the hunt for a spider. Awesome post though can’t wait for the second post…even though you answered most of my questions with the first one. One thing though….I don’t use macros at all….how much harder am I making PvP for myself?

    Reply
  28. I am a SV PvP hunter too and I like your spec, but mine is a bit different. You have dumped six points into Thrill of the Hunt and Hunting Party and I didn’t. Here’s why: Do you really expect to be alive long enough that mana is a pressing issue, and even it is, mana pots/aspect of the viper work well.

    I chose to put all three points in Entrapment rather than one like you did. I am always laying traps whenever they are off CD and being able to root people for four seconds is awesome, especially with a snake trap. I have found whatever ability you can get to give yourself a chance to get range on an opponent is a big plus.

    I also put all three points in Improved Stings because draining an extra 30% of a casters mana is beneficial and making stings 30% harder to dispel is great too.

    Reply
    • @ bamthin

      My spec is focused on arena as a priority. By default, a good arena spec will do well in battlegrounds too, it’s just that I try to optimize my spec for play style and team composition.

      I really can’t see a case where you’d ever not pick up Thrill of the Hunt. That talent is amazing. Along with Hunting party, it keeps me out of Viper almost indefinitely, plus it helps my healer out quite a bit in arena. I’ve never even thought to swill down a mana pot in a BG, let alone the fact that it’s not even permissible in arena play.

      3 points in Entrapment is nice, I just chose to not gamble so much on it. Like I said, one point still gets you a full 2 seconds worth of snare, where as additional points only give 1 second each.

      The drain game doesn’t happen as often now in arena, and I can’t really see why you’d need to spec for drain in BGs? /shrug The extra damage to Serpent Sting isn’t all that hot, especially considering what you’d have to give up to get it.

      I’d strongly advise dumping Improved Stings and picking up Thrill of the Hunt. That will help you out considerably. I’m curious to know what the rest of your build looks like.

      Reply
  29. Gearing for Resilience requires using pvp-oriented gear, right? But what about overall DPS? More resi at the cost of other stats will lower my DPS, reducing my killing-speed (am I right?).

    I play some BG’s in full MM PvE gear (T8/T9) and I really have a lot of fun. Of course I have some troubles when I have to face 1 vs.1 with a strong class.

    What’s your opinion? I have 0 resilience at all right now. I’ve stored 2-3 epic pieces of PvP gear from Vault of Archavon but I will never reach 600+ resi withou gemming and enchanting. That would lower my crit and dps by a LOT.

    Reply
    • Hi Dalaila,

      You do lose some DPS with resilience gear, because the stat’s going to be there in place of crit, ap, armor pen, etc. Plus it’s stamina heavy. However, the DPS loss is a fair tradeoff for the increased survivability, especially for a squishy MM Hunter.

      I wouldn’t necessarily enchant or gem for it. You might just consider getting a few welfare epics through honor. Wintergrasp has some easily obtainable items, including http://www.wowhead.com/?item=46086, which is a really nice trinket for PvP. If you can manage the 2pcs set bonus, that trinket and maybe a couple more off set pcs from WG, you’ll be set.

      Rolling in PvE gear is always fun until you die within a few GCDs of a Rogue’s burst damage during stunlock, or you’re getting Bladestormed to death. I find that staying alive leads to more damage and overall contribution. Your results may vary though. 😉 If you can manage to generally avoid death in BGs while in full PvE gear and without a pocket healer, then I want to know your secrets.

      Reply
  30. Splendid work there Garwulf! This guide seems perfect and if I ever wanna give up BM at all (since I don’t pvp much atm) – I’ll defo use those hints. Looking forward to the part 2 – keep it flowing! 🙂

    Reply
  31. Would your recommendations change depending on the type of PvP in which you were participating? Personally I do not participate in Arena, but enjoy Wintergrasp and BGs immensely. I have not found the CC ability of my Silithid, Crab, or Spider to be particularly useful when I’m facing a group of five or more opponents, and have been considering a Tallstrider, Sporebat, or even a Bear for these PvP situations. I was hoping you might provide your thoughts.

    This is actually a perfect article for me, since I’ve found BM to be extremely lacking since the last patch, and I’m relatively new to PvP. Thanks for this; though I will miss my Silithid.

    Reply
    • @ Boz

      The only recommendations I would waiver on would be pet choice. My build is pretty fundamentally sound for both BGs and arena and my glyphs are rock solid. However, if BGs are your primary focus, then you might want to experiment a little with pets to see what you like and what works for you.

      These are the alternative pets I’d suggest:

      Ferocity
      Hyena – Has a nice 50% slow on a relatively short CD. Good for kiting.
      Tallstrider – I haven’t tried one out for level 80 PvP, but I’d imagine Dust Cloud could be a pretty nice situational ability in BGs. I could see it working great in WSG when your flag carrier is being focus fired by a group of melee.
      Wolf – I use my wolf from time to time. Even if they remain at your side most of the battle, they’re worth having around for Furious Howl, Charge and a little extra finishing power.

      Cunning
      Ravager – These are awesome pets vs most every class due to the 2 second stun.
      Bat – Sonic Blast is a great ability, but its long CD and high focus cost lowers the bat’s stock somewhat. Still worth considering.
      Bird of Prey – Although the cooldown on Snatch is a bit long, it can be a difference maker if used wisely. I prefer pets that offer stuns or snares, but birds of prey are worth a nod.

      Tenacity
      Gorilla – Gorilla has a 2 second silence which is nice vs casters.
      Turtle – Turtles are decent for their survivability, but not much else. Still, if someone’s silly enough to try and focus your pet, you’ve got news for them. Shell Shield.
      Warp Stalker – These pets are handy for getting into combat early by use of Warp.

      My top three picks from this list are Ravager, Hyena and Gorilla.

      I wouldn’t go with a bear for PvP, because they don’t bring anything to the table. Try to stick with pets that offer stuns, snares, or debuffs.

      Hope that helps. 🙂

      Reply
      • hey man awesome website
        just a quick question on why dont you put any points to deflection or counterattack??

        they give 50% reduced disarm effects as well as counterattack stuns for 5 sec when proced by a parry

        Reply
        • Hi asarden,

          Counterattack is not a bad talent, but the 3 points in Deflection are a deal breaker. You can get basically the same value from a Titanium Weapon Chain, then spend the points elsewhere. Also, Counterattack is extremely situational. It only works vs melee and you must have a successful parry in order for it to activate. Let me also remind you that as hunters, our parry is a whopping 8% when specced into Counterattack. I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to stand toe-to-toe with a warrior, rogue, ret, etc… waiting for that to proc. Hit Disengage and I’m out…

          Hope that explains things. 🙂

          Reply
          • hey man,where are the other parts?I started to play a survival hunter and it seems you know what you are doing.I want to learn more 🙂

            Reply
    • King Cobra Spec

      The Frostmane Reporting in on Surval Speccing for BGs and AOE effects at max! – Dantero/Dragonhawk (i got like 800 pics from Cat alone for first place dps in all bg types for this spec)

      Not that anyone is going to listen or read this but whatever I’ll throw my 2 cents in.

      First of all when picking Survival Spec you should be doing it because you know that its a hunter’s last ranged AOE besides Trap Launcher combined with a trap. WTF AOE? you may ask. Well the one part of the spec they failed to mention was “Serpent Spread” which combined Serpent Sting to your Multi Shot(which just got buffed 250% hella ya! watch out AV if i rocked you before – its realy goin down now!) to inflict Serpent Sting on everyone your Multishot hits. Thats right every last person your multishot touches gets a serpent sting DOT. What you do, and how powerful that DOT is obviously up to you.

      Now keep in mind I have spent thousands and thousands on spec changing along with the gems etc. for each change. Thousands and thousands of gold just since Cat alone on finding and tweaking this spec. Not just that I’ve been leveling 3 different hunters, 2 ally and 1 horde, to test this spec from the ground up. Right from the start of BG leveling or honor grinding to the finish you will find this spec to give you a DPS and HK increase.

      Ok first whatever you do with your other talents these are the most important for absolute best AOE DPS, specially in BGS and PVE Mobs:

      Improved Serpent Sting x 2! – This is the second most important part of the spec, as it improves the damage of the serpent sting we have attached to our multishot by 30% and the periodical damage by 10% so when you turn and walk away your dps on the 18+ targets you left behind you is still going on, and at an improved rate of 10%.

      Trap Mastery x 2 – Now this is very important to set yourself up for a max dps smash. You go in with Detterence on, throw your traps down(sometimes explosive trap does more damage then improved serpent sting even by the end of it), feign death if you need to before or after to get rid of someone’s lock on you and disengage to a safer spot to unleash hell.

      Entrapment x2 – When your snakes or Ice trap are triggered you entrap all afflicting targets, preventing them from moving for 4 seconds. I don’t know how much you have pvpd before- but 4 seconds can make a world of difference, especialy in big maps like AV etc., where you could have a crowd of 30 people completely stuck with fire, snakes and ice all over them – a serious LOS controler.

      Lock & Load and TNT obviously for the Explosive Shot benifits, these are extremely helpful in the leveling stages of a hunter, as they teach trap pull technices that reward the hunter with fast dps to blow up their targets before they even get near them.

      Toxicology – Increase the periodical damage done by your serpent sting and black arrow by 100%! Ok so now we’ve just added 100% more damage rate to the previous 10% boost to equal 110% bonus damage to the periodical damage of serpent sting.

      Noxious stings – Now at different times i’ll spec this times 1 or 2, but with the update coming out I will definately be respeccing it for 2. The reason being that it increases “all damage done on your targets that are afflicted by serpent sting” so not only do you get to AOE them, but your AOE makes it so that you and your entire team get to do extra damage to them on top of all your crit bonuses etc. FREEKING AWESOME! Even at just 1 for this spect thats a 5% dps boost to your entire group – in AV with your enemy all frozen, 5% is gonna = some serious whoop ass.

      Now the rest of the talents are realy up to your personal game play. I put some in Survival Tactics etc. but those were my own preferences.

      The biggest thing here is to constantly be finding another “good” target to hit. Pets suck! and the reason is because usualy the pet is to far in front of the rest of the group for your Multishot to stick, and get to the others. So while your cast your multishot at one section of a group – always be looking for the next target to hit instantly so your constantly flooding everyone with this poisioness crap.

      This spec is awesome also for the fact that if you can just get a lock on one person from a group, even inside a building or around a corner, or “even when the rest of them are slightly to far to reach – your multi shot will get em!” which means you’ve started doing damage to them even before a hunter technicaly could reach them.

      http://us.battle.net/wow/en/character/frostmane/dragonhawk/talent/primary here is my current spec, however I would definately put 2x of Noxious Stings and take a point from something less imperative.

      Before I end get your Snaketrap glyph and start laying those down as well, gotta think “healer” at the same time, and make sure you got a couple poisions for them to dispell through before getting to your Serpent Sting. Also don’t forget that your Crit% is huge here for making sure that your periodical damage crits for big hits over and over again. You will get realy addicted to this spec if you like MOB battles. Nothing like turning your back to get a bit of health etc. to see thousands and thousands of dps being being got from multitudes of people around you, all frozen and stuck in the pit of hell you made for em lol

      Reply

Leave a Reply to Sorcholia Cancel reply