Introduction
Hey, I'm Symex, and welcome to my Survival Hunter guide.
I have been playing Survival Hunter since its rework in BFA and have been pushing keys and raiding with survival ever since. You will also see me complaining about survival in the Trueshotlodge (Hunter Discord).
What has changed
11.1.7 Change
For 11.1.7 there are no significant class changes for Survival Hunter. There is however the addition of the new D.I.S.C belt. To learn more about unlocking the DISC belt, you can read Method's DISC Belt Guide. For Survival Hunter specific recommendations you can head to the gearing section in this guide.
Patch 11.5 Change
Although survival has not received any direct changes, since 11.1 Pack leader has received some pretty significant buffs making it survivals go to hero talent tree for single target situations.
Patch 11.1 Change
Patch 11.1 has introduced many changes to survival. The biggest changes are reworks to Pack Leader, changing butchery and flanking strike into a choice node and much needed buffs to Mongoose bite.
Patch 11.0.7 Changes
There were no changes to Survival Hunter in Patch 11.0.7, but they did get access to to Cyrce's Circlet, a new ring that is unlocked on Siren Isle and can be upgraded to a max item level of 658.
November 26th Patch Changes
- Merciless Blow damage reduced by 15%. Does not apply to PvP combat.
- Pack Leader: Vicious Hunt damage reduced by 20%. Does not apply to PvP combat.
Overall small nerfs which should not impact Survival’s viability too much.
Patch 11.0.5 Changes
With Patch 11.0.5, Survival has gotten some significant changes to class, hero and spec talents. Some of the highlights are:
- Fury of the eagle damage and cast time buffs.
- Kill command no longer decreasing Fury of the eagles cooldown
- Butchery now is a 1 stack heavy hitting ability which can apply a heavy bleed.
- Grenade Juggler now resetting the cooldown of explosive shot instead of automatically firing it.
- Improved killshot being reworked into deathblow which has a chance to let you cast killshot on any target regardless of HP
- Howl of the Pack / Wild Attacks buffing Wildfire Bomb / Raptor Strike respectively.
These are some very welcome buffs, which cause survival to now be a good performing spec in both M+ and raid.
The War Within Changes
In The War Within survival has gotten a small rework to its playstyles and abilities.
The main differences are:
- Tip of the Spear now affects the damage of all abilities. This changes survivals playstyle as you want to maximize the efficiency of your tip of the spear stacks by making sure to use high damage abilities to consume the stacks
- Explosive Shot is now an integral part to our rotation especially in AOE
- A much needed rework to both of our dps cooldowns in Coordinated Assault and Spearhead