Survival Hunter PvP Guide (2024)

Last updated on Oct 08, 2023 at 12:00by Impakt1 comment

Welcome to our PvP Survival Hunter guide for Wrath Classic. Here you will learn allyou need to know to properly play Survival Hunter in PvP scenarios.

Survival is the more control-oriented Hunter specialization. Survival'smain appeal is its control ability Wyvern Sting. Wyvern Sting is an instant sleep that lasts for 8seconds, which allows for some amazing CC chains when played correctly. Survival lacksthe burst potential that Beast Mastery and Marksmanship bring, but still has excellentsustained damage thanks to Black Arrow and Explosive Shot.Survival is the least popular Hunter PvP spec, but still has some reasonable viability,although will be worse on the high-end of arena compared to the other specs.

This is the general arena build you would take as a Survival Hunter. This isa bit more rigid than the other builds above, as all of the points in Survival along withAimed Shot are critical talentsto take. This leaves you with only a handful of points to put elsewhere in the tree. You could optinto a couple of more offensive talents such as Sniper Training, but thecondition that you need to stand still for 6 seconds is usually too difficult to do in arenas.The trap talents such as Entrapment and Resourcefulness are incredibly good,and allow you to combine Wyvern Sting and Freezing Trapfor an incredible CC chain that is almost impossible to avoid without the otherteam working together to stop you.

As stated above, Hunters are excellent at kiting. This is an incrediblypowerful tool against melee, giving you the advantage in most fights. Focus onkeeping your target a reasonable distance away, usually 30+ yards when possible.You want to keep them well out of melee range, but not max distance. Ideally,you want to be able to turn around and follow them if they try to run withoutletting them run outside of your max range. Use Concussive Shot oncooldown while making use of your instant abilities like Serpent Sting,Explosive Shot, and Arcane Shot while on the move. Ifyou have the space, stop for just enough time to get an Auto Shotoff when you can.

Melee will sometimes get into your minimum range. Unless they are close todeath, do not try to fight melee in melee range, since they will have theadvantage. Your main goal should be to get away from them so you can goback to kiting more. Make use of Wing Clip, and always ensure youhave either Disengage for a quick getaway or Deterrenceto stop the incoming burst. Save instant-CC abilities likeScatter Shot for when they are on top of you, giving you a4-second window to move away and set up to kite again.

In arenas, melee will have the option to line-of-sight (LoS) you more, sinceyou cannot hit what you cannot see. This is why many Hunters choose to play theslower-paced drain build, as rushing and finishing off players is actually quitedifficult sometimes because of LoS around pillars. Remember to drop traps andutilize Aspect of the Cheetah when you can to help catch up if youare chasing someone down. Traps specifically can be placed around pillars as anobstacle, forcing players to either run into them or take a longer kite patharound the trap.

Freezing Trap is your most powerful crowd control ability, freezinga target for 8 seconds if they walk over the trap (10.4 when talented intoTrap Mastery). Freezing Trapis one of your best tools against melee, since it gives you an on-use obstacleto play around. They either have to avoid it, which means you can run around itusing it like a pillar, or they run into it and are frozen for an extended period.

Also, remember that in Wrath of the Lich King Classic Hunters now have access to Freezing Arrow,which is a ranged version of Freezing Trap. You should swap permanentlyto using Freezing Arrow once it is available.

Against ranged, your goal should be to keep them as far away as possible. Asa Hunter, you will out-range them due to your Hawk Eye talent. Thisallows you to get attacks off at range before moving back out of their maxrange once they start casting. This is one of the best skills to work on, andis what can make for a great Hunter. Positioning properly can be challenging, andcan require you to predict what and when they might cast. This can be harderagainst Mages due to their Blink, allowing them to quickly close thegap and get casts off. If you want to set up some burst, consider usingWyvern Sting into an Aimed Shot,Auto Shot, and a Explosive Shot in quick succession.This will be a devastating amount of damage, and potentially will finish offyour target. If it gets your target low enough, a Kill Shot is our hardesthitting ability, and is usually enough to kill anything you can hit with it.

Viper Sting is an incredibly powerful ability against any classthat uses Mana. Especially early on, Mana pools will be low, making your ViperSting even more effective. Keep this up on whatever target you are fighting,while kiting them at max range until they are out of Mana. Once they arecompletely out, you can finish them off easily without having to worry aboutthem casting into you. It is hard to understate just how important this is inarena against any caster or healer.

Another great use of Feign Death, besides dropping combat, isthat it drops your enemy's target. If a Mage is trying to cast aFrostbolt at you, but you Feign Death before it finishes, theirtarget will drop and their cast will stop. This can be a great way to stop themand delay them in getting an important cast, such as Polymorph orFear, off on you.

While your offensive stat priorities do not really change as a Hunter, younow also need to worry about defensive stats: Stamina and Resilience. Resilienceis your most important defensive stat, and is even stronger now in Wrath Classic.Resilience gives you flat damage reduction from all sources, making it incrediblyvaluable in reducing your damage intake for PvP. Additionally, Resilience reduces yourchance to be crit, and reduces the damage done by critical strikes. Stamina, of course, increasesyour health pool, making you harder to burst down. There is no set priority, butgenerally you should still be trying to get lots of Agility and your offensivestats while going for gear that also brings Stamina and Resilience. The easiestway to achieve that is through the PvP arena gear.

The list linked below will include the best possible gear set up for a Hunter in PvP.

When it comes to evaluating Survival Hunter's place within the Arena,we have created a number of guides devoted to listing a variety of popularteam compositions which you can find below.