Hunter 3.08 talent buildsFollow

This is probably what I'm going to be going with, until a single build surfaces as the one best build, and I've had a chance to try out a devilsaur.

no imp steady? I'm under the impression that is still a pretty important talent.

the world is going crazy, people are actually starting to talk about DPS specs as MM or SV????? The next thing you are going to tell me is that the Patriots aren't in the playoffs.....

It would have to be a huge nerf to BM or a huge buff to MM/SV wouldn't it? I just helped out a group with the Amphitheater of Anguish quests as a 74 BM (too low to do the quests though). A 78 MM was there who beat me on the DPS by about 150 (1250---1400). Give me another 4 levels of skills and gear and I'm sure I blow him out of the water.

Explosive shot more than doubles in damage.
Steady shot takes a big hit.

Tadadadum! Sv is the new dps king.

oh I always do listen to him, guess it will be fun trying out a new spec for the first time since level 15. Is survival still all about stacking the agility (after hit of course)?

Having been Survival well before the expansion and since the expansion, I can say I'm glad for the changes being made to that spec. I have my doubts as to all the changes of the BM specs, as well as the Steady Shot nerf, but that's another story.

As far as SV goes I rate the attributes in this order:
1) Hit (until capped)
2) Haste (until Steady Shot capped so to speak)
3) Agility
4) Attack Power

Stamina, Int, and Armor Pen mean very little to me, but given the choice I would probably pick Int > Stamina > Armor Pen. The reason I choose int over stamina is due to Careful Aim pinned up against Hunter VS Wild. While both attributes are excellent int would prove to give you more AP in the long run. Not to mention with current gear choices, neither Stamina nor Int are in short supply. Armor Pen comes dead last, because I wouldn't give up any other stat for it. I would gladly take a piece with Crit/AP over a piece with ArP/AP due to the horrible stacking of ArP and how little it does unless you have an excessive amount.

I'm working on a new guide for Survival Hunters but have yet to post anything due to the changes coming up. I've gone through at least 10 different SV specs raiding through Naxx, including a Trap-Dancing type spec, but the numbers themselves are inconsistent for particular boss fights. The test dummies to me aren't nearly as accurate due to changing variables of every boss fight (aside from patchwerk where he just stands there). I tend to look at Damage Overall rather then max DPS being delt at that opportune moment when the cosmos align themselves. Although my current spec is a little odd I will admit, I was mostly just testing out Immolation Traps for Trap-Dancing (and I needed to respec for a holiday achievement since SV was bugged once again for a holiday achievement).

However, back to the topic at hand, Agility still plays a vital role for SV. Although I do find it funny that our agility tends to add more armor then dodge % lately. Crit % is also very important, but you also have to remember out talents as SV as well.


Regarding Explosive Shot:
1) Survival Instincts - 4% (Max) increased crit chance for Explosive Shot
3) T.N.T. - 9% (Max) increased crit chance for Explosive Shot

Between those two talents, you already have a 13% added crit chance for your Explosive Shots on top of what your current Crit % is. Even with the worst of gear, and a 20% chance to crit, your Explosive Shots will have a 33% chance to crit on targets per tick of the shot, and it only gets better as you acquire more gear. Personally speaking I wouldn't grab a piece of gear that has more crit over agility with roughly the same stats due to our high % to crit anyway. Even with 3/5 into Hunting Party you'll have no problems keeping that buff up at all times while fighting, same goes for Expose Weakness. However if you feel you are missing some crit, invest into Master Tactician for the meantime. Granted it's more of a band-aid to fix the problem, but it does help a bit.

The real question now will be if Trap-Dancing will work VS Sniper Training. For me, it's been hit or miss. There are some fights where Trap-Dancing is not only easier, it proves to do a bit more damage then Sniper Training. However there are also fights where getting up close and personal to a boss to lay a trap down, isn't exactly warranted or helpful. Although I have already noticed a Disengage/Explosive Shot macro is very helpful in PVP right after laying down a trap, as well as for PVE bosses to help you get back to ranged combat quicker. Kill Shot is also getting a bit of a buff, seeing as it will be on a 15 sec cooldown instead of a 35. This for me means 2 Kill Shots instead of 1, or possibly 3 instead of 2 (depends on the fight but most bosses we only have time for 1 kill shot). Having crit upwards of 15k+ with a Kill Shot, it's a significant amount of damage, and Sniper Training would almost gaurantee a crit with our high crit rating as SV.

I've also used Aimed Shot in some of my builds as well due to Sniper Training adding 6% more damage to that ability, proving it's worth over Multi-Shot for boss fights. 6% Damage Added to Explosive, Steady, and Aimed Shot is hard to pass up since they will be the top 3 abilities you'll be using for a shot rotation, Serpent Sting is just a given. Enough so to not Trap-Dance? Not sure just yet, 2 Free/Instant Cast Explosive Shots every 26-30 seconds will also prove to be very powerful along with the damage added from the trap, my guess would be Immolation Trap at the moment. However, again it depends on the fight.

Kel'Thuzad I wouldn't expect to be Trap-Dancing with the melee only to add another body to be hit by the Ice Tombs as well as avoiding and constantly moving out of the red circles as well. Same goes for Sarth before him, as running up to him to lay a trap that will actually go off can prove devestating. Although the Thaddius fight where you can be constantly switching sides, you can always place a trap down as you cross over. DDR I doubt any hunter would be running into the fray to lay down a trap for LNL to proc.

Long post, but more testing will need to be done before anything conclusive shows up. Not to mention we have no idea what the new boss encounters will be like, so we'll just wait and see.

Regarding trap dancing, any boss that moves, or that has adds will be fairly easy to trap dance with. The problem with running into the boss to lay a trap is that the spot on a boss that will trigger a trap is actually fairly small, and hard to hit.

I should have worded this differently, as coming into Naxx gear you already receive enough haste through normal itemazation that you don't really have to worry about the haste cap for Steady Shot. I just prioritize upgrades based on my current rotation of cooldowns and what I need more of, rather then how much more haste I can get to reach the cap of the Steady Shots. Terrible wording on my part I apologize.


Not to mention positioning as well as any AE type moves the boss has either in front or behind them that you really don't want to be caught in if the tank just so happens to move him. The idea behind Trap-Dancing is easy, actually doing it requires you to be on the ball the whole duration of the fight. On most boss fights where I'm able to Trap-Dance successfully, Explosive Shot comes out as my #1 damaging component, closely followed by Auto-Shots.

With current talents and raid buffs, I've had Explosive Shot go as high as having a 65% crit rating. Granted the highest I've ever had it was 95% on Loatheb but he doesn't really count. Also why I prioritize the talent "Mortal Shots" in any SV build I've made due to the high amount of crits from Explosive Shots.

As MM im currently still doing mass damage in naxx. Its always good to know that should your pet die you still punch out wicked dps. BM on the other hand... I keep seeing everyone put so much emphasis on hit though? Please correct me if im wrong but does it only increase you chance to hit by a minute amount? my hit is 161 which is only +4.91% chance to hit... i find it hard to justify that when hunters quiet simply very rarely miss... and when you do its no real biggy... I simply cant justify it.

I put
1. AP
2. Crit
3. agility
4. Hit
5. Armor pen

as a result self buffed im at 4250AP ish and i still have ALOT of gear to get. ie im still using lvl 78 blue item for my shoulders... once i get either the t7.5 or the shoulders from instructor i would assume my AP to skyrocket... Way i figure is since we already hit 99% of the time i might as well as increase my damage fractionally per shot because lets face it an extra 10 dmg per shot more than compensates for the increase from 99% to 99.045%... rogues on the other hand...

But please do correct me if im wrong.

According to the Sv thread at EJ, this is the prioritization:

As I understand it EJ found out that hunters use a two roll for all their shots, so that wiki would not apply.