World of Warcraft: Survival Hunter PvP / Hunter Builds

Hunters that spec or build their character for emphasis in the Survival talent tree are often looked down upon by other players. Since It takes a special breed of player to become a survival hunter, nobody really knows what to expect. They've never dealt with Survival Hunters before in groups, and they're taken back on why you'd specialize in Survival as opposed to Beast Mastery or Marksmanship. There are a lot of unique utility abilities and cool tricks that Survival Hunters can bring to the table. While they might not do quite as much damage as a Beast Mastery Hunter or a Hunter that's specialized in Marksmanship, they'll make up for it in utility and efficiency. Let's get started taking a look at the World of Warcraft Hunter Build for WoW PvP.

Tier 1:

Right off the bat, we can see that Survival Hunters are a totally different breed. As opposed to buffing up your ranged damage, the first Tier of the tree lends itself to the Hunter's Melee attacks. That's new and different! Savage Strikes is a great talent an it gives a good outline as to what the Survival Hunter is all about. I'd suggest putting 2 out of 2 points in it and watching your Melee moves critically strike 20% more often! Good deal! I'd also suggest taking those other 3 points and putting them into Hawk Eye. This is going to give you a better maximum range for your ranged weapons. Never underestimate the effectiveness of standing farther away, especially with a Survival Hunter!

Tier 2:

Trap Mastery takes 3 points and it does wonders for buffing up the effectiveness of your traps. For just 3 points you get huge improvements to all of your most commonly used traps including Freezing Trap! It makes it last 30% longer, and for Hunters that are experiences in PvP, you can't add enough time to that trap. Hunters need to be positioned correctly in order to win battles. Trap Mastery will buy you a lot of extra time. Survival Instincts is the second talent in this Tier that you should take. 2 points gets you 4% less damage done towards you, and a 4% better chance to critically strike with your specialty shots. Can you see how the survival Hunter is starting to become a lot more well rounded than Marksmanship Hunters or Beast Mastery Hunters in World of Warcraft? Keep reading. It gets better!

Tier 3:

Survivalist increases your Stamina by 10%. This is going to do wonders for you (especially because classes now have so much life due to Wrath of the Lich King), but it's also going to help your pet. With that patch update a while back, Hunter pets now get a percentage of the bonuses to the Hunter's Health. This is a kind of two birds with one stone talent and it's a very very good one. Other than this, take Scatter Shot. This is just one more utility ability that Survival Hunters can pull out when danger sets in. Also, you'll want to take Deflection (3 points) so you can get Counterattack further down in the tree.

Tier 4:

Lock and Load is a good talent, but it's not justified to spend more than 1 talent point in it. It procs enough as is taht you're not going to need it to proc all of the time and honestly, the 2 extra points are just not that useful.

Tier 5:

Max out all of the abilites on this Tier. You're going to gain 30% of your total Stamina in Attack Power, a 3% better chance to critically strike with EVERY single attack you do, and the ability Counterattack. Max all of the abilities out on this Tier. They're all very good and extremely versatile in PvP.

Tier 6:

LIghtning Reflexes, when maxed out will increase your Agility by 15%. Take it, use it, love it!

Tier 7 And Beyond:

I normally don't do this because I'm very very picky on how I spec my character. I mean, I've spent countless hours developing plans and masterful speccing patterns, sharing them with friends and building an arsenal of knowledge on all of the classes trees and how to fit them together. That being said, every single talent beyond Tier 7 for a Hunter is very very good. I would max out every one of them. Literally, every one of them with help you and there are going to be no wasted points. Rejoice, Hunters are the only ones that can say "Yeah, all of my talents are amazing." Have fun!

Check out my other articles for more on World of Warcraft!

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