Hunter Survival Talent Builds

Survival Talent Guide

This Survival Talent Guide goes over each of the talents in the talent tree meant to keep you alive the longest. The survival talent tree is usually viewed as the melee talent tree, but this isn't necessarily true. It is more about getting away or avoiding melee damage than actually fighting in melee. It provides bonuses to things like dodge, agility and critical hits. Many of its talents are heavily geared towards PvP aspects of the game, so if you PvP a lot, this may be the talent tree for you.

Tier 1 Tier 1 is available at level ten, when your first talents open up.

• Monster Slaying - Max 3 points, increases all damage against beasts, giants, and dragonkin targets by up to 3% and increases the critical damage against the same targets by up to 3%.
  • Can add significant damage against these targets, however since you are never sure of what you will be fighting this talent is only so so.
  • Because base damage is increased and then crit as well, the real bonus to crit is much more than the 3% shown.
    
    
• Humanoid Slaying - Max 3 points, increases all damage against humanoid targets by up to 3% and increases the critical damage against the same targets by up to 3%.
  • Can add significant damage against these targets, however since you are never sure of what you will be fighting this talent is only so so.
  • Because base damage is increased and then crit as well, the real bonus to crit is much more than the 3% shown.
  • When PvPing and only fighting humans this talent becomes must more important.
  • Recommended for PvP players
    
    
• Hawk Eye - Max 3 points, increases the range of your ranged weapons by up to 6 yards.
  • 6 yards can be significant in that it allows you to out range everyone else in PvP and avoid more AoE in PvE play.
  • If you are in the survival tree this is an essential talent.
  • Recommended
    
    
• Savage Strikes - Max 2 points, increases the critical strike chance of raptor strike and mongoose bite by up to 20%.
  • Unless you spend a lot of time in melee, this isn't a talent that most hunters even look at.
  • If however you spend a lot of time in battle grounds or arenas, it could be a useful addition as you will be swarmed at some point.

Tier 2 Tier 2 talents are available as soon as you have 5 points in that talent tree.

• Entrapment - Max 5 points, gives your immolation, frost and explosive traps up to a 25% chance to entrap the target, preventing them from moving for 5 seconds.
  • A very useful, if somewhat unreliable talent. The 25% chance just isn't enough to count on. When it does proc, it's great, but too often it doesn't when you really need it.
  • Very handy in PvP where any chance is worth the points.
  • Recommended for PvP
    
    
• Deflection - Max 5 points, increases your parry chance by up to 5%.
  • A very good talent in that it allows you to survive much longer in melee combat.
  • Combine this with counter attack later on in the tree for a great combo.
  • Highly recommended for PvP players
    
    
• Improved Wing Clip - Max 3 points, gives your wing clip attack up to a 20% chance to immobilize the target for 5 seconds.
  • Another ability like entrapment, it's great when it goes of, but leaves you wanting to much of the time.
  • Very nice when it proc's when kiting a MOB or in PvP.
  • Essential in PvP where you will be charged.
  • Recommended for PvP
    

Tier 3 Tier 3 talents are available as soon as you have 10 points in that talent tree.

• Clever Traps - Max 2 points, increases the duration of your freezing and frost trap effects by up to 30% and the damage from immolation and explosive traps by up to 30%.
  • If you use traps a lot, the extra time and damage is well worth the talent points.
  • A big bonus in PvP where any extra damage or time can save your life.
  • Recommended
    
    
• Survivalist- Max 5 points, increase your total health by up to 10%.
  • At level 70 when geared up, this could mean another 1000 health.
  • In PvE where you are rarely hit, it's not a huge deal. In PvP though this can save your life and your team many times over.
  • Strongly recommended for PvP
    
    
• Deterrence - 1 point skill, an instant ability with a 5 minute cool down that increases your dodge and parry by 25% for 10 seconds.
  • This ability makes you very close to un-hitable for 10 seconds when teamed with your other abilities
  • As with many other talents in survival this is marginal in PvE and great in PvP.
  • Strongly recommended for PvP
    

Tier 4 Tier 4 talents are available as soon as you have 15 points in that talent tree.

• Trap Mastery - Max 2 points, decreases the chance enemies will resist trap effects by up to 10%.
  • This sounds like a nice bonus, and can be for the odd time when traps are resisted, however that rarely happens.
  • Can be worth it in PvP where it happens more often, but even there only situational.
    
    
• Surefooted - Max 3 points, increases your hit chance by up to 3% and increases your chance to resist movement impairing effects by up to 15%.
  • The hit increase is huge for any type of hunter, upping your DPS significantly by allowing you to worry less about to hit while gearing up.
  • Any resist of movement slowing effects in PvP can save your life.
  • Must have for Raiders or PvP
    
    
• Improved Feign Death - Max 2 points, reduces the chance your feign death will be resisted by up to 4%.
  • Feign death almost never gets resisted until max level, and even then hardly ever.
  • Players can't resist feign death in PvP, and are smart enough to just continue to hit your body until your pet disappears.
  • Skip it

Tier 5 Tier 5 talents are available as soon as you have 20 points in that talent tree.

• Survival Instincts - Max 2 points, reduces all damage taken by up to 4%.
  • 4% of all incoming damage can really add up.
  • Again in PvE you shouldn't be taking much, while in PvP you will be hit a a lot.
  • Skip for PvE, take it for PvP
    
    
• Killer Instinct - Max 3 points, increases your critical strike chance by up to 3%.
  • 3% critical strike adds a lot to your DPS and is well worth having.
  • This is a requirement for wyvern sting and if you want that you must max this talent out.
  • Must have talent
    
    
• Counterattack - 1 point skill, this strike can only be used after you parry an opponents attack. It deals 40 damage and immobilizes the target for 5 seconds. This attack can not be dodged, blocked or parried.
  • A great talent and definitely worth putting 21 points into survival for.
  • This talent adds a huge amount to your PvP survivability due to the 5 second immobilize allowing you to get to range again.
  • Recommended

Tier 6 Tier 6 talents are available as soon as you have 25 points in that talent tree.

• Resourcefulness - Max 3 points, reduces the mana cost of all your trap and melee abilities by up to 60% and reduces the cooldown on your traps by 6 seconds.
  • A great talent as it keeps you full of mana longer and allows you to constantly keep a trap up. Combined with item set bonuses you can drop a lot of time off your trap cooldown.
  • If your this far into survival, you need to grab this.
  • Recommended
    
    
• Lightning Reflexes - Max 5 points, increases your agility by up to 15%.
  • The 15% improvement in agility also means a huge attack power increase.
  • This is an amazing talent as it scales with your gear as you level.
  • Must have talent

Tier 7 Tier 7 talents are available as soon as you have 30 points in that talent tree.

• Thrill of the Hunt - Max 3 points, gives you up to a 100% chance to regain 40% of the mana cost of any shot that critically hits.
  • A very nice talent for long raid boss type fights where you would otherwise run out of mana.
  • Really requires a high crit % to make the most of this talent.
  • Recommended for raiding
    
    
• Wyvern Sting - 1 point skill, This sting puts your target to sleep for 12 seconds. Any damage will wake them up. Once wakened the sting will cause 300 nature damage over 12 seconds.
  • This is a very good opening shot for some limited crowd control.
  • It can also be useful as an additional interrupt on casters or healers, or just for time to land an aimed shot, set a trap, and send your pet to attack.
  • While not always useful, your this deep into survival so you should grab it.
  • Recommended
    
    
• Expose Weakness - Max 3 points, your critical hits from ranged attacks have up to a 30% chance to expose weakness. This effect increases the attack power of all attackers against that target by 25% of your agility for 7 seconds.
  • Very useful for long raid boss fights or for PvP burst damage.
  • Not always useful in short fights where it does not contribute much.
  • Must have for raiding

Tier 8 Tier 8 talents are available as soon as you have 35 points in that talent tree.

• Master Tactician - Max 5 points, your successful ranged attacks have a 6% chance to increase your critical strike chance by up to 10% for the next 8 seconds.
  • This can up your damage by quite a bit and ends up being active a surprising amount of time.
  • It is a requirement for readiness and therefore taken by survival hunters.
  • Recommended

Tier 9 Tier 9 is the top tier talent and is available as soon as you have 40 points in that talent tree.

• Readiness - 1 point skill, when activated this immediately resets all cooldowns on your abilities. It is an instant cast with a 5 minute cooldown.
  • This ability is your "Oh, Crap" button. If you're out of traps, wyvern sting is on cooldown, and need a way out, you just pop this ability and you have them all back.
  • This is useful in almost any situation, but really in PvP where your crowd control abilities are key.
  • Must Have Talent for PvP