Survival Hunter Guide

📊 Stat Priority

Priority: Item Level / Agility > Mastery > Critical Strike > Haste > Versatility. Mastery is consistently Survival's strongest secondary this season — it scales your core spear/bomb damage — but the stats are close and weighting shifts with gear, so sim your own character for the exact order.

• Agility - flat #1; more item level almost always wins over a better secondary spread.
• Mastery - top secondary; amplifies your signature damage.
• Crit / Haste - both good and roughly interchangeable depending on build; Haste smooths Focus and the rotation, Crit raises ceiling.
• Versatility - lowest weight, but adds a little survivability.

🎁 Tier Set, Trinkets & Consumables

Tier set (Midnight Season 1): 2pc = Wildfire Bomb damage +10%. 4pc = Wildfire Bomb provokes an additional Strike As One (extra pet damage on every bomb). Both bonuses route through your bomb, which is why you never want Wildfire Bomb to sit capped — rush the 4pc.

Top trinkets — Raid: Gaze of the Alnseer, Radiant Plume. Mythic+: Algeth'ar Puzzle Box (on-use, line up with Takedown), Vessel of Tortured Souls. General rule: pair one on-use with one passive, or run two strong passives.

Consumables: Agility flask · combat potion (e.g. Algari Mana/Power-tier Agility potion) lined up with Takedown · Agility food · Agility augment rune · weapon oil/sharpening per current best. Gems: Mastery-heavy (Mastery primary stat gems) with a prismatic socket where available. Enchants: weapon + ring/leg enchants for Mastery/Agility per the current chart. Crafted/embellishment: guides note crafted pieces like Blood Knight's Impetus / Farstrider's Scouting Vest as embellishment carriers — check live charts for the current best.

🚀 Opener

Pre-pull a Wildfire Bomb and your on-use trinket, then dump cooldowns immediately — Takedown's damage buff is short, so everything bursty should fit inside it. Generate Tip of the Spear with Kill Command and spend it on your hardest hitters.

1. Pre-cast on-use trinket (e.g. Algeth'ar Puzzle Box) ~2s before pull
2. Pre-cast Wildfire Bomb ~1s before pull so it lands on contact
3. Kill Command (generates Tip of the Spear)
4. Combat potion + racial
5. Takedown (charge in, +20% damage window opens, grants Focus + Tip)
6. Wildfire Bomb
7. Kill Command
8. Boomstick
9. Kill Command
10. Coordinated Assault / Spearhead-style burst beasts as Howl procs them
11. Drop into the single-target priority below

⚔️ Single-Target Priority

The golden rule: keep Kill Command on cooldown for Tip of the Spear and Focus, then spend each Tip stack on your highest-value button. Never let Wildfire Bomb charges overcap.

1. Kill Command — when at ≤1 Tip stack or when a Howl of the Pack Leader beast is ready
2. Takedown when its damage window is up (always Tip it for the Moonlight Chakram follow-up)
3. Moonlight Chakram — the button Takedown becomes; fire it inside the Takedown window
4. Wildfire Bomb if it is within ~5s of reaching 2 charges (don't overcap)
5. Boomstick (Tipped)
6. Raptor Strike — Tipped, occasionally converts to Raptor Swipe via the Apex talent for bonus/AoE damage
7. Wildfire Bomb on cooldown
8. Kill Command as filler / Focus generator
9. Raptor Strike as the fallback Focus dump

💥 AoE / Multi-Target Priority

Same engine as single-target, but Wildfire Bomb and Boomstick climb the list and you lean on Raptor Swipe / Butchery-style cleave. Bombs are your primary AoE — never let them sit capped.

1. Kill Command — at ≤1 Tip stack or when a Howl beast (Bear cleaves) is ready
2. Takedown in its window (Moonlight Chakram bounces between enemies for heavy AoE)
3. Wildfire Bomb if approaching 2 charges — consume before cap
4. Boomstick (more valuable in AoE; feeds bomb cooldown)
5. Wildfire Bomb on cooldown
6. Raptor Strike → Raptor Swipe (Apex) for cleave at 2+ targets
7. Butchery / Hatchet Toss when buffed (e.g. Hogstrider) at 3+ targets
8. Kill Command as filler
9. Wildfire Bomb as the lowest-priority filler so a charge never wastes

⏱️ Cooldowns

Takedown is the heartbeat — a short, hard-hitting burst window everything else stacks into. Line your trinket and potion up with it, and let Howl beasts fall where they may.

Takedown~90s (→75s/60s with Savagery)

Primary cooldown. Charges you to the target, deals heavy impact damage, grants ~50 Focus + Tip of the Spear, and increases your and your pet's damage by 20% for a short window (~6–8s). Pack as many Tipped hits into the window as possible. Afterward the button becomes Moonlight Chakram — fire it for a bouncing AoE finisher.

Howl of the Pack Leader~30s cycle (Pack Leader)

Not a button — Kill Command periodically summons Bear (charge + AoE), Wyvern (you and pets deal more damage), or Boar (heavy ST + cleave). Dire Summons shortens the timer. Keep Kill Command on cooldown so beasts keep spawning.

Wildfire Bomb2 charges, recharge

Your signature AoE DoT and the spec's tier-set payload. Treat the charges like a cooldown — fire before they cap. With the 2pc/4pc it hits harder and triggers extra pet strikes.

Boomstickshort CD

Midnight ranged burst hit woven into the priority; scales especially well in AoE and interacts with Wildfire Bomb's cooldown. Tip it when possible.

Aspect of the Eaglesituational

Lets you use melee abilities at range for a short time — clutch for forced-ranged phases without dropping uptime.

💚 Defensive Toolkit

Survival is 'strong active defenses, weak passives' — you have a near-immunity, a big self-heal, and excellent mobility. Plan presses; you won't out-passive damage.

Aspect of the Turtle~2.5–3 min

Near-total damage immunity (up to 50% DR / immunity window via talents) but you can't attack while it's up. Your hard panic button and a scripted-mechanic eater.

Survival of the Fittest~3 min

Flat damage reduction for several seconds. Pack Leader's Shell Cover adds +10% to it — your bread-and-butter rotational defensive for heavy hits.

Exhilaration~2 min

Instant self-heal for a large chunk of max HP (also heals your pet). Use proactively when low, not at full.

Aspect of the Cheetah~3 min

Big burst of move speed (initial sprint doubled with talents) — mobility-as-survival for spreads, kiting, and skips.

Disengage~20s

Leap backward; clears movement-impairing effects. Repositioning + a mini-defensive vs ground effects.

Fortitude of the Bearpassive

Small passive damage reduction (~3%) plus a max-HP bump — your only meaningful passive layer.

🧰 Utility & Crowd Control

🗝️ Mythic+ Tips

• Run Pack Leader — Bear's charge cleave and constant beast uptime make trash melt and keep your defensives (Shell Cover on Survival of the Fittest) online.
• Wildfire Bomb is your AoE backbone — never let charges cap on a pull; pre-bomb packs as the tank gathers.
• Two layers of control: Muzzle to interrupt, Intimidation to stun, Binding Shot + Tar/Freezing Trap to lock down or reposition casters.
• Tip everything during Takedown — Moonlight Chakram bounces for big AoE, so save it for the moment the pack is stacked.
• Use Aspect of the Turtle for scripted one-shots and Disengage/Cheetah to handle ground effects without dropping uptime.
• Aspect of the Eagle lets you keep attacking through forced-ranged or spread mechanics — a real DPS gain on the right bosses.

⌨️ Macros & Addons

WeakAuras is not supported in Midnight (12.0) — use Blizzard's built-in Cooldown Manager (importable configs on Wago.io) to track Tip of the Spear stacks and Wildfire Bomb charges. Addons: ElvUI, DBM/BigWigs, GTFO, OmniCD.

#showtooltip Muzzle
/cast [@mouseover,harm,nodead][@focus,exists,harm,nodead][] Muzzle

#showtooltip Intimidation
/cast [@mouseover,harm,nodead][] Intimidation

#showtooltip
/cast [@target,harm] Takedown
/cast Moonlight Chakram

#showtooltip Misdirection
/cast [@focus,exists,help][@pet,exists] Misdirection

🚫 Common Mistakes

• Letting Wildfire Bomb charges overcap — it's your tier payload and main AoE; a wasted charge is wasted Strike As One procs.
• Spending Tip of the Spear on the wrong button — Tip your hardest hitters (Takedown, Boomstick, Raptor Strike), not a throwaway Kill Command.
• Dropping Kill Command from the rotation — it both generates Tip and spawns Howl beasts; skipping it starves Focus and damage.
• Wasting the Takedown window — its damage buff is short, so don't open it without your bombs/Boomstick ready to dump into it.
• Forgetting Hunter's Mark — a free 3% single-target buff that's easy to leave off the boss.
• Hoarding defensives — Aspect of the Turtle and Exhilaration are on short-ish cooldowns; press them proactively rather than dying with them up.