Utolsó módosítás programmer, ekkor: 2014.06.26.
In this article, we list your Survival Hunter (WoW 4.3) core abilities and how they should
be used together (rotation). We also explain when to use your various
cooldowns. Then, we go deeper and present all the subtleties that playing
a Survival Hunter will face you with.
The other articles of our Survival Hunter guide can be accessed
from the table of contents on the left.
1. Basic Single Target Rotation↑top
The single target rotation for a Survival Hunter is based on the following
priority system:
- Apply
Hunter's Mark on the target.
- Apply and maintain
Serpent Sting to the target
- it will be refreshed by
Cobra Shot so it only needs to be done once, normally.
- Cast
Explosive Shot on cooldown.
- Cast
Kill Shot (when target is below 20% health).
- Cast
Black Arrow on cooldown (if the target will live for the full
duration of Black Arrow).
- Cast
Arcane Shot if you have sufficient focus to still execute
steps 3 and 5 afterwards.
- Cast
Cobra Shot.
Also, managing
Lock and Load procs is an essential part of playing a Survival
Hunter. We detail this in a specific section further
down the page.
2. Basic Multiple Target Rotation↑top
2.1. Less Than 4 Enemies
In this situation,
Multi-Shot is not worth using. Use your single-target
rotation, and replace
Black Arrow with
Explosive Trap, assuming
that at least two targets will remain in the area affected by your trap.
Doing so will give you more overall DPS and will improve your chances of
getting
Lock and Load procs.
Also, you will achieve more DPS if you use
Lock and Load procs by:
2.1.1. 4 or More Enemies
Abandon your single-target rotation and use this priority list:
- Cast
Multi-Shot as often as your focus allows.
- Cast
Explosive Shot when you benefit from a Lock and Load proc
(triggered by Explosive Trap).
- Cast
Kill Shot (when target is below 20% health).
- Cast
Cobra Shot whenever you have insufficient focus for
Multi-Shot.
3. Cooldown Usage↑top
Rapid Fire and
Call of the Wild are you two cooldowns. They have the
same cooldown, so they should always go together (preferably in a macro,
see our macro article for Survival Hunters).
What you want is to make sure you use them as many times as possible during
the encounter (so do not delay to the point where you lose a use). Other than
that, try to use them:
- when the boss takes extra damage;
- when you need extra burst;
- at the start of the fight when you have a potion active.
It is not recommended to stack these cooldowns with
Bloodlust,
Heroism, or
Time Warp, unless the boss is about to die.
4. Aspects↑top
You should always have an Aspect active. As a Survival Hunter, you
should always be using
Aspect of the Hawk.
Should your raid require Nature Resistance while lacking another source
for it (a Shaman totem), you should use
Aspect of the Wild.
When you have to move for extensive amounts of time, consider using
Aspect of the Fox, which will allow you to use some of your abilities
with a cast time while moving.
Aspect of the Cheetah and
Aspect of the Pack are generally not advised
during combat because of their negative dazing effect, but can be useful
for speeding up your raid's running after a wipe.
A hunter's aspect will persist until removed by the hunter or until
the hunter's death. Aspects can be changed in combat, but they cannot be
changed while a cast is in progress. It is worth mentioning also that
hunter aspects are on a different global cooldown, only affected by each
other.
5. Optional Read: Mastering Your Survival Hunter↑top
While the rotations we gave in the previous sections will yield very good
results, there are many things you should be aware of, in order to play your
Survival Hunter to its full potential. You will need to understand all the
subtleties, pertaining to your abilities, rotations, and cooldown usage, that
we present below.
5.1. Focus
Hunters and their pets use a unique resource, called focus. Focus works
in much the same way as other class resources, like rage and energy, in
the sense that some abilities grant focus, while others cost focus in order
to be used.
A Survival Hunter's focus has a maximum capacity of 100, and
regenerates at an innate rate of 6 focus per second. This rate is increased
by Haste Rating. In addition to this, certain abilities such as
Steady Shot and
Cobra Shot also grant focus.
Most of the abilities in the hunter rotation cost focus to use, and some
talents decrease the focus costs, or offer other ways to gain additional
focus.
Hunter pet focus works similarly, and is of no concern to you as you cannot
do anything to modify it, nor will you be casting pet abilities manually.
As a general rule, you should aim to always have enough focus to cast
your shots, but also to never have 100 focus (as any extra focus you generate
would then go to waste).
5.2. Auto-shots and Special Shots
Hunters do the majority of their damage through the use of shots. The
rest of the damage is made up of pet damage and DoT damage.
Auto Shot is the default Hunter attack, which works similarly to
melee classes' auto attacks or "white swings". It is affected by your
Ranged Attack Speed, and it continues to work while moving.
The other hunter shots are of all varieties: instant cast or with a cast
time, costing focus or granting focus and some are utility shots which
cost no focus and deal no damage.
5.3. Abilities in Detail
This section presents all the abilities you will use as part of your
single target and multi-target rotation.
Cobra Shot: this is your filler shot. It has a cast time, no focus
cost or cooldown and it generates 9 focus. Each time it is cast on a target
affected by Serpent Sting, it will refresh its duration by 6 seconds, up to
a maximum of 20 seconds. Because of
Careful Aim, it has a 60% increased
critical strike chance on targets above 90% health.
Serpent Sting: this is a DoT which deals Nature damage to the target
over 15 seconds. It is an instant cast, costs 25 focus and has no cooldown.
It is refreshed by Cobra Shot.
Explosive Shot: this is one of your key abilities as a Survival
Hunter. It is an instant cast, costs 50 focus and has a 6 second cooldown. It
deals Fire damage over two seconds.
Black Arrow: this is a DoT which deals Shadow damage to the target
over 15 seconds. It is an instant cast, it costs 35 focus and has a 24 second
cooldown. It is a key ability in your rotation.
Arcane Shot: this is your focus dump ability. It is an instant cast,
costs 25 focus and has no cooldown.
Kill Shot: this ability only becomes available when your target is
under 20% health. It is an instant cast, costs no focus and has a 10 second
cooldown. By using Glyph of Kill Shot it becomes usable twice in a row.
Multi-Shot: this is your AoE attack. It strikes the target, and all
targets within 8 yards of it. It is instant cast, has no cooldown and costs
40 focus.
Explosive Trap: places a trap on the ground, which explodes when
touched by an enemy, and deals fire damage to all enemies in an area
around the trap. It shares a cooldown with Black Arrow. Useful especially
during AoE situations, but depending on the number of enemies and the time they will spend in the affected area, it may not be worth the global cooldown.
Hunter's Mark: this ability places a debuff on your target, increasing
the ranged attack power of all attackers on the target. It is an instant cast,
it has no focus cost and no cooldown, and casting it does not trigger
combat.
5.4. Single Target Priority Subtleties
We remind you of the priority list that we presented earlier in this article
for Survival Hunters, as the rest of this section is based on it:
- Apply
Hunter's Mark on the target.
- Apply and maintain
Serpent Sting to the target
- it will be refreshed by
Cobra Shot so it only needs to be done once, normally.
- Cast
Explosive Shot on cooldown.
- Cast
Kill Shot.
- Cast
Black Arrow on cooldown (if the target will live for the full
duration of Black Arrow).
- Cast
Arcane Shot if you have sufficient focus to still execute
steps 3 and 5 afterwards.
- Cast
Cobra Shot.
You should apply
Hunter's Mark on the target before the pull (ideally) or right
as combat begins or the target becomes available. Once that is done, you should
apply
Serpent Sting. Your Serpent Sting will, under most circumstances, remain
on the target for the rest of the fight, as it will be refreshed by all of your
Cobra Shots. In addition to the damage that it deals, Serpent Sting also allows
you to benefit from the 10% increased damage granted by
Noxious Stings.
You should then make sure that neither
Explosive Shot nor
Black Arrow are ever delayed from being used on cooldown. This means not
only that you should not prioritise a different cast over them, but also that
you should ensure to keep enough focus in reserve to be able to cast them.
In between
Explosive Shots, you should have no difficulty in firing off
three
Cobra Shots. Every so often, you should replace one of the three Cobra
Shots with a
Black Arrow, as it becomes available. When the boss is under
20% health, you should replace Cobra Shots in order to cast
Kill Shot.
5.4.1. Dumping Focus
Your only means of dumping excess focus (thus preventing capping your focus
at 100, which means wasting focus) is
Arcane Shot. The cost of an Arcane
Shot is 25 focus (22 with
Efficiency), and these should be cast only so
that you do not cap your focus. There is no need (and it is indeed
detrimental) to deplete your focus pool by casting several Arcane Shots at a
time, if that causes you to delay
Explosive Shot or
Black Arrow even
for an instant.
5.4.2. Sniper Training
Because
Sniper Training offers a 6% increase to
Cobra Shot damage,
you will want to remain stationary for at least 6 seconds at a time, every 15
seconds, for the entire duration of the encounter, or as much of it as
possible. In high movement fights this may prove slightly more challenging, but
with a small amount of practice it should be attainable.
5.4.3. Lock and Load Procs
Whenever you deal periodic damage with
Black Arrow or
Explosive Trap, you have a 12% chance to trigger a
Lock and Load
proc, which causes your next two
Explosive Shots to cost no focus and
trigger no cooldown, in other words allowing you to cast three Explosive Shots
in a row.
The best way to handle Lock and Load procs is to cast your Explosive Shots
one after the other, with a very small break in between them (you should wait
0.1 seconds after the global cooldown of the previous Explosive Shot has
finished). The reason for waiting this small amount of time is so that none of
the ticks from Explosive Shot are wasted by being overwritten by the next
shot. Your handling of Lock and Load procs should, therefore, be:
If you are low on focus, however, you can weave in
Cobra Shots between
your explosive shots, like this:
- Explosive Shot
- Cobra Shot
- Explosive Shot
- Cobra Shot
- Explosive Shot
When the boss is under 20%, you should also weave in
Kill Shot between
your Explosive Shots.
5.5. Tips for AoE DPS on 4 Enemies or More
If the enemies are going to remain in the same general area, and are going
to be alive for a sufficient amount of time (10 or more seconds), you can
place an
Explosive Trap as well, through use of
Trap Launcher.
Burst AoE DPS can be achieved by using
Rapid Fire. Doing this will
allow you to use considerably more
Multi-Shots and will drastically reduce
the amount of
Cobra Shots you get to cast.