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Survival Hunter Shot Rotation 3.3: Moar Pew Pew Behind Every Shot
By admin | December 12, 2009
Hunters, who were once deemed the easiest class to play, now have become more difficult. With spec’s changing every patch its really hard to keep your dps up. I have been through it all, each talent tree has been the “top” at one point or another. Since the huge BM nerf, survival has been the spec to play. I remember when people used to get made fun of for even putting points in survival… Times have changed and so have survival hunter shot rotations. So with out further a due here we go.
Here is the general spec that I will be going by: Survival Hunter PvE Spec Now you do not have to have this spec, but you have to have the general structure of the cookie cutter survival pve spec. Most likely if you have been survival for a while you will already know this spec, but for you new comers this post will be gold for you!
Like all classes you will have a list of “priority” skills:
Kill Shot
Explosive Shot
Serpent Sting
Black Arrow
Multi-Shot or Aimed Shot
Steady Shot
Kill Shot is number one because it obviously does the most damage when available. Explosive Shot will be your big hitter and I will be covering some very important facts on how to use it properly in a moment. The reason behind Serpent Sting beating out Black Arrow is because of Noxious Stings giving a 3% increase to ALL damage done by you. Black Arrow comes next because of its 10% proc for Lock and Load. Next are Multi-Shot or Aimed Shot because they are “instant” damage. Lastly, Steady Shot should fill in your blank spots in your rotation.
Now this sounds easy, but there are a few kinks in the rotation that make it difficult. Lock and Load. Since it is not a guarantee when the counter will tick to proc Lock and Load you obviously will have to take 2 things into consideration. How will I fit this into my rotation and what shots will I use?
How will it fit? Use it right after the ending of your next GCD. Lock and Load provides a massive damage boost that you can not pass up! Next what shots to use? This is where hunters get divided… Some say Explosive > Steady > Explosive or Explosive > Arcane > Explosive > Multi or Aimed . Well I say and can prove mathematically… Explosive > Explosive > Explosive . Now the catch is that you should space your Explosive Shots out 2 seconds each or you will clip the last tick on each explosive shot. Before I explain more heres the math:
WITHOUT ANY MODIFIERS, MAX DAMAGE POSSIBLE (NON CRIT), AND 4,000 AP.
Explosive = 3,072 (Full ticks)
Arcane =1,092
Multi = 1,224 (When hitting 3 targets)
Steady = 652
Explosive > Steady > Explosive > Steady > Explosive
That rotation is 10,520 damage over 11 seconds resulting in 956 dps.
Explosive > Arcane > Explosive > Multi-> Explosive
That rotation is 11,532 damage over 8 seconds resulting in 1,441 dps.
Explosive > Explosive > Explosive
That rotation is 9,216 damage over 6 seconds resulting in 1,536 dps.
Numbers don’t lie folks learning when to fire your shots improves your dps dramatically. I have noticed that the 2 seconds is over when the skills blink to show the GCD is over. Note: Not when they are over… after the blink finishes. The next best thing is to get a UI like X-pearl and make your DoT’s on the target large so you can see the Explosive Shot DoT in your peripheral vision.
Now to start your rotations you want to start off with Hunter’s Mark > Serpent Shot > Explosive Shot > Black Arrow > Multi-Shot or Aimed > Steady Shot. Hunter’s mark grants you 500 more ap = boost in dps, then Serpent Sting boost damage by 3% which = more dps + the dot that follows, then the rest is commonsense following your shot priorities. Remember when Lock n Load is ready it takes all priority! If kill shot is available at the same time, sneak it between your Explosive Shot x3 rotation.
As for your CD’s obvious rule spend them when you can get the max out of them. Aka when blood lust or heroism is popped, when you know you will be standing still, when you have a buff or boss has debuff… etc etc etc.
Another good source for hunter dps is femaledwarf.com. Upload your armory info and bam few clicks later it shows your max dps. I found a few features that need to be updated with the 3.3 patch, other then that a really nice application.
As for addons here you go: Hunter Addons. Everything you need and then some. Bartender 4, which if you don’t have this well… now you do and welcome to addons. Kharthus Huntard Timers which monitors your CD’s and tells you when LnL procs. ZZHuntard which automatically tracks whatever you target which means 5% damage boost. If your dps doesn’t go up after reading this you should just alt+f4 and destroy your computer… Happy Deepsing!
Topics: Hunter | 20 Comments »
December 23rd, 2009 at 9:20 am
Thanks – great help =)
December 27th, 2009 at 2:26 pm
hey, thanks alot took my first baby steps with a hunter today
January 2nd, 2010 at 3:37 pm
Thanks. That was very helpful to me
January 9th, 2010 at 5:48 am
Any macro’s you know of? if so pst them please
January 9th, 2010 at 4:11 pm
Yes a few I will post them, altho macros for rotations is a big no no now adays :/ it ruins dps… but I will add another post with useful hunter macros
January 9th, 2010 at 6:08 pm
So where on the toolbar do you put your shots? One thing I never see explained in all the sites is how they’re set up, when you press them, etc. I just see shot rotation. From what I gather it looks as if you’re pressing about 4-5 shots in sequence. I tried that and it gimped my dps big time…so what’s going wrong?
January 10th, 2010 at 1:27 am
Posting a video on youtube for that as I type. Thought of the same thing so I did a video summarizing the page and showing the rotation.
January 28th, 2010 at 9:30 am
Thanks for this guide – it’s the first one that I think I understand. I am having real trouble trying to max my dps and I am coming to the conclusion that I am not pressing the right buttons at the right moment! So now I’m off to u tube to learn more.
Thanks again
February 18th, 2010 at 8:19 pm
wat about pvp??? this helps a lot but im going to pvp with friends and need a rotation for that
February 26th, 2010 at 5:54 pm
I have recently changed my rotation to the one you have recomended and yeah i have noticed a dps increase but still i carnt see what i am doing wrong as i still carnt get my dps as high as othe hunters with lesser gear.
I have checked with femaledwarf.com. and acording to that i am doing about 3-4k less dps can anyone give a little help plz.
February 26th, 2010 at 6:12 pm
Would be interested in seeing that YouTube video. Any change of posting the link, please?
February 28th, 2010 at 9:25 pm
Why yes I do have a youtube video of it…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0enzMj2CNLU
March 6th, 2010 at 2:07 pm
Don’t think you’re math is right on lock and loaded next 2 shots trigger no global cool down which means I can fire any shot instantly after explosive while its still ticking for 2 sec…get through the gcd on that shot and fire explosive shot again.
March 11th, 2010 at 8:11 pm
Just a couple of things:
You cant use arcane shot as a filler for LnL procs as it shares the proc with explosive so basically you’re denying yourself that 3rd exp shot. I’d suggest using a simple steady shot filler or any other shots are up, ie; If Black Arrow or Aimed/Multi are up use them according to preference. Remembering if you have a chance to have Black arrow up those free Exp Shot procs are going to be hitting harder. Also I know alot of hunters will open with Exp shot then Serp Sting as due to it being our best asset you want it to be on CD as many times as possible. The extra 3% dmg for 2 seconds from having serpent sting on first is far outweighed by an extra Exp Shot in a boss encounter which can equate to an extra 10-20k dmg. Serpent sting should certainly follow immediately after the gcd from your initial Exp Shot is up. Also with any luck you’ll have a MM hunter with Imp hunter’s mark in your raid and you wont even have to worry about applying hunter’s mark. If not you should have applied the mark before the onset of the fight and therefore wont have to figure it into your rotation.
March 31st, 2010 at 7:17 pm
Hmm Im going to have to try this rotation, now I’m wondering, where in the rotation do you shoot wyvern sting?
June 22nd, 2010 at 6:59 pm
@Tamahl
OFC u can..becouse at middle of LnL proc u dont have either GCW or standard CD on either of that 2 skills…
So freely use Insta expl.–>arc–>expl.
for max dmg..
dont forget that expl has 3 tics so dont screw them with explosive shots spam in LnL proc
August 22nd, 2010 at 2:24 pm
Can you please post the armor you were using to do this?
December 31st, 2010 at 6:36 am
Can I see your talents please?
December 31st, 2010 at 6:37 am
by the way, I’m on the chinese server
January 10th, 2011 at 12:52 pm
Very informative, How about an update on this for Cata,