Survival Hunter Abilities Guide - Forever

By Docoda Updated: 2026/10/08 Reviewed by Neteyes

All Survival Hunter DPS Abilities in ForeverMelee Damage Spells for Survival Hunters in Forever

Strider Kick (Talent in Survival)

A new ability that does 100% of your weapon damage and increases your movement speed for a short duration. It has an 8-second cooldown. The movement speed might be used to run out and weave a Ranged ability in, or to stick on targets in PvP. It is not an Interrupt!

Raptor Strike

An ability that increased the damage of your next Main-hand melee attack. Your main damaging ability as a Survival Hunter.

Mongoose Bite

An instant melee ability usable after you dodge. Gets modified by Survival talents to do more damage and become usable without having to dodge.

Immolation Trap

A trap that does a substantial amount of single-target Fire damage over 15 seconds. Gets modified by Survival talents to have a lower cooldown and more damage.

Explosive Trap

A trap that does a chunk of AoE Fire damage upfront and then leaves an area where enemies will take damage over time. Gets modified by Survival talents to have a lower cooldown and more damage.

Counterattack (Talent in Survival)

An ability that does a decent amount of damage and can only be used after parrying an attack. It immobilizes your target, which makes it really annoying for other Melee classes to fight you in PvP.

Ranged Damage Spells for Survival Hunters in Forever

Arcane Shot

Deals a flat amount of Arcane damage. It's an instant cast with a 6-second cooldown. It now scales slightly with Ranged Attack Power. It shares a cooldown with Summon Hawk

Multi-Shot

Your ranged AoE ability. In Forever, it hits 3 targets for just your normal auto shot damage. It also has no ranks anymore. Shares a cooldown with Aimed Shot.

Serpent Sting

Does Nature damage over time. This now slightly scales with Attack Power. Gets buffed by two talents in the Marksmanship tree.

Volley

A ground-targetable channeled ranged AoE ability that does Arcane damage. It has no cooldown in Forever.

Aimed Shot

The signature Marksmanship ability. It has a 2-second cast time with a 6-second cooldown. Deals a great deal of damage. In Forever, auto-shots will continue during this cast. It now also shares a cooldown with Multi-Shot. Probably the least used ability as Survival.

Utility Abilities for Survival Hunters in Forever Classic

Deterrence (Talent in Survival)

A cooldown found in the Survival tree that lets you become a pseudo-tank for a short amount of time. You can use it when your tank dies and a boss swaps to you, for example, to hopefully buy some more time. Also strong against Melee classes in PvP. It also helps you activate some of your Melee abilities.

Hunter's Mark

A Debuff put on one target that increases all attackers' ranged attack damage to them. It has the neat addition of allowing the target to always be visible even when going into Stealth, which greatly counters Rogues and Cat Druids. Also shows your target with a dot on the minimap. Also used by Survival Hunters because of Expose Prey.

Rapid Fire

The Hunter's big cooldown. It now also increases Melee attack speed, in addition to Ranged attack speed, in Forever. Cooldown gets reduced by Marksmanship talents.

Feign Death

One of the most important Hunter abilities. It allows you to drop combat in PvE scenarios, which can save you when you're getting overwhelmed or are running away. It also means you can gearswap during that window of being out of combat, which essentially means a Hunter has more than 2 trinket options during a fight. In PvP, it will drop your opponents' targeting on you and show you as dead. A smart opponent will try to target you asap again, but it gives you a brief window of surprise.

Tranquilizing Shot

A show that removes a Frenzy effect from the target. This gets used on some boss fights and can be useful in PvP.

Distracting Shot

A ranged shot that generates threat. Only sometimes used if you're kiting a mob with others and want to grab aggro.

Viper Sting

A sting that drains mana from the target. It's very useful in PvP against casters and is also sometimes used in PvE scenarios.

Scorpid Sting

A sting that, in Forever, reduces the hit chance of your target. It's still to be seen how impactful this new effect is.

Flare

A ground-targeted spell that reveals any hidden or invisible enemies in the area. Very useful in both PvP and PvE.

Disengage

A Melee ability that reduces threat against the target.

Eagle Eye

An ability that lets you see a targeted area in the distance. With macros, you can keep chaining this from wherever you're looking at that time, allowing you to search for objectives in a wide area.

Aspects for Survival Hunters in Forever Classic

Aspect of the Beast

An Aspect that increases your Melee Attack Power. It is the main DPS aspect of Melee Hunters. It has the added effect of making you untrackable by others.

Aspect of the Hawk

An Aspect that increases your Ranged Attack Power. It is the main DPS aspect of Ranged Hunters.

Aspect of the Monkey

An Aspect that increases your chance to dodge. Can be buffed and applied partly to your pet with a Beast Mastery talent.

Aspect of the Wild

An Aspect that increases the Nature Resistance of you, your party, and raid members.

Aspect of the Cheetah

An Aspect that increases your movement speed. If you get hit while this is active, you get dazed.

Aspect of the Pack

An Aspect that increases your and your party's movement speed. Anyone getting hit while this is active on them will be dazed, so keep track of your party members getting hit.

Crowd Control Abilities for Survival Hunters in Forever Classic

Concussive Shot

A ranged shot that slows your target for 4 seconds.

Wing Clip

A melee ability that slows your target for 10 seconds. Slightly bigger slow than concussive shot.

Freezing Trap

A trap that freezes a single target for 20 seconds. This is a CC ability like Polymorph, Cyclone, etc...

Frost Trap

Creates a frost zone on the ground that slows any enemy in it by 60%. It's a very strong ability used for kiting or general disruption in both PvE and PvP.

Scare Beast

A fear that can only target beasts. Used to fear other Hunter pets or Druids in Cat/Bear form.

Pet Control Abilities for Survival Hunters in Forever

Call Pet

Summons your pet.

Dismiss Pet

Dismisses your pet. This does decrease their happiness, so don't forget to feed them once you summon them again.

Feed Pet

Feed your pet to increase their happiness. Use it to keep your pet's happiness in the green zone, which increases their damage output. Every pet family has their own diet, so make sure to bring the correct food.

Mend Pet

A channeled heal on your pet.

Revive Pet

Use this to revive your pet after it died.

Tame Beast

This is the spell used to tame tameable beasts in the world.

Beast Training

This opens the Beast Training panel, which allows you to use your pet's TP (training points) to teach them the skills shown in the Pet Ability sections.

Beast Lore

Useful to see a beast's or another Hunter's pet's stats.

Eyes of the Beast

Used to take direct control over the pet. Often used in solo content to manipulate the packs of mobs you pull in a dungeon, for example.

Generic Pet Abilities for Survival Hunters in Forever Classic

Growl

Gives your pet the ability to gain a large amount of threat. This is not a complete taunt like tanks have.

Natural Armor

Gives your pet passive Armor.

Great Stamina

Gives your pet passive Stamina.

Fire Resistance

Gives your pet passive Fire resistance. Useful in dungeons/raids with a lot of Fire damage or in PvP against certain classes.

Arcane Resistance

Gives your pet passive Arcane resistance. Useful in dungeons/raids with a lot of Arcane damage or in PvP against certain classes.

Nature Resistance

Gives your pet passive Nature resistance. Useful in dungeons/raids with a lot of Nature damage or in PvP against certain classes.

Frost Resistance

Gives your pet passive Frost resistance. Useful in dungeons/raids with a lot of Frost damage or in PvP against certain classes.

Specific Pet Abilities for Survival Hunters in Forever Classic

Claw

Deals moderate damage to the target. This is the filler ability you want on your pet so you don't waste any focus. Pets without it won't be good.
Used by: Cat, Raptor, Carrion Bird, Bird of Prey, Scorpid, Crab, Bear

Bite

Deals a good amount of damage to the target. Strong offensive ability, yet it has a cooldown, so it isn't good on its own.
Used by: Cat, Raptor, Wind Serpent, Carrion Bird, Crocolisk, Wolf, Bat, Hyena, Bear, Gorilla, Spider, Tallstrider, Boar, Turtle

Dash

Increases the movement speed of your pet temporarily.
Used by: Bear, Boar, Cat, Crab, Crocolisk, Gorilla, Hyena, Raptor, Scorpid, Spider, Tallstrider, Turtle, Wolf

Dive

Increases the movement speed of your pet temporarily.
Used by: Bat, Bird of Prey, Carrion Bird, Wind Serpent

Cower

Lowers the threat of your pet towards the target.
Used by: All pet families

Prowl

Puts your pet in stealth mode and gives them a boost to their next attack from stealth.
Used by: Cat

Lightning Breath

The filler ability of Wind Serpents. Strong in its own right and affected by spell damage increase debuffs on the target.
Used by: Wind Serpent

Scorpid Poison

A second filler ability for Scorpids. Stacks to five and starts dealing some decent damage at that point.
Used by: Scorpid

Savage Rend

Puts a strong bleed on the target.
Used by: Raptor

Furious Howl

Increases the Melee Attack Power of party members close to the Wolf. Works like Battle Shout.
Used by: Wolf

Dismember

Puts a wounding debuff on the target (healing reduction).
Used by: Crocolisk

Mine!

Disarms the target.
Used by: Bird of Prey

Demoralizing Screech

An AoE ability that reduces the Melee Attack Power of all targets hit.
Used by: Carrion Bird

Charge

Makes the Boar charge to the target, immobilizing it and increasing the Boar's damage significantly on its next attack.
Used by: Boar

Tendon Rip

Reduces the movement speed of the target.
Used by: Hyena

Pinch

Reduces the movement speed of the target.
Used by: Crab

Web

Immobilizes the target.
Used by: Spider

Dust Cloud

Reduces the target's armor.
Used by: Tallstrider

Thunderstomp

Deal AoE damage around the Gorilla.
Used by: Gorilla

Swipe

Deals light damage to 3 nearby targets.
Used by: Bear

Shell Shield

A strong cooldown that reduces damage taken by the pet and increases the time between their attacks, but also increases the damage of attacks.
Used by: Turtle

Tracking Abilities for Survival Hunters in Forever ClassicImproved Tracking

Survival Hunter Abilities Guide - Forever

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