A Look Back at Survival Hunter in Dragonflight & War Within Wishlist - Editorial

Live Posted 2024/02/06 at 8:00 AM by DoolB

Our Guide Writers have reviewed their specs throughout Dragonflight and share wishlists of what they'd like to see in the War Within. Check out all of our released editorials below.

Dragonflight Retrospectives & War Within Wishlists

Blood DKFrost DKUnholy DK

Havoc DHVengeance DH

Balance DruidFeral DruidGuardian Druid
Restoration Druid

Augmentation EvokerDevastation EvokerPreservation Evoker

BM HunterMM HunterSurvival Hunter

Arcane MageFire MageFrost Mage
Brewmaster Monk
Mistweaver MonkWindwalker Monk

Holy PaladinProtection PaladinRetribution Paladin

Discipline Priest
Holy PriestShadow Priest

Assassination RogueOutlaw RogueSubtlety Rogue

Elemental ShamanEnhancement Shaman
Restoration Shaman

Affliction WarlockDemonology WarlockDestruction Warlock

Survival and YouSurvival Hunter in DragonflightSurvival Hunter GameplayKill CommandMongoose BiteWildfire BombMongoose BiteWildfire BombSpearheadCoordinated AssaultFury of the EagleSpearheadMongoose BiteCoordinated AssaultFury of the EagleTalent TreeSpearheadCoordinated AssaultFury of the EagleSurvival Hunter Tier SetsWildfire BombMongoose BiteHunter Survival Class Set 2pcHunter Survival Class Set 4pcWildfire BombFury of the EagleHunter Survival 10.2 Class Set 2pcHunter Survival 10.2 Class Set 4pcSurvival Hunter Utility and ViabilityChaos BrandMystic TouchBattle ShoutAnti-Magic ZoneRallying CryDarknessWind Rush TotemStampeding RoarAspect of the TurtleHunter's MarkAspect of the TurtleHunter's MarkWindfury TotemSentinel's ProtectionBinding ShotHigh Explosive TrapScatter ShotFreezing TrapHunter's MarkWindfury Totem

Aspect of the Eagle / Ohn'ahra's Blessing

Aspect of the Eagle

Small Group CD

Exhilaration

Something Else!

The Cooldown ProblemCoordinated AssaultSpearheadCoordinated AssaultCoordinated AssaultWildfire BombKill ShotWildfire BombKill Shot

The "Coordinated Assault" empower buff (which is also named Coordinated Assault) will fade when consumed by Wildfire Bomb before all targets you hit with said bomb have taken benefit from this 20% damage buff. This is clearly a bug, but has been a thing ever since the rework of Coordinated Assault.

The least annoying / most efficient way to play this cooldown is to simply ensure your Kill Shot exclusively gets empowered. This is primarily done with the help of a set of Macros that make sure this happens. This undermines the idea of the cooldown but given how incredibly weak the Bomb Empower is, it is worth it.

One of the components of Coordinated Assault is to effectively accelerate the cooldown recovery of Wildfire Bomb by 100%. This sounds great, until you realize that the DoT of our Wildfire Bombs cannot actually stack/ignite. While Wildfire Infusion can partially fix this by switching around which "ID" of a bomb you end up throwing, this amount of acceleration will inevitably cause overlapped DoTs, thus wasted DPS.

SpearheadSpearheadMongoose BiteKiller CompanionSpearheadDeadly Duo

Spearhead is still on the GCD. Most cooldowns that are still on the GCD do something "extra" to compensate, such as direct damage. This is also the case for Spearhead, except the damage this ends up doing is give or take 6k, which is less than your average auto attack. Seeing the 6k hit appear on your screen is far from a satisfying payoff for it being on the GCD..

The overall power level doesn't feel like it fits a 90 second CD, but rather a 60 second CD. Although lowering its CD to match doesn't seem worthwhile as it would make it awkward with other abilities, such as Death Chakram.

Spearhead is extremely specialized in single target and single target alone—it provides near-zero value in AoE. This is fine by itself, however it is not fine when its current Single Target output which it is specialized in, struggles to outperform simply not talenting into Spearhead or even any CD at all. On top of that, it plain loses to these alternatives when it comes to AoE.

One of Spearheads Core mechanics relies on extensions through Kill Command resets. There are several ways to achieve a higher chance to reset including Deadly Duo, which creates a loop that is tied to Spearhead itself. The problem with this arises when you would ideally want to use a high impact ability during Spearhead that does not directly contribute to these resets, such as Kill Shot, Wildfire Bomb, or Flanking Strike

Survival Hunter In War WithinQuality of LifeCoordinated AssaultCoordinated AssaultWildfire BombWildfire BombWildfire InfusionCoordinated AssaultWildfire InfusionFlanking StrikeLungeLungeLungePredictable RotationHunter Survival Class Set 4pcFuture Survival Hunter GameplaySerpent StingSerpent StingVolatile BombViper's VenomSerpent StingPoison InjectionSerpent StingVolatile BombViper's VenomHydra's BiteSerpent StingEnergetic AllyBloody ClawsMongoose BiteMongoose Furythe definingWildfire BombFlanking StrikeKill CommandKill CommandKill CommandFlanking Strike

During Spearhead where Kill Command would otherwise extend the duration of Spearhead. Generating focus through Flanking Strike simply means you are not extending Spearhead through Kill Command.

During Pheromone Bomb where Kill Command resets are guaranteed, which reduces the cooldown on Fury of the Eagle in AoE situations.

Flanking StrikeKill CommandFlanking StrikeKill CommandMastery: A Weaker but More Specific VersatilityMastery: Spirit BondWildfire BombFury of the EagleWildfire BombWildfire Bombthe worst possible stat100 ilevels lowerSurvival Hunter Hero TreesDark RangerPack LeaderSentinelPack LeaderDark RangerWailing ArrowDark Ranger's QuiverSentinelKill ShotArcane ShotSentinel OwlTrueshot Lodge

12 3

Comment by RofleAlso, dual wielding, thank you.Comment by Rainy89RemovedComment by TybarnIt’s time to admit melee survival is a failure, and revert it to range.

Sure, you’ll piss off one of the ten people playing the spec, but in order for it to thrive and attract more players it needs to go back to the way it was.

Unless it’s hilariously overtuned like in S3+4 of SL, it’ll never not be a meme. The number of players speaks for itself.Comment by soulyouthremove melee surv! bring back ranged surv, what legion did to surv hunters and shadow priest is criminal.Comment by PeacemoonIt’s time to admit melee survival is a failure, and revert it to range.

Sure, you’ll piss off one of the ten people playing the spec, but in order for it to thrive and attract more players it needs to go back to the way it was.

Unless it’s hilariously overtuned like in S3+4 of SL, it’ll never not be a meme. The number of players speaks for itself.Comment by Narhwalsremove melee surv! bring back ranged surv, what legion did to surv hunters and shadow priest is criminal.Comment by eel21My only wish is that they make surv into ranged spec again. Melee hunter is an abomination a basically makes hunters a 2 spec class.Comment by Wabbitkillerremove melee surv! bring back ranged surv, what legion did to surv hunters and shadow priest is criminal.Comment by ProfienThe spec still doesn't have a real identity. The constant focus on bombs has become dull. The spec is really disjointed. Remove the emphasis on mongoose bite or not make it as impactful. The talent tree is very uninspiring since a lot of it is increase an ability amount by a %. Going back to range and juggling dots and debuffs kinda like FF14 would make the spec better and more than likely give it a spot in raid. I rather juggle 3 dots and have debuffs like lower the targets armor, attack speed, etc. Having a true ranged debuff class would be fun. Warlocks don't exactly do this except Aff with the dots.Comment by PeacemoonMy only wish is that they make surv into ranged spec again. Melee hunter is an abomination a basically makes hunters a 2 spec class.Comment by Khayos...but in order for it to thrive and attract more players it needs to go back to the way it was.My only wish is that they make surv into ranged spec again. Melee hunter is an abomination a basically makes hunters a 2 spec class.Comment by ScaryfoxIt was honestly refreshing to read an article from somebody who likes/loves their class/spec while also maintaining a critical eye. Maybe it's because I haven't played SV in this expansion yet; I didn't realize that Coordinated Assault was so weak. I also liked Flanking Strike so, it's good to know there are several situations where that's not good to use.Comment by Jayjay2kayAwesome write up. Thanks.Comment by VerantejaMake survival dual wielding or redesign the whole specComment by skillshott755Also, dual wielding, thank you.Comment by ccbingIt’s time to admit melee survival is a failure, and revert it to range.

Sure, you’ll piss off one of the ten people playing the spec, but in order for it to thrive and attract more players it needs to go back to the way it was.

Unless it’s hilariously overtuned like in S3+4 of SL, it’ll never not be a meme. The number of players speaks for itself.Comment by dreadmarblesSurvival Hunter certainly needs more of the rugged and brawny part of the spec fantasy. A better skill ceiling based on higher APM with bigger impact but small time windows to reward preparedness and adaptability.

We need Skill based burst mitigation like feign death giving us a damage shield during bfa or the pvp talent giving us 99% damage reduction for 1.5 seconds. It doesn't have to be 99% ofc, that's just broken. Just 30 to 40% is fine, like rogue's Feint.

We need In combat camouflage options. Hopefully a short 3 to 4 second stealth after disengaging. It serves purposes to drop threat, very good in pvp too.

Giving aspect of the eagle to more party members would really let us become indispensable for dealing with mechanics during hard raid encounters too, And it would be a unique utility to separate us from the other hunter specs.Comment by pmv93Also, dual wielding, thank you.Comment by DoolBAlso, dual wielding, thank you.Comment by DoolB

Strongly disagree as it's just an utterly silly spec all over full of contradictions

12 3