Survival Hunters, Sing With Me...I Will Survive!

10 days since my last post...tut tut. Sorting out my uni loan nonsense and uni work is getting in the way of my blog posting. I do apologise to those who are keeping up with my blog...let's hope things get smoother for me eh? Anyway, this is the final Hunter spec post and it's looking at Survival. So let's look at Gloria Gaynor's favourite topic...make sure to sing with me though!

Races

Alliance

Draenei-Survival is a good choice for Draenei huntards. They've crash landed and are having to survive on the Isles that are the starting zones for the space goats. I think that this would force Draenei hunters to focus on traps and tracking and surviving as best as they can. This is my fav choice for an Ally Survival Hunter.

Dwarf-Well, back when Survival was viewed more as a melee-hunter spec as such, I'd have said Dwarfs were a good choice for that. But Wrath has changed Survival for the better and Survival Hunters are not just about this as such and as a result, Survival is my least favourite choice for a Dwarf Hunter.

Human-Survival can work for a Human Huntard since they fit well with all three specs really. Survival spec would mean that Humans focus on tracking the beasts more and using traps to catch their prey.

Nelf-While Survival could work with regards to the tracking aspect, I don't think that Nelfs would care as much about traps as other races would nor would they like to get in as close as much as other hunters at times. Marks and BM fit better for a Nelf in my opinion.

Worgen-Survival would work well with the Worgen, I reckon. Here's why I have that view. Worgen are humans struggling to control their beast and all so they may be prone to running in to try and fight the mob personally before having to control themselves and back off. Also, tracking is a key aspect of Survival to me and the Worgen would be great at that.

Horde

Belf-I don't really like the combo of Survival and Belf. I guess I just favour Marks too much when it comes to looking at Belf hunters and RP'ing them.

Goblin-Survival would work well with Goblins. I can imagine them putting down traps and proudly telling everyone else how they built their traps and how they modified them personally and other things. I also reckon they'd use their traps to hunt animal furs/skins for mooneh.

Orc-Even though Survival isn't as melee-orientated as it used to be in my eyes, an Orc is still that Hunter who will love to get in close with their pet and fight alongside them which is what Survival lets them do better than the others. I imagine them charging in with their pet going "FOR THE HORDE" because that's what Orcs do best.

Tauren-Hmm, I'm not sure on Tauren and the Survival spec. While the Tauren would be really good at tracking and the shots you get with Survival, I don't see them being as keen on traps and I just think the other two specs fit them better. However, Survival isn't horrible for them.

Undead-Survival would work quite well for an Undead Hunter. I mean, they've had to fight for their survival in their starting zones thanks to the loveable Scarlet Crusade and I imagine they'd love to use traps to control the enemy or cause them pain. I'm looking at you, Immolation Trap.

Abilities

Raptor Strike-It's one of the Hunter's few melee strikes. I use these way too much when going around with Shiny because I like to hit things and be up close with Spork now and again. Don't follow my example (I am a Hunter Fail!), always remember to be at range in PvE and PvP. If something gets close, Disengage.

Track Humanoids-I know that it may seem pointless commenting on this but I had to put them in the list since they come under Survival. This one lets you track Humanoids. Go figure.

Wing Clip-This used to do damage but it currently doesn't do any. This means that you can use it if a Freezing Trap works on a mob or player and not break the trap. Handy because you can then Disengage away from them and begin to open up a can of ranged pewpew!

Immolation Trap-This is the first trap that Hunters get to place down. It's a nice little DoT trap but if you're a Survival hunter, you will find you use this very little since all Fire traps shares a cooldown with Black Arrow.

Mongoose Bite-A nice little secondary attack that can be used in melee range. While I don't advise that we get in close to fight enemies/players, it can't always be avoided so use this and then Disengage to get a little bit of cheeky damage off whilst fleeing.

Track Undead-Are there Undead around you? Use this to let them show up on your minimap. Isn't it EXCITING?!

Disengage-This spell got a major change for WOTLK and now it's really fun to use for me. Think of it as similar to a Mage's Blink spell only it launches you backwards instead. It's great for getting out of melee range and for catching up to people in Battlegrounds. Also, I've read some good stories about combining this with a jump to go further or a Parachute to just float across half of Warsong Gulch.

Freezing Trap-The second trap that us Hunters get to use and abuse. Use this to crowd control an enemy mob or an enemy player. Sadly, there isn't as much of a need for CC currently in instances but with Icecrown coming out soon, perhaps that will change. However, this trap has helped me so much whilst levelling Shiny that I considered marrying it but I didn't want to be known as Shiny Trap so I had to decline.

Track Hidden-This Track spell is useful for dealing with Rogues really. However, bear in mind that it doesn't show them on the minimap until they are close to you so you have a very good chance of seeing them but knowing it's too late as they Sap you and begin to wreak havoc on your innocent Hunter soul. Flare is more handy for revealing those in stealth but this will help too.

Track Elementals-This one lets you track MICKEY MOUSE! That's a lie but I just wanted to liven this up a bit.

Frost Trap-This is a handy area of effect trap that slows things down for you. I mainly find a use for it when running away from an angry swarm of mobs or in PvP but I imagine it might have situational usage in endgame PvE.

Feign Death-This is our "OH NOES, AGGRO!" button really. Use this to get the aggro back to your pet or a tank to avoid death really. However, it isn't guranteed to work 100% of the time. I presume that it works like that cause some mobs bother to check your pulse. Those clever mobs.

Track Demons-Explaining all these Track abilities makes me feel like I'm patronising the reader. It's like I'm teaching the ABC's to a toddler!

Explosive Trap-Here's a nice little AoE damage trap that will help when dealing with a group of mobs that you want to kill quickly. A combo of this and Volley results in some nice AoE damage from your Hunter. However, be aware of aggro when doing this combo since you can get unwanted attention this way.

Track Giants-Fee fi fo fum...this will help you track a giant's bum! That's about it really. Well, what did you expect? Pancakes?

Track Dragonkin-Finally, the last of the Track spells! If there are dragonkin nearby, track them. Always remember to track mobs if you have the Improved Tracking talent (for a 5% dps increase) which most Hunters will have really.

Deterrence-This ability gives you the ability to parry and deflect for a whole 5 seconds which makes you quite invincible as long as they attack from the front and all. However, you can't attack during this (since it would be far too OP) so bear that in mind since it could feel like you're using Dismantle (a Rogue move) on yourself.

Snake Trap-IM TRIED OF THESE MOTHERFUCKING SNAKE TRAPS ON THIS MOTHERFUCKING ZEPPLIN! Okay, on a more serious note, I really enjoy putting this trap down and watching the snakes go to work. They can come in handy during some PvE situations where they can absorb a spell too. However, I don't recommend this trap for PvP since the snakes have low hp and will die very very quickly.

Misdirection-Ah, this spell makes us the best pullers in an instance in my eyes. Before we get this, you could argue that hunters aren't as necessary to pull. However, with this spell and Feign Death, we're the best class to pull mobs to the rest of the group really. I've found that some tanks won't accept this though and you wind up denting their tank pride. Bless them.

Freezing Arrow-This spell seems to be okay to me. It's great that you can trap from a distance as such but for PvE, a Hunter should be able to know how to trap properly at that point anyway. I can see how this move will have some uses for PvP but I don't think it's all that brilliant personally. What I'd rather see happen is that Freezing Arrow becomes Trap Arrow and what happens is, we get to choose the trap that goes with this spell with a toolbar bit that's similar to a Shaman's totem bar. Tis just my idea for this since Freezing Arrow seemed a bit disappointing to me.

Scatter Shot-And now we come to the talent abilities. Scatter Shot is a handy spell for dealing with enemies in PvP and getting a bit of distance/some more control as such. I personally would like to see this made a baseline ability since I don't think it should be a Survival talent only. However, I acknowledge that Hunters could be a bit too OP then so it would have to be done on public realms first to see how unfair it was to let all Hunters have it.

Counterattack-This is mainly a PvP move to help us gain range in a fight. The best thing to do is to use Deterrence first and then follow up with Counterattack once you're able to attack again. This robs your enemy of their mobility and you can just Disengage and laugh at them for being such an elephant in tar. Fear us Hunters, puny mortals!

Wyvern Sting-Nice little move that puts a mob/player to sleep and does some damage when they wake up. However, bear in mind that this suffers from diminishing returns of course and it shares this with Freezing Trap so you can't just spam Wyvern Sting forever and make a player's life hell. After all, we wouldn't wanna take the "They're not letting me do anything!" crown from the Rogues now would we?

Black Arrow-Now, this is a nice move and is one of the reasons why Survival went from being the LOLcat spec to a raid viable spec in WOTLK. One of the best abilities a Hunter could ask for. So if you are Survival, feel free to mock those who aren't Survival until they cry!

Explosive Shot-Someone set us up the bomb! Wow, this blog article has been full of a few internet memes now hasn't it? Anyway, Explosive Shot is another snazzy ability that Survival hunters got from Blizzard to say sorry for all the times they were mocked pre-Wrath. Make sure to use this ability all the time since it procs a busload of talents and it's an important Survival ability.

Bear Trap-This can be a trap that all Hunters can enjoy that catches a person in it and does a bit of bleed damage over time. However, it leaves them with a "Bleeding" debuff that causes them to take more damage from Bleed effects so you could use the Bleed Shot I suggested in the Marks thread or another Bear Trap. This way, it helps to increase dps for BM Hunters and possibly Marks too depending on their rotation. Survival probably won't use this trap but ya never know.

And there you have it. There's all three Hunter spec posts done. I hope you enjoyed reading this one and the previous two. At some point, there will be a WTB Summary post for those of you who are lazy or who don't enjoy the length of these posts. I can't help that I like to ramble!

Anyway, I don't know what the next post of mine will be so I'll leave you in suspense. However, if you want to suggest a topic for me to write about or a question for me to look at or answer, let me know via the comments!