The Survival tree.
The third and most unusual Hunter talent tree, as of patch 1.7.
Overview
"A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects." — Robert Heinlein
"People are frightened by what they don't understand." - John Merrick, The Elephant Man.
Designed with the worst possible scenario archetype in mind, the Survival tree is the "John McClane" spec; one that, in both PvE and PvP, emphasises a more defensive and utilitarian overall strategy, as well as being unique in providing a balance between ranged and melee attacks. From the beginning, talents that increase damage via melee attacks contrast with the ranged talents of like nature in the Marksmanship tree, in particular. However, near the middle and further downward, the unorthodox tree moves in a direction all its own, breeding one of the deadliest (if rarely used) character builds in the game. Unlike Marksmanship or Beast Mastery hunters, a Survival hunter is actually designed to handle enemies that get into his melee range.
To explain this further, the Beast Mastery talent tree is offensive; it relies on overwhelming direct damage output to subdue enemy players or mobs. By contrast, Survival is, as its' name perhaps implies, defensive in nature, and is also therefore designed to deal with opponents that are capable of superior force. The real-world military term for this strategic philosophy is attrition. While often doing less direct damage than an opponent, a Survival Hunter will typically have substantially more base health. A number of combined, low-power (and by themselves, relatively non-lethal, such as Immolation Trap, Snake Trap, and Serpent Sting) attacks, and various diversionary tactics (such as Freezing Trap, Feign Death, Disengage, Misdirection, and Wyvern Sting) are used to both precisely control the flow of battle, and neutralise opponents by gradually grinding them down over time.
The benefits of this approach are greater mana efficiency, more regulated threat generation against mobs in solo PvE, (given that Survival is a crit based spec, using the more typical mana shots can result in threat spikes. Relying on traps, stings, and then simply Steady or straight Auto Shot reduces this risk, as the damage becomes a more gradually sustained form rather than burst, so the pet can keep up) and a greater number of potential options for countering specific tactics that are being used by an opponent.
The major disadvantage however is that such an approach is time based; enemies who are able to generate rapid, high powered burst damage (such as Frost Mages with Ice Lance) can prove overwhelming.
Although the recent patch 2.1.0 revitalised the tree, (by granting Expose Weakness a potential 100% proc rate, among other things) and re-ignited interest in it, the dedicated Survival spec Hunter remains the single most rare class/specialisation combination in the game, representing aound 7% of World of Warcraft's overall player population, according to polls of the Armoury. This should not necessarily be interpreted as a condemnation of the tree's viability, but rather a reflection of the degree of difficulty inherent in learning to effectively wield the degree of utility and power that the tree offers.
Strengths
- Augments survivability through increased health, damage mitigation, and resistance to snares.
- Emphasizes balance between ranged and melee ability, by including talents that enhance both.
- Copes more effectively with multiple targets than either of the other two Hunter specs, including Beast Mastery, due to strong crowd control which enables sequential execution.
- Encourages, out of necessity, a fairly extreme degree of intimacy with the Hunter as an overall class. The tree doesn't really give you much of a free lunch at all, especially not low-level. Because of this, you'll either become a genuinely skilled Hunter, or a repeatedly dead Hunter.
- Enhances the Hunter's trainable traps.
- Designed primarily to cope with melee targets at minimal (just outside melee) range.
- Although it is slower, Survival's advantage while soloing is that it encourages a disciplined and methodical approach to combat. Before your crit becomes too high at least, a slower rate of attack means a more regulated generation of threat, which offers the pet a greater chance of coping. This in turn means that it can sometimes be possible for a Survival Hunter to solo large mobs which natives of the other two specs would possibly have more trouble with. It also means that the generation of ambient threat can be reduced overall, so crowd control and successful feigning when dealing with a group of mobs becomes easier.
- Allows greater mana efficiency (Thrill of the Hunt, Resourcefulness) than the other two trees.
- Emphasizes burst damage via both melee combat, (Savage Strikes) and ranged. All of the tree's bonuses to critical strikes apply to both ranged and melee damage.
- It scales better with gear due to Lightning Reflexes, Expose Weakness, and the Attack Power bonus of Survival Instincts all being percentages.
- With decent equipment, during the late to end game it is possible for a Survival Hunter to attain marginally higher sustained damage than a native of either of the other two Hunter trees, due to the fact that with the Lethal and Mortal Shots talents from the Marksmanship tree, Killer Instincts and Master Tactician from Survival, and high base Agility, a maximum crit chance of above 50% is possible. The crit bonuses from Killer Instincts and Master Tactician also apply to both melee and ranged combat.
Weaknesses
- The single greatest challenge that a Survival Hunter will face is maintaining their individuality to the point where the tree can become useful for them. Survival relies on unconventional tactics in order to be successful, and as a result, a Survival Hunter needs to be capable of tolerating abuse from the rest of the playerbase, due to the style violating several of WoW's accepted social norms.
- Somewhat more oriented towards high level or close to end-game use.
- Weak against casters, although the enhanced melee capability can compensate for this somewhat, if the target can be held within range.
- More dependent on quality equipment than the other two trees. A Survival Hunter needs the ability to identify and select appropriate pieces of equipment, and to prioritize the appropriate stats. Being wealthy helps, too.
- Considerably more difficult to use effectively than either of the other two trees.
- Given Survival's modus operandi, (described above) using the spec for leveling or soloing in general is comparatively extremely slow. This will likely be seen as a drawback by the impatient.
- The useful talents are mostly farther along in the tree, so starting out as Survival at a low level you will have a terrible damage output, and you won't feel much empowered.
- The farther you get in Survival, the more damage you do, so you'll end up out-aggroing your pet. This is made up for by the defensive bonuses of Deflection, Survivalist, Survival Instincts and Deterrence, but Elite mobs become harder to solo than the other two specs where the pet actually can hold aggro.
For a detailed synopsis of Survival talents, including percentages and additional information, see Survival section of Hunter talents.