Marksmanship Huntermarksmanship iconvssurvival iconSurvival Hunter

What’s the best spec for Hunters, Survival or Marksmanship? Below breaks down their current DPS potential and compares the two.

This page analyzes multiple simulations for both Survival Hunters and Marksmanship Hunters using profiles and settings intended to achieve their maximum DPS. Multiple sim environments are used to test how they perform in various conditions. Is one the AoE king? Does one scale better with gear upgrades? Is one more bursty, and more reliant on big cooldowns? Below analyzes the data to find the strengths of each.

Simulation results were created with SimulationCraft
Using game data from Patch 10.2.6 WoW Dragonflight

  • Marksmanship Huntermarksmanship icon
  • Least affected by movement (single-target)

    Marksmanship Hunter’s single-target DPS was -10.15% less affected by increased movement compared to Survival Hunters.

  • Simplest Gameplay

    Marksmanship Hunter has fewer damaging abilities which could indicate a simpler rotation.

  • survival iconSurvival Hunter
  • Best boss DPS (in perfect settings)

    Survival Hunter achieved 7.6% more maximum boss DPS than Marksmanship Hunter when there was no movement or lag.

  • Best boss DPS (in realistic settings)

    Survival Hunter achieved 7.47% more maximum boss DPS than Marksmanship Hunter when dealing with occasional movement, lag and crowd-control.

  • Best AoE DPS (in perfect settings)

    Survival Hunter achieved 14.17% more AoE DPS than Marksmanship Hunter when there was no movement or lag.

  • Best gear scaling

    Survival Hunter scaled better with increased item-levels, single-target DPS benefited 7.54% more from 446 ilvl to 488 compared to Marksmanship Hunters.

  • DPS less dependant on big cooldowns

    Survival Hunter’s DPS is less bursty, meaning it had more consistent damage. With 24.09% less difference in lowest and peak DPS during a fight when compared to Marksmanship Hunters.

While the above highlights the DPS advantages between Marksmanship and Survival Hunters, the DPS potential should not be the only factor in your decision. Ultimately, you should also consider the playstyle that you enjoy most while crushing it in Mythics+ and Raids!


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