DPS Rotation & Cooldowns

This rotation offers a general priority list for Survival Hunter abilities, along with key cooldowns at the bottom. It's based on a standard build and is here to help while we work on a smarter, build-aware system. If you are very new to the game or this class, we added info on the new assisted rotation features at the bottom of this guide. Updated for the latest patch in World of Warcraft: The War Within (11.2).

Single Target

Ensure Hunters Mark is active on the target before starting.

• Kill CommandView detailsUse to generate Tip Of The Spear stacks and avoid capping Focus.
• Wildfire BombView detailsUse with Tip Of The Spear stacks or to avoid capping charges.
• SpearheadView detailsUse on cooldown, ideally with Tip Of The Spear stacks ready.
• Flanking StrikeView detailsUse with Tip Of The Spear stacks.
• Fury Of The EagleView detailsUse on cooldown with Tip Of The Spear stacks.
• Mongoose BiteView detailsUse to spend Focus or during Mongoose Fury.
• Kill ShotView detailsUse when available.

Maintain Tip Of The Spear stacks by using Kill Command and spend them on high-impact abilities like Wildfire Bomb, Flanking Strike, and Fury Of The Eagle. Use Spearhead and Kill Shot on cooldown, and spend excess Focus with Mongoose Bite.

AoE

Ensure Hunters Mark is active and build Tip Of The Spear stacks before engaging.

• Wildfire BombView detailsUse with Tip Of The Spear stacks or to avoid capping charges.
• ButcheryView detailsUse on cooldown for AoE damage.
• Fury Of The EagleView detailsUse on cooldown with Tip Of The Spear stacks.
• Flanking StrikeView detailsUse with 1-2 Tip Of The Spear stacks.
• Explosive ShotView detailsUse on cooldown, ideally with Tip Of The Spear stacks.
• Kill CommandView detailsUse to generate Tip Of The Spear stacks and avoid capping Focus.
• Kill ShotView detailsUse with Deathblow proc for cleave.

Focus on maximizing Wildfire Bomb and Butchery usage for AoE. Use Fury Of The Eagle and Explosive Shot with Tip Of The Spear stacks, and maintain Focus with Kill Command.

Cooldowns

• Coordinated AssaultView detailsUse on cooldown, ensuring Wildfire Bomb charges are low to avoid overcapping.
• SpearheadView detailsUse on cooldown, ideally after Coordinated Assault.
• Fury Of The EagleView detailsUse during Tip Of The Spear stacks for max DPS.

Use Coordinated Assault and Spearhead on cooldown, ensuring optimal Wildfire Bomb usage. Pair Fury Of The Eagle with Tip Of The Spear stacks for burst damage.

New to Class? Try Assisted Rotation

Patch 11.1.7 introduced new features that make it eaiser to pick and play new characters. These new settings can be enabled from settings » gameplay enhancements:

• Single-Button Assistant
• Assisted Highlight
• Cooldown Manager

If you are new to World of Warcraft or a certain class, enabling Assisted Highlight and Cooldown Manager can help you learn which abilities to prioritize and use.

While the Single-Button Assistant can be a much easier and more accessible way to play the game, it does come with a slight performance hit due to a small GCD penalty, as you will have to wait 25% longer in between spells and abilities.

To see which specs are best with the Single-Button Assistant feature, you can check out our DPS Rankings which uses SimC to sim every class using this feature.