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 before engaging.

• 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.
• Mongoose BiteView detailsSpend Focus and maintain Mongoose Fury uptime.
• 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.
• Kill ShotView detailsUse when available.
• Raptor StrikeView detailsUse as a filler when nothing else is available.

Maintain Tip Of The Spear stacks with Kill Command, spend Focus with Mongoose Bite, and prioritize cooldowns like Spearhead and Fury Of The Eagle. Use Wildfire Bomb strategically to avoid capping charges.

AoE

Ensure Hunters Mark is active 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.
• Kill CommandView detailsUse to generate Tip Of The Spear stacks.
• Flanking StrikeView detailsUse with 1-2 Tip Of The Spear stacks.
• Explosive ShotView detailsUse on cooldown.
• SpearheadView detailsUse on cooldown, ideally with Tip Of The Spear stacks ready.
• Kill ShotView detailsUse when available.
• Mongoose BiteView detailsUse as a filler when nothing else is available.

Focus on maximizing Wildfire Bomb and Butchery usage for AoE. Use Fury Of The Eagle and Flanking Strike 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 with Tip Of The Spear stacks ready.
• Fury Of The EagleView detailsUse on cooldown with Tip Of The Spear stacks.
• Kill ShotView detailsUse when available, especially during execute phases.

Utilize Coordinated Assault and Spearhead on cooldown for burst windows. Pair Fury Of The Eagle with Tip Of The Spear stacks and use Kill Shot during execute phases.

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.