This article is part of a directory: WoW Dragonflight: Guides - Talents, Rotation, Stat Priorities, Tier Lists, Professions, & More
Table of contents

  • WoW Dragonflight
    World of Warcraft: Dragonflight
    Franchise:
    Warcraft
    Platform:
    PC
    Developer:
    Blizzard, Activision
    Publisher:
    Blizzard, Activision
    Genre:
    MMORPG
    Released:
    2022-11-28

Survival Hunters have gone through a ton of changes over the years and have a pretty different play style from Beast Mastery and Marksmanship Hunters. The World of Warcraft DPS spec is pretty unique and players who want to climb the charts in Mythic dungeons and Raids with this spec are going to need to take some time to research all the best talents, rotations, and stat priorities.

WoW Dragonflight's metagame does leave some room for Survival Hunters to hold value in endgame team formation, but players will need to optimize their build in order to really perform. One of the most important steps in preparing for endgame PvE and PvP content is going to be fully understanding the Survival Hunter stat priorities and how each one impacts potential DPS and self-healing.

RELATED: WoW Dragonflight: Marksmanship Hunter Rotation & Macros

An interesting note about Survival Hunter stat priorities is that the bottom two stats will flip in importance based on whether the Hunter is concentrating on single-target damage or AoE damage. For single-target, Mastery is going to lead to higher DPS, but once a Hunter switches over to AoE rotations, then Versatility will leapfrog ahead in importance. Players will likely want to have a build saved for each situation and swap out as appropriate.

Survival Hunter - World of Warcraft Shadowlands Best DPS Classes

Survival Hunter Stat Priority

  1. Agility
  2. Weapon DPS
  3. Haste
  4. Critical Strike
  5. Mastery
  6. Versatility

Survival Hunter Stats Explained

Agility

Just like for any Hunter, Agility is the primary stat for the spec and increases attack power and damage done with abilities.

Weapon DPS

Survival Hunters will also benefit from stacking Weapon DPS. Higher Weapon DPS increases damage done with weapons and abilities that rely on weapon damage, which are essential for maximizing damage as a Hunter of any spec.

Haste

Survival Hunters will need to pile up the Haste stat in order to increase Focus regeneration, attack speed, and reduce the Global Cooldown significantly.

Critical Strike

Survival Hunters should stack Critical Strike in order to increase their chance to strike critically with spells and abilities. Crits are crucial to increasing damage, so this is an essential stat for Hunters who want to reach the top of those DPS charts.

Mastery

The Mastery stat connects directly to Mastery: Spirit Bond for Survival Hunters. This helps increase damage from the Hunter and their pet's Focus-spending abilities. As an added bonus, this ability will also help the Hunter and their pet heal a bit of health every 5 seconds.

Versatility

This stat boosts all damage and healing done and decreases all incoming damage.

Ideal Stat Caps

Players at the highest level of the game may end up having the luxury of maxing out the benefits from some of these stats. At that point, the stats reach a point of diminishing returns and players should reprioritize their stat order. This is something that only endgame, top-tier players usually need to worry about. If players do find themselves in that situation, they should follow these guidelines for determining when to stop stacking a particular stat and prioritize differently.

Haste - Cap at 30%

Critical Strike - Cap at 40%

Versatility - Cap at 30%

Mastery Rating - Cap at 1050

Survival Hunters should be able to follow the advice in this guide to figure out their stat priorities and begin dominating the WoW Dragonflight endgame content. Be sure to check back for more WoW Dragonflight news, updates, and strategy guides in the near future. Until then, For the Horde!

World of Warcraft is available now on PC. Dragonflight launches on November 28.

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