Hunter • Survival • PVE
Survival Hunter (PVE)
Agility-scaling hunters who trade raw damage for deadly traps, control, and raid-wide debuffs that empower physical DPS and reward precise play.
Overview
Survival Hunters are the “one-per-raid” specialist in TBC. You won’t beat Beast Mastery on personal DPS, but you bring [Expose Weakness]—a raid-wide physical damage boost that scales harder and harder as you stack Agility and Crit. Because [Expose Weakness] benefits the entire raid instead of just your party, every serious raid wants exactly one Survival Hunter. You still play the classic Hunter toolkit—traps, kiting, [Misdirection], [Feign Death]—but your identity is enabling your physical DPS lineup to do more damage every time you crit.
Strengths
Raid-Defining Utility: Expose Weakness
[Expose Weakness] is why Survival exists in PvE. It turns your Critical Strikes into a raid-wide damage increase for all physical attackers, and it scales directly with your Agility—meaning your value grows every phase.
Strong DPS With Elite Scaling
While you won’t out-DPS Beast Mastery, Survival still deals strong damage at every stage. Thanks to Agility scaling talents like [Lightning Reflexes], the spec improves dramatically as gear and trinkets get better.
Full Hunter Toolkit + Threat Control
You still bring everything raids love about Hunters: [Misdirection] for clean pulls, [Feign Death] for threat resets, traps for control, and excellent ranged uptime on movement-heavy fights.
Easy Early Gearing & Less Hunter Competition
Because many raids only want one Survival Hunter, you’ll often have cleaner gearing paths—especially on certain off-pieces—while still targeting key Agility/Crit items to maximize [Expose Weakness] uptime.
Excellent Leveling & World Solo Power
Hunters remain one of the best solo classes in TBC. Pets, traps, and ranged control make open-world farming and questing extremely efficient, even before you’re fully geared.
Weaknesses
Not the Top Personal DPS Spec
Survival’s main job is empowering the raid. Beast Mastery will generally be higher on meters, and your value is measured just as much by how much [Expose Weakness] you provide as by your own damage.
Most Raids Only Want One
Because [Expose Weakness] doesn’t stack meaningfully across multiple Survival Hunters, raid slots are limited. Many groups bring exactly one Survival and stack Beast Mastery for the rest.
Pet Micro & Rotational Execution Required
You still manage pet uptime and execute a real rotation built around [Auto Shot] timing and [Steady Shot]. Mistiming shots or desyncing can cost real DPS—especially without the old one-button macro.
Underwhelming AoE and Cleave
Hunter AoE is still limited in TBC. You rely mostly on [Multi-Shot] and [Volley], which typically won’t compete with dedicated AoE specs like Mages or Warlocks on large trash packs.
Limited Defensive Cooldowns
Hunters have great control and kiting tools, but limited “oh no” buttons. If you’re caught, you don’t have the same defensive safety net as many other DPS classes.
Races
Alliance
Night Elf
BiSHighest base Agility for slightly better DPS. Draenei is a close alternative for party-wide Hit aura value.
Horde
Orc
Command boosts pet damage and Blood Fury adds strong burst—best overall for both PvE and PvP.
Night Elf — BiS Alliance (PvE)
Night Elves are the best pure PvE DPS race for Alliance Hunters due to higher base Agility, which slightly increases your damage and improves [Expose Weakness] scaling. Shadowmeld has niche PvP uses, but PvE value is primarily raw stats.
Draenei — Best Early/Group Value
Draenei are extremely strong early because [Heroic Presence] grants 1% Hit to your entire party (and pets). This can smooth gearing and let you optimize item choices while you’re still building your hit set. In 25-mans, Alliance raids often have Draenei Shamans covering this aura already, which is why Night Elf remains the top personal DPS choice.
Dwarf
Dwarves are a strong PvP-leaning Hunter race thanks to [Stoneform]. PvE impact is minor, but Gun Specialization can be relevant if you use a top gun weapon. Best for: PvP utility, niche weapon synergy
Orc — BiS Horde (PvE + PvP)
Orc is the dominant Horde race for Hunters. [Command] increases pet damage (a major part of your overall output in TBC), and [Blood Fury] is a powerful offensive cooldown that applies to ranged damage. For PvP, [Hardiness] is also extremely valuable against stun-based comps (especially Rogues).
Troll
Troll is the second-best Horde PvE option. [Berserking] can be strong when used optimally, but it’s less consistent than Orc racials. Bow Specialization can be relevant when using a bow, and Beast Slaying is situational. Best for: PvE DPS alt choice, conditional burst
Blood Elf
Blood Elves have strong base Agility but bring little raid DPS value. [Arcane Torrent] can be useful in PvP for clutch plays, but it’s not a meaningful PvE throughput tool. Best for: PvP utility, aesthetic choice
Tauren
Tauren provide no meaningful PvE DPS advantage. [War Stomp] is situational PvP utility and [Endurance] adds health, but neither increases damage. Best for: PvP flavor, survivability preference