Hello Everyone!
My name is Sweep/Battlecrates and I’ve been playing Survival on and off now since legion began. I’m going to use my extra time today to provide some targeted feedback about survival. In this post, I will cover what feels good, what doesn’t, and why I feel the way that I do. Since survival hasn’t received any big changes for Shadowlands, this feedback will also be targeted at that kit. We will be focusing on the general kit survival has, and will not be covering PvP or PvE intricacies.
I understand that a lot of hunters want the old survival back, and I understand! However, this feedback is targeted at the CURRENT survival.
Let’s begin:
TLDR: This style of play is unique, and I think it deserves merit to stay. The spec needs a lot of talent/baseline work, but the core skeleton is there and worth the time investment.
Playstyle
Survival is unique in that it has a no-commitment playstyle that is unlike any I have seen in World of Warcraft. Other then Mongoose Bite (Which we will talk about later), Survival can swap targets easily and with little to no downtime after a quick harpoon into kill command. This style of play, along with a few other choice traps makes survival feel really interesting in that I usually have some sort of utility for most situations.
Abilties That Stand Out (Or Don’t)
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Wildfire Bomb is huge, def a keeper.
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Butchery is a very unique looking ability, its sad that it isn’t used atm.
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Carve feels bland, and is just used to get more wildfire bomb charges.
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Serpent Sting is solid, especially paired with Hydra’s Bite (Which we will talk about later).
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Flanking Strike is another iconic ability that was put into a talent specifically for BFA. Though it currently doesn’t get any use, I think it’s pretty neat.
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Aspect of the Eagle. I don’t think this ability gets enough credit, honestly. Though it is a 1.5 min cooldown, the visual for this spell is phenomenal and it makes the spec work in situations it otherwise wouldn’t.
(Just as a little nitpicky thing, the mongoose bite animations don’t all line up with the projectile cast. )
And just as an extra, Caltrops! I was sad that this ability was taken away. It added another unique trap to the mix and added a bunch of flavor.
Survival Mastery
So this is the first issue I have with the spec. The mastery is bland, and it doesn’t affect a solid portion of the kit we use. This includes Wildfire Bomb as well as Kill command, which are to be used on cooldown. I’m not sure what you could do with this, but it could use a spice up.
Talents
So here’s where things get interesting!
Survival is very locked into certain talents at the moment, as some classes and specs are in BFA. I will go row by row and talk about them.
I will not be covering the 45 and 75 rows, as they are okay enough to stay.
Level 15 Row
Viper’s Venom - Terms of Engagement - Alpha Predator
Honestly, this row is pretty okay. The difference between normalizing your energy gain and focusing more on random procs doesn’t really offer a meaningful choice but it at least helps to give some options.
Terms of Engagement should be baseline, and feels outclassed in the row. I think of this as a pseudo warrior-charge when talking about focus generation.
Level 30 Row
Guerrilla Tactics - Hydra’s Bite - Butchery
The 30 row is currently locked into the Guerrilla Tactics, as the other two options do not stack up. This is only a numbers issue, though either Guerrilla Tactics or Butchery could be made baseline to inject a new talent into the row. Hydra’s Bite actually is pretty cool, I think it’s worth keeping.
60 Row
Bloodseeker - Steel Trap - A Murder of Crows
The only talent that feels out of place here is Steel Trap. It is usually never used and serves no purpose than to add an additional button to your bars.
(Thanks to Avakuro on the Survival Hunter Discord who talked to me about this talent).
Maybe another beast-themed talent could be added here, considering the other two options in Bloodseeker and Murder of Crows.
90 Row
Tip of the Spear - Mongoose Bite - Flanking Strike
Okay, now we’re getting into the big stuff. Mongoose Bite defines this row, as it commits Survival to a playstyle that it had in legion. Not only is it the strongest numerical option, but survival doesn’t really have a defining core trait without it. It is the “commitment” of the spec, so to speak and I think it does deserve to be baseline.
Tip of the Spear is bland, and doesn’t really work well without Alpha Predator.
Flanking Strike is a weird one, I’m not too sure if this should be baseline or not. It an iconic ability, and the injection of an additional 30 focus would be huge, but I’m not so sure if that warrants making it baseline.
100 Row
Birds of Prey - Wildfire Infusion - Chakrams
The final row is actually pretty solid! Birds of Prey and Wildfire Infusion each have their own respective playstlyes and work well on their own. No complaints with these two!
Chakrams feels out of place in this row and could use either some love or a removal completely. Just coming up with ideas here to keep the talent in the row, but Chakrams could replace wildfire bomb for example. Same ability functionality, does comparable damage and applies a bleed but will proc damage on entry and leaving. This would effectively double the damage output without really changing the playstyle survival has (While also adding some spicy animations!).
Just an idea for change, there could be a lot to be done with this.
Final Thoughts
Survival has been in this state for most of Battle For Azeroth, and could definetally use some love going into Shadowlands. There is most certainly a skeleton to work with and with a few talent changes and some baseline work it could be a solid option.