Survival SV Hunter Shot Rotation: Patch 4.3.2

Reviewed 2/2/2012 Patch 4.3.2

View other WHU WoW Cataclysm hunter guides.

This guide will cover the optimal raid dps Survival hunter shot rotation for level 85 in Cataclysm.

Cataclysm brought with it big changes to the shot rotation of every hunter spec, including SV. We no longer have any kind of fixed SV rotation, instead we want to fire our shots in a priority system and make decisions as we play about whether to save up focus for the SV signature shot, or to burn focus before it caps out.

Cataclysm Survival SV Hunter Shot Rotation at Level 85

You will want to be in Aspect of the Hawk and start the fight by putting up Hunter’s Mark and applying Serpent Sting. Your shot priority then becomes:

• Explosive Shot
• Kill Shot (if available)
• Black Arrow
• Arcane Shot
• Cobra Shot

Explosive shot is the SV hunter signature shot and most damaging basic ability. If you’re a SV hunter, then Explosive Shot rocks your world and you absolutely want to be able to hit this every cooldown — be sure you always have enough focus to do so. You never want to push your Explosive Shot back by a full Cobra Shot cast, but pushing it back by a partial cast — the last half second of a cobra for example — is just fine.

Black Arrow is used on cooldown partially for the nice damage of the DoT, but also to get Lock & Load procs via the T.N.T. talent. With changes to T.N.T. Black Arrow in patch 4.3.2, you definitely want to use Black Arrow on all single-target fights, and not a Trap. If you have multiple targets that are going to live a while, use an Explosive Trap instead of Black Arrow.

Finally Arcane Shot is the SV focus dump shot — and you’ll be using it much more often since 4.3!

Note that this is a priority rotation, and the actual number of shots that you can fit in between each Explosive Shot depends on your haste. For a full discussion, see SV Haste Plateaus.

SV Lock and Load Rotation

As always, the SV shot rotation changes when Lock and Load procs.

The Cataclysm system for handling DoT ticks means that if you have one tick left on the boss when you reapply the DoT, that tick gets added on to the new application. This means that we can fire two Explosive Shots almost (but not quite) back to back, then we’ll have to weave another shot in between the second and third — either Cobra Shot (if you’re low to mid-focus) or Arcane Shot (if you’re close to full on focus). However, because Lock & Load resets the Explosive Shot cooldown, this technique doesn’t really gain us extra Explosive Shots in the way that most people think it will (this is explained in detail here). Thus most hunters will be better off weaving a shot (Arcane or even Cobra Shot) in between every Explosive Shot during Lock & Load.

Here’s what the Lock & Load SV rotation looks like:

• Explosive Shot
• Arcane Shot – OR – Fraction of a second pause – .01 seconds is fine.
• Explosive Shot
• Cobra Shot / Arcane Shot
• Explosive Shot

Technically, if you fire two Explosive Shots back to back and you have any latency you will not clip your ticks — but with the shot queuing system it’s possible to fire them exactly on time with no latency, in which case you’ll clip and lose one tick. Thus a fraction of a second delay is needed. See the Lock & Load explanation for full details on how this works.

There will be times when you’re already at nearly full focus when Lock & Load first procs. In those situations you can use Arcane Shot to bleed off some focus.

See Also:

• SV talent build
• SV haste plateaus
• SV glyphs