Why is Survival Hunter Meta in Season 4 Mythic+ Keystones?

Live Posted 2022/09/05 at 7:01 PM by Petko

What Makes Survival Hunter So Good?most recent nerfs

First, let's begin by mentioning that Survival Hunter holds one of the strongest AoE damage profiles in the game. Most of its damage comes from the Wildfire Bomb combined with the Wildfire Infusion talent choice. Having a great AoE is often a quality that can set the spec from "meta" and "non-meta" choice.

Their single-target damage is also one of the best in the game, and despite the spec being considered melee, you have the option of becoming a "hybrid" essentially being out of melee and still maintaining relatively high DPS.

You have one of the best utilities in the game, starting from - Binding Shot, which allows the tank to safely escape danger and recover its defensive cooldowns, Intimidation, which can provide high mob-control, essentially stopping the important enemy spells even if you have Muzzle on cooldown. It also is one of the 3 classes in the game to have an Enrage Dispel - Tranquilizing Shot (which also removes a Magic Effect if there is any), one of the 2 classes to have the ability to transfer transfer in the face of Misdirection. You also have "Bloodlust" effect once you swap to Ferocity pet - Primal Rage, a hard-CC if you ever have to "isolate" a specific mob (Inspired for example) out of any pack - Freezing Trap and a mass-area slow Tar Trap.

Survival Hunter has some of the best mobility in the game, combined with Aspect of the Cheetah and Disengage.

They also, outside of their passive-durability (mostly because Versatility is one of their main secondary stats to go for, which also provides damage reduction), have an immunity - Aspect of the Turtle and on-demand small damage-reduction spell coming from Feign Death's conduit enhance - Resilience of the Hunter. There are some area-effects that also get to do less damage on you because of the Endurance Conduit - Marksman's Advantage.

Moreover, their self-sustain is one of the best in the game, having a passive 10% Leech from Predator's Thirst (99% of the times you will play Ferocity Pet), and also Exhilaration

Don't forget that Survival Hunter is a hybrid spec, meaning that they can do effective damage even outside of melee, quite rare quality to have as a melee DPS choice.

At last, I will mention a detail, often neglected of its importance, that can save you tons of time if done correctly, and that is priority-target damage, or cleaving from the highest HP enemy to the rest of the pack. Assuring that everything dies, often will positively reflect on the overall dungeon timer.

The Popularity of the SpecImage from Raider.io LeaderboardsNow, let's look, on the key-level where the "meta" argument plays a bigger role, 20+Image from Raider.io LeaderboardsThe Impact of Survival Hunter on the Current Mythic+ Meta3But wait a second, haven't we seen something similar in the past?Possible ComplicationsShadow PriestImage from Raider.ioImage from Raider.ioThe history repeats itself as Outlaw Rogue was in a similar boat to Survival Hunter this season:

They had one of the best damage profile across all DPS specialization, not only for AoE but also 2 and 3 targets cleave during Season 2 and Season 3.

One of the best mobility in the game - Sprint + Grappling Hook

Great self-sustain coming from Crimson Vial

The best mob-control in the game - Kidney Shot, Blind, Cheap Shot, Gouge, which, especially on high keys, have an immense amount of value for your team.

The best party-wise utility, Shroud of Concealment, which can buy you time if used accordingly, as well as, Vanish which can reset combat and used for skips - similar to Hunter's Feign Death.

Similar to Hunter, Outlaw (and any Rogue spec) can transfer threat with Tricks of the Trade which made tank aggro issues significantly smaller.

The only area where Outlaw was better than Hunter, was the survivability, Outlaw was the king back then. Cloak of Shadows made you immune against any magical damage, Riposte neutralized any physical damage coming your way as melee attacks (if you take aggro), on top of this you had Fallen Servants: Magister Umbric which allowed you to have a second life in case you received a life blow. Remember that Feint had 15 seconds cooldown and was covering only abilities that will count as area effect, still quite broken, and at last, don't forget that one of their main stats was Versatility which grants you with passive damage-reduction the more you have.

All of this created the "meta" where stacking 2 o 3 Outlaw Rogue weren't that uncommon, even made it to competitive Mythic+ (MDI) which was present for many matches until the spec received a nerf.Suggestions and Possible SolutionsWildfire BombFinal Thoughts

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Comment by CorsephDon't really need to do a deep dive, its literally just their damageComment by Lazerzcuz BIG DAMComment by sarlaThe fact that class balance never exists for M+ and the split of Tyran&Fort scores are the worst things about this gamemode. Sincerely hoping they get rid of the split and release balancing changes ASAP instead of patch-by-patch when it's already too late. Choosing a class should be about what YOU want to play, not what blizzard/the community wants you to play.Comment by orionaegis7The fact that class balance never exists for M+ and the split of Tyran&Fort scores are the worst things about this gamemode. Sincerely hoping they get rid of the split and release balancing changes ASAP instead of patch-by-patch when it's already too late. Choosing a class should be about what YOU want to play, not what blizzard/the community wants you to play.Comment by MasqeraderThe fact that class balance never exists for M+ and the split of Tyran&Fort scores are the worst things about this gamemode. Sincerely hoping they get rid of the split and release balancing changes ASAP instead of patch-by-patch when it's already too late. Choosing a class should be about what YOU want to play, not what blizzard/the community wants you to play.Comment by Moshpit400/grabs popcornComment by JeckkzThe expansion is not far away so Blizz should just let Survival have it's time in the sun given it's been the ugly step child of hunter specs for many years. Naturally there will be the sooks in the crowd , but that's common these days with so many keyboard cry babies , but I think it's good to see a different type of spec shine which lots of people are enjoying playingComment by DoolBthe reason SV is so overpowered at the moment is entirely the 2-piece tier set. they can nerf the damage of WFB, cap the damage of WFB, reduce the bonus of the 4-set etc, but the free bombs from the 2pc just make things way too ridiculousComment by SixpacCarrot on a stick - keep changing top specs so that players reroll over and over ~Comment by DooteranopiaIf I learned anything from the last Petko article, it's for none of the reasons listed here.Comment by ClehiyThe fact that class balance never exists for M+ and the split of Tyran&Fort scores are the worst things about this gamemode. Sincerely hoping they get rid of the split and release balancing changes ASAP instead of patch-by-patch when it's already too late. Choosing a class should be about what YOU want to play, not what blizzard/the community wants you to play.Comment by mazejakerDon't really need to do a deep dive, its literally just their damageComment by NagisaStreamsI mean cool post can tell time went into it but it really is just
big damage goodComment by RoguePostDocC'mon, let Surv have their fun for two seasons. They were the outcasts since their introduction in Legion as melee. Let them be for a moment.

Their "OP" tools gonna be gone after this expansion. In DF, many would go back to other specs like BM or MM. Let them be, for now.Comment by ZtinktoofThe only reason Survival is OP right now and has been dead otherwise since it was changed to melee is the addition of the cluster bomb legendary and later on the 4 piece set, just wait and see how bad they are when Dragonflight launches 🤣Comment by TOMRUSMM would have been just as good if not better if Blizzard removed target cap from Trick Shots...Comment by redfinaleThe biggest things in survival's favor was 9.2 was the reintroduction of tier bonuses and double legendaries. As a survival main myself and seeing articles that more properly explain how they're actually doing well rather than just a series of complaints, I'll agree that survival may be a tad too strong right now, even with the nerfs that had gone in to play. I won't be "that guy" and say that my spec is perfect how it it is and that Blizz is stupid if they touch it anymore, but this tier and the accompanying m+ seasons have put the spec in a much better light than it was in during BfA and SL S1 and 2 and I'd rather it stay in a more positive position.

All that said however, something that wasn't mentioned in the article itself (though the Streets +30 graphic clearly points out) was the choice of covenants in m+ and that survival uses Kyrian and Mikanikos as a soulbind. Resonating Arrow gives the casting hunter an additional flat 30% crit against anything tagged by RA, whether it's hit by the initial hit or walks in after the fact, as well as the covenant leggo effect giving the party as a whole a flat 10% crit buff while RA lasts, this 10% stacks with the 30% from RA, and this 10% isn't against any specific target, it just happens. I can yeet RA off a cliff and the party gets 10% crit for the duration regardless. Mikanikos has a node that when the respective covenant ability hits something, the cd is reduced by 4 sec per target, up to 5 targets, meaning up to 20 sec. being removed from the cd. Many specs have longer cds so this is more a convenience, but RA is only a 1 min cd, so hitting the target cap means what amounts to a personal 40% crit buff on potentially a 40 sec cd, 56 sec baseline if you hit even 1 target every time. Season 3, when Urh was was the relic being killed on the regular, this meant you could have RA back up several times on the right trash packs.Comment by FrawtariusDon't really need to do a deep dive, its literally just their damageComment by MarkElfThe fact that class balance never exists for M+ and the split of Tyran&Fort scores are the worst things about this gamemode. Sincerely hoping they get rid of the split and release balancing changes ASAP instead of patch-by-patch when it's already too late. Choosing a class should be about what YOU want to play, not what blizzard/the community wants you to play.Comment by Daeerothese things are laughable... surv hunter is top tier plain and simple: their ridiculous AoE dps that you only need 1 brain cell to perform, thanks to their tier set. It's funny that when a class is at the top, these writers start to say everything about them is perfect and amazing. Surv hunter self-sustain is one of the best in game? what kind of drugs is this guy taking? Its funny because if it was a tier B their defensives would be the same and the writer would go like: Their self-sustain is kinda week..

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