New player question - Survival hunter spec

[Rizzmer]

Hi all,

New Turtle WoW player here.
I was reading and watching a lot of materials regarding Sruvival hunter spec and I wanted to try one.
I am wondering what is the reality. Is the Survival hunter a viable spec now, or is it still a meme spec on ths server?

PVE:
How does it compare to other meele classes? is it top or bottom dps?
Does it bring anything to the raid?
Is it hard to compete for raid spot as meele hunter?
The MM brings raid-wise aura, which survival hunter does not have. Is there ANYTHING that survival hunter got that MM does not?

PVP:
Is there any point to play survival hunter, or does it getting smoked on meele?

Many thanks for all anwsers!

[Barwat1]

Survival is far from a meme spec, it is performing to the highest of levels with one survival hunter getting to the top 10 of best hunter dps in naxx. It is definitely a front pack runner, with dps on par with other top dogs.

For raid utility, they are very limited, the use of traps during combat allows you to guarantee some CC like frost trap, but doing so shafts your dps as your damage relies on fire traps going off.
It's very unreliable to tranq as a melee hunter as you need to move out of the deadzone to use it, lowering your dps and unless you have a perfect timer for enrages, you end up putting your tanks at risk. Their pulling ability is also getting nerfed because no range talent.

For raid spot, that depends on the guild and how they value raw dps or if traps are really necessary for an encounter (which is almost never, or can be reliably done by 1-2 MM hunter if you don't get unlucky resists on FD).

MM hunter brings party-wide (not raid-wide) aura that scales with current AP, in our last raid, a feral friend got more than 200AP out of the trueshot aura which is a big deal. I'd say the main difference between MM and survival is the aoe damage and overall raid damage. While MM shines on single target bosses and lacks aoe in general, survival more than makes up for that and is one of the best aoe class rivaling warlocks and mages while having pretty much comparable single target.

An additional point for solo players that like farming instances, open world, ... Survival is much better than MM because at some point your gear just gets too strong and your pet will never keep aggro on you ever again, so being able to just smack people in melee range makes hunter great at grinding and the added AoE to the hunter kit opens a lot of new farms.

Ultimately it comes down to preference, the rotation and play style of survival is very fun and having this option is nice. Personally I'm gonna try and push this spec in the newest raid and see how it can perform. They also buffed dual wielding as a hunter so there's that to look forward to when I get decent one handers.

[Spidear]

survival more than makes up for that and is one of the best aoe class rivaling warlocks and mages while having pretty much comparable single target.

so being able to just smack people in melee range makes hunter great at grinding and the added AoE to the hunter kit opens a lot of new farms.

Exactly the information I was looking for, starting up on the server now - cheers!

[Steakhouse]

Surv's real claim to fame is how flexible it is. You can do decent damage at all ranges and for any number of targets ; its ace in the hole is its utility though. Being able to Freeze Trap or Frost Trap in combat is incredibly useful and will save wipes many a times. This falls off a bit in raids since most bosses are immune to any form of CC, but in dungeons and in the world it's a godsend; plus many raid encounters are add-heavy, where your combat ice traps will be very very very useful.

For soloing I've found BM to be better though, because you pull aggro off your pet quite easily and are too close to kite effectively. Plus you want to be in melee to be dealing max damage anyways.