Beast Mastery HuntervsSurvival Hunter

What’s the best spec for Hunters, Survival or Beast Mastery? Below breaks down their current DPS potential and compares the two.

This page analyzes multiple simulations for both Survival Hunters and Beast Mastery Hunters using profiles and settings intended to achieve their maximum DPS. Multiple sim environments are used to test how they perform in various conditions. Is one the AoE king? Does one scale better with gear upgrades? Is one more bursty, and more reliant on big cooldowns? Below analyzes the data to find the strengths of each.

Simulation results were created with SimulationCraft
Using game data from Patch 10.0.2 • WoW Dragonflight •

Beast Mastery Hunter
Least affected by movement (single-target)Beast Mastery Hunter’s single-target DPS was -32.45% less affected by increased movement compared to Survival Hunters.
Simplest GameplayBeast Mastery Hunter has fewer damaging abilities which could indicate a simpler rotation.

Survival Hunter
Best boss DPS (in perfect settings)Survival Hunter achieved 2.18% more maximum boss DPS than Beast Mastery Hunter when there was no movement or lag.
Best boss DPS (in realistic settings)Survival Hunter achieved 0.91% more maximum boss DPS than Beast Mastery Hunter when dealing with occasional movement, lag and crowd-control.
Best AoE DPS (in perfect settings)Survival Hunter achieved 4.73% more AoE DPS than Beast Mastery Hunter when there was no movement or lag.
Best gear scalingSurvival Hunter scaled better with increased item-levels, single-target DPS benefited 0.8% more from 372 ilvl to 422 compared to Beast Mastery Hunters.
DPS less dependant on big cooldownsSurvival Hunter’s DPS is less bursty, meaning it had more consistent damage. With 8.47% less difference in lowest and peak DPS during a fight when compared to Beast Mastery Hunters.

While the above highlights the DPS advantages between Beast Mastery and Survival Hunters, the DPS potential should not be the only factor in your decision. Ultimately, you should also consider the playstyle that you enjoy most while crushing it in Mythics+ and Raids!

Resources

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