PvP Survival Hunter Best Races

Author: Nevermore
Date: August 30, 2022
Updated: August 30, 2022
Expansion: WotLK Classic

PvP Survival Hunter

Talents, Builds & Glyphs

Stat Priority

Best Races

Gems, Enchants & Consumables

Rotation & Cooldowns

Best Professions

Best in Slot (BiS) & Pre-Raid Gear

Best Arena Comps

When it comes to choosing the right race for your character, you should take into consideration that each race offers entirely different bonuses and effects, each of them shining in a different aspect of the game. However, if min-maxing is not your thing, feel free to choose the race that fits your character fantasy the best and suits your aesthetic style.

Both factions typically have a stronger race when choosing a specific class and specialization and other races that offer lesser performance yet interesting effects.

Horde

When it comes to the Horde, there are two races that compete for the first spot when it comes to playing a Survival Hunter. Orcs and Trolls both offer extremely good racial effects for Survival Hunters, with the best choice depending entirely on your playstyle and what you prefer — both races provide offensive and defensive racial effects.

Orcs allow you to burst your target quickly by empowering the damage of your abilities while also reducing any pesky stun effect used against you. Trolls will give you the possibility of greatly increasing your attack speed, allowing you to use your ranged weapon faster while also reducing the duration of any movement-slow effect, both being great tools for kiting!

Click a race to see detailed discussion/explanation!

Orcs are one of the best possible choices when it comes to playing a Survival Hunter in the Horde. They provide powerful racial effects that can empower them both offensively and defensively. Their racials revolve around increased burst damage, increased pet damage, and crowd control resistance.

Axe Specialization increases your expertise by 5 when using axes or fist weapons. Sadly, this racial effect is only useful if you are trying to use one of your close-range abilities, since Hunters do not require expertise for their ranged weapons.
Blood Fury is an on-use spell that increases your Attack Power and scales with your level. At level 80 it will provide +322 attack power for 15 seconds on a 2-minute cooldown. The fact that this is an on-use ability has big implications for burst phases / stacking your cooldowns.
Hardiness provides you with resistance to crowd control effects which is absolutely amazing in PvP. Lower crowd control duration for PvP situations means that your enemy has less time to counter you!
Command is a very powerful racial, that can enhance your pet’s damage. Your loyal companions will love your leadership! Feeling empowered by your mere presence, they will viciously tear your enemies apart, dealing 5% increased damage.

Trolls are another extremely powerful choice when it comes to Survival Hunters in the Horde. They offer both defensive and offensive cooldowns that increase their attack speed, give passive damage buffs and regeneration, and offer crowd control reduction.

Berserking is an on-use spell that grants +20% increased attack speed for 10 seconds on a 3-minute cooldown. The fact that this is an on-use ability has big implications for burst phases / stacking your cooldowns.
Beast Slaying increases your damage dealt to Beast-type enemies by 5%, which is very powerful. However, the only use for this racial in PvP is against a hunter’s pet.
Da Voodoo Shuffle passively reduces the duration of movement slowing & immobilizing effects on you by 15%. This racial effect will greatly improve your mobility, especially when taking into consideration the Surefooted talent.
Regeneration increases health regeneration by 10% and allows you to regenerate health during combat at 10% of your normal regeneration rate. While this racial is mostly only relevant while leveling or questing, it can have situational uses in end-game content as well when it comes to increasing overall survivability.
Bow Specialization and Throwing Specialization increase your critical strike chance with bows & throwing weapons by 1%. As long as you are using a Bow, this racial effect will be extremely useful!

Taurens provide good racial effects when it comes to playing a Survival Hunter in the Horde (although they are overshadowed by the Orc and Troll racials). They provide great defensive bonuses, offering an AoE stun and increased health!

Endurance increases base health by 5% — meaning your natural health at level 80, without your extra health or stamina from equipment, buffs, etc. This racial effect will be really beneficial for you as a Survival Hunter, especially because you are stacking stamina!
War Stomp gives you an on-use AoE stun with a 2-minute cooldown. This racial ability can provide you with a powerful stun effect that you can use to create a crowd control lock on a target or interrupt several targets at the same time.
Nature Resistance reduces the chance you will be hit by Nature spells by 2%. This racial ability will aid you against other hunters, death knights, shamans, and druids, forcing them to have a higher Hit Chance in order to effectively hit you with nature spells!
Cultivation increases your initial Herbalism skill by 15. This doesn’t have a gameplay impact beyond minor convenience.

Blood Elves are a decent choice when it comes to playing a Survival Hunter PvP in the Horde. They do not possess a lot of racial effects, however, they do possess two interesting racial effects that can impact your gameplay. First of all, they have access to a close-range silence, allowing you to create interesting combos with disengage. Secondly, they possess a defensive racial against magic!

Arcane Torrent is a racial effect that provides an instant AoE silence, while also providing you with 15 runic power. This racial effect can be combined with other interrupting and silencing effects to create a complete crowd control lockdown on a target, completely impairing any spell caster.
Magical Resistance reduces the chance to be hit by spells by 2%. This racial effect provides a fairly powerful advantage in PvP!
Arcane Affinity increases your initial Enchanting skill by 10. This does not have colossal gameplay implications, only providing an initial minor bonus.

Alliance

When it comes to the Alliance there is only one race that can be considered the absolute best choice for the Survival Hunter spec, and that is Night Elf. Night Elves provide very strong racial effects for PvP, possessing both offensive and defensive racial effects.

Click a race to see detailed discussion/explanation!

Night Elves are the best choice when it comes to playing Survival Hunter in the Alliance. Their racial effects are both offensive and defensive, additionally providing a unique mechanic that allows you to hide in plain sight! You can choose to use this racial as a defensive tool or an offensive one.

Quickness reduces the chance you’ll be hit by melee and ranged attacks by 2%. This racial effect can provide you with high survivability against physical damage dealing classes as they will often find themselves missing their attacks. Similarly, Nature Resistance reduces the chance you will be hit by Nature spells by 2%. This is racial effect further improves your survivability against death knights, druids, shamans, and hunters.
Shadowmeld can be used in order to escape combat and become stealthed once every 2 minutes. It will also cause you to drop all threat on every target you’re currently engaged in combat with, but all threat will be restored the moment you leave stealth — which will happen the moment you move or take any action. Simply put, this racial has high applicability in PvP, but it also has high applicability in the early stages of PvE, especially dungeons, in case you pull a group of mobs or steal aggro from a tank by mistake. Besides completely removing any threat that you have, Shadowmeld will also force any player currently targeting you to lose its target, effectively, allowing you to cancel a spell cast, further disabling any caster that attempts to harm you.
Elusiveness reduces the chance to be detected if you are stealthed. This effect will further enhance your Shadowmeld!
Wisp Spirit increases your movement speed by 75% while dead. You generally don’t want to be dead, but this is a nice bonus all the same.

Draenei are the next best choice when it comes to playing a Survival Hunter in the Alliance. They provide an interesting effect that allows them and their allies to min-max their stats better while also providing you with a defensive racial!

Heroic Presence increases the chance to hit with spells and physical attacks by 1% for you and all party members within 30 yards. This racial effect allows you to min-max your build and that of your allies, as the reduced Hit Rating requirement allows for superior gearing.
Gift of the Naaru places a heal-over-time effect on a single target that lasts 15 seconds, with a 3-minute cooldown. This racial effect can improve you and your allies’ overall survivability drastically!
Shadow Resistance reduces the chance you will be hit by Shadow spells by 2%. This racial will provide you with a strong survivability bonus in PvP content.
Gemcutting increases your initial Jewelcrafting skill by 5. This doesn’t have a gameplay impact besides minor convenience.

Dwarves are a fair choice when it comes to playing a Survival Hunter in the Alliance. They provide you with a few interesting racial effects, offering you a powerful defensive cooldown, an offensive racial, and a gimmicky effect that allows you to fulfil the Dwarven fantasy of seeking gold!

Mace Specialization increases your expertise by 5 when using maces. Sadly, Hunters can not use maces, thus, completely invalidating this racial effect.
Stoneform is an on-use spell that gives you +10% increased armor for 8 seconds on a 2-minute cooldown. For most classes and specs, this would be a purely tanking-focused boost but it can prove to be useful when it comes to overall survivability during tough encounters, even as a DPS.
Gun Specialization increases your critical strike chance with guns by 1%. This racial effect is extremely useful as long as you are using a gun!
Frost Resistance reduces the chance you will be hit by Frost spells by 2%. This is mostly useful against mages and death knights, as frost damage is quite rare in PvP.
Find Treasure is a very cool racial from a roleplay point of view, allowing you to see treasure on the minimap. This is very fun to use while questing and leveling up, but it unfortunately has 0 relevance in raids or PvP.

About the Author

Nevermore

Hey there folks, I am Nevermore and have been deeply passionate about WoW for more than a decade. Whether we talk about the hidden mysteries of Azeroth or the otherworldly Outland, my journey brought me here to share the things that I have experienced with you all.