BM or Survival?

[Warsedge]

New hunter here, 533 ilvl at the moment. My main is a 570 warrior so I know the raids and all that. Looking at Noxxic and Icy Veins, they say Survival is better for raids. Now I'm only able to run LFRs and a few Flexes at the moment but which spec is better for this? Should I be looking to switch between either depending on the fight? Does switching change anything to do with my gems/reforging?

[Azortharion]

1) Don't consider Noxxic/Icy-Veins valuable sources of class information. The Icy-Veins BM guide is outdated, and Noxxic is just urgh.

In that gear level I'd personally go BM for all fights except Immerseus, Norushen, Sha of Pride, Iron Juggernaut, Kor'kron Dark Shaman, Malkorok, Spoils, Thok, Paragons, and SV for those bosses.

No harm in getting well acquainted with both specs, better than becoming a world champion at Survival and having to transition into BM as a total noob (not that the specs play THAT differently, though they have some distinct mechanics to each their own) - just go with a Crit > Haste > Mastery setup for both specs.

If you wanna go BM full-time-tryhard-mode at a higher gear level later (565+-ish but depends on specific pieces), consider a Haste > Mastery > Crit reforge, but it really doesn't matter a whole lot.

[Kissthebaby]

Play what ever spec you like the most. BM and survival are close enough at that gear level that it doesn't matter

[eschatological]

1) Don't consider Noxxic/Icy-Veins valuable sources of class information. The Icy-Veins BM guide is outdated, and Noxxic is just urgh.

In that gear level I'd personally go BM for all fights except Immerseus, Norushen, Sha of Pride, Iron Juggernaut, Kor'kron Dark Shaman, Malkorok, Spoils, Thok, Paragons, and SV for those bosses.

No harm in getting well acquainted with both specs, better than becoming a world champion at Survival and having to transition into BM as a total noob (not that the specs play THAT differently, though they have some distinct mechanics to each their own) - just go with a Crit > Haste > Mastery setup for both specs.

If you wanna go BM full-time-tryhard-mode at a higher gear level later (565+-ish but depends on specific pieces), consider a Haste > Mastery > Crit reforge, but it really doesn't matter a whole lot.

When you say "You should be BM except for these fights" and then list 9 of the 14 fights....you're really saying you should be SV. :P

[Restors]

When you say "You should be BM except for these fights" and then list 9 of the 14 fights....you're really saying you should be SV. :P

Ye, I lol'ed at that aswell... I would actually say, just go survival.. As soon you getting to the higher ilvls, you are already mastering that specc. (just my imo ofc)

[Speedlance]

Consider how close they are I don't think it matters too much unless you're aiming for top 100, then min maxing is important. There are ofc situation where one shines more then the other though

[mag07]

If you don't have a personal preference, play along with your gear - I found that up to around ilevel 540, with few haste heavy items, BM was better - as I started to replace my gear with normal, more crit heavy items, BM started falling behind survival on most fights. You can either play the sim game, and try to find optimal spec for your gear, or simply go by feeling - works surprisingly well for hunters this tier. BM seems to require a fair amount of haste while maintaining high crit/mastery to perform well at higher gear levels -survival seems great just going crit happy without having to worry about perfect drops. Also, I find SV 4piece bonus insanely good, leaving BM behind with the same gearset at my current ilevel (550). Coupled with AoC and HT and I out dps myself in SV over BM consistently - spent a fortune reforging and regemming to find that balance the moment I thought BM scaling started to stale on my character. If you have the gold, play around regemming/reforging/testing and you will feel very clearly which one plays better to you. If you don't, simming it is.

[anjan011]

If you don't have a personal preference, play along with your gear - I found that up to around ilevel 540, with few haste heavy items, BM was better - as I started to replace my gear with normal, more crit heavy items, BM started falling behind survival on most fights. You can either play the sim game, and try to find optimal spec for your gear, or simply go by feeling - works surprisingly well for hunters this tier. BM seems to require a fair amount of haste while maintaining high crit/mastery to perform well at higher gear levels -survival seems great just going crit happy without having to worry about perfect drops. Also, I find SV 4piece bonus insanely good, leaving BM behind with the same gearset at my current ilevel (550). Coupled with AoC and HT and I out dps myself in SV over BM consistently - spent a fortune reforging and regemming to find that balance the moment I thought BM scaling started to stale on my character. If you have the gold, play around regemming/reforging/testing and you will feel very clearly which one plays better to you. If you don't, simming it is.

Get TED and more haste, if u can get past 30% haste unbuffed, BM will outshine SV. but as u mentioned if ur gear is crit heavy, SV will outshine BM.

if u manage to get the bow off protectors, u can start thinking about going BM full times