Hit Rating for Casters (redux)

Let's call this the "Bremm is an Idiot" version.

There were some errors in yesterday's posting. Some fairly major ones, but I hope to rectify most of them today.

First of all, Balance of Power (the Balance Talent) actually has two ranks and each rank increases the hit rating of spells by 2%, for a net 4% gain to hit rating for druids. There is, additionally, a Tier 7 Balance Talent (Improved Faerie Fire) which increases spell hit by 1%/rank with 3 ranks. This nets an additional 3% hit rating. To my unpracticed eye, this appears to not be restricted merely to the druid who casts it, but applies for anybody casting against that target. Druids should keep this up at all times.

Additionally, Shadow Priests should spec into Misery (Tier 7 Shadow Talent) which increases harmful spell hit against the target by 1%/rank with 3 ranks. This appears to work exactly like Improved Faerie Fire but with the new stacking mechanics won't stack with IFF.

Thus, if there is either a Balance Druid or a Shadow Priest and they are properly specced, they will provide 3% of the hit rating needed by casters.

So, the end result is

• Druids need 10% to hit (or 262 hit rating) or 9% with a draenei in the party (236 hit rating)
• Mages, Warlocks and Shamans need 11% to hit (or 289 hit rating) with a boomkin or shadow priest in the party. They need 14% hit rating (or 367 hit rating) without. The draenei racial will grant 1% (or 26.23 hit rating) less needed.
• Shadow Priests need 11% to hit (289 hit rating) or 10% (262 hit rating) with a draenei in the party.

The numbers are a little nicer to look at, but it's still no picnic.

Hit Rating for Casters - The Sad Truth

I have good news and bad news for the casters in the group! Let's start with the good news.

The Good News
Prior to the 3.0 patch (which prepared us for the WOTLK expansion) there was a built-in one percent miss chance for any spell you cast. That means, at most ninety-nine percent of your spells hit when you cast them. The 3.0 patch removed that very small chance to miss

The Bad News
Casters must now make up that extra one percent chance to miss to achieve maximum raid efficiency.

So, for the offensive casters (Mages, Shadow Priests, Elemental Shamans, Balance Druids, and Warlocks) you need to achieve 17% total hit rating to never miss a target up to 3 levels above you--such as a raid boss. Since it takes 26.23 hit rating (at level 80) to equal one percent hit rating this would mean you'd need 445 hit rating to never miss.

But it's not that dire. Every offensive caster class has skills in their trees to increase hit rating. For instance:

• Druids have a Tier 6 Balance Talent (Balance of Power) that will increase their chance to hit with balance spells by 2%
  
• Mages have a Tier 1 Arcane Talent (Arcane Focus) that will increase their chance to hit with arcane spells by 3%
  
• Mages also have a Tier 2 Frost Talent (Elemental Precision) that will increase their chance to hit with frost or fire spells by 3%
• Priests have a Tier 2 Shadow Talent (Shadow Focus) that will increase their chance to hit with shadow spells by 3%
• Shamans have a Tier 6 Elemental Talent (Elemental Precision) that will increase their chance to hit with their spells by 3%
• Warlocks have a Tier 1 Affliction Talent (Suppression) that will increase their chance to hit with affliction spells by 3%
• Warlocks have a Tier 2 Destruction Talent (Cataclysm) that will increase their chance to hit with destruction spells by 3%.

So, for any caster (except Druids who apparently got screwed) that is properly specced you need only 14% (Druids 15%). At 26.23 hit rating for each one percent, that is 368 hit rating (Druids 394).

The Alliance has even better news in store! Draenei have a racial skill (Heroic Presence) that increases the chance to hit by 1%, so if you're a dwarf, gnome, human or night elf that will always have a draenei in your group, you can let your hit percentage drop to 13% (14% for Druids) to a mere 341 hit rating (368 for druids). Be warned this is A LOT of hit rating to go for especially pre-raid gear. Trust me.

And where is all that hit rating going to come from? Well, consider foods, gems, and enchants. They will all significantly boost hit rating. But where it all comes from is a topic best saved for another day.