Is Your Aim TOO Good?

I've written a couple posts lately about hit rating and what the caps are. I should've been more clear, perhaps, that these are raiding hit caps. If what you're doing is running heroics or running normal five-mans, these hit rating caps are WAY TOO HIGH! You're wasting valuable itemization points by overcapping hit rating. For my hunter, I've swapped out the two one-handed swords (from Wyrmrest) and their 66 hit rating for a polearm with no hit rating. The extra hit rating from the swords is only relevant once I'm doing raids. Since I'm not yet raiding, I can afford to swap those for a polearm giving me a little more in the way of stats and crit rating. That's caused my DPS to go up some on the heroics. And I know I still have the gear which I can swap into to raid.

I've never maintained multiple PVE gear sets on my hunter, and only did so half-heartedly for other classes. I kept a (substandard) set of DPS gear for my warrior tank. I kept a few pieces of "dps gear" on my holy priest, but that became not as critical once +healing started adding to +spelldamage. And now, with the conversion of all of that to spellpower, it's even less crucial. I did have the beginnings of PVP sets for both the hunter and holy priest (resilience FTW) but neither was even close to complete.

So, until I actually get some gear and make some decisions about what I'm keeping and what I'm not keeping, my entire backpack is filled with gear I may use - but probably won't. And with hunter bagspace at a premium, it's not a practice I'm sure I can support for much longer.

The message really is to know what sort of hit rating you need to cover the content you're doing. For some classes (shadow priest, boomkin) you should be able to do heroics without any hit rating. But by gum, make sure you're not totally over hit-capped. You'll just be gimping your own DPS.

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.

Warrior Hit Rating

First off, I want to apologize to two DPS warriors in my guild. Last night in a Zul'Aman run I was musing on the lack of hit rating on both Schaden and Atalex. It seemed intuitive to me that since "white attacks" were counting for about 30-40% of their damage that they should want to do everything in their power to make those attacks not miss.

I promised to do some research and call them out by name if they were wrong in insisting that capping their special attacks at 142 hit rating was enough. I was so sure I was going to be vindicated and belittle them. It turns out, I'm the one that is belittled. I consulted Elitist Jerks and looked on the DPS Warrior Compendium. It turns out that Hit Rating is very important up to 142, which is the soft hit cap. At the soft hit cap, special attacks (i.e., Yellow Damage) no longer misses. Once a DPS warrior hits that cap, other statistics become more important including dodge, Armor Penetration, and others.

I'm apologizing to both Atalex and Schaden. I was wrong. You guys rock on DPS. Keep it up and be sure to make fun of me.

Hunter Hit Rating

In order to get your level 70 hunter ready to begin raiding, you need to get your hit rating to the magic number of 142. This number is based on the fact that hunters are for the vast majority of the time going to be filling their enemies full of either bullets or arrows. With a very few exceptions, melee strikes shouldn't even be happening. Some hunters do equip two weapons and dual wield. However, for the purposes of the following discussion, I'm going to assume your hunter is using a two-handed weapon (axe, mace, sword or polearm)

So, why is hit rating such a big deal? Well, for PVP it's not. Since the hit calculation roll is based mostly on the difference in levels between attacker and target, two level 70's are going to basically be a wash. Where that difference starts to make itself felt is in heroics and raids. Raid denizens (bosses and trash) can be up to three levels higher than a player. To overcome the difference in levels, a hunter needs a hit rating of 142.

Knowing the number is only half the fight though. The real challenge lies in getting exactly to 142 because hit rating in excess of the cap is wasted. It doesn't add any further benefit.

There are several pieces of gear that will boost your hit rating. Again, we're only discussing normal dungeon drops and quest rewards.

Armor
Armor is where you'll find most of the hit rating. Blizzard tends to put hit rating on helmets & belts. But the full list is below

Helmets

• Dream- Wing Helm - Drops in Shadow Labyrinth from Ambassador Hellmaw and has 13 hit rating.
  
• Cenarion Thicket Helm - Quest reward from quests in Terrokar Forest (actual quest lines are slightly different for Horde & Alliance from what I can tell) and has 16 hit rating.

Pants

• Greaves of Desolation - Drops in Sethekk Halls from Talon King Ikiss and has 12 hit rating.
• Nether Leggings - Quest reward from Dr. Boom in Netherstorm and has 17 hit rating.

Belts

• Tracker's Belt - Drops in Slave Pens from Mennu the Betrayer and has 14 hit rating.
• Rune-Engraved Belt - Quest reward from Fel Embers in Shattered Halls. This has a whopping 24 hit rating on it. I can't seem to get a replacement for my hunter who routinely goes to Serpentshrine Cavern.
• Shattrath's Champion Belt - Quest reward from How to Break into the Arcatraz and has 15 hit rating.

Hands & Feet

• Gloves of Marksmanship - Quest reward from Leader of the Bloodcrest in Zangarmarsh with 16 hit rating
• Fleet Refugee's Boots - Quest reward from Helping the Lost Find their Way in Terrokar with 17 hit rating.

Weapons
Some pieces here will have some decent hit rating on them. I've eliminated the non-hunter items from this list based on the stats (i.e. no Strength items here).

Ranged

• Skyfire Hawk-Bow - Drops from Warbringer O'mrogg in Shattered Halls and has 14 hit rating.
• Alley's Recurve - A quest reward bow from Mark V is Alive in Netherstorm that has 7 hit rating.
• Deadeye's Piece - A quest reward gun from quests in Terrokar (the lines differ for Horde & Alliance) with 6 hit rating

Melee

• Sonic Spear - Drops from Murmur in Shadow Labyrinth (if you can get it to drop) and has a whopping 24 hit rating. I ground for this so long, I got Legacy from Karazhan first.

Rings, Amulets, Trinkets & Glyphs
There are a large number of rings and amulets that are both drops and quest rewards. In fact, there are enough I won't list them all here. Be aware that as you get into this area you're going to be competing (for drops at least) with DPS warriors, enhancement shamans and rogues.

There is a trinket from Terrokar quests (Again, the line differs for Horde & Alliance) called the Terrokar Tablet of Precision. This baby has 22 hit rating on it and can easily fill holes until you get better gear.

Getting revered with Cenarion Expedition will allow you to purchase the Glyph of Ferocity with another 16 hit rating on your helm.

Filling in the Holes
So, now you've collected all the gear you can get and are still a few points short. How is it possible to make up the last few points of hit rating you need? Well, if you have gem slots you can use Glinting Orange Gems that grant +4 hit rating (and +4 agility) at the rare level; they grant +3 at the uncommon level. Rigid Yellow Gems grant +8 hit rating at the rare level; they grant +6 at the uncommon level.

Finally, you can also eat. Spicy Hot Talbuk grants 20 hit rating for the length of the food buff. The recipe comes from the daily cooking quest, so if you can't make it yourself, perhaps a guild mate can. (If you're looking for this recipe to drop, it only comes from the Crate of Meat reward from the daily. The crate can also contain the Kibler's Bits pet food recipe.)

Finally Hit Capped
So, that's all there is to hit rating. Get it to a minimum of 142 and then start playing with gear. As you start raiding you may absolutely need the Talbuk to hit your 142, but as you begin getting more gear you can switch to an Attack Power or Agility food. Welcome to the hit rating dance.

Hit Happens

Next time, I wish Neshura would give me an easier topic to theorycraft on. She wanted to know about hit rating.

First things first. I'm merely pulling together information that's freely available on the internet. As my good friend Tom Lehrer would say, "Plagiarize, plagiarize, plagiarize - Only be sure always to call it please 'research'." With that esoteric reference aside, I'll dive right in.

Things you need to know:

1. There is some (limited) math in this post. Viewer discretion is advised.
   
2. This works for MELEE and RANGED classes only. Please do not attempt to apply the (limited) theorycrafting to your shadow priest.
3. When World of Warcraft determines a hit (commonly referred to as 'rolling'), several things are determined simultaneously. A single roll accounts for many results. Most notably the roll determines miss, block, dodge, parry, critical etc. The rest of the results that aren't "special" in some way are the times when you hit. So, raising hit actually contributes more to lowering your miss.
   
4. Raid or dungeon mobs have a defense equal to their level times 5. That is, level 73 raid bosses have 73*5 = 365 defense.

There are two formulas that determine miss percentage, based on the difference between your weapon skill and the targets defense.

If the difference between your weapon skill and targets defense is 10 or under:

• 5% + (Defense Skill - Weapon Skill)*0.1%

If the difference between your weapon skill and targets defense if over 10:

• 7% + (Defense Skill - Weapon Skill - 10)*0.4%

Thus, if you're a level 70 character, with 350 weapon skill and you're fighting a level 73 boss, we use the second formula (since 365-350 > 10. Miss percentage = 7% + (365-350-10)*0.4%=7%+5*0.4%=7+2%=9%.

If, however, you're a dwarf hunter, using a gun your weapon skill is 355 (hooray for racial weapon bonuses). This drops us into the FIRST formula. Miss percentage = 5% + (365-355)*0.1% = 5%+ 1% = 6%. This also applies to a troll hunter using a bow.

So, how do we make up that last remaining percentages to statistically make a miss impossible? Well, there are two ways. Slightly more than 3.9 Weapon Skill Rating (not the same as Weapon Skill Level) gives about 1 point of Weapon Skill Level. So stacking 20 weapon skill level will actually make up 5 points of weapon skill level. The second way to make up the difference is with +hit rating. Each 15.8 hit rating you can acquire lowers your miss by 1%. A dwarf (with gun) or troll (with bow) thus needs +hit rating of 95. Other hunters need +hit rating of 142.

I've not found a ton of guns or bows that a level 70 would use that have weapon skill rating on them. So, I've resorted to +hit. Currently I'm at 75 hit rating (which is not the 95 that I need being a dwarf) but I miss pretty infrequently. I'd say less than 1% of the time.

The last thing I need to mention for hunters, if you're deep enough into Survival Tree (but who is really?) Surefooted will increase your hit percentage (that is lower your miss percentage) by 1% for each of the three points you can take. This drops non-dwarves and non-trolls to needing only 95 +hit. And for us lucky suckers with racial weapon bonuses, we need a mere 48 +hit.