Wikia

Not to be confused with Spell hit.

Hit refers to physical damage that occurs as a result of an attack made with melee or ranged weapons. Basically it reduces the chance to miss with your attack (see below). Patch 4.0.1 decreased the required rating per 1% slightly. The chance to hit now increases by 1% per 30.7548 hit rating points at level 80, 14.7905 hit rating points at level 70, and 9.3793 hit rating points at level 60. The base chance to miss against an opponent of equal level is 5% for single wield and 24% for dual wield. With Patch 3.0, both hit and spell hit use the same basic hit rating attribute within the combat rating system, although the similarity largely ends there — they are effectively distinct attributes derived from the same rating.

Calculating Miss Rate

If the difference between the mob's level and your level is less than or equal to 2, then the formula for calculating your base miss rate against that mob is:

with single-wielding: 5% + (Mob Level - Your Level) * 0.5%
with dual-wielding: 24% + (Mob Level - Your Level) * 0.5%

If the difference between the mob's level and your level is greater than 2, then the formula for calculating your base miss rate against that mob is:

with single-wielding: 2% + (Mob Level - Your Level) * 2%
with dual-wielding: 21% + (Mob Level - Your Level) * 2%

Applying these formulas gives the following base miss rate for a Level 80 character:

v. Level 80 mob: 5.0% / dual-wield: 24%
v. Level 81 mob: 5.5% / dual-wield: 24.5%
v. Level 82 mob: 6.0% / dual-wield: 25% (level of most heroic bosses)
v. Level 83 mob: 8.0% / dual-wield: 27% (level of raid bosses)

30.75 hit rating reduces your chance to miss by 1%

Thus, if you are a Level 80 character with no talents increasing your chance to hit, you need a Hit Rating of 247 (8.03%) to never miss a shot against a Level 83 boss (or skull mob) with a special attack or single-wield auto-attack (see hit rating cap below).

Melee attacks divide into two categories: auto-attacks (white attack/damage) and special attacks (yellow attack/damage). Attacking a mob from behind removes parry and block from both tables, provided the attack is more than 0.5 yards away.

Hit rating cap

In the context of stats, the term "cap" refers to the point at which equipping more of a particular stat will have no additional value. For hit rating the cap usually discussed is in regards to raid bosses. For example, once you reach or surpass the hit cap, you will never miss an attack against a raid boss unless you are under the effect of some debuff that reduces your hit chance (for example, Archavon the Stone Watcher's gas cloud).

As shown above, your base chance to miss a raid boss while dual wielding is 27% with auto-attack on both hands. Your base chance to miss a special attack is 8%. For each 14.79 hit rating at level 70 or 32.78 hit rating at level 80, you reduce your chance to miss by 1%. Thus we can calculate hit caps for auto-attack and special attacks:

A "soft" cap is the point at which your yellow attacks will always hit and more hit rating has no effect on them. A "hard" cap is the point at which your autoattacks will always hit and more hit rating does absolutely nothing for you.

Note: For DPS exclusively doing heroics and not planning on raiding at all, the hit cap is lower, since heroic bosses are never higher than 82 (see "Calculating Miss Rate", above).

All level 80 physical DPS

Single-wielding auto-attack: 263 Hit rating
Dual-wielding auto-attack: 885 Hit rating

All level 85 physical DPS

Dual-wield auto-attack: 3244 Hit rating
Special DW attack or any type of Single-wield attack (auto/special) or any type of ranged physical attack (auto/special): 961 hit rating

Hit Rating Required Per 1%
Level 60	Level 70	Level 80	Level 85
9.38	14.79	32.78	120.125

Hit rating chart

Required Hit Rating
Level	Special attack, Single-wield, Ranged weapon						Dual-wield
Level	3%	4%	5%	6%	7%	8%	22%	23%	24%	25%	26%	27%
70	44.37	59.16	73.95	88.74	103.53	118.23	325.39	340.18	354.97	369.76	384.55	399.34
80	98.33	131.10	163.87	196.65	229.43	262.20	721.05	753.83	786.60	819.38	852.15	884.93
85	360.37	480.5	600.63	720.75	840.88	961	2642.75	2762.88	2883	3003.13	3123.25	3243.38

Note: for practical purpose, since hit rating is always integer, you need to round up the above numbers to ensure true hit-cap. 960 = 7.999% 961 = 8.00%.

Six Sigma Miss per Hit Opportunities (on level 80)

Hit Rating	Additional Hit %	Miss per 10,000 Hits	Miss %
247	8.031%	0	0.00%
246	7.999%	0.1	0.00%
245	7.966%	3	0.03%
243	7.901%	10	0.10%
241	7.836%	16	0.16%
239	7.771%	23	0.23%
237	7.706%	29	0.29%
235	7.641%	36	0.36%
233	7.576%	42	0.42%
231	7.511%	49	0.49%
229	7.446%	55	0.55%
227	7.381%	62	0.62%
225	7.316%	68	0.68%
223	7.251%	75	0.75%
221	7.186%	81	0.81%
219	7.121%	88	0.88%
217	7.056%	94	0.94%
215	6.991%	101	1.01%
213	6.926%	107	1.07%
185	6.015%	198	1.98%
154	5.007%	299	2.99%
123	3.999%	400	4.00%
93	3.024%	498	4.98%

Special attack hit cap (soft)

Hit Rating Needed to Cap Special Attacks ( vs Raid Bosses )
Increased Hit Chance	Rating Needed at Level		Needed by
Increased Hit Chance	70	80	Needed by
1%	14.79	30.75	Draenei (Heroic Presence) Enhancement Shaman dual wielding with 3/3 Dual Wield Specialization
2%	29.58	61.51	Any other Enhancement Shaman dual wielding with 3/3 Dual Wield Specialization Draenei (Heroic Presence) Rogues with 5/5 Precision
3%	44.37	92.26	Rogues with 5/5 Precision
4%	59.16	123.02	Draenei (Heroic Presence) Death Knights dual-wielding one handed weapons and 3/3 Nerves of Cold Steel Draenei (Heroic Presence) Warriors with 3/3 Precision
5%	73.95	153.77	Death Knights dual-wielding one handed weapons and 3/3 Nerves of Cold Steel Warriors with 3/3 Precision
6%	88.74	184.53
7%	103.53	215.28
8%	118.32	246.04	All special attacks not affected by talents which modify chance to hit
Note: Characters in a group containing a Draenei gain an additional +1% hit chance from Heroic Presence and can reduce their required hit rating accordingly.

Heroic Presence

Heroic Presence is a draenei passive ability that give draenei a 1% reduction in hit rating requirement.

When raiding, remember to take it into account:

The presence of a draenei in your party (not raid; it is still party-only). Their Heroic Presence racial ability gives +1% chance to hit with all attacks (spell or physical). At lvl80 physical dps (melees or hunters) can use this to swap 30.75 points of hit rating designated to reach their physical-attacks-cap for more useful stats. However Heroic Presence for lvl80 players translates to only 26.23 hit rating points when it comes to spells. This distinction can be useful to avoid any miscalculations, for, abilities like taunt and growl are still considered spells. Bear this in mind if you are planning to hit the spell cap for taunt-sensitive bossfights.

Auto attacks

Each melee auto attack made by characters against mobs will result in one of the following (in order of precedence):

Order of precedence	Result
1	Miss
2	Dodge
3	Parry
4	Glancing blow
5	Block
6	Critical strike
7	Hit

Hit chance doesn't work by increasing the amount of "Hit" on these tables. Instead, it works by decreasing the amount of miss.

Example #1

Critical strike chance "fills in" the hit chance portion of this table. Crit is "capped" when the crit chance exceeds the amount of hit chance on the table. Until we reach that cap, hit chance has NO effect on crit chance. For example: maximum dual wielding weapon skill, chance to hit 0% and chance to critical strike 50%. Dual wield auto-attacking a raid boss from behind results in a loss of 8.6% critical strike:

Result	Chance
Miss	28%
Dodge	5.6%
Glancing blow	25%
Critical strike	41.4%
Hit	0%

Example #2

Increase chance to hit to 10% and decrease chance to critical strike to 45% results in no loss of critical strike:

Result	Chance
Miss	18%
Dodge	5.6%
Glancing blow	25%
Critical strike	45%
Hit	6.4%

It is actually quite difficult to be crit capped without trying. This is one reason why it's important to maintain a balance of stats, and not to "stack" any one stat indiscriminately.

Special attacks

Each melee special attack made by characters against mobs will result in one of the following in order of precedence:

Result
Miss
Dodge
Parry
Block
Hit

The system is exactly the same as normal attacks, except the miss chance is reduced to 8%, whether dual-wielding or not.

Enhancers

Enchantments

[Biznicks 247x128 Accurascope] - Ranged only.
[Titanium Weapon Chain]
[Enchant Weapon - Accuracy]
[Enchant Gloves - Precision]
[Arcanum of Ferocity]
[Enchant Gloves - Precise Strikes] - Enchant learned from [Formula: Enchant Gloves - Spell Strike].
[Arcanum of Power]
[Enchant Boots - Icewalker]
[Falcon's Call]
[Enchant Boots - Surefooted]
[Presence of Sight]
[Enchant Boots - Lesser Accuracy] - Added in patch 3.1.

Talents

Shadow priests with 2/2 points in Twisted Faith will receive 1 point of hit per point of spirit granted by gear. (as of patch 4.0.1)
Elemental Shaman with 3/3 points in Elemental Precision will receive 1 point of hit per point of spirit granted by gear. (as of patch 4.0.1)

Gems

Northrend

Color	Name	Effect(s)
Yellow	[Rigid Dragon's Eye]	+34 Hit Rating
	[Rigid King's Amber]	+20 Hit Rating
	[Rigid Autumn's Glow]	+16 Hit Rating
	[Perfect Rigid Sun Crystal]	+14 Hit Rating
	[Rigid Sun Crystal]	+12 Hit Rating
Orange	[Pristine Ametrine]	+10 Hit Rating	+20 Attack Power
	[Pristine Monarch Topaz]	+8 Hit Rating	+16 Attack Power
	[Perfect Pristine Huge Citrine]	+7 Hit Rating	+14 Attack Power
	[Pristine Huge Citrine]	+6 Hit Rating	+12 Attack Power
	[Veiled Ametrine]	+10 Hit Rating	+12 Spell Power
	[Veiled Monarch Topaz]	+8 Hit Rating	+9 Spell Power
	[Perfect Veiled Huge Citrine]	+7 Hit Rating	+8 Spell Power
	[Veiled Huge Citrine]	+6 Hit Rating	+7 Spell Power
	[Glinting Ametrine]	+10 Hit Rating	+10 Agility
	[Glinting Monarch Topaz]	+8 Hit Rating	+8 Agility
	[Perfect Glinting Huge Citrine]	+7 Hit Rating	+7 Agility
	[Glinting Huge Citrine]	+6 Hit Rating	+6 Agility
	[Etched Ametrine]	+10 Hit Rating	+10 Strength
	[Etched Monarch Topaz]	+8 Hit Rating	+8 Strength
	[Perfect Etched Huge Citrine]	+7 Hit Rating	+7 Strength
	[Etched Huge Citrine]	+6 Hit Rating	+6 Strength
	[Accurate Ametrine]	+10 Hit Rating	+10 Expertise Rating
	[Accurate Monarch Topaz]	+8 Hit Rating	+8 Expertise Rating
	[Perfect Accurate Huge Citrine]	+7 Hit Rating	+7 Expertise Rating
	[Accurate Huge Citrine]	+6 Hit Rating	+6 Expertise Rating
Green	[Lambent Eye of Zul]	+10 Hit Rating	+5 Mana every 5 Seconds
	[Lambent Forest Emerald]	+8 Hit Rating	+3 Mana every 5 Seconds
	[Perfect Lambent Dark Jade]	+7 Hit Rating	+3 Mana every 5 Seconds
	[Lambent Dark Jade]	+6 Hit Rating	+2 Mana every 5 Seconds
	[Vivid Eye of Zul]	+10 Hit Rating	+15 Stamina
	[Vivid Forest Emerald]	+8 Hit Rating	+12 Stamina
	[Perfect Vivid Dark Jade]	+7 Hit Rating	+11 Staminia
	[Vivid Dark Jade]	+6 Hit Rating	+9 Staminia
	[Tense Eye of Zul]	+10 Hit Rating	+13 Spell Penetration
	[Tense Forest Emerald]	+8 Hit Rating	+10 Spell Penetration
	[Perfect Tense Dark Jade]	+6 Hit Rating	+9 Spell Penetration
	[Tense Dark Jade]	+6 Hit Rating	+8 Spell Penetration
	[Shining Eye of Zul]	+10 Hit Rating	+10 Spirit
	[Shining Forest Emerald]	+8 Hit Rating	+8 Spirit
	[Perfect Shining Dark Jade]	+7 Hit Rating	+7 Spirit
	[Shining Dark Jade]	+6 Hit Rating	+6 Spirit

Outland

Color	Name	Effect(s)
Yellow	[Rigid Lionseye]	+10 Hit Rating
	[Rigid Dawnstone]	+8 Hit Rating
	[Rigid Golden Draenite]	+6 Hit Rating
	[Rigid Amber]	+4 Hit Rating
	[Great Lionseye]	+10 Hit Rating
	[Great Dawnstone]	+8 Hit Rating
	[Great Golden Draenite]	+6 Hit Rating
Orange	[Etched Fire Opal]	+4 Hit Rating	+5 Strength
	[Glinting Pyrestone]	+5 Hit Rating	+5 Agility
	[Glinting Fire Opal]	+4 Hit Rating	+5 Agility
	[Glinting Noble Topaz]	+4 Hit Rating	+4 Agility
	[Glinting Flame Spessarite]	+3 Hit Rating	+3 Agility
	[Nimble Fire Opal]	+4 Hit Rating	+5 Dodge Rating
	[Pristine Fire Opal]	+4 Hit Rating	+10 Attack Power
	[Veiled Pyrestone]	+5 Hit Rating	+6 Spell Damage
	[Shining Fire Opal]	+5 Hit Rating	+6 Spell Damage
	[Veiled Noble Topaz]	+4 Hit Rating	+5 Spell Damage
	[Veiled Flame Spessarite]	+3 Hit Rating	+4 Spell Damage
Green	[Lambent Chrysoprase]	+5 Hit Rating	2 mana per 5 sec.
Green	[Vivid Chrysoprase]	+5 Hit Rating	+6 Stamina

Cooking

[Spicy Hot Talbuk] adds 20 Hit for 30 minutes.
[Snapper Extreme] and [Worg Tartare] add 40 Hit rating for 1 hour.

Common misunderstandings

Some players ignore hit, when hit rating is the most valuable stat for most DPS classes. This is because for the same amount of item points, hit rating usually gives a higher increase in overall damage output than other stats. Therefore, it is advisable for most DPS to stack hit rating until hit-capped.

It is also common to see people over-value the benefit of hit rating. Some players stack hit rating indiscriminately without realizing that their hit is over-capped by a large amount. Any hit rating above the hit cap is useless. One should adjust the hit rating so that they are not over the cap by too much.

Another common misconception is that some people over value hit rating, to such an extent that they choose gear of a lower quality with hit rating over other gear that has a higher quality but no hit rating. They forget why one wants hit rating: to maximize the damage output. For example, imagine there are two helms with similar stats except that one has 20 more hit rating, while the other has 40 more critical strike rating (or other stats for classes that value crit less). Although 1 hit rating is better than 1 critical strike rating usually, 40 critical strike rating can be better than 20 hit rating. Therefore, one should still choose the second helm even this means he/she will be further away from being hit-capped. In general, we should choose the piece of gear that provides higher improvement in damage output, regardless of whether it has hit rating or not.

Another point some raiders do not consider is that many fights in ICC are 'adds' fights. The spell hit rating requirement for a level 83 raid boss is 17%. For a level 82 add, it is 6%. Assuming the Gunship adds, Saurfang blood beasts, and Dreamwalker adds are level 82s, it can be said that many casters are over hit for those fights. Each raider should decide if killing the adds is more important than dpsing a raid boss, and what amount of hit rating gives the raid the most benefit. Gear can be swapped on a boss by boss basis. One set can have 17% hit, and the other set can drop hit for something contributing to higher dps. Maghia's Misguided Quill can be used for bosses but swapped out for 'adds' fights.

Patch changes

Patch 1.8.0 (10-Oct-2005): Items which provide +hit chance will now be allowed to counteract the increased miss chance penalty of dual-wielding.

External links

Icy Veins Mechanics of Melee Attacks

Elitist Jerks Roguecraft 101