Hit Rating

Almost certainly the most asked question I get (and those who follow the Shaman official WoW Forum will agree) is regarding hit and how much we need. As I tend to do with this blog I will go a little bit into the background of the topic so you aren't simply taking everything I say as fact.

Hit rating relates to the chance our spells have to hit our target. The more we increase our hit rating, the better the likely hood our spell will hit. This stat is essential to us because missing with our spells will drastically reduce our damage output.

It is possible to be 'capped' with hit, in that we can have enough hit rating to achieve 100% chance to hit our target. We have base levels of hit that are related to our target's level in relation to our own level; we have a 96% base chance to hit something of our own level (ie. if I am a level 80 attacking a level 80 target). The vast majority of the bosses we will be face with in raid situation will be level 83, which means we have a 83% chance to hit them (the fact that these two numbers are the same is purely coincidence). WoWWiki has a convenient little table if you would like to see what your chances of hitting a target of a certain level compared to you are (http://www.wowwiki.com/Spell_hit).

So we as PvE elemental shaman will be facing level 83 bosses that we have an 83% chance to hit. Therefore we have some 17% hit that we must make up ourselves, and this can be achieved in a number of ways. Most classes have talents in their trees to help make up this hit and we are no exception. Elemental Precision, found on the 5th tier of the elemental tree, gives us 3% hit right off the bat. This talent should ALWAYS be completely specced into as this is a huge benefit for us; more on talent tree speccing will be coming later. We are now at 14% chance to miss that we must account for.

A huge benefit for all us Draenei Shamen is that our racial buff, Heroic Presence, offers us an additional 1% hit (as well as to all our group members). This is nice as it reduces the amount of hit we need to make up from gear/gems/enchants.

So time for a bit of math. We have to make up 14% (or 13% for Draenei) with our hit rating stat. We require 26.232 hit rating for 1% hit at level 80 (again, http://www.wowwiki.com/Spell_hit) so the calculations are as follows:

Horde: 14 x 26.232 = 367.248 (368)
Alliance: 13 x 26.232 = 341.016 (342)

Now one important note: If you have a Balance Druid or a Shadow Priest in your raid/group they will most likely have the talents Improved Faerie Fire or Misery. These are a debuff that, when cast on a target, increase the chance of spells cast at said enemy to hit by an additional 3%. This means that we can have a large reduction to our required hit when raiding with either of these classes (Note: these DO NOT stack for a 6% reduction, however nice that may be). Our calculations are now:

Horde: 11 x 26.232 = 288.552 (289)
Alliance: 10 x 26.232 = 262.32 (263)

Most raiding elemental shaman will consider this additional 3% as given as most raids will have a Moonkin or Shadow Priest in their ranks, and sit at this lower hit value. I cannot guarantee that you will have that luxury however, so make sure you confirm that your raid has this! Also, not all of the Shadow Priests or Moonkins will have specced into this talent so again, make sure you know before you settle with the lower cap.

In summary:

Horde Hit Cap (alone): 368
Horde Hit Cap (with a Moonkin or Shadow Priest): 289

Alliance Hit Cap (by itself): 342

Alliance Hit Cap (with a Moonkin or Shadow Priest): 263

In the coming posts I will post a quick guide on how to get hit capped quickly one you have hit 80.
-Puut