Tuesday 30 June 2009

Reaching the Hit Cap

After a suggestion from one of the readers I have made a hit cap helper. I explain hit earlier in this blog's history so we are all aware of what our cap is (if not go read up on that first), but I didn't really enlighten on how to achieve those kind of hit numbers.

When you start out it will be hard to reach the cap. As you get better gear and start entering deeper endgame content you will find it becomes much easier to acquire hit and you will end up regulating hit rather than striving for it.

Trinkets:

The absolute best place to start is with your trinket. At every stage of progression there is a hit trinket available that carries large quantities that I recommend getting. In order of increasing difficulty to get, they are as follows:
  • [Rune of Infinite Power] - From a pretty fun quest called Mystery of the Infinite, Redux where you help a version on yourself in the past. The original quest you get help from your future self, so you end up going full circle. Anyways, this is a good trinket to kick you off in the right direction hit-wise.
  • [Figurine - Twilight Serpent] - This one is for the Jewelcrafters only. Requires JC lvl 400, its materials are here.
  • [Mark of the War Prisoner] - This is the first hit trinket I used at 80, and it is a good one. In fact, I used this most of the way through Naxx 10 and well into Naxx 25. Drops from Cyanigosa in Heroic Violet Hold.
  • [Dying Curse] - When you get into Naxx 25 regularly this becomes the upgrade from the War Prisoner. Has a shared loot table (it can drop off of multiple bosses) and has a very nice proc.
  • [Elemental Focus Stone] - Drops off of Auriaya in 10-man Ulduar. Huge amounts of hit, but the proc is worse than Dying Curse for most casters.
  • [Living Flame] - Drops off of Razorscale in Ulduar 25. A ton of hit and a usable proc that is much more competitive with Dying Curse than that of the Elemental Focus Stone.

Enchants:

There are a couple of enchants that give hit. I am only putting the best available versions of the enchantment (i.e. there are less effective versions of the ones given) but I am choosing not to include these. In order of increasing amount of hit:

  • [Enchant Boots - Icewalker] - +12 Hit (as well as +12 Crit). Most casters tend to roll with this enchant because it is one of the only caster boot chants available (I opt for this one instead, but that discussion is for another post...)
  • [Enchant Gloves - Precision] - +20 Hit. The other option for enchanting your gloves is +28 Spell Power, but for a cheap enchant the 20 hit is nice.
  • [Enchant Weapon - Accuracy] - +25 Hit (as well as +25 Crit). This is an extremely expensive enchant that I would not recommend getting unless you plan on keeping the weapon a long time and are really struggling to reach your cap. You can also get a Titanium Weapon Chain put on your weapon; although the disarm resist won't help you the +3 hit will, and it is considerably cheaper.

Gems:

The most simple way to make small adjustments to your hit rating is via gemming. Here is a list of gems with hit that are available, as before there is lesser quality versions of those posted:

  • [Rigid Autumn's Glow] - +16 hit. This is the only pure hit gem available (Jewelcrafters have [Rigid Dragon's Eye] available to them, but we will disregard it for our purposes).
  • [Veiled Monarch Topaz] - +9 Spell Power, +8 Hit.
  • [Vivid Forest Emerald] - +8 Hit Rating, +12 Stamina. In my opinion this is the best gem to put in a blue socket if you are under cap and looking to get a socket bonus or keep a meta socket running (this is applicable to elemental shaman only, other casters who may be reading this will tend to get more benefit from the 'Shining' equivalent below).
  • [Tense Forest Emerald] - +8 Hit, +10 Spell Penetration.
  • [Shining Forest Emerald] - +8 Hit Rating, +8 Spirit.
  • [Lambent Forest Emerald] - +8 Hit Rating, +3 mana every 5 seconds.

Note: Make sure you keep an eye on sockets for any with hit rating also. These can be freebies for that extra little bit to keep you over cap. Although stacking Spell Power gems is the trend at endgame, being ignorant of socket bonuses can cause you to miss out on benefits. Being a smart raider is more than just moving out of void zones you know...

I hope these recommendations help you in reaching that elusive hit cap if you are just starting work on your gear, or shows you a way to get that little tweak to be able to stay capped with your recent upgrade.

- Puut

5 comments:

  1. Thank you for a very informative post! I've been playing my elemental shaman more recently as I've burned out a bit on my holy pally. I'm really enjoying it, but I feel I'm falling short of our class' potential by generating less than spectacular DPS numbers. I've reviewed my spell rotation, my spec and my enchants/gems but can't seem to find any significant flaws.

    If you have an opportunity, would you be willing to look at my toon (Shambles on Lothar - link to armory below) and let me know if you can spot any glaring errors? I've just picked up a boatload of gear from Naxx and Ulduar which I have not had the opportunity to enchant yet.

    I'm thinking that although I have some nice pieces of gear I'm lacking the 4-set T7 bonus and some spell power and I'm prone to forgetting to drop totems (those mobile fights are a killer) or refresh my Flametongue weapon from time to time.

    Spell Rotation:
    1) Keep Flame Shock up at all times
    2) Use Lava Burst at every CD as long as Flame Shock is active.
    3) Spam the bejesus out of Lightning Bolt

    Thanks a bunch and keep up the good work!

    http://www.wowarmory.com/character-sheet.xml?r=Lothar&cn=Shambles&gn=Volatile+Rum

    ReplyDelete
  2. I will do a quick look over your profile and see if there is anything significant needing to be changed.

    Want to send me an email to puutnitdown@gmail.com so I can reply to you via that method? Just to make it easier than posting an analysis in a comments section.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Its a great guide. I waould just like to ask when do u cast next lightning bolt after another?

    ReplyDelete
  4. I'm not entirely sure what you are asking. Shoot an email to puunitdown(at)gmail.com and I will see if I can help you out.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Another easy way for early +hit is from the Ring of Northern Tears (www.wowhead.com/?item=43253). It is fairly quick to farm the mats for, finding a JC that has the recipe is the tough part.

    ReplyDelete

 
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