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

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