Hit

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. The chance to hit increases by 1% per 30.7548 points of hit rating at level 80, 14.7905 hit rating at level 70, and 9.3793 hit rating at level 60. The base chance to miss against an opponent of equal level is 5% for single wield and 24% for dual wield. 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 85 character:

• v. Level 85 mob: 5.0% / dual-wield: 24%
• v. Level 86 mob: 5.5% / dual-wield: 24.5%
• v. Level 87 mob: 6.0% / dual-wield: 25% (level of most heroic bosses)
• v. Level 88 mob: 8.0% / dual-wield: 27% (level of raid bosses)

• 120.109 hit rating reduces your chance to miss by 1%

Thus, if you are a Level 85 character with no talents increasing your chance to hit, you need a Hit Rating of 961 (8.001%) to never miss a shot against a Level 88 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 (measured from center to center rather than with the hitbox).

Hit rating cap

For the spell hit cap, see Spell hit 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 120.109 points of hit rating at level 85 or 340 points of hit rating at level 90, 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 85 physical DPS

• Dual-wield auto-attack: 3243 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	Level 90
9.38	14.79	30.75	120.109	340

Hit rating chart

Required Hit Rating

Level	Special attack, Single-wield, Ranged weapon						Dual-wield
	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	92.26	123.02	153.77	184.53	215.28	246.04	676.61	707.36	738.12	768.87	799.62	830.38
85	360.33	480.44	600.54	720.65	840.76	960.87	2642.4	2762.51	2882.62	3002.72	3122.83	3242.94

Note: for practical purpose, since hit rating is always an integer, you need to round up the above numbers to ensure true hit-cap.

Six Sigma Miss per Hit Opportunities

Level 90
Hit Rating	Additional Hit %	Miss per 10,000 Hits	Miss %
2550	7.50%	0	0.00%
2548	7.49%	1	0.01%
2516	7.40%	10	0.10%
2482	7.30%	20	0.20%
2448	7.20%	30	0.30%
2414	7.10%	40	0.40%
2380	7.00%	50	0.50%
2346	6.90%	60	0.60%
2312	6.80%	70	0.70%
2278	6.70%	80	0.80%
2244	6.60%	90	0.90%
2210	6.50%	100	1.00%
2040	6.00%	150	1.50%
1870	5.50%	200	2.00%
1700	5.00%	250	2.50%
1530	4.50%	300	3.00%

Level 85
Hit Rating	Additional Hit %	Miss per 10,000 Hits	Miss %
961	8.001%	0	0.00%
960	7.993%	1	0.01%
949	7.901%	10	0.10%
937	7.801%	20	0.20%
925	7.701%	30	0.30%
913	7.601%	40	0.40%
901	7.502%	50	0.50%
889	7.402%	60	0.60%
877	7.302%	70	0.70%
865	7.202%	80	0.80%
853	7.102%	90	0.90%
841	7.002%	100	1.00%
781	6.502%	150	1.50%
721	6.003%	200	2.00%
661	5.503%	250	2.50%
601	5.004%	300	3.00%

Level 80
Hit Rating	Additional Hit %	Miss per 10,000 Hits	Miss %
246	8.000%	0	0.00%
245	7.997%	3	0.03%
243	7.902%	10	0.10%
240	7.805%	20	0.20%
237	7.707%	29	0.29%
234	7.610%	39	0.39%
231	7.512%	49	0.49%
228	7.415%	59	0.59%
225	7.317%	68	0.68%
222	7.220%	78	0.78%
219	7.122%	88	0.88%
216	7.024%	98	0.98%
200	6.504%	150	1.50%
185	6.016%	198	1.98%
169	5.496%	250	2.50%
154	5.008%	299	2.99%

Special attack hit cap (soft)

Hit Rating Needed to Cap Special Attacks ( vs Raid Bosses )

Increased Hit Chance	Rating Needed at Level			Needed by
	70	80	85
1%	14.79	30.75	120.109	Draenei ( [Heroic Presence]) Enhancement Shamans
2%	29.58	61.51	240.218	Rogues with 3/3 Precision Enhancement Shamans
3%	44.37	92.26	360.327
4%	59.16	123.02	480.436	Draenei ( [Heroic Presence]) Death Knights dual-wielding one handed weapons and 3/3 [Nerves of Cold Steel] Draenei ( [Heroic Presence]) Fury Warriors
5%	73.95	153.77	600.545	Death Knights dual-wielding one handed weapons and 3/3 [Nerves of Cold Steel] Fury Warriors
6%	88.74	184.53	720.654
7%	103.53	215.28	840.763
8%	118.32	246.04	960.872	All special attacks not affected by talents which modify chance to hit

Heroic Presence

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

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):

Order of precedence	Result
1	Miss
2	Dodge
3	Parry
4	Block
5	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.

Gems

Cataclysm

Color	Name	Effect(s)
Blue	[Rigid Ocean Sapphire]	+40 Hit Rating
	[Perfect Rigid Zephyrite]	+35 Hit Rating
	[Rigid Zephyrite]	+30 Hit Rating
Purple	[Etched Demonseye]	+20 Hit Rating	+20 Strength
	[Perfect Etched Nightstone]	+18 Hit Rating	+18 Strength
	[Etched Nightstone]	+15 Hit Rating	+15 Strength
	[Veiled Demonseye]	+20 Hit Rating	+20 Intellect
	[Perfect Veiled Nightstone]	+18 Hit Rating	+18 Intellect
	[Veiled Nightstone]	+15 Hit Rating	+15 Intellect
	[Glinting Demonseye]	+20 Hit Rating	+20 Agility
	[Perfect Glinting Nightstone]	+18 Hit Rating	+18 Agility
	[Glinting Nightstone]	+15 Hit Rating	+15 Agility
	[Retaliating Demonseye]	+20 Hit Rating	+20 Parry Rating
	[Perfect Retaliating Nightstone]	+18 Hit Rating	+18 Parry Rating
	[Retaliating Nightstone]	+15 Hit Rating	+15 Parry Rating
Green	[Piercing Dream Emerald]	+20 Hit Rating	+20 Critical Strike Rating
	[Perfect Piercing Jasper]	+18 Hit Rating	+18 Critical Strike Rating
	[Piercing Jasper]	+15 Hit Rating	+15 Critical Strike Rating
	[Nimble Dream Emerald]	+20 Hit Rating	+20 Dodge Rating
	[Perfect Nimble Jasper]	+18 Hit Rating	+18 Dodge Rating
	[Nimble Jasper]	+15 Hit Rating	+15 Dodge Rating
	[Lightning Dream Emerald]	+20 Hit Rating	+20 Haste Rating
	[Perfect Lightning Jasper]	+18 Hit Rating	+18 Haste Rating
	[Lightning Jasper]	+15 Hit Rating	+15 Haste Rating
	[Sensei's Dream Emerald]	+20 Hit Rating	+20 Mastery Rating
	[Perfect Sensei's Jasper]	+18 Hit Rating	+18 Mastery Rating
	[Sensei's Jasper]	+15 Hit Rating	+15 Mastery Rating

Northrend

Color	Name	Effect(s)
Blue	[Rigid Dragon's Eye]	+34 Hit Rating
	[Rigid Majestic Zircon]	+20 Hit Rating
	[Rigid Sky Sapphire]	+16 Hit Rating
	[Perfect Rigid Chalcedony]	+14 Hit Rating
	[Rigid Chalcedony]	+12 Hit Rating
Purple	[Veiled Dreadstone]	+10 Hit Rating	+10 Intellect
	[Veiled Twilight Opal]	+8 Hit Rating	+8 Intellect
	[Perfect Veiled Shadow Crystal]	+7 Hit Rating	+7 Intellect
	[Veiled Shadow Crystal]	+6 Hit Rating	+6 Intellect
	[Glinting Dreadstone]	+10 Hit Rating	+10 Agility
	[Glinting Twilight Opal]	+8 Hit Rating	+8 Agility
	[Perfect Glinting Shadow Crystal]	+7 Hit Rating	+7 Agility
	[Glinting Shadow Crystal]	+6 Hit Rating	+6 Agility
	[Etched Dreadstone]	+10 Hit Rating	+10 Strength
	[Etched Twilight Opal]	+8 Hit Rating	+8 Strength
	[Perfect Etched Shadow Crystal]	+7 Hit Rating	+7 Strength
	[Etched Shadow Crystal]	+6 Hit Rating	+6 Strength
	[Accurate Dreadstone]	+10 Hit Rating	+10 Expertise Rating
	[Accurate Twilight Opal]	+8 Hit Rating	+8 Expertise Rating
	[Perfect Accurate Shadow Crystal]	+7 Hit Rating	+7 Expertise Rating
	[Accurate Shadow Crystal]	+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	+10 Dodge Rating
	[Vivid Forest Emerald]	+8 Hit Rating	+8 Dodge Rating
	[Perfect Vivid Dark Jade]	+7 Hit Rating	+7 Dodge Rating
	[Vivid Dark Jade]	+6 Hit Rating	+6 Dodge Rating
	[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 Haste Rating
	[Shining Forest Emerald]	+8 Hit Rating	+8 Haste Rating
	[Perfect Shining Dark Jade]	+7 Hit Rating	+7 Haste Rating
	[Shining Dark Jade]	+6 Hit Rating	+6 Haste Rating

Outland

Color	Name	Effect(s)
Blue	[Rigid Empyrean Sapphire]	+10 Hit Rating
	[Rigid Star of Elune]	+8 Hit Rating
	[Rigid Azure Moonstone]	+6 Hit Rating
	[Rigid Zircon]	+4 Hit Rating
Purple	[Etched Tanzanite]	+4 Hit Rating	+5 Strength
	[Glinting Shadowsong Amethyst]	+5 Hit Rating	+5 Agility
	[Glinting Tanzanite]	+4 Hit Rating	+5 Agility
	[Glinting Nightseye]	+4 Hit Rating	+4 Agility
	[Glinting Shadow Draenite]	+3 Hit Rating	+3 Agility
	[Veiled Shadowsong Amethyst]	+5 Hit Rating	+5 Intellect
	[Veiled Tanzanite]	+4 Hit Rating	+5 Intellect
	[Veiled Nightseye]	+4 Hit Rating	+4 Intellect
	[Veiled Shadow Draenite]	+3 Hit Rating	+3 Intellect
Green	[Lightning Chrysoprase]	+5 Hit Rating	+4 Haste Rating
	[Nimble Chrysoprase]	+4 Hit Rating	+5 Dodge Rating
	[Vivid Chrysoprase]	+5 Hit Rating	+6 Stamina

Cooking

[Spicy Hot Talbuk] adds 20 Hit rating 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 raids are 'adds' fights. The spell hit rating requirement for a level 93 raid boss is 15%. For a level 92 add, it is 6%. Assuming that a boss encounter heavily features level 92 adds, 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 and/or reforged on a boss by boss basis. One set can have 15% hit, and the other set can drop hit for something contributing to higher DPS.

Patch changes

• Patch 4.0.1 (2010-10-12): Heroic Presence no longer affects party members. It is now a self-only buff.
  
• Patch 4.0.1 (2010-10-12): Hit rating per 1% hit reduced from 32.79 to 30.75 at level 80.
  
• Patch 3.0.2 (2008-10-14): Hit rating now affects spells.
  
• Patch 1.8.0 (2005-10-10): Items which provide +hit chance will now be allowed to counteract the increased miss chance penalty of dual-wielding.
  

External links

• Hit Rating Theorycraft
• Roguecraft 101