Combat mechanics reference - Page 2

• Hamlet · 12/24/05, 6:09 PM

Yeah, it looks like offensive Rage generation is 2*damage/level, while defensive Rage generation is (2/3)*damage/level.

genjuro · 12/24/05, 6:12 PM

From http://www.wowwiki.com/Formulas:Rage_generation:

RageForHitting = damage / (0.5 * level)
RageForGettingHit = damage / (1.5 * level)

So at level 60, 30 damage dealt = 1 rage and 90 damage taken = 1 rage.

Unsure if this is computed before or after armor.

There may also be a base amount of rage generated per hit (like 5 or so).

• Hamlet · 12/24/05, 6:13 PM

It would be nice to have section on threat generation too.

Assuming an arbitrary scale of 1 hate = 1 damage, how much hate does healing generate (I believe it's on the order of of .6 (and lower for Paladins)).

Is there a good table of threat values for various abilities, which is somehow referenced to damage aggro? I've seen a table or two, but they seemed scaled pretty arbitrarily, and may be out of date.

Finally, are we all agreed on how Taunt works? Permanently generates enough aggro to catapult you to the top of the list?

• Hamlet · 12/24/05, 6:17 PM

Unsure if this is computed before or after armor.

That's interesting. My Warriors sometimes complain that uber tanking gear impedes Rage generation noticeably in low-level instances, but I don't know whether it's true or not.

PW:S does not impede Rage generation, incidentally, correct?

There may also be a base amount of rage generated per hit (like 5 or so).

That would be really wierd--it would mean you'd just want to whale away with a very fast weapon.

• Wodin · 12/24/05, 6:19 PM

Rage is calculated after armor both on the giving and the receiving end. Hence warriors complaining about being rage-starved at Onyxia.

genjuro · 12/24/05, 6:19 PM

One thing I'm unsure of: does +spell hit only affect fully resisted spells? This has implications for binary spells like frostbolt, where you would be able to stack more +hit and still get a benefit than you would if you were casting fireball, since the miss range would extend.

For example, let's say your fireball hit distribution looks like this:
1-80: 0% resisted
81-85: 25% resisted
86-90 50% resisted
91-95: 75% resisted
96-100: 100% resisted

If +hit only affects full resists, then stacking more than 5% would be of no benefit. Compared to frostbolt against the same mob (assuming equal fire and frost resists), the distribution might look like:

1-90: 0% resisted
91-100: 100% resisted

I'm unsure of the exact mechanics for resists and binary spells, but I think it would work something like that. Anyway, here you can stack up to +10% hit and still see a benefit.

Does anyone know how this works exactly?

• Hamlet · 12/24/05, 6:20 PM

Originally Posted by Wodin,December 24th, 2005 @ 6:19PM

Rage is calculated after armor both on the giving and the receiving end. Hence warriors complaining about being rage-starved at Onyxia.

Okay, so they're not crazy.

♦ Praetorian · 12/24/05, 6:23 PM

Genjuro, those are two separate mechanics.

There's a level-based check and a resist-based check (which gives you your partial resists, or most of your full resists vs. binary spells).

+spell hit reduces the number of level-based misses
The resist-based misses/reductions will only occur when your target has a nonzero level of resistance to the element you're using. In 1.9, spell penetration will mitigate that.

• Hamlet · 12/24/05, 6:25 PM

Originally Posted by genjuro,December 24th, 2005 @ 6:19PM

One thing I'm unsure of: does +spell hit only affect fully resisted spells? This has implications for binary spells like frostbolt, where you would be able to stack more +hit and still get a benefit than you would if you were casting fireball, since the miss range would extend.

For example, let's say your fireball hit distribution looks like this:
1-80: 0% resisted
81-85: 25% resisted
86-90 50% resisted
91-95: 75% resisted
96-100: 100% resisted

If +hit only affects full resistsm then stacking more than 5% would be of no benfit. Compared to frostbolt against the same mob (assuming equal fire and frost resists), the distribution might look like:

1-90: 0% resisted
91-100: 100% resisted

I'm unsure of the exact mechanics for resists and binary spells, but I think it would work something like that. Anyway, here you can stack up to +10% hit and still see a benefit.

Does anyone know how this works exactly?

It's not quite like that. Magical combat is actually quite parallel to weapon combat--there is both a "hit" roll and a "mitigation" phase. The "mitigation" component is based on the target's resists in this case, however, and is also all-or-nothing roll in some cases (unlike weapon combat, where mitigation is constant).

It's just confusing for casters because a "miss" and a successful saving throw both appear as "Resist."

Against a 60 mob with 200 Frost resist, my hit chance is 96% and his mitigation is 50%. My Frostbolt will land 48% of the time. With +hit gear, it will land 50% of the time, but not more.

genjuro · 12/24/05, 6:25 PM

Thanks, that makes a lot more sense now and puts spell penetration into perspective for me.

Edit: I assume that the level-based mechanic scales in the same way as for melee, as in base chance of 5% and the faster dropoff at >= 3 levels? I remember back in CB when you actually had the number next to your spell school, like Frost 270 much like weapon skill. Too bad they hid that that, it would give them an option for +frost skill or +fire skill items as another option for item stat allocation.

♦ Praetorian · 12/24/05, 6:31 PM

It's in the first post:

Base spell hit chance = .96, .95, .94, .83 against level 60,61,62,63 mobs.

genjuro · 12/24/05, 7:04 PM

Some more crit numbers.

On my 60 orc warrior, with no gear equipped except for a grey weapon I get

77 agi+305 weapon skill = 4.05% crit
77 agi+300 weapon skill = 3.85% crit
77 agi+244 weapon skill = 1.61% crit
77 agi+243 weapon skill = 1.57% crit

This warrior has zero talent points spent, so no cruelty, parry, etc.

It appears the base crit% chance is zero with +3.85% from the agility, then +0.05% crit for each point of weapon skill above 300, and -0.04% chance for each point below. This probably holds true for other character levels and the max weapon skill for that level

Now on my 60 dwarf priest, also with no gear equipped except for a grey weapon I get

36 agi+300 weapon skill = 4.8% crit
36 agi+299 weapon skill = 4.76% crit

Agility accounts for 1.8% of the crit, giving a base chance of 3%.

• Hamlet · 01/01/06, 5:10 PM

So, for 60 warrs, you have Agi/20 + (Skill-300)/25

Or, equivalently, Agi/20 + Skill/25 - 12, although the first way is probably more informative.

My 41 Warr with 69 Agi and 204/205 Skill has 5.03% to crit before items/talents. This seems to indicate she gets a crit% for each 13.6 (=20*41/60) Agi.

She Parries at 4.88% (with 202/205 Def, ignoring Deflection), regardless of Agi.

She Dodges at 4.00% with 56 Agi and 4.95% with 69 Agi. Again, seeming to indicate a Agi/13.6 for a level 41.

She Blocks at 4.88%, regarless of Agi.
------
My 60 Mage with 38 Agi and 289/305 Skill crits at 4.71%. He'd be at 5.15% with 300 Skill. A base chance of 4.25% without Agi? Ok.

• Hamlet · 01/01/06, 7:06 PM

Originally Posted by Arawethion,January 1st, 2006 @ 5:10PM

A base chance of 4.25% without Agi?

Er, 3.25%, that is. Still, it's odd. The dependence on Agi and Skill seems pretty clearly worked out, but there's a constant term that seems to vary by class (and is 0 for classes where it actually counts). Probably just put there so that casters still have nonvanishing melee crit chances.

It looks like crit% is given by:

X + Agi/(Y*Lvl/60) + (Skill-TargetDefense)/25 , where X and Y depend on class.

Elethiomel · 01/13/06, 2:42 AM

As for

As far as I can tell, a 63 mob crushes your 60 tank at 15%, regardless of defense (for practical purposes).

Blizzard has confirmed (although I can't actually find the post at this time) that for purposes of determining crushing blows the defense level is capped at your normal maximum. In other words, high defense will not affect crushing blows, but lower than full defense will.
Wether this cap covers Anticipation as well is a bit uncertain, but my guess would be that Anticipation does indeed help against crushing blows, but this is almost solely based on the fact that without Anticipation your defense skill is reported as x/300 while with 5 points in Anticipation your defense skill is reported as x/310.