What IS the max hit rating required for PvE? Always wondered, because I was in the rogue mindset that 300+ is ideal, but after reading the forums and several threads with 50+ posts, I couldn't find the ideal hit rating for enhancement Shamans. I'm sitting at around 185 hit rating I think, approximately 20-21% hit against level 70's. Though I hear the miss rating jumps up to 42% on 25 man raid boss, is that correct? if so.. sweet mother of jesus..

Also, I couldn't find any clear statement on this, what is the best weapon buff combination for DPS? Windfury/windfury with dual 2.0+ weapons? I use demonblood eviscerator(2.6) and the firebrand axe(I think? 2.4) off the 2nd boss in BF(Name escapes me) and I have alot of Kara epics and my tier 4 helm. Working on the one-hand from arena and hoping for fool's bane or the decapitator, so I'm in no need of upgrading right away.

You'll want dual WF and both weapons 2.6 or slower. Hit rating is not important for a shaman and will generally come by itself considering the amount of gear that has hitrating, but generally 90-100 hitrating is consider to be enough. AP and crit will improve your dps alot more.

Your swings have a 27% miss chance on raid bosses.

Read the 1st post here for an excellent summary of important information for shamans.

I did, I read that post thoroughly and didn't find any difinitive numbers regarding hit rating or MH/OH weapon buffs. Just OH, ty for clearing that up. ^_^

EDIT: My current OH is a 2.4 attack speed, where as my main hand is 2.6.. should I look into replacing the OH with a 1h from a heroic or just wait for the arena 1h? and regarding the arena 1h, does anyone know an approximate date for season 3? because if it's close enough I may just save the points and wait for season 3.

nvm, found it in a different shaman post

Just hit 70 and am now working on upgrading my gear. I greatly appreciate the advice in this forum - exactly what I'm looking for to get to the next level.

I believe I'm on the right track in understanding the value of certain attributes of gear but would appreciate confirmation. As an example, I've got two leg pieces to compare. The first is Nether Leggings. The second I just picked up from a quest and is Shattrath Leggings.

Nether Leggings are mail with 488 Armor rating versus the leather Shattrath Leggings with an armor rating of 263. But the statistics (meausred by EP) on the Shattrath Leggings seem to be superior for dungeons and DPS. My assumption is that despite a significantly lower armor rating I should be wearing the Shattrath Leggings (until I upgrade even further) while doing instances since if I'm with a good tank I shouldn't be taking too many hits anyway. But perhaps I hold on to the Nether Leggings while solo grinding quests.

Is it generally accepted that Armor rating can be ignored for the purpose of pure-DPS gear and therefore leather may often be superior to mail depending upon the stats?

Thanks

Armor rating should be completely ignored, as when you're hit in any heroic/raid, 225 armor won't save you. What may save you though, is the stamina. Just vendor those greens legs. Not only do the [Shattrath Leggings] have more to increase your dps, but they also have more to increase your survivability. I mean, seriously. 270 hp>225 armor any day, for any purpose.