Spell Hit Discussion

• Nicarras · 12/01/08, 11:30 AM

This had been randomly talked about in a few posts in various threads, so I thought that a consolidated place to have all the discussion (however brief it might be) would be helpful to people as they gear up.

Spell Hit Cap

17% / 446 Hit Rating
26 hit rating = 1% Hit

Raid +hit Buffs

Misery (3%, Shadow Priest, Non-stacking with Imp FF)
Imp FF (3%, Moonkin, Non-stacking with Misery)
Draenei (1%, Stacks with the Abovem - Party Only)

Warlock +hit Talents

Suppression (6% to all schools)

Spell Hit Rating Quick Reference
10% - 263 Hit Rating
11% - 289 Hit Rating
13% - 342 Hit Rating
14% - 368 Hit Rating

Useful Food Buffs

[Snapper Extreme]

In general, spec for hit, then gear for hit. Once you are at hit cap, gem for dmg.

As you accumulate gear with hit on it, take it out of your gems first, and then eventually out of your spec.

Hope that helps some new 80s get an idea of what to do with Spell Hit.

• dragon12 · 12/01/08, 11:35 AM

Might be worth pointing out that Imp FF and Misery don't stack, but both do stack with DA.

Drundia · 12/01/08, 11:47 AM

As soon as talents bring some of your spells to cap, value of Hit Rating compared to Spell Power goes down. Due to heavy rating to percentage conversion decay compared to level 70 values, Spell Power may be superior even until that cap (meaning gem for Spell Power, not for Hit Rating)

Bethink · 12/01/08, 11:48 AM

Interesting discussion. I am currently speced into both Supression and Cataclysm. I like the inherent hit balance provided by this spec. I have not done the math yet to proof its value, though.

Just to complete the buff overview, [Snapper Extreme] is a nice buff food that is useful to balance the hit rating - be it due to gear optimization or due to varying raid composition.

• Nicarras · 12/01/08, 11:58 AM

Originally Posted by Drundia

As soon as talents bring some of your spells to cap, value of Hit Rating compared to Spell Power goes down. Due to heavy rating to percentage conversion decay compared to level 70 values, Spell Power may be superior even until that cap (meaning gem for Spell Power, not for Hit Rating)

I can follow this line of thinking, but at least in the case of affliction and SBs still making up a large percentage of your damage. It remains to be seen where exactly the line is between 'Gearing to cap SB w/o talents' and 'Dont gear to cap it and stack dmg'. There may be a place in the middle that is more optimal but I just dont think that enough of us have had time to test yet.

Originally Posted by Bethink

Interesting discussion. I am currently speced into both Supression and Cataclysm. I like the inherent hit balance provided by this spec. I have not done the math yet to proof its value, though.

Just to complete the buff overview, [Snapper Extreme] is a nice buff food that is useful to balance the hit rating - be it due to gear optimization or due to varying raid composition.

Yeah I just found there were better DPS talents to spend those points in the Dest. tree while you are Aff. Thx for food reminder, updated first post.

duhwhat · 12/01/08, 12:15 PM

Any thoughts on keeping 342/368 at all times for Soulshatter?

Emolate · 12/01/08, 12:21 PM

Originally Posted by duhwhat

Any thoughts on keeping 342/368 at all times for Soulshatter?

We're not threat-capped by definition anymore so seems superfluous. If you're using Soul Shatter preemptively you'll have plenty of time to adjust or compensate for a miss. If you were using Soul Shatter as a panic button you need to change that.

Lothiron · 12/01/08, 12:23 PM

Hey Jym,

I'm shooting for keeping the 368 hit rating for two main reasons.

1) Soulshatter is capped as long as a shadow priest is alive. Good to know that in those 'oh shit' moments I don't have a 3% chance of getting screwed.
2) If the shadow priest dies, disconnects, goes afk to get her kids dinner, etc, I'll still be hit capped on Haunt. I -absolutely- hate it when Haunt or any of my dots miss; completely screws up my rotation.

• Nicarras · 12/01/08, 12:28 PM

Originally Posted by Emolate

We're not threat-capped by definition anymore so seems superfluous. If you're using Soul Shatter preemptively you'll have plenty of time to adjust or compensate for a miss. If you were using Soul Shatter as a panic button you need to change that.

Not sure about that, I still tend to agree on being hit capped for SS. I can still find myself running right up on the tanks on quite a few fights. Some you can hit SS early, some it has to be reactionary.

Ravelvan · 12/01/08, 2:31 PM

Something I have been trying to figure out in my mind is if it's really necessary to cap hit as Affliction anymore. The cost of hit percentage in terms of spell power basically doubled at 80 as compared to 70, while spell power coefficients were not halved, which seems to make hit a lot less attractive.

For a Destruction build, I think hit is still slightly better than spell power, but for an Affliction build it seems that 1 point of spell power is about twice as valuable as 1 point of hit (based on Leulier's preliminary spreadsheet), and you trade them at about 1:1 as well (when you use gems, at least). I believe this is due to the fact that Affliction basically relies on long CD spells (can't recast a DoT until its duration is out) that only go on CD when the spell actually hits, aside from Haunt of course. So really, when you miss a DoT, all that means is you recast the DoT and as a consequence spend less time Shadowbolting, which is the lowest damage-per-second-cast-time spell anyway.

Am I missing something, or is the only reason to go out of your way to cap hit to prevent the annoyance of a missed DoT, even if it means less average DPS? Of course, if you end up with it on your gear anyway, you might as well take it, but is there any reason at all to use hit gems?

Juised · 12/01/08, 2:40 PM

Having Haunt miss is very very annoying. Since you cannot recast the spell for at least another 8 seconds, due to cooldown, you are left in a very unfortunate position. You get -20% damage from your dots for close to 10 seconds, plus this usually results in Corruption falling off. For this reason alone I like to keep at least my affliction spells hitcapped. This IMO is a much bigger issue than missing a soulshatter which you shouldn't really need in wrath.

Edit: spelling

rutiene · 12/01/08, 2:55 PM

Agreed with Juised. As affliction my DoTs are capped but my destruction spells only have 97% chance to hit.

oresteez · 12/01/08, 3:00 PM

I know it's probably obvious, but it would be nice to see somewhere in the first post that 26 hit = 1%

Also, assuming a 56/0/15 build where you are taking the 6 talents in both schools for +3% hit...what's the best "next step" once you reach the hit cap?

Do you respec and put 2 points into something else? (and keep 2/3 hit-related talents..)
Do you regem as necessary and convert +hit gems into +dmg (or haste, crit, spirit, whatever your flavor..)
I guess a 3rd option is to change out an entire piece of armor, provided it doesn't drop you below the hit cap, and you gain a nice bonus to dmg/stats...

duhwhat · 12/01/08, 3:04 PM

Originally Posted by Lothiron

Hey Jym,

I'm shooting for keeping the 368 hit rating for two main reasons.

1) Soulshatter is capped as long as a shadow priest is alive. Good to know that in those 'oh shit' moments I don't have a 3% chance of getting screwed.
2) If the shadow priest dies, disconnects, goes afk to get her kids dinner, etc, I'll still be hit capped on Haunt. I -absolutely- hate it when Haunt or any of my dots miss; completely screws up my rotation.

Hi! Seems like currently a preemptive Soulshatter isn't really necessary, but that's -now- in Wrath. Blizz has reiterated that T8 and 9 will be more challenging.

oresteez · 12/01/08, 3:05 PM

Originally Posted by Ravelvan

Am I missing something, or is the only reason to go out of your way to cap hit to prevent the annoyance of a missed DoT, even if it means less average DPS? Of course, if you end up with it on your gear anyway, you might as well take it, but is there any reason at all to use hit gems?

Wow, correct me if I'm wrong..but missing spells is more than just "an annoyance". We are a DPS class--we are there to DPS. If you are knowingly configuring your gear/gems to cause a "less average DPS", then in my eyes, you (not you personally...warlocks in general) are not doing your job correctly.