Caster question

MajorMojo · Joined: 21 Mar 2006 Posts: 606 Location: Sydney

There's been a question that's been rattling round my troll head recently....

WHEN IS CRIT % TOO MUCH CRIT %?

or is there such a thing?? or is there an optimal level of crit % you should aim for?

The reason for this question is this...

* i'm procrastinating at work

* I used to think i couldn't get enough crit% but now i'm easily pushing 31 - 32% crit unbuffed on lighting spells - and with a crit streak, say even 2 or 3 crits in a row, i'll steal aggro. I mean last nite, tree had an easy 10-15k aggro lead on me, and i gained that ground easily after 4 crits in a row (i've specc'ed into full threat reduction of 15% or so).

Problem is I can't control the dmg without really slowing my DPS since i'm at max range casting lighting bolts, and I've no idea its gonna crit till i'm 3/4 thru casting my next bolt (i.e. i have to stop for a full 2 seconds wait for the bolt to land)

* I have a choice between like 80ish +dmg or 60ish crit rating (~2-3%)
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Official forum troll?

Bashkan · Joined: 24 Dec 2006 Posts: 210 Location: Sydney

OK mojo ...

PvE ... When is +crit better than +dmg better than +hit

Well, you need to work out the maths. The thing with raiding is as you correctly say you want predictability and sustainability. Its safer and more effective than burst DPS. The thing with crit is, its great when it procs ... under one condition ... that is if you actually hit with the spell. The thing with crit is, its useless if you miss.

Sit back and relax as we take you on a brief tour of the wonderful world of casting, where we'll answer these complex questions as simply as possible. For the numerophobes, be warned there will be some math involved but you can relax because there will NOT be a test at the end.

Spell Hit
All harmful spells, from any creature or player and directed at another creature or player, have a chance to be completely resisted. This type of resist is called a "miss" and is countered by spell "hit". No matter what level the caster is and what level the target is, there is ALWAYS at least a 1% chance of a spell miss occurring. The other factors involved in determining your chance to hit are: your level, the target's level, and the target's type (NPC or player), as well as any talents (like Balance of Power) or abilities (like--probably--Cloak of Shadows) which are special cases.

Target's lvl - your level = Gap
NPC = creature target
PvP = player target

CHANCE TO MISS

Gap NPC PvP
-5 1 1
-4 1 1
-3 1 1
-2 2 2
-1 3 3
0 4 4
+1 5 5
+2 6 6
+3 17 13
+4 28 20
+5 39 27

So, for every opponent that's 2 levels lowers than you (or higher), you'll need some amount of spell hit to keep your chances of a miss at the minimal 1% level. For same level PvP & NPC targets, you'd want (4-1) 3% hit in order to reach the 99% hit cap. For raid bosses, which count as a level 73 NPC, you'd want--assuming you're level 70--(17 - 1) 16% hit from gear & talents (Balance of Power) in order to reach the hit cap.

To calculate the effect spell hit will have on your DPS, determine first if you're at the cap for the target you're up against. If not, each 1% of spell hit will result in over 1% more DPS. For instance, if you're doing 600 DPS with 95% chance to hit (600 * 0.95 = 570) and suddenly gain 1% more hit (600 * 0.96 = 576) you'll gain 1% of your pre-miss DPS, which is even better than your actual observed DPS!

Sources:
http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/info/basics/spells.html
http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/info/basics/resistances.html
http://www.wowwiki.com/Formulas:Magical_resistance

madalchemist · Site Admin Joined: 20 Mar 2006 Posts: 637 Location: Sydney

More spell hit = less misses = better mana efficiency for long bosses.

For proper PVE gear, focusing on getting 160-200 spell hit + enchants that reduct threat = best use of your mana.

For PVP crit = king.

I can't generate anymore agro than I did during Prince. I'm pretty much geared to max damage reduction, focusing on high agility, so I crit often aswell as dodge > 35% (usually 40-50% during boss fight). Either get more PVE gear, or regem/enchant your PVP gear, or be very very careful Wink