Got this comment the other day:

… One thing that might be of help, especially to players like myself that play casually but still want to get good geared avatars would be a guide to the numbers and caps. Wowwiki has helped me a lot, but the notion of caps, how to know when they have been hit, how to reach them and how to avoid wasting enchantments and buffs unnecessarily would be great. I’m sure I’m not the only one with this gap in my knowledge.

So What Are These Caps?

the Hit Cap

Note: While the discussion below is aimed at level 85s it also applies to lower level characters, though you won’t have as many options for stat tweaking and won’t really have to be concerned with caps. (If you need to get to 85 ASAP talk to Dugi.)

See below for the caps and stats table

The easiest way to think of a cap is this: What point does it become ineffective to get more of a stat? Take Hit rating, we’ll want to know what our Hit caps (not to be confused with Hip Cats) are in order to be most efficient with our reforging, gemming, etc.

(Ratings are shown in two ways, as a percentage and as points. As an example, you need about 120 rating points for +1% Hit rating, 600 points for 5%. I’ll use percentages. See the chart below for the other stats.)

When swinging your one or two-handed weapon or using your special strikes (not spells or Dual Wielding) the basic chance to hit an opponent of even level is 95%. If you have 5% Hit Rating then you will never miss an opponent of the same level (though the strikes can still be blocked, parried, etc.)

Opponents that are higher level than you are harder to hit, those lower are easier. Raid bosses are considered to be level 88 so you need 8% to avoid missing with those weapons.

In level 85 PvP opponents are all the same level, so your basic melee Hit is 5%. Night Elves have a 2% dodge, so you need 7% for them.

A soft cap is the point at which additional rating has lesser value, though still some. A hard cap is the point at which you get zero additional value from that stat.

For example: A rogue’s Sinister Strike requires 8% Hit rating to never miss a raid boss (ignoring debuffs.) Additional Hit will still help with poisons and melee strikes (your “white damage,”) but has zero value for your Sinister Strike. This means that there is an 8% soft cap for your Hit rating.

Against a raid boss:

• One or two-hand strikes and Special strikes (eg: Mortal Strike, Sinister Strike) require 8%
• Poisons( and spells) require 17%
• Damage dealt via Dual Weilding requires 27%

This means that you have a soft cap at 8 and 17%, and a hard cap at 27%.

Spells (poisons) are a bit different. The base chance to hit an even level opponent is 96%, not 95, but the miss chance grows larger faster than for melee. For a level 88 raid boss the miss chance is 17%. This means that your Hit cap for spells is 17%. You get no value from Hit rating greater than that (unless you’re under some kind of debuff.) That means that there is a hard cap of 17% for your spells, you get no benefit from additional Hit.

Your Hit rating effects your Melee, Ranged, and Spell hit. One stat fits all. It used to be that Spell Hit was a separate stat, but no longer.

This screen is from a level 85 Protection Paladin. Prot Pallies get a bonus to Spell Hit,  hence the 14.6% Spell hit on this one. (You can see this screen on your character by clicking the arrow in the red circled area.)

For a Prot Pally, the Melee Hit Cap is 8% and spell is 17% (for a raid boss.) Above those levels there is zero value to additional Hit. Anyone Dual Wielding (Fury Warrior, Frost DK, etc.) would still get some benefit from Hit up to 27%. It might not be their best stat at that point, but it would still be of some use.

If this character was a Mage (or other caster) then an optimal Spell Hit would be that same 17%.

Healers don’t need Hit to heal, but they do for interrupts and anything else they cast on the opposition.

For level 85 PvP, since the opposition is even level, the Melee Hit cap is 5% and Spell Hit is 4%. 2% higher if you’re trying to fry that Nelf. Remember that it all comes from one Hit Rating stat.

The Other Caps

The other stats work the same way. A soft cap is the point where you get less value from a stat and the hard cap is where you get no more value from that stat.

Getting to the Cap

A few classes have talents available that provide Hit or other stats, such as the Fury Warrior’s Precision or the Elemental Shaman’s Elemental Precision.

The whole point of reaching the caps is, of course, to be as efficient as possible. If you have no wasted points then, everything else being equal, you’ll be more effective at what you do.

The easiest way to reach any given cap  is through your gear and talents, but in most cases you’re going to have too much of one stat and not enough of another. This is one reason that Reforging was introduced. This allows you to move some of one stat into another. You can only change one stat per piece of gear. Generally you should reforge in order to tweak your stats, rather than Gem or Enchant.

Here’s how to work it out. Assume you have whatever set of gear and you need to shift a few things around. . As an example, let’s say that your stats priority is something like this (for a PvE Cbt. Rogue:)

8% Melee Hit > 26 Expertise > Haste > Hit over 8% > Mastery > Hit  over  17% >  Critical

Your best stats are Hit (to 8%,) Expertise to 26, and Haste. Crit, excess Hit, and Mastery aren’t so hot.

• For any item that has Crit, reforge it into better stats.
• If the Item doesn’t have Crit, but has Mastery then do the same.
• If your Hit is, for some odd reason, over 17% then do the same for items that do have Hit and don’t have Crit or Mastery.
• If your Hit is less than 8% then reforge the weak stat to Hit.
• If Hit is 8% then you’re good there and you reforge that Crit (or other weak stat) to Expertise.
• If Hit and Expertise are good, then all other reforging goes to Haste.
• Basically you’re moving weaker stats to better ones.

Gems and Enchants:

By the time you’re looking at gemming and enchanting you will already have your talents figured out and should have already reforged your gear and you will probably be pretty good on your most important stats.

Your gems and enchants are then gravy that provide extra effectiveness.

As an example, here’s a PvP Shadowpriest. The important stats would be:

• Hit (to 4%) and then Haste.
• After talents and reforging away Crit, Mastery, and excess Hit we’re left with a Hit rating of 4.5% and Haste is about 16.5%.
• Gems are all Int, with the exception of the Meta and two others which are there just to hit 5k Resilience.
• Note that all of the Enchants add Int and Haste.

 The Cap Table

Some of these stats came from Wiki, others from ElitistJerks. Stats junkies will find all kinds of numbers on the EJ page.

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