Dodge

Dodge is a form of melee mitigation where the entire melee swing is avoided. Dodge is a passive ability possessed by all players for all classes and races. However this stat is the most important to players fulfilling a tanking role. Only close range melee attacks can be dodged; a ranged attack or a spell cannot be dodged. Players can only dodge attacks if they are facing their opponent, however a mob can dodge attacks that are from behind. Incapacitated targets (stunned for example) cannot dodge.

There are several ways that dodge is modified. You can increase you chance to dodge by increasing your dodge rating which will all increase your effective chance to dodge or dodge percent(%). Your chance to dodge a hit as well as have your hits be dodged is affected by the level of your opponent. Different classes and talent specializations will also vary the amount of dodge a player has.

Formulas
Death Knights, Paladins, and Warriors no longer receive additional dodge from agility. Instead, base dodge is fixed at 5% for these classes.

The amount of dodge you have is affected by your class, level, and dodge rating.

Dodge generally goes into two pools that are added together: undiminished and diminished dodge. Your undiminished dodge includes your class's base dodge and the dodge your receive from your base agility.

$$\mbox{Dodge percent} = b + t + A_b + d$$
 * $$b = \mbox{Base dodge}$$
 * $$t = \mbox{dodge from talents}$$
 * $$A_b = \mbox{dodge contributed from base agility}$$
 * $$d = \mbox{diminished dodge}$$}}

Dodge from agility
Agility generates chance to dodge (dodge %). For level 80s, you can simply use the Rd value from the table above to find the rate. Note that the base agility (agility from your level and race) plus any agility from talents is undiminished. Agility from your gear and buffs will fall into the pool of diminished dodge. From the game interface, you can easily see what these two numbers are. Mouse over agility in the character window and the white number is your undiminished agility (this will include your talents) and the green number, if there is one, is the additional agility which will contribute dodge with diminishing returns.

$$A_b = D_b / R_d$$

$$A_u = D_g / R_d$$

Dodge rating
$$D_u = \frac{D_r}{R_d}$$ Dodge rating is the final source of dodge chance, and all of this chance goes into the diminishing returns pool (u). It converts at a rate of 45.25 (Rd) for level 80s of all classes.

Diminishing returns
$$u = A_u + F_u + D_u$$ The final step to solving d from the original equation is diminishing returns. Now we can total the pool that came from two sources of dodge impacted by diminishing returns: agility from gear and dodge rating.

$$d = \frac{u \cdot C_d}{u + k \cdot C_d}$$ Cd is the cap for dodge, and k is a constant, and these both vary per class.

Abilities
There are many class abilities that modify dodge or are related to dodging. Abilities that are learned through talents are listed in the talents section above.

Enchants
This is a listing of high-level enchantments that provide dodge. For a complete list of all enchantments, see the enchantments by slot article.