Talk:Glancing blow

2.1 info needs to be added / updated,
 * weapon skill also, no longer affects glancing blows as of patch 2.0.something 07:37, 9 May 2007 (EDT)

i'd like to see some kind of source for the formula given for figuring damage reduction of glancing blows. thatonegeek 07:46, 29 August 2007 (UTC)

I have some non-quantitative verification of the formula. I was with my Priest/Warrior duo and the Priest did glance more often, and with greater penalty, than the Warrior. The Warrior had a slightly lower weapon skill at the time. While I'd like a reference to where the formula came from, I'd also like to know which classes are melee and which are caster for the purposes of the formula.

It's easy to see that Warriors and Rogues are melee, and of course Mages, Priests, and Warlocks are casters. Paladins and Shaman probably count as melee. What about Hunters? What about Hunter Pets? Warlock Pets? What about Druids? Does it matter which form they are in? --SeerBlade 23:41, 4 December 2007 (UTC)


 * Cat and bear druids are melee. Moonkin are casters. Cats and bears are always at the maximum skill level for their weapon for their level, though, so the skill doesn't affect them. Warriors are defined by the use of weapons, where priests only use them as places to hang stats and 'ohcrap, I'm out of mana', so it's likely they'll never be as good at hitting stuff with their sticks. Hunters are ranged, of course, but when I just got my shiny new Chicken of Relentless Pecking and had a crossbow skill of 1, I got glancing hits with it. Hunter pets, I'm not sure. I think I've seen pet smackies glance, but it would have to have been on something higher level. Pets are treated more as spells than seperate entities, according to some blue posts in the forums. --Azaram (talk) 10:51, 12 April 2009 (UTC)


 * Followup: I have noticed on my druid getting glancing blows on the various things around Sindragosa's Fall that you can kill for the 'kill 10/15 scourge' Argent Tournament daily. I'm at level 80, they're like 78 and 79, if I remember right (I'll check today), so I shouldn't be getting glances at all. --Azaram (talk) 10:21, 30 April 2009 (UTC)

Experimental Data
Did some dummy testing today, with the following outcome:

I am a Warrior lvl80. Target is a boss dummy. Whitedamage is 274 to 276, 275 average. No procs, no blood frenzy, no gains, nothing like that. Made 1167 hits.

273 came up as glancing, which quite supports the 25% theory, but not fully. Damage range of glancing blows was 179 to 234, average 208. This comes out to be quite exactly 65% to 85%, averagely 75%.

This of course supports 1.3 - 0.03 * 15 (with 15 as skill difference), which gives us 85%, but not 1.2 - 0.03 * 15, which gives us 75%. So my guess is, that the proper formula for the lower end is 1.1 - 0.03 * 15, which gives the accurate 65% instead.

--Angergrim 12:21, 14 June 2009 (CET)


 * 273/1167 is 23.39%. This is in keeping with the 24% Glancing Blow chance that users of Recount are seeing and reporting.
 * --WoWWiki-Tracer (talk) 22:56, 22 June 2009 (UTC)

Need 4.+ info added
I thought glancing blows would be removed with weapon skill, but I'm still getting them, even on characters that are hit capped. Anyone know why? --Azaram (talk) 03:09, 5 August 2011 (UTC)
 * Glancing blows happen when attacking higher-level creatures. It's not affected by hit rating (except in that an attack can't be a glancing blow if it misses), and while weapon skill affected the chance it never reduced it to zero. Essentially, the game now simply assumes that everyone has max weapon skill in all weapons. -- Dark T Zeratul (talk) 04:58, 5 August 2011 (UTC)
 * Ah. I thought maxxed skill would remove the glancing. Thanks.. --Azaram (talk) 20:25, 10 August 2011 (UTC)