- Not to be confused with Hit.
| Δlevel | Miss chance |
|---|---|
| <4 | 0% |
| 4 | 11% |
| 5 | 22% |
| 6 | 33% |
| 7 | 44% |
| 8 | 55% |
| 9 | 66% |
| 10 | 77% |
Spell hit is an attribute that increases a caster's chance to hit with offensive spells (healing abilities never miss, and are not affected by spell hit chance). Spells that fail to hit are shown as a "miss", and have no effect on their target.
With the removal of hit and expertise from gear, players automatically have a 100% chance to hit creatures up to and including 3 levels above the attacking character. However, if players attempt to attack targets 4 or more levels above their character level, their spells may still miss, as shown in the table to the right.
For example, if a level 90 character attacks a level 93 target, the spell will hit. However, if the same level 90 character attacks a level 94 target, spells have an 11% chance to miss.
Previous calculations[]
| Spell hit quick facts |
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Chance to hit with a spell depends on the level difference between the caster and the target, as well as whether the target is a player or not. For example, a spell cast by a level 80 player (with no gear or spell hit-modifying effects) will have an 85% chance to hit a level 83 monster, and a 94% chance to hit a level 82 player. Players many levels below their target will always have at least a 1% chance of landing a spell.
Stats increasing spell hit chance (hit rating, expertise rating, and Spirit) are commonly found on high-level gear, gems, and enchants, and can be gained temporarily from food and elixir buffs. Additionally, the following racial abilities can increase the player's spell hit chance by 1%:
| Race | Ability | Main hand weapon required |
|---|---|---|
| Draenei |  [Heroic Presence] |
Does not require a weapon |
| Dwarf |  [Mace Specialization] |
One- or two-handed Mace |
| Gnome |  [Shortblade Specialization] |
One-handed Sword or Dagger |
| Human |  [Sword Specialization] |
One- or two-handed Sword |
| [Mace Specialization] |
One- or two-handed Mace | |
| Orc |  [Axe Specialization] |
One- or two-handed Axe or fist weapon |
With a high enough total of hit rating, expertise rating and spirit (where applicable as mentioned above), a player's chance to hit with spells can reach 100%. Players receive no additional benefit from having more than 100% chance to hit a target.
For the purposes of spell hit chance, expertise rating is equivalent to hit rating, and for balance druids, mistweaver monks, elemental shaman, and shadow priests, so is Spirit. A total of 340 of those three attributes, in any combination, will increase spell hit chance by 1% at level 90.
PvE spell hit cap[]
In end-game PvE content, monsters and bosses are at most 3 levels above the player, so having more than 15% spell hit is unnecessary; in heroic dungeons, monsters and bosses are at most 2 levels above the player, so having more than 12% spell hit is unnecessary. If you're affected by one of the racial abilities described above, you can reduce these requirements by 1% to find out how much spell hit chance you need from the hit rating, expertise rating, and Spirit stats to ensure that your spells never miss.
| Spell hit % | Rating | Ensures that your spells won't miss... |
|---|---|---|
| +11% | 3740 | vs level 92 monsters, with racial ability |
| +12% | 4080 | vs level 92 monsters |
| +14% | 4760 | vs level 93 monsters, with racial ability |
| +15% | 5100 | vs level 93 monsters |
Spell hit rating increases spell hit linearly. For example, at level 90, you need 340 hit rating to increase spell hit by 1%, and 680 hit rating to increase spell hit by 2%. For the amount of hit/expertise rating or Spirit required to increase spell hit chance by 1% at lower levels, consult the table below:
| Level | 60 | 70 | 80 | 85 | 90 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rating | 8 | 12.62 | 26.23 | 102.45 | 340 |
You can only again an integral amount of spell hit from gear, so if you'd like to ensure that your spells never miss, round the required amount of hit rating up to the nearest integer. For example, to get 15% spell hit chance required at to avoid missing Burning Crusade raid bosses at level 70, you'd need 26.23 × 15 = 393.45 hit rating, so having 394 ensures that your spells won't miss, while having 393 hit rating makes 1 - 393/393.45 = 0.11% of your spells miss.
Patch changes[]
Patch 6.0.2 (2014-10-14): Hit rating on gear has been removed. Players will not miss against targets up to 3 levels above their character level. - Patch 5.0.4 (2012-08-28): The Spell Hit formula has been modified. Expertise now gives an equal amount Spell Hit rating to caster classes. Additionally, the hit cap has been reduced to 15%, down from 17%.
- Patch 4.0.1 (2010-10-12): Spell Hit is now granted by Spirit for hybrid casters.
- Patch 3.0.2 (2008-10-14): Spell Hit chance now caps at 100%, instead of 99%. Spell Hit Rating has been merged into Hit Rating, which now increases Spell Hit chance. Spells that miss a target now show up as Miss instead of Resist.
- Patch 2.0.1 (2006-12-05): Combat Ratings added. Items no longer increase Spell Hit by a fixed percentage.
See also[]
References[]
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