WotLK Mage Spell Hit

Hit rating (formerly known as Spell Hit).

What is it and why do you care?

Quite simply, hit rating helps you hit more often with your spells (go figure). You have less of a chance to hit a mob or a player who is a higher level than you, and hit rating lowers the chance that your spells will miss them.

Against a mob or player the same level as you you have a 96% chance to hit them with your spells. If you accrue 4% hit rating from hit from gear and/or talents you have a 100% chance to hit a mob/player the same level as you. This is what it means to be hit capped and it’s the most important goal you should strive to reach when endeavoring to DPS.

****As of patch 3.0.2, the hit cap is 100%. Prior to it, all mobs and players retained a 1% chance to resist your spells no matter what. This is no longer the case as that 1% is finally able to be covered with hit. A hit capped mage should never ever miss their target. Ever

Missing your target hurts your DPS a lot. Yes, things like crit and haste and spell power will also increase your DPS, but, point for point, none of them will increase your DPS as much as Hit will. I’m not going to get into the math of the matter, so you’ll just have to take my word in saying that.

You should always reach your hit cap before worrying about any other stat.

There are 3 important values of hit that you should only worry yourself with; against players the same level as you, against mobs 2 levels above you, and against mobs 3 levels above you.

In the x0-x9 brackets of PvP you’re at a severe disadvantage if you do not compete at the highest level of your bracket. As well the top end of BGs and Arenas are against players the same level as you (70). That said, the chance to hit a player the same level as you is 96%. At level 70, approximately 12.6 hit equals 1% chance to hit. Ergo, you’ll need (rounding up to the nearest whole number) 51 hit to cap in level 70 PvP. Pre-70 gear with hit on it is very few and far between save for old world raiding gear, obtained in places people rarely frequent any more and even those places are only availible to the 60’s bracket. Simply put, you shouldn’t worry about hit on gear until you reach the top end of things. You need 4% to cap and 3% can be attained from talents so that normally should be enough in most situations.

In heroic 5 man dungeons bosses, the highest level mobs in the instance, are level 72 elites. Against level 72 mobs you have a 94% chance to hit with spells. At level 70, 6% is 76 hit.

In raid instances, bosses are level ?? elites. The ?? denotes a mob who is 3 levels higher than you, i.e. level 73. Against a level 73 mob you have measly 83% chance to hit with spells. 17% at level 70 is 215 hit. That’s quite a bit to get, but luckily you have talents to assist you in the matter, these being Arcane Focus in the Arcane tree and Elemental Precision in the Frost tree.

Arcane Focus - Increases your chance to hit and reduces the mana cost of your Arcane spells by 1/2/3%.

Elemental Precision - Reduces the mana cost and increases your chance to hit with Frost and Fire spells by 1/2/3%.

For every point you have into these talents you reduce the hit cap by 1% (for the schools they affect) and you can subtract 12.6 point from the previously mentioned value you need to cap.
Assuming 3 points spent:
In PvP, the cap would be 1% - 13 hit
In Herioc 5 mans, the cap would be 3% - 38 hit
In Raid instances, the cap would be 14% - 177 hit

Bolded for emphasis as this is the most important number facing mages in regards to hit rating. In PvP most, if not all of the required hit to cap can be obtained without the assistance from talents, as well most PvPers would rather spend those 3 points elsewhere in better spent PvP talents. As well, gearing for hit detracts from things like crit and stam and resil and such which are arguably much better in a PvP environment. As for 5 mans, while yes you’re trying to down bosses, they’re not that difficult (in comparison to raid bosses) so misses are by far much much more easily forgived. It is against raid bossses where it’s important to do your very best, and that 17% chance to miss is a huge obstacle in your way.

177 is the magic number for raiding mages as that is how much is needed to cap.

Do take note though that, on top of your own talents to assist with you reaching your hit cap, there are other spells and abilities that can help you furhter.

Improved Faerie Fire - Your Faerie Fire spell also increases the chance the target will be hit by spell attacks by 3%, and increases the critical strike chance of your damage spells by 3% on targets afflicted by Faerie Fire.

Misery - Your Shadow Word: Pain, Mind Flay and Vampiric Touch spells also increase the chance for harmful spells to hit by 3% lasting 24 sec, and increases the damage of your Mind Blast, Mind Flay and Mind Sear spells by an amount equal to 15% of your spell power.

Heroic Presence - Increases chance to hit with all spells and attacks by 1% for you and all party members within 30 yards.

Imp FF is a Druid talent in the Balance tree, Misery is a Priest talent in the Shadow tree, and Heroic Presence is a racial ability of Draeneis (passive aura buff). Do note! Imp FF and Misery do not stack meaning if you have both a properly spec’d blance druid and shadow priest in the raid with you you will not recieve a 6% increased chance to hit. Heroic Presence on the other hand does stack with Imp FF and Misery so if you have a Draenei and Boomkin and/or Spriest in raid you will recieve a bonus 4% chance to hit.

To furhter narrow down how much hit you will precisely need, follow the table below. First ask yourself if you’re going to have an Imp FF/Misery debuffer in raid. Then ask yourself if you’ll have a Draenei in your group (who you’ll be within 30 yards of). Then how many points into AF or EP you’ll spend.

IFF/M   HP   AF/EP  Hit Required to Cap

  N     N      0          215

  N     Y      0          202

  Y     N      0          177

  Y     Y      0          164

  N     N      1          202

  N     Y      1          189

  Y     N      1          164

  Y     Y      1          152

  N     N      2          189

  N     Y      2          177

  Y     N      2          152

  Y     Y      2          139

  N     N      3          177

  N     Y      3          164

  Y     N      3          139

  Y     Y      3          126

As you can see, the lowest hit cap for Horde mages is 139 while for Alliance it’s 126. These are relatively low numbers and it may be entirely possible for you to put fewer than 3, even no points into AF and/or EP if your gear and raid set up is ideal. You could be saving yourself precious talent points if so.

A note to pre-3.0.2 raiding Fire mages: The movement of Elemental Precision to tier 2 of the Frost tree has moved it out of reach for many if not all of you. However, as you can see from the table above, if your raid will consist of a properly spec’d balance druid and/or shadow priest you can continue raiding without EP while only having to accrue 13 more hit (though, if you are Alliance and your raid will have a Draenei you can remain within 30 yards of you will not need to accrue any more hit at all).

A note to pre-3.0.2 raiding Frost mages: The removal of Ghost Hit from EP is very sad, however, like Fire mages mentioned above, if you have an IFF Boomkin and/or Misery Spriest then you will only need to accrue 13 more hit, none if you’re Alliance.

As a final note, the following enchants, foods and gems are also beneficial in helping one attain their hit cap.

Enchants
Gloves - Precise Strikes +15 hit
Boots - Surefooted +10 hit (and crit)

Food
Spicy Hot Talbuk +20 hit (and spirit)

Gems
Yellow
Rigid Amber +4 hit
Great/Rigid Golden Draenite +6 hit
Great/Rigid Dawnstone +8 hit
Great/Rigid Lionseye +10 hit

Green
Lambent Chrysoprase +5 hit (and +2 mp5)
ViVid Chrysoprase +5 hit (and +6 stam)

Orange
Veiled Flame Spessarite +3 hit (and +4 spell power)
Veiled Noble Topaz +4 hit (and +5 spell power)
Veiled Pyrestone +5 hit (and +6 spell power)
Shining Fire Opal +5 hit (and +6 spell power)

If you think I’ve left anything out, let me know. If any of my facts or numbers are off, please let me know.