Hi, so I thought I'd make a post detailing how vanilla hit tables work. Melee and casters have different hit tables.
Caster hit table
The caster hit table is very simple. When you cast a spell, the game does 2 rolls. The first roll determines whether your spell hits or resists. The second roll determines whether your spell crits or doesn't crit.
What this means is that +hit is really valuable for casters, because spells that resist could have been crits. So if you have 40% spell crit, each +spell hit is basically worth 1% hit as well as 0.4% crit.
When the target of your spell is a level 63 boss, your spell has a base 17% chance to be resisted. 1% of this chance can never be removed- if you have +50% hit, your spells will still have a 1% chance to be resisted. So the hitcap for casters is 16%.
Melee hit table
The melee hit table works differently, and is a bit more complicated. First of all, there are two scenarios to deal with: yellow swings and white swings. Yellow swings are from your abilities, and white swings are from your basic attacks. As opposed to the 2-roll system of the caster hit table, everything about your melee swing is dependent upon one big roll.
Yellow swings against a level 63 boss have a base 8% chance to miss. Unlike with spells, this miss chance can be totally removed by having +8% hit. Additionally, bosses have a 6.5% chance to dodge your swings. When you use a melee ability (like Sinister Strike, for instance) on a level 63 boss, the game does 1 roll. It's easiest to explain the melee hit table by giving an example scenario.
Let's say you have +6% hit and 14% crit. Let's say you cast Sinister Strike (or any other melee ability. Bloodthirst, Whirlwind, Eviscerate, whatever) on Patchwerk (or any other boss).
The game determines whether your SS misses, crits, or is dodged, with a single roll. For simplicity's sake, let's say the roll is 1-1000.
If the game rolls 1-19, you'll miss.
If the game rolls 20-84, you'll be dodged.
If the game rolls 85-224, you'll crit.
If the game rolls 225-1000, you'll hit, no crit.
The white hit table is similar, but with two distinctions. First, when duel wielding, white swings have a base 27% chance to miss. Second, there is a 40% chance for white swings to become glancing blows. Glancing blows deal 70% of normal damage. Let's go through another example scenario, for white hits.
Again, let's say you have +6% hit and 14% crit. Let's say you swing at Patchwerk (or any other boss) with a basic attack.
The game determines whether your attack misses, crits, is dodged, or glances, with a single roll. Again, for simplicity's sake, we'll say the game rolls 1-1000.
If the game rolls 1-209, you'll miss.
If the game rolls 210-274, you'll be dodged.
If the game rolls 275-674, you'll glance.
If the game rolls 675-814, you'll crit.
If the game rolls 815-1000, you'll hit, no crit.
The takeaway from this is that for melee swings, hit and crit are independent of each other. Unlike with spellcasting, having more +melee hit will not in any way affect the overall crit rate of your melee swings.
Unless you're at the crit cap.
Crit cap
Let's revisit that Patchwerk scenario, but say that you improved your gear a bit and picked up some buffs. You still have 6% hit, but you now have 40% crit (wow!). You swing at Patchwerk with a basic attack.
If the game rolls 1-209, you'll miss.
If the game rolls 210-274, you'll be dodged.
If the game rolls 275-674, you'll glance.
If the game rolls 675-1000, you'll crit.
As you can see, despite having +40% crit, your actual chance to crit is only 32.6%. This is because you are at the crit cap.
The takeaway from this is that +hit becomes very very valuable when you reach the crit cap. For the above scenario, every +hit you add to your gear is now worth +1 effective crit, as well as +1 hit.
Glancing blows and +weapon skill
With 300 weapon skill (base) and swinging on a level 63 boss, your glancing blows will do 70% of normal damage. With 310 weapon skill (cap), you'll still glance 40% of the time, but your glancing blows will now do 100% of normal damage. Having above 310 weapon skill will not make your glancing blows do more damage. Every point of weapon skill you have above 310 is instead worth 0.04% crit and 0.04% hit. But no matter how much weapon skill you've got, you'll always have a 40% chance to land a glancing blow on your white swings. And your glancing blows will never crit.
Hunters
Both white and yellow hunter hits are based on 1 roll (like melee swings, as opposed to caster swings). The hit cap for both white and yellow hunter hits is 8.6%.
Pvp hitcaps
Caster: 3%. You'll always have a 1% miss chance, and can still miss vs people with some resistance.
Melee, 2h or 1h + shield: 5%
Melee, dual wield: 24%
Caster hit table
The caster hit table is very simple. When you cast a spell, the game does 2 rolls. The first roll determines whether your spell hits or resists. The second roll determines whether your spell crits or doesn't crit.
What this means is that +hit is really valuable for casters, because spells that resist could have been crits. So if you have 40% spell crit, each +spell hit is basically worth 1% hit as well as 0.4% crit.
When the target of your spell is a level 63 boss, your spell has a base 17% chance to be resisted. 1% of this chance can never be removed- if you have +50% hit, your spells will still have a 1% chance to be resisted. So the hitcap for casters is 16%.
Melee hit table
The melee hit table works differently, and is a bit more complicated. First of all, there are two scenarios to deal with: yellow swings and white swings. Yellow swings are from your abilities, and white swings are from your basic attacks. As opposed to the 2-roll system of the caster hit table, everything about your melee swing is dependent upon one big roll.
Yellow swings against a level 63 boss have a base 8% chance to miss. Unlike with spells, this miss chance can be totally removed by having +8% hit. Additionally, bosses have a 6.5% chance to dodge your swings. When you use a melee ability (like Sinister Strike, for instance) on a level 63 boss, the game does 1 roll. It's easiest to explain the melee hit table by giving an example scenario.
Let's say you have +6% hit and 14% crit. Let's say you cast Sinister Strike (or any other melee ability. Bloodthirst, Whirlwind, Eviscerate, whatever) on Patchwerk (or any other boss).
The game determines whether your SS misses, crits, or is dodged, with a single roll. For simplicity's sake, let's say the roll is 1-1000.
If the game rolls 1-19, you'll miss.
If the game rolls 20-84, you'll be dodged.
If the game rolls 85-224, you'll crit.
If the game rolls 225-1000, you'll hit, no crit.
The white hit table is similar, but with two distinctions. First, when duel wielding, white swings have a base 27% chance to miss. Second, there is a 40% chance for white swings to become glancing blows. Glancing blows deal 70% of normal damage. Let's go through another example scenario, for white hits.
Again, let's say you have +6% hit and 14% crit. Let's say you swing at Patchwerk (or any other boss) with a basic attack.
The game determines whether your attack misses, crits, is dodged, or glances, with a single roll. Again, for simplicity's sake, we'll say the game rolls 1-1000.
If the game rolls 1-209, you'll miss.
If the game rolls 210-274, you'll be dodged.
If the game rolls 275-674, you'll glance.
If the game rolls 675-814, you'll crit.
If the game rolls 815-1000, you'll hit, no crit.
The takeaway from this is that for melee swings, hit and crit are independent of each other. Unlike with spellcasting, having more +melee hit will not in any way affect the overall crit rate of your melee swings.
Unless you're at the crit cap.
Crit cap
Let's revisit that Patchwerk scenario, but say that you improved your gear a bit and picked up some buffs. You still have 6% hit, but you now have 40% crit (wow!). You swing at Patchwerk with a basic attack.
If the game rolls 1-209, you'll miss.
If the game rolls 210-274, you'll be dodged.
If the game rolls 275-674, you'll glance.
If the game rolls 675-1000, you'll crit.
As you can see, despite having +40% crit, your actual chance to crit is only 32.6%. This is because you are at the crit cap.
The takeaway from this is that +hit becomes very very valuable when you reach the crit cap. For the above scenario, every +hit you add to your gear is now worth +1 effective crit, as well as +1 hit.
Glancing blows and +weapon skill
With 300 weapon skill (base) and swinging on a level 63 boss, your glancing blows will do 70% of normal damage. With 310 weapon skill (cap), you'll still glance 40% of the time, but your glancing blows will now do 100% of normal damage. Having above 310 weapon skill will not make your glancing blows do more damage. Every point of weapon skill you have above 310 is instead worth 0.04% crit and 0.04% hit. But no matter how much weapon skill you've got, you'll always have a 40% chance to land a glancing blow on your white swings. And your glancing blows will never crit.
Hunters
Both white and yellow hunter hits are based on 1 roll (like melee swings, as opposed to caster swings). The hit cap for both white and yellow hunter hits is 8.6%.
Pvp hitcaps
Caster: 3%. You'll always have a 1% miss chance, and can still miss vs people with some resistance.
Melee, 2h or 1h + shield: 5%
Melee, dual wield: 24%