Feral +Hit Cap

Patch 3.1 - 3.3

To compliment the previous moonkin +hit breakdown, I wanted to record the cat druid +hit cap and the hit needed to ensure that bear form growls will not miss.

The hit a feral druid wants to aim for is 8% +hit, or 263 (262.32) hit rating at level 80.

You can probably get away with 262 hit rating, which is 7.99% hit. There is a very very very small chance that you will miss (1 in 10,000 attacks). If your gear collection leaves you at 262, don't sweat finding that 1 hit rating too much.

You may notice that this is the same hit rating a moonkin aims for, though the percent is different. Melee and Magical hit ratings require different amounts to achieve 1% hit at level 80: it takes 26.23 hit rating to achieve 1% spell hit, while it will take 32.79 hit rating to achieve 1% physical hit.


Weapon Skill?
Not having a maxxed weapon skill will reduce any player's chance to hit, requiring them to have more +hit rating in order to make up for their lack of skill. Feral druids are unique in that they do not have to worry about their weapon skill for their +hit, however.

• Your weapon skill does not matter in feral forms.

Druids in feral forms (cat or bear) are automatically considered to have maximum weapon skill with their claws and fangs, being as they are parts of their bodies rather than an external tool. Your skill with your currently equipped weapon does not matter, because your equipped weapon is only there to provide you stats/procs, and is not the part of you that is actually dealing damage.


Hit per Mob Level

• Level 80 mobs: 5% miss chance. This is 164 hit rating (163.95).
  

• Level 81 mobs: 5.2% miss chance. This is 171 hit rating (170.508).
  

• Level 82 mobs: 5.4% miss chance. This is 178 hit rating (177.066).
  

• Level 83 mobs: 8% miss chance. This is 263 hit rating (262.32).

Feral druids have no talents that will increase their hit rating, so they must rely purely on their gear to reach their hit cap.


Draenei buddies!
If you raid with a draenei, then you can reduce your required +hit rating by 32.79 for physical attacks.

The hit cap for a feral druid with Draenei buddies is 7% +hit, or 230 (229.53) hit rating at level 80.

Taunts and Growling?
Abilities such as taunt and growl are considered spells, rather than physical attacks, so +hit with these abilities follows the spell-hit calculations rather than physical hit. Spell-hit and physical hit are all derived from the same "hit rating" found on gear. Assuming you are hit-capped for melee at 8%, you will have about 263 hit rating on your gear already. This same amount of hit rating equals 10% spell-hit for calculating your miss chance for spells. The cap for bosses at level 80 (a level 83 mob) is 17%, so you will have another 7% chance to miss the boss with your bearform growl.

The Glyph of Growl increases your chance to hit with growl by 8%, which more than makes up for the hit rating over the melee cap. This does mean that you can be below the melee hit cap while still having enough hit that your growl will not miss!

With the Glyph of Growl, you will only need 236.07 hit rating on your gear to ensure that growl will not miss.

If you have a draenei in your party, this lowers further to 209.84 hit rating. Keep in mind that the draenei are providing you with a percentage 1% hit, which is only 26.23 spell-hit rating when calculating your +hit with growl.



Hey, what about this Armor Pen thing I keep hearing about?

Altosis posted a great explanation of armor penetration for feral druids. Go check it out :)