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Combat rating system is a mechanic introduced in patch 2.0.1 which are for secondary stats on items that were previously percentage-based. Rating is converted linearly to percentage; the number of rating points needed to gain one percentage point increases with level and varies depending on the stat, but is the same for all classes. Combat ratings were introduced because percentage-based itemization would have scaled excessively when The Burning Crusade was released and the level cap rose to 70.

Secondary ratings[]

The following secondary ratings are currently in use:

Unlike fixed percentages such as 2% critical strike chance, combat ratings diminish in potency as characters increase in level. 2% critical strike chance is the same at every level, while 14 critical strike rating grants 5.16% crit at level 10, 2.62% crit at level 30, and 0.4% crit at level 60. This allows Blizzard the ability to create and add new and better items to the world without eventually reaching a point where every character has a 100% chance to critically strike. Combat ratings further diminish as a player gains excessive stats from rating, reducing the rating's potency even at the same player level.

All classes convert ratings into attributes at the same ratio, with the exception of Mastery, where the ratio is determined by class specialization. Below are the conversions for combat ratings at various levels:

Combat Ratings[]

The following table shows the amount of rating necessary for 1% of a secondary stat[1] before diminishing returns. Due to the nature of this change, the exact rating values for diminished stats will not be listed.

Rating Effect Level 10 Level 25 Level 50 Level 60 Level 70
Critical strike 1% critical strike chance[nb 1] 2.71 4.59 10.67 35 180
Haste 1% haste[nb 2] 2.55 4.34 10.06 33 170
Mastery 1% Mastery Varies by specialization - See Mastery for more information
Versatility 1% Damage/Healing and 0.5% Incoming Damage Reduction 3.09 5.25 20 40 205

Tertiary Ratings[]

Added in Patch 6.0.2, these bonus stats have a chance to appear on gear from certain sources. Some items and player abilities (e.g. Ability demonhunter soulcleave2 [Soul Rending]) grant these stats as well.

Rating Effect Level 10 Level 25 Level 50 Level 60 Level 70
Avoidance -1% Damage from Area of Effect attacks 1.08 1.84 4.27 14 72
Leech 1% of Damage and Healing returned as Healing 1.62 2.76 6.4 21 110
Speed 1% Increased Movement Speed 0.77 1.31 3.05 10 50

Defensive ratings[]

These ratings were commonly referred to as avoidance ratings (prior to the introduction of the Avoidance stat), and are not currently itemized on end-game gear and can usually only be found on some leveling or older raiding gear, or from bonuses like Azerite Traits. For some classes and specs, these are gained passively through other stats (while protection warriors gain parry chance from strength, they also receive parry rating from critical strike rating via Riposte).

Rating Effect Level 10 Level 25 Level 50 Level 60 Level 70
Dodge 1% dodge chance 3.01 5.12 11.89 39 200
Parry 1% parry chance 3.01 5.12 11.89 39 200
  • Dodge and parry ratings also feature diminishing returns, though the way they diminish is different from combat ratings.
  • Classes who cannot parry attacks gain no effect from parry rating.

Diminishing returns[]

Beginning with patch 9.0.1, combat stat ratings start to have diminishing returns above 30% stat gained from rating. This effect causes a ramping "penalty" on further stat rating gains, requiring more rating to receive an additional 1%. The amount diminished is based upon fixed stat brackets (or soft caps). [2]

This penalty does not count secondary stat gains from fixed stat percentage buffs (such as Ability shaman heroism [Heroism]).

Stat from Rating Rating Penalty
0 - 30% No effect
30 - 39% 10% penalty
39 - 47% 20% penalty
47 - 54% 30% penalty
54 - 66% 40% penalty
66 - 126% 50% penalty
126% No stat gain
  • The penalty only applies to rating gained above its minimum bracket.
  • All secondary stats have a maximum value (or hard cap) of 126%, meaning that additional stat rating has no effect.
  • This system does not apply to dodge or parry ratings, which have their own diminishing return formula.

Removed secondary stats[]

Removed from game The subject of this section has been removed from World of Warcraft.

The following combat ratings are either no longer itemized on gear or have been removed from game. This chart is purely for historical purposes, and will not be updated to reflect future events (such as a stat squish).

Rating Effect Level 60 Level 70 Level 80 Level 85 Level 90 Level 90 Squished Level 100 Patch Removed
Armor Penetration 1% Armor Ignored 3.75 5.92 12.31 - - - - Patch 4.0.1
Defense Rating +1 Defense Skill 1.5 2.37 4.92 - - - -
Block Rating 1% block chance 6.9 10.8808 22.6251 88.3594 295.0 - -
Physical hit 1% hit chance[nb 3] 9.37931 14.7905 40.7548 102.446 340.0 - - Patch 6.0.2
Spell hit 1% spell hit chance[nb 3] 8 12.6154 26.232 102.446 340.0 - -
Expertise -1% Dodge/Parry and 1% Spell Hit 2.34483 3.69761 7.68869 102.446 340.0 - -
PvP Resilience -1% Damage from Players 9.292 14.652 30.467 92.316 310.0 12.0 56.0
PvP Power 1% Damage/Healing to Players 7.964 12.559 26.115 79.128 265.0 10.0 49.0
Multistrike 2 chances to do an extra 30% damage N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A 14.0 66.0 Patch 7.0.3
Weapon Skill Rating +1 Weapon Skill (to specific weapon type) 2.5 3.9 - - - - - Patch 2.3.0

Notes:

  1. ^ Physical critical strike chance and spell critical strike chance were distinct attributes derived from the same critical strike rating (now equal).
  2. ^ Haste effects attack speed, casting speed and non-mana resource (e.g. energy, runes) regeneration.
  3. ^ a b Physical hit chance and spell hit chance were distinct attributes derived from the same hit rating (now retired).

Wrath of the Lich King: Classic[]

Wrath-Logo-Small The subject of this section has been removed from World of Warcraft but is present in Classic.

The following tables display the secondary stat ratings present in Wrath of the Lich King Classic and the necessary amounts of rating needed per 1% secondary stat (or 1 point for Expertise, 1 skill point for Defense).

Secondary stats that are not itemized as ratings (Spell Penetration, MP5, etc.) are not included as these stats do not use the combat rating system and thus have the same effect at all levels.

Offensive Ratings
Rating Effect Level 60 Level 70 Level 80
Armor Penetration 1% armor ignored 3.75 5.92 12.31
Expertise 1 point of expertise
(-0.25% dodge/parry chance)
2.5 3.94 8.2
Hit 1% hit chance
1% spell hit chance
10
8
15.76
12.62
32.79
26.23
Critical Strike 1% critical strike chance 14 22.08 45.91
Haste 1% haste 10 15.76 32.79
Defensive Ratings
Rating Effect Level 60 Level 70 Level 80
Defense 1 defense skill* 1.5 2.37 4.92
Dodge 1% dodge* 13.8 21.76 45.25
Parry 1% parry* 13.8 21.76 45.25
Block 1% block chance 5 7.88 16.4
Resilience 1% resilience 28.75 45.34 94.27

*Before diminishing returns.

Additional Notes[]

  • Expertise is converted from rating to points, rather than a direct percentage.
    • 1 Expertise point reduces a target's chance to dodge and parry attacks by 0.25%. Therefore, it takes 4 points of Expertise to reduce a target's dodge/parry chance by 1%.
    • Expertise rating is rounded down to the nearest full point (e.g. rating equal to 4.85 Expertise points will give only 4 Expertise points). This means that expertise rating cannot give partial amounts of expertise points, and additional rating has no effect until the next full point is reached.
  • Defense skill: Diminishing returns on Defense rating only apply to the dodge, parry, and miss chances provided by defense skill. The chances to block and receive a critical strike are not affected by diminishing returns.
  • Haste: Death Knights, Druids, Shaman, and Paladins receive 30% more melee haste from haste rating than other classes. This reduces the amount of haste rating these classes need per 1% melee haste (these values are not displayed in the above chart).
  • Resilience provides multiple effects with differing amounts per "1%" Resilience.
    • 1% Resilience reduces the chance to receive a critical strike by 1%, reduces critical strike damage received by 2.2%, reduces the effect of mana drains by 2.2%, and reduces damage taken from players and their pets by 2%.
    • Resilience cannot reduce the damage done by critical strikes by more than 33%, but its other effects are not capped.

Changes from Burning Crusade: Classic[]

  • Armor Penetration is now a stat rating. Previously, it reduced armor by a flat amount like spell penetration does to resistances.
  • Hit, Crit, and Haste ratings now affect spells, and there are no longer separate spell ratings on gear.
    • Spell hit chance continues to require less rating per 1% than melee/ranged hit chance.
  • Defense, Dodge, and Parry ratings are now affected by diminishing returns. Parry diminishes faster than Dodge.
  • Dodge, Parry, and Resilience now require different rating amounts to reach 1% at all levels than they did in Patch 2.5.4. Parry requires less rating, the others require more.

Patch changes[]

  • Shadowlands Patch 9.0.1 (2020-10-13): Diminishing returns now affect all secondary stat ratings.
  • Legion Patch 7.3.0 (2017-08-29): The Avoidance stat has been reduced in effectiveness by 27% at all levels.
  • Legion Patch 7.1.5 (2017-01-10): To allow more options in the gear your character equips, secondary stat ratings (Critical Strike, Haste, Mastery, and Versatility) now contribute less of their respective secondary stat per point.
    This only affects ratings at Level 110.
  • Legion Patch 7.0.3 (2016-07-19): Multistrike removed.
  • Warlords of Draenor Patch 6.1.0 (2015-02-24): Tertiary Stats for Avoidance, Speed, and Leech now provide about four times as much benefit per stat rating point.
  • Warlords of Draenor Patch 6.0.2 (2014-10-14): Many ratings were removed from the game, including all tank avoidance ratings and hit/expertise. Gear with any of these stats has had them replaced by bonus armor, crit, haste, or mastery. Two new secondary stats were added, multistrike and versatility, which generally only exist on items found in Draenor and later (level 90+ content). PvP ratings are no longer found on any new gear, but old gear still has these stats present. Teritary stats added.
  • Mists of Pandaria Patch 5.0.4 (2012-08-28):
    • Expertise is no longer measured in points, and expertise rating is now converted directly into a percentage bonus. Additionally, Expertise now also increases Spell Hit chance.
    • Mastery is no longer measured in points, and is instead converted directly into a percentage bonus. Accordingly, there is no longer a standard rate of conversion for mastery.
    • PvP Power added as a new secondary stat.
    • Resilience has been renamed to PvP Resilience.
  • Cataclysm Patch 4.2.0 (2011-06-28): Death knights, paladins, and warriors now receive 27% of their Strength bonuses as parry rating, up from 25%. This conversion still only applies to Strength above and beyond their base Strength.
  • Cataclysm Patch 4.1.0 (2011-04-26): Resilience scaling has been modified for linear returns, as opposed to increasing returns.
  • Cataclysm Patch 4.0.1 (2010-10-12):
    • Mastery: Mastery rating has been added as a new stat which provides unique benefits for characters based on class and talent specialization. Mastery rating does not currently exist on items in the game, however, Reforging can be used to add Mastery rating as a secondary stat to existing items.
    • The following secondary stats have been removed from gear: armor penetration, block rating, defense rating.
  • Wrath-Logo-Small Patch 3.2.2 (2009-09-22): Armor Penetration Rating: The amount of armor penetration gained per point of this rating has been reduced by 12%.
  • Wrath-Logo-Small Patch 3.2.0 (2009-08-04):
    • Block rating: The amount of bonus block value on all items has been doubled. This does not affect the base block value on shields or block value derived from strength.
    • Dodge Rating: The amount of dodge rating required per percentage of dodge has been increased by 15%. This is before diminishing returns. Combined with other changes, this makes dodge rating and Parry rating equally potent before diminishing returns apply.
    • Parry Rating: The amount of parry rating required per percentage of parry has been reduced by 8%. This is before diminishing returns. Combined with other changes, this makes dodge rating and parry rating equally potent before diminishing returns apply. Parry still diminishes more quickly than dodge.
    • Resilience Rating: No longer reduces the amount of damage done by damage-over-time spells, but instead reduces the amount of all damage done by players by the same proportion. In addition, the amount of resilience needed to reduce critical strike chance, critical strike damage and overall damage has been increased by 15%.
  • Wrath-Logo-Small Patch 3.1.2 (2009-05-19): Armor Penetration now caps at 100% (1232 rating at level 80).
  • Wrath-Logo-Small Patch 3.1.0 (2009-04-14):
    • Armor Penetration Rating: All classes now receive 25% more benefit from Armor Penetration Rating.
    • Haste Rating: shamans, paladins, druids, and death knights now receive 30% more melee haste from Haste Rating.
  • Wrath-Logo-Small Patch 3.0.2 (2008-10-14):
    • Armor Penetration effects on gear are now itemized as Armor Penetration Rating. Prior to this change Armor Penetration was not a rating and was itemized like spell penetration, where only a flat amount of armor was ignored.
    • Avoidance stat ratings are now affected by diminishing returns.
    • Hit Rating, Critical Strike Rating, and Haste Rating now modify both melee attacks and spells.
  • Bc icon Patch 2.4.0 (2008-03-25): Spell Haste now reduces the global cooldown on spells, down to a minimum of 1 second. This change does not apply to melee and ranged abilities.
  • Bc icon Patch 2.3.0 (2007-11-13):
    • Expertise added. Each point of Expertise reduces the chance for your attacks to be Dodged or parried by .25%.
    • Weapon Skill Rating: All items and abilities that granted weapon skill have been changed. In most cases, they were converted to expertise or expertise rating. Ranged attacks do not benefit from expertise, so ranged weapon skill has generally been replaced by critical strike bonuses or hit bonuses. In a few cases, talents have been changed to other effects to avoid granting players excessive amounts of expertise.
  • Bc icon Patch 2.2.0 (2007-09-25): Haste has been rebalanced. It has returned to the ratios from the launch of Burning Crusade. Melee attacks and spell casts will now benefit at identical rates from haste. This change results in a reduction in the benefit of haste for melee attacks and an increase in the benefit for spellcasters.
  • Bc icon Patch 2.1.0 (2007-05-22):
    • Spell Haste: The amount of spell haste rating needed per percentage of haste has been increased substantially. However, spell haste will now affect channeled spells, increasing the rate of their effects and decreasing their total duration. The same amount of damage/healing per casting will occur, but will take less time.
    • Parry Rating: The amount of parry rating needed to get 1% parry has been reduced by 25%.
    • Dodge Rating: Low level players now calculate dodge from dodge rating at the same rate as level 34 players.
  • Bc icon Patch 2.0.1 (2006-12-05): Combat Rating System added.
    • All current items will provide the exact same benefit from ratings at level 60 as they provided before the ratings system.
    • Feral Combat Skill Rating added. This is the feral equivalent of other weapon skill ratings.
    • Items that give bonuses, such as critical strike percentage, have been modified to adhere to a combat rating system.
    • New item property "Resilience" has been introduced. Resilience reduces your chance to be the victim of a critical strike, and reduces the amount of damage critical strikes do to you.
    • Weapon Skill now does the following:
      • Weapon skill will no longer reduce the percentage damage lost due to glancing.
      • The player will gain 0.1% to their critical strike rating per weapon skill against monsters above their level.

See also[]

References[]

 
  1. ^ simc/sc_scale_data.inc at dragonflight. SimulationCraft (2022-12-20). Retrieved on 2022-12-20.
  2. ^ Anshlun 2020-10-08. Diminishing Returns on Secondary Stats in World of Warcraft. Wowhead. Retrieved on 2020-11-17.
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