How Much Hit Does a Shadow Priest Need?

For Shadow Priests, ensuring your spells consistently land is paramount to maximizing damage output. Simply put, your spells need to hit to deal damage. The amount of hit rating required varies slightly depending on the context – whether you’re facing raid bosses or engaging in PvP combat. This article breaks down the specific hit requirements for a Shadow Priest and provides further insights into related topics through a series of FAQs.

Hit Cap for Shadow Priests: The Essentials

The primary goal for a Shadow Priest is to reach the spell hit cap, which is the point at which you have the maximum practical chance to hit an enemy with your spells. This does not mean 100%, as you’ll see, but it’s as close as you can get. Here’s a straightforward breakdown:

• Raid Bosses (Level 83): To avoid missing spells against level 83 raid bosses, you need a 17% bonus hit chance. This translates to 446 Hit Rating, as it takes 26.23 hit rating to get a 1% increased chance to hit with spells.
• Maximum Achievable Hit Chance: Due to game mechanics, you can only ever achieve a 99% spell hit chance, even if you go beyond the 17% hit cap. That final 1% will always be a miss.

The Impact of Talents and Gear

The hit cap is often partially achieved through talents and gear:

• Shadow Focus: This talent alone provides a 3% increased hit chance.
• Misery: Another valuable talent that contributes an additional 3% hit chance.
• Combined Talents: The combined effect of Shadow Focus and Misery grants a 6% spell hit bonus from talents.
• Remaining Hit: With 6% from talents, you need an additional 11% from gear or other sources to reach the 17% cap for raid bosses. This translates to around 288.53 Hit Rating.
• Reaching 99%: Combining your talents with gear will get you to the 16% cap which gets you to 99% spell hit, with the remaining 1% being unable to be reached by any stats.

Hit Cap for PvP

The hit requirements for PvP are far more forgiving:

• Level 60 Players: In PvP scenarios against players who are considered level 60, you only need a 3% bonus hit chance to reach 99%.

Why Reaching the Hit Cap is Critical

Hitting the spell hit cap isn’t just about avoiding misses. It’s about ensuring consistent damage output, which is essential for raid and PvP scenarios. Missing spells means losing valuable damage, hindering your contribution to the group or raid.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

1. What happens if I go over the hit cap?

Going over the hit cap is inefficient. The game does not allow your hit chance to exceed 99%. Any hit rating beyond what’s needed to reach 17% against raid bosses or 3% against level 60 players (plus talents) is essentially wasted. Focus on other stats like haste, mastery, or critical strike.

2. What is the difference between hit rating and spell hit chance?

Hit rating is a numerical stat that influences your spell hit chance. Spell hit chance is the actual percentage chance that your spell will land on a target. For each 26.23 hit rating, you gain a 1% increase in your spell hit chance.

3. Can a Shadow Priest reach 100% hit chance?

No. Regardless of how much hit rating you have, your maximum achievable spell hit chance is 99%. There is a built-in miss chance that is not negatable.

4. Why are there different hit caps for PvE and PvP?

The difference is due to the level of the enemies. Raid bosses are considered level 83, while players in PvP are level 60, as well as other mob levels. Higher-level targets have a higher chance to resist or evade your attacks, requiring a higher hit percentage to compensate.

5. What other stats should a Shadow Priest prioritize besides hit?

Once you’ve reached your hit cap, the general stat priority is: Intellect > Haste > Mastery > Critical Strike = Versatility.

6. Does Spell Penetration affect hit chance?

No. Spell Penetration reduces the enemy’s resistances to your spells but does not influence your hit chance. It is a separate, but important stat in PvP.

7. How does haste impact Shadow Priest gameplay?

Haste increases the speed at which you cast spells, reduces the cooldown of certain spells, and increases the tick rate of your damage-over-time spells. It is a highly valued stat for Shadow Priests.

8. How does mastery affect Shadow Priest damage?

Mastery increases the damage of your shadow spells for each Shadow Word: Pain, Vampiric Touch, and Devouring Plague effect active on the target.

9. Which is better for Shadow Priests: Critical Strike or Mastery?

Both are valuable. However, while they are almost equal in value, mastery tends to slightly pull ahead for most Shadow Priests.

10. What are some key talents for a Shadow Priest’s hit rating?

The most important talents for hit are Shadow Focus, which provides a 3% bonus hit chance, and Misery, which offers an additional 3%.

11. What is the best race for Shadow Priest?

Human remains a versatile and highly effective option for Shadow Priests on the Alliance side. Their racial ability “Will to Survive” allows for greater customization with trinket choices.

12. Can a Shadow Priest effectively heal?

Yes, Shadow Priests can heal. They possess self-healing abilities and can contribute to group healing, but their primary role is damage dealing.

13. Is Shadow Priest a difficult class to play in PvP?

Shadow Priest is considered a powerful class in PvP, not especially hard to play, excelling in 1v1 scenarios, though it requires skill to master, not being very hard to pick up but hard to master.

14. How does the talent “Twins of the Sun Priestess” affect Shadow Priests?

This talent allows Shadow Priests to provide Power Infusion to an ally without losing its benefits for themselves, adding significant raid utility.

15. What is the general rotation for a Shadow Priest?

The general rotation involves:

• Keeping Vampiric Touch and Shadow Word: Pain active on your target(s).
• Casting Mindbender or Shadowfiend on cooldown.
• Casting Dark Ascension or Void Eruption when available.
• Pairing your Power Infusion and trinkets with either Dark Ascension or Void Eruption.

Conclusion

Understanding the hit requirements for a Shadow Priest is crucial for maximizing your performance. Aim to achieve a 17% hit chance against raid bosses (utilizing talent based bonuses) and a 3% hit chance for level 60 PvP. Any more than that is a waste of stats. Once you’ve met these needs, you can focus on improving other stats. By combining your hit needs, a good understanding of your class and optimal rotation, you can achieve your best potential as a Shadow Priest.