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hit table (WoW)
Combat in WoW follows a somewhat unintuitive system known as the Hit Table in order to generate largely intuitive results. As a practical rule, this means that anyone casually using the system will understand perfectly well what occurs, but people who are just starting to understand how it works tend to greatly misunderstand the rules under which it operates.
This article will present both a general overview of the Hit Table as well as the mechanics behind it, and should be suitable for both intermediate and advanced players.
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Understanding the Hit Table: The Basics
(Note: All examples used assume the game uses a 100-sided die or equivalent; in actuality, the game rolls a number that is at least as accurate as 0-9999 (for four-digit results), but these examples are easier to read.
Every time you cast an offensive spell, use a special attack or even just autoattack with a melee weapon, WoW uses the hit table to determine the results of the attack. Instead of performing a roll for each possible outcome, the game will roll one die and then see what that number means in terms of results. Newcomers to the system tend to believe that the system works as a variation on the following;
Alice attacks Bob with her +1 Sword of Smiting. Bob has a 10% chance to dodge the attack, a 5% chance to parry the attack, and Alice has a 5% chance to flat-out miss the attack. The game will roll three results; if the game rolls a 10 or lower on the first roll, Bob dodges. If it rolls a 5 or lower on the second roll, Bob parries. If it rolls a 5 or lower on the third roll, Alice misses. If all three rolls succeed, Alice connects with her attack.
In fact, what the game does is compile all possible results of the attack into a single list, and then rolls the die once.
| Result | % Chance | Dice Roll |
| Miss | 5 | 1-5 |
| Dodge | 10 | 6-15 |
| Parry | 5 | 16-20 |
| Glancing Blow | 0 | |
| Block | 0 | |
| Critical | 0 | |
| Crushing Blow | 0 | |
| Hit | 80 | 21-100 |
This leads to some major divergences from a multiple-roll system. Some of the more important include;
- Stacking avoidance is much, much more effective than it would be otherwise. For example, with one roll per possible effect (first example) a character with a 50% dodge chance and a 45% parry chance (and Alice at a 5% chance to miss) would get hit on ~26% of all incoming attacks. With a one-roll system, you will never be hit with the same stats.
- Because the chances of each event are added together, and there is only a limited amount of space on the attack table (as well as a set order in which the results are considered), it is possible to push off certain events to prevent them from ever occurring. Covered in more detail later in the article.
One Roll or Two? Critical Hits
I have yet to include critical hits in the attack table because they are something of a special case for the attack table, depending upon what kind of attack you're using. For any special attack that appears in yellow damage (including spells and physical special attacks) the chance to crit is rolled once the attack has been confirmed to land, turning the attack table into a two-roll system. For any damage that shows up in white (melee and hunter autoattacks/autoshot), the chance to crit is included in the original table and there is only a single roll performed.
| Result | % Chance | Dice Roll |
| Miss | 5 | 1-5 |
| Dodge | 0 | |
| Parry | 0 | |
| Glancing Blow | 0 | |
| Block | 0 | |
| Critical | 0 | |
| Crushing Blow | 0 | |
| Hit | 95 | 6-100 |
After his first spell goes off, assuming it doesn't miss outright, the game then rolls once more to determine if it crits. As a practical matter, this means that if your opponent has sufficient evasion (or your miss chance is high enough) your chance to crit will be significantly lower than the critical strike chance on your character sheet. clrr
| Result | % Chance | Dice Roll |
| Miss | 5 | 1-5 |
| Dodge | 65 | 6-70 |
| Parry | 0 | |
| Glancing Blow | 0 | |
| Block | 0 | |
| Critical | 30 | 71-100 |
| Crushing Blow | 0 | |
| Hit | 0 |