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This article is about physical critical strikes only. For magical critical strikes, see spell critical strike.

Critical strike (often abbreviated as "crit") refers to 100% bonus physical damage (twice your normal damage) that occurs as a result of an attack made with melee or ranged weapons. The chance to critical strike can be viewed in the character pane under melee stats and is affected by agility, critical strike rating, and talents. Some classes have talents that increase the amount of bonus damage for critical strikes or talents that increase their critical strike rating. Attacks made by mobs can not result in a blocked critical strike, but this can result on a player attack. It can also be viewed by opening the spell book and mousing over the "attack" ability. Notable about critical strikes is that any non-spell attack on a sitting target will always result with a critical hit.

Critical Strike Rating[]

Critical Strike Rating is a combat rating found on gear, enchants, and gems. It takes approximately 22.08 rating to increase your critical strike chance by 1% at level 70 and 45.91 at level 80.

Critical Strike Rating required for 1% Critical Chance
Level 60 Level 70 Level 80
14 22.08 45.91

Attack Rating and Defense[]

Mobs which are the same level as you always have a 5% chance to crit. A mob's or player's crit chance is modified by the difference between the attacker's Attack Rating and the defender's Defense. The attack rating equals the skill with the currently equipped weapon (WS = Weapon Skill), being level * 5 for mobs and the same for player chars with maximum weapon skill. Each point of AR exceeding the target's Defense will increase chance to crit by 0.04%.

This table assumes a player attacking either a mob or another player:

Target type Target's Defense Difference to basic crit chance [basic crit chance: tooltip value for players, 5% for mobs]
player or mob Def = AR no change
mob Def < AR no change
mob Def > AR - 0.2% per point of difference [unsure, if correct]
player Def > AR - 0.04% per point of difference
player Def < AR + 0.04% per point of difference

Example: Level 70 player at maximum weapon skill against boss mob (level 73).

Mob's crit chance against player: 5% + 0,04%*(365-350)= 5,6%

Player's crit chance against mob: tooltip crit chance - 0,2%*(365-350) = tooltip crit chance - 3%

Agility[]

The agility you need to acquire 1% critical hit chance depends on your class and level. Keep in mind everyone has a base crit of 5% from agility.

AGI per 1% Crit
Class L. 60 L. 70 L. 80
Death Knight 20 33 62.5
Druid 20 40 83.3
Hunter 33 40 83.3
Mage 20 25 51
Paladin 20 25 52.08
Priest 20 25 52
Rogue 29 40 83.3
Shaman 20 40 83.3
Warlock 20 25 51
Warrior 20 33 62.5


Effect of increased crit or hit chance[]

Both increased hit and crit chance have a kind of "diminishing returns" mechanic built in. A 1% increase of either stat will not increase the total damage output by 1%, but usually by a little less. Consider the following Attack table:

  1. 2% base miss
  2. 5% dodge
  3. 5% parry
  4. 5% block
  5. 25% crit
Damage = BaseDamage * ((1.00 - 0.02 - 0.05 - 0.05 - 0.05 - 0.25) + 2 * 0.25)
       = BaseDamage * 1.08

(With 0% crit we'd do 83% of BaseDamage)

Now the same calculation with 26% crit chance:

Damage = BaseDamage * ((1.00 - 0.02 - 0.05 - 0.05 - 0.05 - 0.26) + 2 * 0.26)
       = BaseDamage * 1.09

We increased the total damage output by 1% of the base damage. Since the total output is more than 100% of that base damage, the actual increase in total damage output is "only" 0.93%. If the total output is significantly greater than the base damage, this percentage will be smaller, if the total output is below the base damage, the resulting increase will even be higher than 1%.

What's better, +to hit or +crit?[]

In principle they are equal. Which is better depends on circumstances. An increase in hit rate will usually yield a constant level of damage, whereas a high crit chance gives a spiky, more random damage distribution over time. An important factor is whether there are procs related to either hits or critical hits. Also, both ratings have caps (which are not fixed to a certain % but rather depend on multiple factors such as hit chance, enemy's level and defense rating). To hit can only be used to counter the base chance to miss (5% for one or two-hand users without any off-hand weapon, and 24% for dualwielders), whereas the crit chance cannot become higher than available space for hit chance. If a dual wielder attacks a target with a high chance to dodge or parry the attacker can lose crit chance because the attack table is full.

For example, a dual wield in a raid, attacking from behind, with a 0 chance to hit, you have a maximum critical chance of 40%. Any additional critical chance increase is wasted. This number might seem high but take into consideration talents, potions, buffs, procs and skills that increase your crit rate to 50% or more, these are wasted.

From a raiding perspective, your miss chance increases by 4% (so 9% and 28% - base of 9% for special attacks) and increasing your Hit to at the very least cover your Special attacks is seen as more beneficial than increasing your Critical chance. After you have hit that level, you can focus more heavily on Critical Chance.

  • For special attack based classes, increasing your Hit chance past 9% is ineffective.
  • For melee attack bases classes (combat rogues for example), increasing hit is still very beneficial.
  • For casting classes, Hit is near always more valuable than critical chance, at a rate of 2:1.

Enhancers[]

Equipment which increases critical hit rate stacks together, so it is possible to achieve relatively high critical hit rates (20% are easily possible with pre-Karazhan gear).

Elixirs[]

  • [Elixir of Deadly Strikes]
  • [Elixir of Major Agility]
  • [Elixir of the Mongoose]

Enchantments[]

- Shoulders

  • Greater Inscription of the Axe
  • Greater Inscription of the Blade
  • Inscription of the Blade
  • Greater Inscription of Vengeance
  • Lesser Inscription of the Axe
  • Might of the Scourge ...no longer drops

- Legs

  • Icescale Leg Armor
  • Nerubian Leg Reinforcements Leatherworking only
  • Nerubian Leg Armor
  • Nethercobra Leg Armor
  • Cobrahide Leg Armor

- Ranged

  • Heartseeker Scope
  • Stabilized Eternium Scope

Enchanting[]

  • Enchant Weapon - Accuracy
  • Enchant Gloves - Greater Blasting
  • Enchant Gloves - Blasting
  • Enchant Boots - Icewalker
  • Enchant Boots - Surefooted
  • [Brilliant Wizard Oil]

Gems[]

Northrend Gems[]

Color Name Effect(s)
<imagelink>UI-EmptySocket-Yellow.png|Yellow Socket</imagelink> Yellow [Smooth Autumn's Glow] +16 Critical Strike Rating
[Perfect Smooth Sun Crystal] +14 Critical Strike Rating
[Smooth Sun Crystal] +12 Critical Strike Rating
<imagelink>UI-EmptySocket-Red.png|Red Socket</imagelink><imagelink>UI-EmptySocket-Yellow.png|Yellow Socket</imagelink> Orange [Wicked Monarch Topaz] +8 Critical Strike Rating +16 Attack Power
[Perfect Wicked Huge Citrine] +7 Critical Strike Rating +14 Attack Power
[Wicked Huge Citrine] +6 Critical Strike Rating +12 Attack Power
[Inscribed Monarch Topaz] +8 Critical Strike Rating +8 Strength
[Perfect Inscribed Huge Citrine] +7 Critical Strike Rating +7 Strength
[Inscribed Huge Citrine] +6 Critical Strike Rating +6 Strength
[Deadly Monarch Topaz] +8 Critical Strike Rating +8 Agility
[Perfect Deadly Huge Citrine] +7 Critical Strike Rating +7 Agility
[Deadly Huge Citrine] +6 Critical Strike Rating +6 Agility
[Potent Monarch Topaz] +8 Critical Strike Rating +9 Spell Power
[Perfect Potent Huge Citrine] +7 Critical Strike Rating +8 Spell Power
[Potent Huge Citrine] +6 Critical Strike Rating +7 Spell Power
<imagelink>UI-EmptySocket-Yellow.png|Yellow Socket</imagelink><imagelink>UI-EmptySocket-Blue.png|Blue Socket</imagelink> Green [Jagged Forest Emerald] +8 Critical Strike Rating +12 Stamina
[Perfect Jagged Dark Jade] +7 Critical Strike Rating +11 Stamina
[Jagged Dark Jade] +6 Critical Strike Rating +9 Stamina
[Sundered Forest Emerald] +8 Critical Strike Rating +3 Mana every 5 Seconds
[Perfect Sundered Dark Jade] +7 Critical Strike Rating +3 Mana every 5 Seconds
[Sundered Dark Jade] +6 Critical Strike Rating +2 Mana every 5 Seconds
[Radiant Forest Emerald] +8 Critical Strike Rating +10 Spell Penetration
[Perfect Radiant Dark Jade] +7 Critical Strike Rating +8 Spell Penetration
[Radiant Dark Jade] +6 Critical Strike Rating +9 Spell Penetration
[Misty Forest Emerald] +8 Critical Strike Rating +8 Spirit
[Perfect Misty Dark Jade] +7 Critical Strike Rating +7 Spirit
[Misty Dark Jade] +6 Critical Strike Rating +6 Spirit
<imagelink>UI-EmptySocket-Meta.png|Meta Socket</imagelink> Meta [Beaming Earthsiege Diamond] +21 Critical Strike Rating +2% Mana
[Chaotic Skyflare Diamond] +21 Critical Strike Rating 3% Increased Critical Damage
[Destructive Skyflare Diamond] +25 Critical Strike Rating 1% Spell Reflect
[Enigmatic Skyflare Diamond] +21 Critical Strike Rating Reduces Snare/Root Duration by 10%
[Enigmatic Starflare Diamond] +17 Critical Strike Rating Reduces Snare/Root Duration by 10%
[Impassive Skyflare Diamond] +21 Critical Strike Rating Fear Duration Reduced by 10%
[Impassive Starflare Diamond] +17 Critical Strike Rating Fear Duration Reduced by 10%

Outland Gems[]

Color Name Effect(s)
<imagelink>UI-EmptySocket-Yellow.png|Yellow Socket</imagelink> Yellow [Stone of Blades] +12 Critical Strike Rating
[Smooth Lionseye] +10 Critical Strike Rating
[Smooth Ornate Dawnstone] +10 Critical Strike Rating
[Gleaming Lionseye] +10 Critical Strike Rating
[Gleaming Dawnstone] +8 Critical Strike Rating
[Smooth Dawnstone] +8 Critical Strike Rating
[Smooth Golden Draenite] +6 Critical Strike Rating
[Gleaming Golden Draenite] +6 Critical Strike Rating
[Smooth Amber] +4 Critical Strike Rating
<imagelink>UI-EmptySocket-Red.png|Red Socket</imagelink><imagelink>UI-EmptySocket-Yellow.png|Yellow Socket</imagelink> Orange [Assassin's Fire Opal] +6 Critical Strike Rating +5 Dodge Rating
[Inscribed Ornate Topaz] +5 Critical Strike Rating +10 Attack Power
[Wicked Pyrestone] +5 Critical Strike Rating +10 Attack Power
[Deadly Fire Opal] +5 Critical Strike Rating +8 Attack Power
[Wicked Noble Topaz] +4 Critical Strike Rating +8 Attack Power
[Unstable Citrine] +4 Critical Strike Rating +8 Attack Power
[Wicked Flame Spessarite] +3 Critical Strike Rating +6 Attack Power
[Inscribed Pyrestone] +5 Critical Strike Rating +5 Strength
[Enscribed Fire Opal] +4 Critical Strike Rating +5 Strength
[Inscribed Noble Topaz] +4 Critical Strike Rating +4 Strength
[Inscribed Flame Spessarite] +3 Critical Strike Rating +3 Strength
[Potent Pyrestone] +5 Critical Strike Rating +6 Spell Power
[Iridescent Fire Opal] +4 Critical Strike Rating +6 Spell Power
[Potent Noble Topaz] +4 Critical Strike Rating +5 Spell Power
[Potent Flame Spessarite] +3 Critical Strike Rating +4 Spell Power
<imagelink>UI-EmptySocket-Yellow.png|Yellow Socket</imagelink><imagelink>UI-EmptySocket-Blue.png|Blue Socket</imagelink> Green [Jagged Chrysoprase] +5 Critical Strike Rating +6 Stamina
[Jagged Seaspray Emerald] +5 Critical Strike Rating +7 Stamina
[Jagged Talasite] +4 Critical Strike Rating +6 Stamina
[Barbed Deep Peridot] +4 Critical Strike Rating +3 Stamina
[Jagged Deep Peridot] +3 Critical Strike Rating +4 Stamina
[Radiant Seaspray Emerald] +5 Critical Strike Rating +6 Spell Penetration
[Radiant Talasite] +4 Critical Strike Rating +5 Spell Penetration
[Radiant Deep Peridot] +3 Critical Strike Rating +4 Spell Penetration
[Sundered Chrysoprase] +5 Critical Strike Rating 2 mana every 5 sec
[Rune Covered Chrysoprase] +5 Critical Strike Rating 2 mana every 5 sec
<imagelink>UI-EmptySocket-Meta.png|Meta Socket</imagelink> Meta [Destructive Skyfire Diamond] +14 Critical Strike Rating 1% Spell Reflect
[Enigmatic Skyfire Diamond] +12 Critical Strike Rating +5% Snare and Root Resist
[Chaotic Skyflare Diamond] +12 Critical Strike Rating 3% Increase Critical Damage


Abilities and traits[]

Racial abilities[]

Some races have racial abilities which increase the critical strike chance with certain weapons by 1%:

  • Dwarf: Gun Specialization
  • Troll: Bow and Thrown Specialization
  • Orc: Axe Specialization (as of patch 2.3.4, orc axe racial no longer gives 1% crit. It now increases weapon expertise by 5 for Axes and Two-Handed Axes.)
Prior to Patch 2.3.0, these racial abilities affected weapon skill instead.

Professions[]

  • Master of Anatomy from the Skinning profession

See also[]

  • Combat
  • Combat rating system
  • Spell critical strike
  • Agility
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