In the conclusion to this series of posts, we're going to be discussing the game's defensive stats -- which are probably only of minor importance unless you're interested in tanking. Though if you're one of those people (like me!) who has to know everything about the game, this is interesting information which will explain a lot of things about how damage is handled in World of Warcraft. If you're tuning in to all you needed to know about stats for the first time, it may be worthwhile to go back and read part 1 (covering the five basic attributes), part 2 (covering physical damage stats), and part 3 (covering spell damage stats) first -- but if you can't wait to know all there is to know about defense, resilience, spell resistance, dodge, parry, and block, keep reading!

Defense: Defense is a key stat for tanks, as it provides mitigation to all types of physical damage -- but it's most important for its ability to completely prevent you from being crit by physical attacks. Unpredictable spikes in damage (crits) are what tend to kill tanks -- standard melee strikes can be planned for and healed through. Anyone interesting in seriously tanking instances or raids should attempt to get their defense skill high enough to completely prevent crits.

• For an attack from a monster of equal level, each point in defense:
  
• Increases the chance of being missed by .04%
• Increases the chance to dodge by .04%
• Increases the chance to parry by .04%
• Increases the chance to block by .04%
• Decreases the chance of being crit by .04%
• So for every 25 points of defense, you're 1% more likely to be missed, 1% more likely to dodge, 1% more likely to parry, 1% more likely to block, and 1% less likely to be crit.
• Defense rating gives you differing amounts of defense skill depending on your level:
• At level 60, 1.5 defense rating grants 1 defense skill.
• At level 70, 2.4 defense rating grants 1 defense skill.
• To prevent any crits, players of different levels need different amounts of defense skill:
• At level 60, a player needs a total of 425 defense to become crit-immune against equal-level monsters.
• At level 70, a player needs a total of 475 defense to become crit-immune against equal level monsters. Alternately, the same player needs a total of 490 defense to become crit-immune against level 73 mobs (raid bosses are always three levels above player maximum).
• Druids have access to a talent (Survival of the Fittest) that reduces their chance to be crit by 3%, which means that a level 70 Druid needs 400 defense against level 70 targets and 415 defense against level 73 targets.
  
• Several classes have talents that increase their defense:
• At tier 3 in the Protection tree, Paladins can acquire Anticipation, which (for five talent points) increases their defense by 20 points.
• At tier 1 in the Protection tree, Warriors can acquire Anticipation, which (for five talent points) increases their defense by 20 points.

Resilience: Like defense, resilience reduces your chance to be crit. Unlike defense, resilience also reduces the damage taken by crits. However, since your goal is usually to prevent crits from occurring at all, this latter part seems less important.

• Each point of resilience reduces your chance to be crit by 1% and reduces crit damage by 2%.
• So, for damage mitigation why would you ever be interested in resilience over defense (which, you have to admit, with its bonuses to dodge, parry, and block seems the far superior stat!)? For one reason: defense completely prevents you from being crit. With a high enough defense, you can't be crit. With a high enough resilience you can't be crit, either -- however, with resilience, on crit abilities have a small chance to activate on non-crit abilities. Your on-crit abilities will never activate with a high enough defense to prevent crits. (This is not a bug, as recently confirmed by Drysc.)
• Resilience rating gives you differing amounts of resilience depending on level:
• At level 60, it takes 25 resilience rating to equal 1 resilience.
• At level 70, it takes 39.4 resilience rating to equal 1 resilience.

Armor: Armor reduces the amount of all incoming physical damage by a percentage based on the level of the target that's hitting you.

• The amount of armor you have is calculated based on the following formula:
• Base armor = 2 x agility + gear armor + magic armor
• Gear armor: the combined armor rating on all of your gear.
  
• Magic armor: additional armor granted by buffs, scrolls, armor kits, etc.
• Damage reduction from armor caps out at 75% -- so no matter how high your armor rating is, you'll never mitigate more than 75% of incoming damage.
• From Satrina on Stormrage, we have this table of how much armor gives you how much mitigation from various level attackers. (Check out Satrina's mitigation page for specific formulas on calculating armor mitigation.)
• For level 70 attackers...
• 5000 armor = 32.1% mitigation
  
• 10000 armor = 48.6% mitigation
  
• 15000 armor = 58.7% mitigation
  
• 17000 armor = 61.7% mitigation
  
• 20000 armor = 65.4% mitigation
  
• 25000 armor = 70.3% mitigation
  
• 30000 armor = 74.0% mitigation
• 31672 armor = 75.0% mitigation
  
• For level 73 attackers...
• 5000 armor = 29.5% mitigation
  
• 10000 armor = 45.5% mitigation
  
• 15000 armor = 55.6% mitigation
  
• 17000 armor = 58.7% mitigation
  
• 20000 armor = 62.6% mitigation
  
• 25000 armor = 67.6% mitigation
  
• 30000 armor = 71.5% mitigation
• 35880 armor = 75.0% mitigation
• Several classes have talents that increase their armor:
• At tier 2 in the Feral tree, Druids can acquire Thick Hide, which (for three talent points) increases the Druid's armor contribution from items by 10%.
• At tier 2 in the Beast Mastery tree, Hunters can acquire Thick Hide, which (for three talent points) increases the Hunter's armor contribution from items by 10% and increases the armor rating of the Hunter's pet by 20%.
• At tier 2 in the Protection tree, Paladins can acquire Toughness, which (for five talent points) increases the Paladin's armor contribution from items by 10%.
• At tier 2 in the Protection tree, Warriors can acquire Toughness, which (for five talent points) increases the Warrior's armor contribution from items by 10%.
• At tier 4 in the Enhancement tree, Shamans can acquire Toughness, which (for five talent points) increases the Shaman's armor contribution from items by 10%.

Arcane/fire/frost/nature/shadow resistance: This is your chance to completely resist (i.e. take no damage from) or take less damage from spells of specific schools of magic.

• As with armor damage mitigation, the maximum damage you can mitigate via resistance is 75%.
• The maximum magical resistance you need against a monster can be determined by its level x 5.
• For level 70 monsters, you need 350 resistance to the school of magic they cast to get 75% resistance.
  
• For level 73 monsters, you need 365 resistance to the school of magic they cast to get 75% resistance.

Dodge: Another method of avoiding damage -- your chance to dodge an attack.

• Ranged physical attacks cannot be dodged.
• At level 70, 18.9 dodge rating grants 1% dodge.
• Night Elves get a racial bonus of +1% dodge.
  
• Several classes have talents that increase their dodge chance:
• At tier 7 in the Beast Mastery tree, Hunters can acquire Catlike Reflexes, which (for three talent points) increases the Hunter's chance to dodge by 3% and increases the Hunter's pet's chance to dodge by 9%.
• At tier 3 in the Enhancement tree, Shamans can acquire Anticipation, which (for five talent points) increases their chance to dodge by 5%.
• At tier 1 in the Combat tree, Rogues can acquire , which (for five talent points) increases their chance to dodge by 5%.

Parry: Another method of avoiding damage -- your chance to parry an attack.

• Not all classes can parry, only Warriors, Paladins, Hunters, Rogues, and Shamans (with talents).
• Your chance to parry can be calculated as follows:
• 5% base chance + contribution from gear + contribution from talents + ((defense skill - attacker's weapon skill) x 0.04)
• You get differing amounts of parry per parry rating depending on your level:
• At level 60, 15 parry rating grants 1% parry.
• At level 70, 23.6 parry rating grants 1% parry.
• A successful parry turns your next normal attack into a counterattack that is sped up by as much as 50%. However, testing has determined no discernable pattern to the exact speed increase. (More data can be found on WoWWiki.)
  
• Several classes have talents that increase their parry chance:
• At tier 2 in the Survival tree, Hunters can acquire Deflection, which (for five talent points) increases their chance to parry by 5%.
• At tier 2 in the Retribution tree, Paladins can acquire Deflection, which (for five talent points) increases their chance to parry by 5%.
• At tier 1 in the Arms tree, Warriors can acquire Deflection, which (for five talent points) increases their chance to parry by 5%.
• At tier 2 in the Combat tree, Rogues can acquire Deflection, which (for five talent points) increases their chance to parry by 5%.

Block: If you have a shield equipped, you have a chance to block attacks with it.

• Your chance to block attacks can be calculated as follows (I know, it looks suspiciously similar to the way parry is calculated, doesn't it?):
• 5% base chance + contribution from gear + contribution from talents + ((Defense skill - attacker's weapon skill) * 0.04)
• A blocked attack doesn't mean you take zero damage! Instead, you take full attack damage minus the amount you're able to block, as determined by the following calculation:
  
• (block value of your shield) + ((Strength / 20) - 1)
• You get differing amounts of block per block rating depending on your level:
• At level 60, 5 block rating grants 1% block chance.
• At level 70, 7.9 block rating grants 1% block chance.
• Several classes have talents that increase their chance to block:
• At tier 1 in the Enhancement tree, Shamans can acquire Shield Specialization, which (for five talent points) increases their chance to block attacks with a shield by 5%.
• At tier 2 in the Protection tree, Warriors can acquire Shield Specialization, which (for five talent points) increases their chance to block attacks with a shield by 5%.
• Several classes have talents that increase the amount of damage blocked by a shield:
• At tier 1 in the Enhancement tree, Shamans can acquire Shield Specialization, which (for five talent points) increases the amount of damage blocked by shields by 25%.
• At tier 3 in the Protection tree, Paladins can acquire Shield Specialization, which (for three talent points) increases the amount of damage blocked by shields by 30%.

Tags: armor, block, defense, dodge, newb, newbie, noob, parry, resilience, resistance, world of warcraft, WorldOfWarcraft, wow, wow rookie, WowRookie

Filed under: WoW Rookie