Defence rating & crits

[TrueMuppet]

Howdy,

been searching detailled info on the following for quite a time, perhaps someone can fill me in here:

Fighting critters that are lower in level than you produces _way_ more crits than you'd normally get; saw this last evening when I piloted a guildie's alt through RFC with my 40 Hunter & had a crit rate close to 40%. My question is, which traits do affect the increased crit chance here:

a) attacker level vs target level
B) attacker attack power vs target defence
c) attacker attack skill rating (e.g. 1H Maces, Staves etc) vs target defence
d) you name it

I reckon it's either b or c as I've read numerous times that getting somewhere like 385 defence at level 60 would practically insulate you against ever being critted by mobs.

Reason I'm asking is because I have to make a decission soon for my baby shammy - at 30, I'll have to buy his 'gib mount, ama!' phase gear soonish & wonder whether I should go with a decent 2H blue and WF or a 1H/S blue and Stonebiter combo: Currently, I run 1H/S most of the time using Beazel's Basher & TBH I'd say may DPS goes down when I use WF instead of rockbiter, plus I seem to crit a good deal less often.

Any insights or pointers muchly appreciated.

[Artega]

It's Defense versus Attack. If you have 400 Defense versus a mob's 315 Attack (assuming a Lv.63 mob's Attack is 315, of course), you won't be critted very often at all. Attack does not affect amount of damage dealt, except when the mob is far above your level (not vice-versa.) Attacks that deal bonus damage due to level difference will be labeled as Crushing in the combat log.

As for doing less damage with Windfury when using heater and beater, switch to Rockbiter. Use Rockbiter for any weapon about 2.70 and faster, and Windfury for anything 2.80 and slower. You may want to use Flametongue against highly armored targets (Warriors, rock elementals, etc.)

[Zarathustra]

Attack Power does not affect amount of damage dealt, except when the mob is far above your level (not vice-versa.)[right][snapback]83614[/snapback][/right]

This seems contradictory to the ingame hover info on attack power. Care to expand upon this a bit?

[Alram]

As for doing less damage with Windfury when using heater and beater, switch to Rockbiter. Use Rockbiter for any weapon about 2.70 and faster, and Windfury for anything 2.80 and slower. You may want to use Flametongue against highly armored targets (Warriors, rock elementals, etc.)

I thought that Windfury works better with a faster weapon since it does not proc with every hit.

[Concillian]

This seems contradictory to the ingame hover info on attack power.  Care to expand upon this a bit?
[right][snapback]83615[/snapback][/right]

I think he meant weapon skill rather than AP. AP does add to damage. weapon skill vs. defense is a major factor in your crit rate.

[lemekim]

Afaik it depends on the difference between weapon skill and defense. Afaik its 25 defense for every 1 crit %. So if you are level 60 and you are fighting level 20 mob, it will add about 200/25 = 8% crit.

[Artega]

I think he meant weapon skill rather than AP.  AP does add to damage.  weapon skill vs. defense is a major factor in your crit rate.
[right][snapback]83622[/snapback][/right]

Yeah. Somehow I said Attack Power instead of Attack. Oops.

[TrueMuppet]

Thanks for the clarification - this will save me a great load of disappointment as I'd initially been planning on getting a +Attack Power ripe rig. As for WF vs. Rockbiter, WF all the way now: I managed to get an Excavator's Brand over the weekend. Doing two ten minute grind sessions in Highperch with WF & Stonebiter, I averaged ~7 DPS more with WF. Seeing as my average grind DPS (= go for high mana efficiency, no shocks & stuff except LS & FS to pull, plus the odd SS totem when I draw an add) hovers around 50 with Stonebiter, the kill speed increase with WF is quite noticeable.

[oldmandennis]

About WF vs RB

I don't have the math in front of me, but I've seen it. Might have been on this site, I don't know and if you care about the details search it yourself.

But I remember the gist of it. Go to any of the threads talking about rogue and warrior weapon speeds to see how slow weapons benefit from high AP on instant attacks. WF is instant attacks and high AP in one, so it really likes slow weapons. RB adds enough AP to make up for it on fast weapons. Someone did a bunch of math and figured out that 3.0 was the breakeven point.

Your choice of the Excavator's Brand for your experiments was a poor one if you want to generalize. The reason is the proc. Everytime WF procs you get 2 free chances at a brand proc, boosting your DPS with WF past RB. Incidentally that's the route I take, using a 2.7 speed Axe of Deep Woods which has a wrath proc with lifestealing enchant. One or the other (or often both w00t) seems to go off nearly every time WF does.