Melee DPS 101: Expertise Breakdown
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iTZKooPA on Thursday, March 5, 2009 - 21 Comments Tags: dodge, expertise, expertise rating, melee dps, melee dps 101, melee expertise, parry, stats explained, tank expertise
iTZKooPA on Thursday, March 5, 2009 - 21 Comments Tags: dodge, expertise, expertise rating, melee dps, melee dps 101, melee expertise, parry, stats explained, tank expertise 
Part 2 of our series on the basics of melee DPS (Part 1 - Melee DPS 101: The Hit Cap) brings us to the category that confused me the most, Expertise. When I began looking up Wrath of the Lich King's changes to my class' required stats, I was expecting to find pretty clear cut answers. That was not the case for Expertise.My initial research confused me something fierce due to my own stupidity. I kept coming across a pair of vastly different numbers that were recanted as the expertise needed for dual and single wielding DPS. Then the compact fluorescent light bulb went off, the synapse was crossed and I put the final piece of the puzzle together. Expertise and Expertise Rating are convertible statistics, not the same thing. It really is quite simple and works like Hit and Hit Rating. The more Hit Rating you have, the more you will connect with your target. I do not know why this confused me for the length of time that it did, but I never claimed to be Einstein.
Let's get to the facts now that you know how slow I can be without my morning tea. Expertise is a very easy to understand requirement that is the same for all melee DPS classes. For starters, Expertise is the statistic that will help minimize a mob's ability to Dodge or Parry your attacks. Once again, our focus for the discussion will be on boss mobs. Before we begin, it should be noted that all DPSing should be done from behind the target. This will cut out the need for additional rating, since the mob will have its Parry attribute removed from the equation table.
Assuming that you are "hitting it from behind," a melee DPSer will require 214 Expertise Rating or 26 Expertise (you can check this on your character sheet). Roughly 33 ER or the equivalent of 4 expertise will reduce a mobs chance to dodge/parry by 1%. If you hit those numbers, you will surpass the 6.5% Dodge chance those pesky Boss mobs are handed and maximize your DPS potential.
Here's another "at a glance" guide for easy reference.
All Melee DPS:
Expertise/Expertise Rating = 26 and 214 respectively.
You just need to hit one of these numbers to negate a mob's chance to Dodge or Parry (when attacking from behind). Expertise is generally gained from various talents (Vitality, Combat Expertise, Weapon Expertise, etc) or racial traits (Humans gain 3 Expertise for Swords and Maces), while Expertise Rating is typically obtained from item bonuses.
1 Expertise = 0.25% Dodge reduction, 32.79 Expertise Rating = 4 Expertise = 1% Dodge Reduction and the numbers you are trying to overcome are 6.5% Dodge and 12-15% Parry (Parry percentage remains in debate). Don't forget, Parry can be ignored if you are attacking from behind.
Tanks:
I am not sure what the sweet spot is for tanking, but it is higher than Melee DPS. Since a tank is obviously in front of the mob, they don't benefit from dropping Parry from the calculation table. Therefore they would need additional Expertise/ER to drop negate a the other half of the Expertise equation. However, if you are generating enough threat per second, you may be able to perform sufficiently with the DPS numbers above, since TPS is a tank's primary concern.
I hope this clears up any confusion out there. Remember to always attack from behind for the avoidance mitigation! Brownie points to the commentator who can give us the necessary tank numbers. Next up, all the other statistics out there.
Reader Comments (21)
1st
and good post from a almost tank =P
Nice little post, Expertise has been bugging me for a while now, having recently got a tank DK to lvl 80 :) now if someone could just comment on the expertise needed for tanks, everything would be good :P
Hit
Expertise
when will haste get a buff to be a viable stat?
Well. I don't know the base expertise rating needed for a tank; however, I am a tank and I have 16 expertise, and 200 hit and I don't have a boss miss me at all. Sometimes when I use Hammer of Righteousness it glances..but other than that I connect 99% of the time with these stats.
Nice post, since I'm going to hit 80 soon I want to understand the mechanic of DPS and Tank spects for raids :P.
Can somebody tell me if a critical strike cause more aggro than a normal strike please.
I know this has probably already been mentioned but are you going to do this for spellcasters cos i'm not sure what the hit rating for that is.
Don't forget that expertise also reduces a tank's incoming damage, since when a boss parries it gains melee haste (about 20% - 40%) and that's pretty big for some hard hitting melee bosses.
Me as a tank.... I need some more exspertise. They dodge my devastate ALL the freakin time, and its getting anoying. I have looked at getting some gems, but i lovez my shinny health and i dont wanna give up 240 health of 8 expertise and only 120 health, but in my situation i basicly have too. As for dps investing in expsertise is different from hit, if your not missing the enamy your good on hit, but if the enamies dodgeing you like crazy you mite want alittle exspertise.
Great Post, I love the 101's keep them coming.
Just an add maybe for the tanks,
I don't know if this is up to date, but in BC a tank would also need expertise in order to not be parry, but no so that he can gain any dps ( and thus TPS ) but because when a mob parries he gain 50% attack speed ( or near ) on his next attack ( sorry sounds goofy but stil can't find my sources again, will do asap ) Thus if a tank is parried to many times in a row he can get load of attack to quickly to be healed ( seen it more than once ) which can solve in the death of the tank and a nice wipe .
Btw the sweat cap for tank is 54 expertise ( 428 rating ) but haven't seen many tank up there yet.
Thanks for the guide which is still very well done and interesting. Keep up the good work
I get what you're talking about, iTZKooPA, but I'm not certain how it applies to enhancement-speced shamans. I have never thought that I needed hit rating (ain't it just for hunters?) or expertise (thought only tanks needed that). So if I were to respec and put on my enhance gear, I would not have any hit or expertise bonuses. Does that crimp my potential DPS a lot? It's not like I miss or get dodged/parried often.
I think that doesn't mean that without expertise you'll be a bad DPS char, but, with some expertise/expertise rating, you wil MAXIMIZE your DPS...
i.e.: you hit 8 times without any expertise itens and so X damage to a target. With some expertise itens, you hit 12 times, and do the X damage you did without expertise PLUS the damage for the other 4 swings...something like that ^^
oh...sorry for the typos...just came back from the university...lol.....
"8 times without any expertise itens and so" -> so = do
@ Alayea:
For playing a enchancement speced shaman i can tell you that too hit a lest de 300 hit rating and a least a 25. ( if you are DW )
Why is that ? Are main dps comme from proc on hit or crits, if the guy on the other side doges your hits on isn't touched it means, less dps and less change to proc MS, flurry and others, which means less dps again
if you are below the yellow hit cap it means you can also miss SS and its a huge dps fall for you MS and shock attacks.
Hopes this gives you an idea on how it helps ;)
Can't find the edit button :(
Should read: " too hit at least 300 hit rating and at least 25 expertise" **
sorry
For a tank just try to shoot for 26 expertise aswell but it depends on class how important it is, more isnt useless since you want to avoid as much pary hasted hits as posible. But once you no longer reduce dodge there are other stats that will do more for you.
For warior/dk tnks expertise is very important since for them it ecuals more tps. but for example a paladin tank wont focus on expertise as much since it hardly gets him tps (mainly spells).
This is a good and informative post unlike the previous one. Do more like theese.
@Belias, Ayameth
Thanks for the info, guys. :)
Can anyone help me with the right dps rotation for rogues love the guides and I check in every day for new ones lol
glad you guys are still doing the info side of things, could we maybe get a post about spell penetration now? :D