Knights Of Sparta

A Basic Guide to Combat Attributes or 'Stats'

When you collect gear in World of Warcraft by looting dead 'mobs', that gear comes with Stat Modifiers on it to improve your Attributes and allow you to do that thing you do better.

Basic, early level armour tends to just have 'Armor' on it and Weapons just do a certain amount of damage (Damage divided by Weapon Speed = Damage Per Second). At this point it is easy to tell if an item is an upgrade to the stuff you are already using, regardless of your class.

As you progress though the game gear starts to have other Stat modifiers on it and this is where the game really starts to get complicated.

When I first started playing WoW I thought that I had to improve all my Attributes as evenly as possible regardless of what class you are, it took until I was Level 34 for me to learn the truth when some kind Hunter 'Inspected' me and told me the truth (when he stopped laughing).

Each class needs different amounts of each of the available Attributes and therefore need different gear with specific modifiers that increase those. This is further complicated by the fact that each attribute affects different classes in different amounts.

'Stats' come in a couple of flavours; 'Base Attributes', 'Secondary Attributes' and 'Other Stat Modifiers' which are often affected by the Base Attributes' values.

Base Attributes are:

• Armor – Increases armour
• Stamina (STA) – Increases the player's overall health pool
• Strength (STR) – Increases Plate wearer's physical Attack Power and Increases shield's Block Value; Increases Parry Rating for Death Knights
• Agility (AGI) – Increases Mail/Leather wearer's physical Attack Power (and melee AP for some classes); Increases Armor; Increases Critical Strike Chance; Increases Dodge Chance.
• Intellect (INT) – Increases the player's overall mana pool and spell power
• Spirit (SPI) – Increases health regeneration rate out of combat; Increases mana regeneration rate

Secondary Attributes are:

• Mastery (Mast) – Increases Your spec's Mastery ability (Only available at Level 80 and above)
• Hit Rating (HIT) – Increases chance to hit targets that are a higher level than yourself (This is a Player Vs. Environment stat.)
• Critical Strike Rating (CRIT) – Increases chance to achieve critical strikes on a target
• Resistances (RESIST) – Increases chance to resist spells from the named school of magic(Fire, Frost, Nature, Arcane, Shadow)
• Resilience (RES) – Decreases the chance to receive Critical hits and reduces DoT damage from other players. (This is a Player Vs. Player stat.)
• Expertise (EXP) - Decreases chances that a mob will block or parry you (NOTE - they can't block or parry you at all if you're stood behind them)
• Dodge (Dodge) - Decreases chances that a mob will hit you (NOTE - you can't dodge a strike from behind)
• Parry (Parry) - Decreases chances that a mob will hit you with a melee attack (NOTE - you can't parry a strike from behind)

Reforging
Gear of item Level 200 or above can be taken to a Reforger in order to change up to 50% of any of it's Secondary stats to a different Secondary stat.

A Guide to Basic Gear Stat Requirement by Class/Role

This guide will attempt to give new players a very BASIC understanding of which Attribute stat modifiers you should be trying to 'stack', for your class and role specialisation, and what preference order to take them, to hopefully give them a fighting chance, literally. Note: These are the preferred stats for PvE fights, they are not necessarily the same for PvP.

Melee Damage Dealing Classes:
Rogue – Agility; Crit Chance; Hit Rating; Haste; Mastery; Stamina
Druid (Feral Cat) – Agility; Crit Chance; Hit Rating; Haste; Mastery; Stamina
Shaman (Enhancement) – Agility; Crit Chance; Hit Rating; Haste; Mastery; Stamina
Paladin (Retribution) – Strength; Intellect; Hit Chance; Haste; Mastery; Stamina
Warrior (Arms/Fury) – Strength; Crit Chance; Hit Rating; Haste; Mastery; Stamina
Death Knight (DPS) – Strength; Crit Chance; Hit Rating; Haste; Mastery; Stamina

Ranged Damage Dealing Classes:
Hunter – Agility; Crit Chance; Haste; Hit Rating; Mastery
Mage – Intellect; Crit Chance; Haste; Hit Rating; Mastery
Warlock – Crit Chance; Intellect; Hit Rating; Haste; Mastery; Stamina
Priest (Shadow) – Intellect; Crit Chance; Hit Rating; Haste; Mastery
Shaman (Elemental) – Intellect; Crit Chance; Hit Rating; Haste; Mastery
Druid (Balance) – Intellect; Crit Chance; Hit Rating; Haste; Mastery

Tanking Classes:
Warrior (Protection) – Armor; Dodge/Parry; Stamina; Mastery; Expertise / Hit
Paladin (Protection) – Armor; Dodge/Parry; Stamina; Strength; Mastery; Expertise / Hit
Druid (Feral Bear) – Armor; Agility; Dodge/Parry; Strength; Mastery; Expertise / Hit
Death Knight (Tank) – Armor; Dodge/Parry; Stamina; Strength; Mastery; Expertise / Hit

Healing Classes:
Priest (Holy) – Spirit; Intellect; Haste; Mastery
Priest (Discipline) – Spirit; Intellect; Critical Chance; Haste; Mastery
Shaman (Restoration) – Spirit; Intellect; Haste; Mastery
Druid (Restoration) – Spirit; Intellect; Haste; Mastery
Paladin (Holy) – Spirit; Intellect; Haste; Mastery

(Please Note: This is only a rough guide intended for new players and has been put together by someone that hasn't played most of these classes to end game )