For those of you who want complex information, this is certainly in that category.  Now, as with anything in WoW this information may be subject to change, but probably not much for quite a while – at least not until the next major expansion.  Yes, it’s a wall of text, but if you’ve been craving some theroycrafting you’ll love it.

This guide will show you what is needed for a hit and expertise cap as fury and arms dps.  First off, you need to educate yourself on just exactly what hit and expertise are, and why they are important.

I. Soft Cap and White Cap

• White Cap – At level 80, players have a 5% base chance to have their regular attacks miss (white damage). When dual wielding, this chance increases to 24%.
• Soft Cap –soft cap is the amount of hit required to make your special abilities never miss (also called yellow attacks). For fury, the soft cap is also 5%. For arms warrior, the soft cap and hit cap are the same.

How Much Hit is Needed for Raiding

When I say the hit cap is 5% base, that means at level 80 we need a 5% hit increase to never miss an attack on another level 80. But when we go into those daring raids the bosses aren’t level 80, they are level 83. Testing has shown now that the hit cap is 8.0% (rounded). But what does this all mean?
Hit to Percentage – At level 80, 32.79 hit rating = 1%. Meaning a total of 262.32 = 8% = hit cap.

• Arms Hit Cap – White and Yellow hit cap need to be at 8% to never be missed. You will see that obtaining a full white hit cap for fury is not plausible, but is vital for arms.
• Fury Hit cap – The yellow hit cap for arms warriors is at 8% and the same goes for fury. The yellow cap is a must and can easily be obtained. First, you should already have the talent precision to increase hit chance by 3% when maxxed. So to obtain a soft hit cap of 5% at level 80, a fury warrior player needs only 163.95 hit.

Some things to think about

There is still controversy over how much white hit damage a fury warrior needs. Many dps testers say that specing into hit is a waste, and you will benefit more from strength through your yellow abilities (which should be hit capped). A more in-depth article will be written on this, but if you’re looking for an average number to obtain, try to reach around 290 hit rating with precision.

Always be behind the target – Before you understand expertise, you need to know exactly how hitting mobs works. When you are in front of the target you are taking a major dps nerf. Growing up as a rogue since the day WoW started, it has been a law to always be behind your target if you are melee dps. Players that are behind NPC targets cannot be parried or blocked, but can be dodged. Not only does this up your damage output, but some mobs/bosses have counterattack abilities that are triggered when they are blocked or parried. By being in front of the target, not only are you losing damage output, but you could be hurting your tank.

• Expertise Rating – Expertise rating reduces chance to not be dodged and parried. Since you are ALWAYS behind your target, expertise only helps your chance to not be dodged.
• Expertise Cap – At level 80, 32.79 expertise = 1% chance to not be dodged or parried. To figure out a definite cap you would need to know the boss’s dodge chance, which can vary, but testing tends to point towards a universal rating of 6.5% chance. To negate this, players need 215 expertise rating.

Arms – Blizzard has been changing this around lately, but as for now the talent weapon mastery (2% chance to not be dodged) is in the 6th tier of the arms tree. Therefore, an expertise rating of 148 is all you would need.

Fury – Expertise is a vital stat for fury players and the 215 cap should be considered strongly. However, you will get most of the expertise you need from the set stats on your gear. Never gem or enchant your gear for expertise as a dps, stats like str and crit should be given priority.

Summary

Arms

• Hit cap – 262.32
• Yellow cap – 262.32
• Expertise Cap – 215

Fury

• Hit cap – 786.96 with 3/3 precision. This is not plausible so aim for around 260-300 with 3/3 precision.
• Yellow cap – 163.95 with 3/3 precision.
• Expertise cap – 215

Special Notes:

• If there is a draenei present in the raid then everyone has a universal  1% hit chance increase. Don’t rely on this unless you know you will always have a Draenei present.
• Humans gain 3 expertise from sword and mace spec racial passive.
• Dwarves gain 5 expertise from mace spec racial passive.
• Orcs gain 5 expertise form Ax spec racial passive.