The Melee Combat Table (aka: Dispelling "You can't crit what you don't hit")

Sheesh - there seems to be an absolute and total misunderstanding of melee (and hunter shot) mechanics over at the BRK Forums. I've seen it posted about 5 times in 2 different threads (about the Animal Handler talent) that "I take AH so my FI uptime is better" and "the pet can't crit if it doesn't hit".

THIS IS WRONG!!!!


WoW attack mechanics make a SINGLE ROLL for melee attacks, and compare the result against a table that is "built up" in a specific order. That order is as follows:

Miss
Dodge
Parry
Glancing Blow (only PCs vs Mobs)
Block
Crit
Crushing Blow (only Mobs vs PCs)
Hit

The table is built up from bottom (miss) to top (hit). Hit is everything left over that isn't already covered by something else.

We'll build the table a hunter pet (0/2 AH, 5/5 Ferocity, buffed by LotP) against a boss, attacking from behind it (so no Parries or Blocks):

0.0 - 9.0	Miss	9% vs +3 mob
9.0 - 14.6	Dodge	5% base, +0.6% vs +3 mob
14.6 - 39.6	Glancing	25% vs +3 mob
39.6 - 59.0	Crit	5% base, +10% Ferocity, +5% LotP, -0.6% vs +3 mob (19.4% total)
59.0 - 100.0	Hit	Everything else (41%)

Now, we'll throw on the 2 Animal Handler points (+4% hit), and build the new table:

0.0 - 5.0	Miss	9% vs +3 mob, -4% for 2/2 Animal Handler
5.0 - 10.6	Dodge	5% base, +0.6% vs +3 mob
10.6 - 35.6	Glancing	25% vs +3 mob
35.6 - 55.0	Crit	5% base, +10% Ferocity, +5% LotP, -0.6% vs +3 mob (19.4% total)
55.0 - 100.0	Hit	Everything else (45%)

See what happened there? The pet's chance to "hit" went up by 4% (just like the talent says - amazing!), but it's chance to crit REMAINED THE SAME! FI uptime (a proc-on-crit) is going to be the same regardless of the extra +hit.

Now, there is one situation where your hit chance can affect chance to crit, but that is a super-rare case nowadays.
"RogueTard" likes big shiny crits - it's all that he specs and gears for. He's also stupid, and attacks from the front of the mob. He's Assassination/Subtlety speced (so no Precision), and is geared out with +50% crit equipment and talents.
Let's build his combat table vs the boss mob:

0.0 - 28.0	Miss	9% vs +3 mob, +19% Dual Wield
28.0 - 33.6	Dodge	5% base, +0.6% vs +3 mob
33.6 - 49.2	Parry	15% base, +0.6% vs +3 mob
49.2 - 74.2	Glancing	25% vs +3 mob
74.2 - 79.8	Block	5% base, +0.6% vs +3 mob
79.8 - 100.0	Crit	5% base, +50% equip/talents, -0.6% vs +3 mob (54.4% total)
N/A	Hit	Everything else (0% - nothing left)

Neat! His massive 50% crit stuff gave him..., er..., a whole 20.2% crit chance. He's "crit-capped". In this case, +hit gear will actually make him crit more, as the reduced "Miss" shifts the whole table down and opens up more crit. This is an extreme example, obviously, and super-rare nowadays.

(BTW - none of this applies to spells - only melee and hunters)

(Edited to make the tables look nice, and to fix a minor math mistake)