So all the web sites talk about the 490 defense cap (prot pally) but I notice that defense continues to reduce damage and increase the avoidance stats (dodge, parry and block) well beyond 490.
So why is that the cap?
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Makes you unable to be crit by mobs.
Think of it more like a soft cap.
There is also another for crushable, think itâs like all dodge/block/parry = total 102% or something along those lines.
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104.2 102.4
Edit: Had some numbers flipped. Thereâs the macro.
/run ChatFrame1:AddMessage(format(âUnhittable at 102.4%% - you have %.2f%%â, GetDodgeChance() + GetBlockChance() + GetParryChance() + 5 + 1/(0.0625 + 0.956/(GetCombatRating(CR_DEFENSE_SKILL)/4.91850*0.04))))
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Thank you.
You need to stop linking this Kuma-sama, I need to finish S2 of Miss Kobyashis, youâre gonna make me start watching konosubaâŠ
While youâre at it, donât miss out on Seirei Gensouki. That one is a lot of fun too!
102.4*
jus sayin
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that is when you become uncrittable.
Each point of defense skill (not rating) does 5 things.
Increases your chance to block, parry, dodge, and be missed by .04%
And
Reduces your chance to be crit by .04%
Level 73 bosses have a 5.6% chance to crit you, so you need 5.6/.04 = 140 defense skill above the 350 cap outside of gear to remove their chance to crit you entirely. 350 + 140 = 490 defense. You canât reduce crit chance below 0, so this is a soft cap where defense rating loses some of its value.
However, defense skill continues to give dodge/miss/parry/block chance beyond 490 skill, and is an efficient stat for gaining avoidance, second only to block rating.
102.4% total avoidance is the next relevant cap, as melee hits only roll 1 time to see the result, because of this, thereâs no such thing as a blocked crit, or a blocked crushing blow. A melee swing can only get a singular result between the options of dodge, miss, parry, block, crush, crit, or hit normally.
Because they can only get one of those results, there is a priority of what %s go on the dice roll
Dodge, miss, and parry are the highest priority
Then block
Then crit
Then crush
Then normal attacks.
You can remove crit from the table via def skill, but if your combined dodge/miss/parry/block add up to over 102.4%, the boss canât do anything on the lower part of the list. It canât crit you, it canât crush you, and it canât land an unblocked attack. At that avoidance level, any crit, crushing blow, and normal attack chances have been pushed off the table, and can no longer occur.
At this point, you hit the first hard cap on your stats, as additional block rating is no longer reducing the damage you are taking (during holy shield/shield block anyway). At this point you can trade block rating off as you gain additional dodge/parry/miss, or start to prioritize threat gear.
It is technically possible to become uncritable via 102.4% avoidance instead of def skill, but I do not advise it, as if the enemies ever stun you, get behind you, or you donât have holy shield/shield block up, crits wonât be pushed off the table any longer, and you may get smacked.
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@Smeetologist - Thank you for that explanation. that was exactly what I was looking for.
Bugger. Grinding mining up makes my brain not brain so good. Good catch.
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490 is the uncrittable threshold. Thatâs the easy one to hit. As a Paladin you got 2 breakpoints after to hit with overall avoidance.
Your first is 102.4% total for uncrushable by any means. Your second is 102.4% with Holy Shield alone for at will uncrushable.
How you get to those last 2 is entirely up up you. For reference I would recommend getting to that last one before you tank Prince.
EXPLOOOOOOSION!
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Defense is really just there to avoid getting critically hit by a Boss Level (Player Level + 3) mob. The way the attack table is laid out, if youâre uncrittable then you also âpush offâ Crushing Blows.
Defense Rating is the easiest way to reach this goal of not being smooshed. But you can also do it with 0 Defense and just a lot of Dodge, Parry, and Block (because Blocked attacks cannot crit and they cannot crush).
But getting to 103% avoidance (I round up) just through those three is nearly impossible.
Mega-FYI: Do NOT count Redoubt when figuring out that sweet (sweet) 103% avoidance. Because it is a proc. RNGesus will not save you. Only, ever, count buffs you can (lol) count on. Like Warriorâs Shield Block or Paladinâs Holy Shield.
// Nerdy Stuff
The way this is all mathed is basically:
base Weapon Skill = Player/Mob Level * 5
base Defense Skill = Player/Mob Level * 5
Crit Chance = 5% + (Weapon Skill - Defense Skill)
Then itâs a tug of war between the POV (usually The Player) and the Opponent to see who wins. More weapon skill vs defense skill means more critical chances. While more defense skill means less chances at critical hits (and also Crushing Blow due to how the attack table is setup).
This is why itâs so important for tanks to âskill upâ their base Defense to maximum before tanking even in regular dungeons because youâre Defense Skill is specialâŠit doesnât âauto level upâ with you. So while you may be Character Level 70, if you didnât get hit once while leveling youâre Defenseâs âLevelâ would still be â1â. ((The same goes for the Playerâs weapon skills.))
*Mobs will always have their Defense and Weapon skill set to âfully leveledâ; Level * 5.
Fun Fact: Thatâs âLevel * 5â is used a lot. So if youâre a skinner just divide your current skinning by 5 to find out what level mobs you should go for to âskill upâ. ((Obviously a lvl 1-5 skinner gets a fraction; hence why you fail to skin that rabbit so much! 
))
FYI: Critical Hits (melee), I believe are 200% normal damage and Crushing Hits (also melee) are 150% normal damage ((Someone correct me; I just know Crush is âhalfâ the Crit damage. So if Crit for melee is 150% then Crushing would be 125%.))
However, in TBC, things get a bit easier because Resilience (for now) affects your chance to be crit by either player or npc. So now you can mix 'n match gear with Defense Rating and Resilience to achieve âuncrittableâ.
FYI: Resilience will not give you additional chances of being Missed nor will it give you more Dodge, Parry, or Block. So Resilience should be a âlast resortâ to reaching âuncrittableâ.
((I believe it was TBC, that a high-end guild cleared BT in nothing but PVP Gear to show how broken Resilience was; Wrath changed it to work on only Player hits.))
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To add to what this guy said, if you aim for 72.4% you can get uncrushable with just HS. Thatâs the line you wanna hit and stay past.
200% and 150% is correct.
Resilience worked just fine in Wrath to eliminate PVE crits.
Since the Libram of Repentance gives so much block rating, itâs best to equip it and account for that in your uncrushable calculation and go for 67.07% unbuffed.
Must have been how they (re)worded the tooltip in Wrath; swear they changed it to not work against NPCs. Because people were powering through Arena and use that gear to clear raids faster than planned.
liek others have mentioned itâs a soft cap.
After 490 you get more bang for your buck aiming for dodge,block and parry gear till you hit 102.4% combined over defense.
It worked, BiS shoudler enchant for prot pallies was from pvp.
Only in tier 7 because the raids were a joke outside of HMâs/achieves.
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Def rating still beats parry rating and is basically tied with dodge rating for total avoidance per point. Block rating is the only thing that is better by a large margin than def rating when aiming for 102.4% avoidance.