Glancing blow Glancing blows are combat events that can occur when fighting a mob of equal or higher level . These occur only on white damage and result in the attack having its damage reduced in proportion to the difference between the attacker ' s weapon skill ( capped at the attacker ' s level * 5 ) , and the target ' s defense skill . At current Glancing blows occur at about 20 % of the time versus mobs that are above your level . These attacks only do 75 % of their normal damage versus a mob that is 3 levels above you . Bosses are counted as " your level + 3 " . Against mobs with defense roughly equal to or higher than your Attack Rating ( i . e . your weapon skill ) , you will have a chance to land a glancing blow instead of a normal hit . A glancing blow only occurs on white melee damage and does less damage than a normal blow . If the attacker ' s weapon skill is " less " than his level * 5 , the damage reduction will be proportional to the difference between the attacker ' s weapon skill and the target ' s defense . Effect from Weapon skill . Weapon skill greater than the normal max for your level ( i . e . your level * 5 ) does not reduce the chance for a glancing blow to land . Glancing blows do not occur against players , only against mobs . At present ranged attacks do not result in glancing blows . Glancing Blow chance . Pre 2 . 1 . Players have a chance to perform a glancing blow against mobs equal to 10 % plus 2 % per point of difference between attack rating and defense . Non - melee classes level 30 and higher have a 60 % chance to glancing blow . Non - melee classes from level 11 to level 29 have a ( level - 10 ) * 3 % chance of a glancing blow . Weapon skill " above " your level * 5 , as from gear or racial bonuses , affects neither the damage reduction nor the chances of landing a glancing blow . A mob ' s Defense skill is equal to its level * 5 . This formula means that , for a level 60 player with fully trained weapon skill , 30 % of all white - damage melee attacks will be Glancing Blows against level 62 mobs , and 40 % of all white - damage melee attacks will be Glancing Blows against level 63 mobs . The presence of your weapon skill in this formula , rather than just your level , explains why training up a newly - acquired weapon skill against mobs close to your own level results in many , many Glancing Blows at first . Post 2 . 1 . The release notes for patch 2 . 1 say the following : The new formula seems to be : glancing blow chance = 10 + mob defense - player weapon skill For a level 73 mob , that ' s a 25 % chance of glancing blow . The pre - 2 . 1 automatic base glancing blow chance for non - melee classes , when attacking targets level 30 and higher , seems to have been removed . Post 3 . 0 . Experimentally , players using Recount have consistently seen 24 % of their melee auto - attacks against Raid Boss monsters be glancing blows . Post 3 . 3 . Caster classes no longer have an increased chance to land a glancing blow . Glancing Blow damage reduction . The damage of a glancing blow is complicated . It starts by calculating the difference between the target ' s Defense and the attacker ' s attack rating , where the attack rating is " capped " at the attacker ' s level * 5 ( just as it is for determining the chance of a glancing blow occurring ) . This is then used to calculate a minimum and maximum damage factor . The actual damage factor is then randomized between these two values . The low value starts at 1 . 3 - 0 . 05 * rating difference . If the attacker is a caster then this is reduced by 0 . 7 more . The smaller value of this and 0 . 6 is kept as the low end . If the attacker is a melee class then instead the lower value of 0 . 91 and ( 1 . 3 - 0 . 05 * rating difference ) is used for the low . Regardless , the low end will not go below 0 . 01 . The high end of the range starts at 1 . 2 - 0 . 03 * rating difference . Casters are reduced a further 0 . 3 . The high value regardless of class is kept between 0 . 2 and 0 . 99 . The average reduction from a glancing blow is therefore ( high + low ) / 2 using the formulae above . This gives a level 60 player , with a weapon skill of 300 or more , a 15 % damage reduction with all Glancing Blows against level 62 mobs , and a 35 % damage reduction with all Glancing Blows against level 63 mobs . As of 2 . 0 . 1 , the player ' s weapon skill is capped at level * 5 in the damage reduction formula , just like it is in the formula for determining the " chance " of a glancing blow . ( Before 2 . 0 . 1 , glancing blows landed against a level 63 NPC by a level 60 player with + 10 Weapon Skill would do nearly as much damage as the player ' s ordinary hits did . ) Glancing Blow Implications - Crit Cap . The fact that 24 % of all white - damage melee attacks made against a Boss Mob will be Glancing Blows , no matter what you do , has implications when choosing how much Crit Rating gear to use . Due to the table - based nature of WoW ' s attack resolution system , Glancing Blows take " precedence " over critical hits . If your combined miss , dodge , parry , block , glancing blow , and crit chance against a mob is 100 % or higher , you will never see a normal white - damage hit made against that mob ( all your hits will be either glancing blows or critical hits ) . If it " exceeds " 100 % , it is your critical hit chance that gets " pushed off the end " of the table . Any Crit Rating gear added past this point will not improve your critical hit chance with white - damage melee attacks at all . This is sometimes called the " Crit cap " ( see Critical _ Strike # Crit _ Cap ) . In the worst case - - dual wielding with no hit rating ( 27 % miss chance ) from the front of a Raid Boss mob ( 10 + % parry , 6 . 5 % dodge ) who can block ( 6 . 5 % chance ) , the crit cap is 26 % . Moving behind such a mob removes the chance to block and parry , increasing the crit cap to 42 . 5 % . Adding hit rating , or + hit chance talents , will raise this cap by reducing the chance to miss . Adding Expertise will raise this cap by reducing the chance to parry and dodge . In a raid situation , it is easier to approach the crit cap than you might think . Consider a dual - wielding enhancement shaman with talents but no hit rating ( 18 % miss ) , meleeing from behind ( 6 . 5 % dodge , 24 % glance ) . His crit cap would be 49 . 5 % . With a dual mongoose proc ( 9 . 6 % crit ) , Leader of the Pack ( 5 % crit ) , Grace of Air ( 3 . 48 % crit ) , Elixir of Major Agility ( 2 . 31 % crit ) and Judgement of the Crusader ( + 3 % crit ) , the shaman would be crit capped with only 26 . 11 % crit from his gear and talents . Melee commonly exceeding the 40 % crit mark should be cognizant of the cap and adjust their buffs and weapon enchant accordingly . " Yellow damage " melee attacks , including both Instant attacks such as Sinister Strike and on - next - swing attacks such as Heroic Strike , do not produce Glancing Blows . For these attacks , added Crit Rating gear beyond the " Crit cap " described above will improve your critical hit chance . Ranged weapon attacks ( Bows , guns and crossbows ) do not have glancing blows at all , thus weapon skill does not affect this for them . It works the same for all classes that can use ranged weapons ( hunters , rogues and warriors ) .