Attack power Attack power ( AP ) increases your base DPS by 1 for every 3 . 5 attack power . To convert DPS into average damage per swing : If dual wielding , an off - hand weapon will also receive DPS from AP with the normal damage penalty . Disregarding dual wield specialization talents , the offhand damage is then : Many abilities add some percentage of attack power to the damage they deal . Each point of strength increases melee attack power by 1 , except for rogue s , shaman s , and hunter s who gain 1 AP per point of agility . Druids in cat form also gain 1 AP per point of agility . Players also receive 1 point of ranged attack power ( RAP ) per point of agility . Also , 1 AP = 1 Ranged Attack Power ( RAP ) . Unless an item or effect specifically says " + _ _ to Melee Attack Power " or " + _ _ to Ranged Attack Power " then this is true . If it adds to Attack Power and does not specify " Melee " or " Ranged " then it always adds equally to both Ranged Attack Power and Melee Attack Power . Although characters of every class will have a listed amount of ranged attack power , the statistic is wholly meaningless to all except Hunters , Rogues and Warriors , as these are the only classes that can use ranged weapons . Bonuses from attack power are added to a character ' s DPS before attack speed bonuses come into effect . So , a character with a weapon with 10 base DPS , 2 . 0 attack speed , and 140 AP will have a total of 20 DPS ( 10 base + 140 / 14 from AP ) . If a 10 % increase to attack speed is gained , DPS will increase to 22 ( 10 % of 20 is 2 ) as opposed to only getting one from the base DPS , at 11 , and then adding 10 from the attack power to 21 . In Cataclysm . AP is no longer be obtainable from gear as of Patch 4 . 0 . 1 . Instead , it will be derived solely from Agility or Strength . In the case of Rogues , Hunters , and Shamans , each point of Agility will add 2 AP . Warriors , Paladins , and Death Knights will gain 2 AP from each point of Strength . Druids will gain 2 AP from both Agility and Strength , depending on form ( Agility for Cat form , Strength for ( Dire ) Bear Form ) . Mob attack power . Mob s have different attack power formulas than players . Damage done per second of mobs is given by : For most mobs , attack power is about 30 % of total damage ; bosses have higher multiplier than trash mobs . That means - attack power debuffs have significant effect on raid mobs . Some tests suggest Improved Demoralizing Shout could reduce the damage taken from a level 60 mob by 25 % . Thus Curse of Recklessness will increase the damage done of affected mob drastically . The - AP debuff is capped at - 30 % total damage effect , as the formula suggests . Player attack power . Ranged attack power . Attack power for ranged physical attacks ( excludes spells and wand s ) . Hunter . Before patch 2 . 0 . 1 , hunters received 2 RAP per agility , whereas after they receive 1 RAP per agility . Some of this loss was made up for in AP increases from items . The reason given for this change was to keep agility from being the be - all and end - all of hunter stats , allowing for flexibility into intellect or stamina without sacrificing a large amount of AP . However , this is slated to be changed back to 2 AP along with the release of Cataclysm . After Patch 3 . 0 . 2 , hunters could gain RAP from intellect or / and stamina by and talents ( see and ) . Shaman . Before Patch 3 . 0 . 2 , Shamans received 2 AP per Strength . This was changed in 3 . 0 . 2 in preparation for Wrath of the Lich King . Shamans now receive 1 AP from Strength and 1 AP from Agility . With the talent Mental Dexterity shamans also gain 1 AP per intellect . As of Patch 4 . 0 . 1 , Mental Dexterity has been removed and Shaman no longer gain AP from Strength . Shaman now gain AP solely from Agility ( 2 AP per 1 Agility ) . Druid . Before Patch 3 . 0 . 8 , many weapons listed feral attack power , making these weapons highly tailored to druids and making other weapons unusable for druids . After the patch , specific feral attack power bonuses were removed . Instead , all weapons with more than 54 . 8 DPS grant feral attack power equal to [ ( DPS - 54 . 8 ) * 14 ] , rounded down . Only druids see feral attack power in weapon tooltips . Feral attack power can be increased further with the Predatory Strikes talent .