If you are new to WoW, then this guide is for you.  If you aren’t new to WoW, and don’t really understand the difference between armor penetration and attack power or strength and agility, then this guide is also for you.

There are lots of different offensive stats in World of Warcraft that effect whether or not you can hit a target, and how hard you hit for. We look at all of these offensive stats including Attack Power, Spell Power, Critical Strike, Hit Rating, Haste Rating, Expertise, Spell and Armor Penetration.

Attack Power

Attack Power is a derivative stat, meaning that most Attack Power is directly derived from Strength or Agility, depending on the class. It is, however, also found as is in high amounts on Leather and Mail armor, as well as “generic” pieces like Rings, Necklaces, Weapons, and Cloaks. Attack Power effects ranged and melee physical damage, and is directly responsible for damage scaling on attacks. Typically, players will prefer the pure stats (Agility and/or Strength) over AP because those stats scale with buffs, like Blessing of Kings. Attack Power is found on red gems.

Armor Penetration

Armor Penetration is a value often found on Leather and Mail gear that gives the player the ability to “pierce” a percentage of the target’s Armor. Armor Penetration Rating converts into Armor Penetration Points at the rate of about 7:1. More important, though, is the amount of Armor Penetration Rating required to ignore 1% of a target’s armor, and that value is 12.31:1. In other words, 12.31 Armor Penetration Rating directly converts into 1% of ignored armor at level 80. Of course, Armor Penetration is only useful for physical damage classes like Rogues, Hunters, DPS Warriors, Death Knights, Paladins, Feral Druids, and Enhancement Shamans. It is less useful for Frost and Unholy Death Knights because much of their damage is magic based, whereas Blood Death Knights need ArP because they’re mostly physical damage. Armor Penetration is found on red gems. Continue reading »