TBC Crit Cap Calculator
Are you crit-immune? Enter your defense and resilience rating — they stack — and see your remaining chance to be critically hit, and how much more you need to hit the crit cap against even-level, PvP and +3 boss targets.
Your crit cap
You're crit-immune — 5.60% crit reduction covers the 5.6% this target has. You can no longer be critically hit.
- From defense skill: 5.60% (490 skill)
- From resilience: 0.00%
- Target's base crit chance: 5.6%
Advanced: formula & source
critTaken% = max(0, baseCrit(Δlevel) − 0.04 × (defenseSkill − 350) − resilience / 39.4231)
Defense and resilience both reduce your chance to be critically hit, and the reductions add together. Defense does it via skill (2.3654 rating = 1 skill, 0.04% crit reduction per skill above 350); resilience does it directly (39.4231 rating = 1%). You're crit-immune once their combined reduction meets the target's base crit chance — 5.6% for a +3 boss, 5% for an even-level player.
How the TBC crit cap works
Being critically hit by a raid boss can one-shot a tank, so the first survivability benchmark is crit immunity — pushing the target's chance to crit you down to zero. Two stats do this job, and they stack:
- Defense skill — every point above your level-70 base of 350 removes 0.04% crit chance taken (2.3654 rating = 1 skill). The famous 490 defense benchmark is just the crit-immunity number against a +3 boss.
- Resilience — a flat 39.4231 rating per 1% crit-chance reduction, with no cap. About 197 resilience makes you crit-immune against an even-level player, 221 against a boss.
Because they combine, you don't have to pick a side. A common real setup is most of the way to 490 defense on PvE tank gear, topped up with a little resilience from a PvP trinket or gem to close the last fraction of a percent. This calculator does that arithmetic for you — enter both ratings and read off whether you're immune.
Frequently asked questions
What is the crit cap in TBC?
The crit cap — better called crit immunity — is the point where your chance to be critically hit drops to zero. Against a +3 raid boss (level 73) that's 5.6% crit reduction; against an even-level player (PvP) it's 5%. Once you reach it, you literally cannot be critically hit by that target.
Do defense and resilience stack for crit immunity?
Yes — and this is the whole point of combining them. Defense skill and resilience each reduce your chance to be critically hit, and their reductions add together. A tank can reach the crit cap with any mix: pure defense (the classic 490 vs a boss), pure resilience (≈197 vs a player, ≈221 vs a boss), or a blend of both. Real gear sets are almost always a blend, because PvE gear leans defense and PvP gear leans resilience.
How much defense do I need to be crit-immune?
490 defense skill against a +3 boss, 475 against an even-level (PvP) target. At level 70 your base is 350 skill and 2.3654 defense rating = 1 skill, so 490 skill ≈ 332 defense rating against a boss.
How much resilience do I need to be crit-immune?
Resilience reduces crit chance at 39.4231 rating per 1%, so 5% (PvP) takes ≈197 resilience and 5.6% (boss) takes ≈221. Resilience is the route most PvP players take to crit immunity, since it also cuts crit damage.
Is crit immunity only for tanks?
For PvE, essentially yes — only a tank face-tanking a boss cares about not being crit (a DPS crit on a DPS is just damage). In PvP it matters for everyone: arena bursts revolve around crits, so being crit-immune through resilience is a core survivability goal for any class that gets focused.