Category: Combat
Skada Avoidance and Mitigation
Client Version: 5.0.4
A Skada plugin mode for tanks to benchmark their damage reduction performance via avoidance and mitigation.
Requires the Skada Damage Meter.
What the numbers mean:
The top-level module display shows total avoidance and mitigation – the fraction of attacks against each player that were either avoided (eg dodged, parried) or actively mitigated (blocked or absorbed). Mousing over any player shows a tooltip detailing their most common forms of avoidance and mitigation. The tooltip also includes with the average amount of damage blocked/absorbed for each attack which is mitigated, and the average mitigation reduction for each such attack (eg. blocks usually mitigate about 30%, full absorbs mitigate 100%, partial absorbs mitigate less). The total lines show the total amount absorbed or blocked, as a value and a percentage of the total unavoided damage.
Clicking on any player shows a full breakdown of the number of attacks made against that player, categorized by how they were avoided or mitigated:
- Dodge, Parry, Miss, Reflect, Immune: Attacks that missed entirely due to the stated avoidance mechanic
- Block: Attacks that were mitigated by a shield block, which generally reduces damage taken by about 30%
- Full absorb: Attacks that were completely absorbed and thereby fully mitigated for zero damage taken
- Absorb: Attacks that were mitigated via partial absorption – ie damage done exceeded current absorption value, resulting in some damage taken
- Physical Hit: Melee swings and physical school attacks that were not avoided or mitigated in any way and inflicted full damage.
- Spell Hit: Non-physical attacks that were not avoided or mitigated in any way and inflicted full damage.
- Crit, Crush: Attacks that inflicted a critical hit or crushing blow on the target. These should be very rare in PvE for correctly-speced tanks.
Misc Notes:
- Due to combat log limitations, absorb mitigation includes absorbs from all sources, not just self-applied absorbs. So for example with a discipline priest in the raid, players will tend to have inflated absorb mitigation.
- Currently only direct damage attacks are recorded – DoTs are ignored, as they generally cannot be avoided or blocked and would skew the display.
- Mitigation via armor, damage reduction talents or damage reduction cooldowns is not shown, as this information does not appear in the combat log.
- Mitigation via spell resistance is not shown, as spell resistance has effectively been removed from player tanks starting in 5.x.