Switching to Balance: Stacking Hit

Last time out I posted about key Balance stats, and in particular hit rating. If you've read that, you know why Hit is important.

Suppose you're a resto druid who's decided to switch to Balance. Maybe you've got Naxx on farm now, so you need fewer healers. Or maybe patch 3.1 has arrived and you want Balance as a second spec. Either way, your Resto gear in general will do pretty well for Balance. The exception is Hit Rating. You'll want to stack up some hit to do good DPS as a Moonkin.

To stack up some hit, take a look at your weakest current gear pieces. Try to replace those with some easy-to-find gear with hit rating on it. There's quite a bit out there that you can get rather quickly.

Balance gear: pieces with Hit Rating and Spellpower
Purchasable, quest reward, or 5-man drops; 187 <= iLvl <= 200

Slot	Name	Source	Cost	Hit Rating
Head	Hat of Wintry Doom	Crafted	~300g	44
Head	Titan-forged Leather Helm of Dominance	Wintergrasp MoH	40	44
Neck	Necklace of Taldaram	Drop - OK (H)		43
Neck	Chain of Latent Energies	AH - BoE drop (Naxx)	~3000g	34
Neck	Hateful Gladiator's Pendant of Ascendancy	PvP - honor	38000	34
Neck	Encircling Burnished Gold Chains	EoH	25	25
Back	Hateful Gladiator's Cloak of Ascendancy	PvP - honor	38000	34
Back	Dark Solider Cape	Rep: Revered - Ebon Blade		29
Back	Cape of Seething Steam	Drop - HoL (N)		29
Back	Shroud of Akali	Quest - Gundrak (N)		24
Chest	Ebonweave Robe	Crafted	~1500g	68
Chest	Water-Drenched Robe	Drop - VH (H)		62
Chest	Robes of Lightning	Quest - HoL		55
Hands	Ebonweave Gloves	Crafted	~750g	51
Hands	Lava Burn Gloves	Quest - VH (N)		36
Waist	Girdle of Bane	Drop - UP (H)		48
Waist	Belt of Unified Souls	Drop - CoS (H)		42
Waist	Sash of the Wizened Wyrm	Rep: Honored - Wyrmrest		40
Waist	Plush Sash of Guzbah	EoH	40	33
Waist	Flowing Sash of Order	Drop - HoL (H)		31
Feet	Titan-forged Boots of Dominance	Wintergrasp MoH	15	36
Finger	Ring of Northern Tears	Crafted	~300g	31
Finger	Voodoo Signet	Quest - Gundrak		24
1H Wep	Flameheart Spell Scalpel	Rep: Revered - Kirin Tor		34
2H Wep	Grand Staff of Jordan	Stone Keepers Shard	325	68
2H Wep	Chilly Slobberknocker	Quest - ZD		50
Offhand	Telestra's Journal	Drop - Nexus (H)		39
Offhand	Ward of the Violet Citadel	EoH	25	38

Note: The [Deadly Gladiator's Focus Staff] also has hit, but it's a fairly difficult arena item (1930 rating required). Wowhead also lists Hateful and Savage versions of the Focus Staff, but I can't find any other reference that they exist in-game.

Don't be afraid to lose some Spellpower or other stats in favor of hit. A spell that misses does 0 damage regardless of how much SP you're stacking. And how much Hit will you need? Check out the WoWWiki article for a full breakdown. Assuming you have 2/2 points in Balance of Power and no other buffs:

• Heroics: 53 Hit (0 with IFF up)
  
• Raids: 342 Hit (263 with IFF up)

For raids in particular, it's unlikely that you'll have no other buffs, so 342 is probably more hit rating than you'll need in most situations.