Two stats, one paragraph of detail

Weapon skill hasn't gone anywhere. Blizzard's Deep Dive recap says it “still works as it always has,” but items with weapon skill now offer less of it per item, so they're no longer the automatic pick. Separately, some new items reduce the chance for your attacks to be parried or dodged.

Players who remember The Burning Crusade or later may call that second stat expertise, which did a similar job there. Blizzard's recap doesn't use the name, and nothing published says Forever uses the same values or formula.

Hand-inked illustration of a sword approaching two post-mounted training dummies, a grey one leaning away under the label Dodge and a brown one raising a small shield under the label Parry.
Dodge and parry drawn as separate outcomes, not measured amounts: some Forever items now lower the chance of either.

How they differ in practice

Weapon skill, working as it always has, is tied to a weapon type: a sword skill bonus helps only while you're wielding a sword. The recap doesn't say whether the new reduction depends on weapon type, or whether each item reduces dodge and parry together or only one of them.

Position matters as well, and here Blizzard has said something. In Classic, enemies couldn't parry attacks from behind, so a damage dealer behind the target faced only dodges while a tank in front faced both. Blizzard's 1 October notes list enemies parrying and blocking from behind, when the player stands close, as a known issue to be fixed, which suggests Forever keeps the Classic rule. If it does, parry reduction is worth more to tanks and to anyone forced to attack from the front.

Choosing between them now

Without breakpoints, compare items on what you can see:

  1. Look at the whole item first. With less weapon skill per item, the rest of its stats carry more of the decision.
  2. If you fight from behind, value the dodge part of a reduction item; if you tank or fight from the front, parry counts too. Until the known issue is fixed, don't stand right against the target's back, where Blizzard says enemies can still parry and block.
  3. Treat weapon skill as tied to your current weapon type, and re-weigh it whenever you change weapons.
  4. Ignore breakpoints quoted for Classic or later expansions. None has been published for Forever.

Still to come

Not yet settled by our sources or tested in game:

  • The new stat's in-game name and tooltip wording.
  • How much dodge and parry each point of the stat removes, and against which target levels.
  • Whether the 1 October known issue letting enemies parry and block from behind at close range has been fixed.
  • How weapon skill and the new reduction interact on the same attack.

Sources

Beta notes are dated because Forever is still changing.