WotLK How to Differentiate between "Special Abilities" and "Spells"

[spy123]

Expansion: Wotlk
Lets take Death Knight class for an example -

Obliterate = Special Ability = hit cap - 8%

Icy Touch/Dark Command = Spell = hit cap - 17%

So my question is as the title says.

Sidestory - I made a in-game ticket asking same and GM responded "Spell Classification is given on wowhead".OK......I opened wowhead and did not find it
NOT BECAUSE i couldnt.....its bcz its not given there.So I made a thread here so players will too be able to answer.It is clearly said "Ask the Staff about in-game questions" so here i posted it AND why it is important? bcz i am having problems gemming my all dps/tank characters to get hit capped and its a major issue for me for endgame raiding.I tried spamming global/general and /yell in dalaran in front of bank but no whispers probably bcz i cant explain all this to them in one go AND guess what? i met a bane titled pala in my guild who didnt know exorcism is a spell and Divine Storm is a special ability LOL

Where i got this idea? heres the link ---> http://forum.warmane.com/showthread.php?t=349828
<<README>> Open "stat" section and read it.
TOOLTIP DOES NOT SHOW THE DIFFERENCE

[Shred92]

Special abilities = physical, spells = not physical.

Obliterate deals weapon, physical damage. Icy Touch deals frost damage.

[angrylol]

I guess it's just something you have to find out.

Death Grip, Icy Touch, Death Coil, Chains of Ice, Dark Command, Pestilence, Howling Blast and Mark of Blood are spells.

Judgement is special ability. Paladins both taunts are spells. Exorcism is spell.

Rogues Poisons are spells.

I guess that's all that's relevant.

[spy123]

Special abilities = physical, spells = not physical.

brother,I spammed Hammer of Righteousness with my prot pala on Heroic Dummy in Orgrimmar for 1 hour but it didnt miss even once.I have 7% melee hit rating and 9% spell hit.
If I go with you I should miss HoR which is a "spell" = 17% hit bcz it does holy dmg.I wasnt lucky i am sure bcz 1 hour is long enough to land 1 miss.If HoR is a special ability there is a space for a miss in there too since i am 7% melee hit
what the hell is going on?
what should I gem?

[skullatbash]

brother,I spammed Hammer of Righteousness with my prot pala on Heroic Dummy in Orgrimmar for 1 hour but it didnt miss even once.I have 7% melee hit rating and 9% spell hit.
If I go with you I should miss HoR which is a "spell" = 17% hit bcz it does holy dmg.I wasnt lucky i am sure bcz 1 hour is long enough to land 1 miss.If HoR is a special ability there is a space for a miss in there too since i am 7% melee hit
what the hell is going on?
what should I gem?

Hammer of Righteousness is a melee attack. so it requires 8% hit rating.
If you need help for your Pala Tank you can check this guide:
http://forum.warmane.com/showthread.php?t=325554

Spoiler: Show

Hit Rating
- 32.79 hit rating = +1% chance to hit with melee or ranged attacks (-1% chance to miss).
- For our purposes, this applies to melee swings (white damage), Avenger's Shield, Hammer of the Righteous, Shield of Righteousness, Hammer of Wrath, and Judgements.
Against a raid boss, melee and ranged attacks have a base 8% chance to miss (this is changed from 9% in TBC), so 263 hit rating is required to eliminate all melee misses if there are no other bonuses to hit.
- Draenei have a racial aura that gives +1% to hit. This reduces the requirement for melee hit-capping to 230 hit rating if you're a draenei or have one in your group. (This is group-only buff, not a raidwide buff.)

You can easily understand how much hit rating you need for every characters you play by looking at these class/spec guide on the forum

[spy123]

I have a general idea how much hit cap i need but thats not my answer.....I am asking how do u determine which skill is a "spell" and which is "special ability"?

[Mercy]

I have a general idea how much hit cap i need but thats not my answer.....I am asking how do u determine which skill is a "spell" and which is "special ability"?

Some abilities are ambiguous in how they function. Sometimes it can require research, be it via google, a guide or asking someone you know that is knowledgeable about the class.

[skullatbash]

I have a general idea how much hit cap i need but thats not my answer.....I am asking how do u determine which skill is a "spell" and which is "special ability"?

auto-attack = white damage
special ability = yellow damage

Now, lets ignore for a moment auto-attack/white damage.
I will talk about "special ability/yellow damage"

There are Melee spell, Ranged spell, Caster Spell

To hit Raid boss you need:
8% for melee/ranged* spell
17% for Caster Spell

*ranged spell = hunter special abilities (generally speaking)

Previously you were confused about "Hammer of the Righteous" because it deals "holy damges".
If you look at tooltip it shows "Melee Range". https://i.imgur.com/8u91a9U.jpg
So, guess what kind of "Hit Rating" on your character's stats you need to look at for "Hammer of the Righteous":
Melee Hit, Ranged Hit or Spell Hit ?
answer: "Melee Hit" obviously

There are some rare exception. Like Paladin's Judgement spell; they have 10 yard as range but they are considered melee:
"Patch 3.2.0 Judgements: Some of these attacks were considered ranged and some melee. They are all now considered melee attacks that can't be dodged, parried or blocked."

[Shred92]

I have a general idea how much hit cap i need but thats not my answer.....I am asking how do u determine which skill is a "spell" and which is "special ability"?

Hard way:
First, buy and read this: https://www.amazon.com/C-Programming.../dp/0321563840
Then, download and read this: https://github.com/TrinityCore/TrinityCore/tree/3.3.5

Easy way:
Just test with a dummy. As you said, Hammer of the Righteous acts like a special ability, not like a spell. There you have your answer, then.