Talk:Attack speed

Tactic / Game mechanic

This isn't a tactic, it's a game mechanic. — Rapta (talk|contribs) 13:57, 12 February 2007 (PST)

It's both, imho. There will many articles that I feel should appear in both categories. The criteria I've been using is:

• Is it a game mechanic of general interest to PvE players and PvP players alike? If so, it's a game mechanic.

• Is there interesting things that can be said about the game mechanic that are of particular interest to PvP players? If so, it's a PvP tactics article.

If this criteria is in error, let's figure one that is better. Personally, I think it's a good thing to include tactical information in game mechanic articles -- it's something the old wiki really lacked.

--Drekmonger 16:12, 12 February 2007 (PST)

It's definitely a tactic in PvP, and still comes up a lot with when to use IAS on melee chars and when not to. --Trevor Reznik 16:31, 12 February 2007 (PST)

seems like Ritualists will have skill for increasing attack speed: Weapon of Aggression. Also Mesmer will have Sum of All Fears and other professions gonna have something too. Rosenfeld 09:29, 21 July 2007 (UTC)

Attack skills with activations seem to be off all the ranger interrupts are actually 1/4 activation mighty throw is 2 instead of 3. The attack speeds listed on the page are 1.33 for daggers im assuming this is the time in between each attack but do we have any info on the initial strike? The initial strike is clearly faster because if 2 people run at eachother one with shock qued up one with disrupting stab the d stab will win. --The preceding unsigned comment was added by User:76.199.139.226 .

"The initial strike is clearly faster because if 2 people run at eachother one with shock qued up one with disrupting stab the d stab will win."

This is because attack skills in GW that do not have listed casting times activate on your next attack. This means that, in regards to the first attack, if you havn't attacked anything for say 1.33 seconds with a dagger then your swing timer has finished counting down and that attack will be instantaneous while shock must take .75 seconds to cast. 98.112.21.10 02:45, 12 August 2008 (UTC)

IAS on allies?

not possible (yet), right? And hence no IAS for spirits or minions...too bad :P —ZerphaThe Improver 08:23, 16 February 2008 (UTC)

Nah, that'd really unbalance the game. -- Mafaraxas 15:39, 16 February 2008 (UTC)

Im a looking at footnote markers leading no where, looking for where there might be a clear delineation of the weap stats, off hand, etc attribute effects e.g. 2 x 20% hsr + 2 x 20% hct + (enchnt + skills) must be some easy formulas for that

Is an IAS important for a PvE Warrior?

Title says it all. Is an IAS important for a PvE Warrior?

It depends on the context. If you have non-suck healers/support, then yes; warrior DPS is generally underrated in PvE, and an IAS can only help. If you have suck healers, or need to go the more generally accepted role of tank, better to use your stance for something that will help that. -- Mafaraxas 05:17, 1 May 2008 (UTC)

IAS Cap

Ok the article says the cap for IAS is 133%. Does that means running Rapid Fire (33%) and Tiger's Fury (25%) at same time is basically a waste of energy and skill slot? – Barinthus 06:04, 17 June 2008 (UTC)

Yes StatMan 15:10, 4 August 2008 (UTC)

IAS Values

Values were wrong, and they have been fixed. For future reference, multiplying base speed by 1-N (where N = percentage increase of attack speed) does not result in correct attack speed value.

Proofs

2 second base speed 100% IAS

correct method: 2 / (1/1+1) = 1

incorrect method: 2* (1-1) = 0

98.112.21.10 02:31, 12 August 2008 (UTC)

That's not necessarily a strong proof. It might be if IAS weren't capped at 33%; however, since it is, having a 0 second attack speed is not technically possible within the game engine, no matter which way attack speed is calculated. Also, if you meant to fix the values, they are currently using your so-called "incorrect method" values... Are there any citations to empirical evidence pointing to one method of calculation or the other, or a written affirmation by somebody in ANet? Because otherwise, I have no idea which values are correct and which are not.--99.255.132.186 22:22, 23 August 2008 (UTC)

Pets

How fast do pets attack? They should be included in the weapon attack speed table. Crazy Odin 22:42, 14 September 2008 (UTC)

Flail

I really dislike flail. The fact that it is adrenal means you cannot use an adrenal skill at the same time you activate it, unlike it's energy based alternatives. I'd like to list this as another drawback, that OK with everyone? 218.214.126.215 03:15, 16 January 2009 (UTC)

Attack speed values

A few values were incorrect, I changed them to the exact values. I didn't add the IAS values though because the way the game handles attack speed is by having a floating point attack speed variable and an other floating point attack speed multiplier variable.--Pablo24 13:12, 16 May 2009 (UTC)

I updated the attack speed values when under the effect of an attack speed modifier to the exact values.--Pablo24 17:03, 16 May 2009 (UTC)

DAS

not to nit-pick, but who the hell actually uses DAS? -Auron 18:07, 9 March 2010 (UTC)

Never heard it used ingame. is for Raine, etc. 20:25, 14 March 2010 (UTC)

Me neither. I'll remove it in a bit if nobody objects.--neshot 21:39, 14 March 2010 (UTC)

How does DAS stack?

For example, if I use Meekness (-50%) and Shared Burden (-50%) on a foe in hard mode (+33% attack speed), does that foe attack 50, 75, or 100% slower of that hard mode speed? BlackNova 14:10, 25 May 2011 (UTC)

It would go down to 50% slower. DAS caps @ 50%. IAS caps @ 133% || DarkMugen 23:56, 29 June 2011 (UTC)

Those limits are for the total. It's 1.33×0.5×0.5 = 0.3325 without limits and consequently cut at 0.5 regular speed. You asked in comparison to HM though: 50% regular is about 37.6% of the 133% HM speed, thus the speed is decreased by almost 63%. – 00:08, 30 June 2011 (UTC)

Minion attack speeds

At what speeds do the various necromancer minions attack? Could this be added to the table? --Combatter 16:35, 15 November 2011 (UTC)

It's already at minion, I think. — Raine Valen 20:17, 15 Nov 2011 (UTC)

That information isn't currently on the Minion page. It's on the pages of each minion (e.g. Bone Horror#Data). According to those pages, melee minions attack once per 3.10 seconds (Celestial Horror doesn't list its attack speed) and Bone Fiends attack once per 1.86 seconds. --Silver Edge 04:01, 16 November 2011 (UTC)

Proof of game jargon

In no skill does it say "attack speed become 133%". Skills just, for example, say "you attack 33% faster" which would mean in terms of game mechanics the attack speed (as defined here) would decrease with IAS and increase with DAS. So saying it is capped at 133% IAS is flawed in any high school maths definition. It should be "IAS is capped at 33% and DAS at 50%" unless the game developers themselves use the terms as jargon. Or less ambiguously: "AS is capped at -33% and +50%"; keeping in mind that AS is defined as attack period (in seconds).217.122.183.107 19:17, 27 February 2012 (UTC)

The problem is that words like speed and rate are used in English ambiguously, while their meaning in mathematics is supposed to be specific. Attack speed doesn't have to be synonymous with rate of attack. No matter how we describe it, someone is going to be able to re-interpret and/or misinterpret without sufficient context. "You attack 33% faster" can be interpreted to mean that you are swinging 133% more often compared to the default, e.g. 3 attacks/sec becomes 4 attacks/sec, i.e. 133% compared to the original. In that example, the interval between attacks decreases from once in 0.33s to once in 0.25s, which is a 24% decrease (from 100% to 76%). However, "33% faster" could also mean a 33% decrease in the interval between attacks, e.g. once per 0.33s becomes once per 0.22 sec (slightly more than 4 attacks/sec).

If we decide that something is wrong with the phrasing that has been used for a long time, then (a) let's make sure we agree about how to rephrase and (b) ensure that we are consistent (and update all the articles that use the terminology, including damage calculation, effect stacking, and specific skills). – Tennessee Ernie Ford (TEF) 20:25, 27 February 2012 (UTC)

If speed increases its corresponding numerical value should increase, this is universal and not ambiguous. The problem is with the word speed and what it implies, for this page "attack time" would be a more accurate and intuitive description. There would be no conflict with any skill description either and the table values would still hold. In terms of game mechanics "attacking xx% faster" means decreasing the attack time by xx%; there is no other interpretation (24% does not correspond to what the skill says so the "rate of attack" should not be used as a definition). In my opinion using correct phrases and numbers will better help understand skills and prevent users taking them while thinking they're better than they actually are.217.122.183.107 20:48, 27 February 2012 (UTC)

Moa Birds

Moa Birds (pink only) have a faster attack speed than other pets (if all pets bar the pink Moa have the same speed). That, or their animations are just stupidly fast and they do a fraction more dmg (50 seconds at Damage master with 8 pets, Moa was 1.2k-1.3k dmg dealt avg 24-26DPS, others 800-1k 17-19DPS, 12 Beastmastery,all lv20 dire) - 78.150.109.204 21:31, 20 April 2012 (UTC)

Mighty Throw and That Other Slowass Spear Attack

Fair enough, the activation time is equal to the normal attack interval; I think that that's misleading, because it suggests that the two skills activate at normal speed when, in fact, they activate at half the normal speed. While the note is technically true as stands, I still think it ought to be rewritten. — Raine Valen 22:45, 11 Dec 2012 (UTC)

IAS table

33% ias on a 1,33s attack duration (1/1.33 attack speed) should lead to a 1,33*(1/1.33)=1s attack duration. The table says 0.89. Where is the error? - - Ruine Eternelle 13:33, 9 May 2020 (UTC)

1.33s * (100%-33%) = 1.33s * 67% Steve1 (talk) 15:14, 9 May 2020 (UTC)

Thanks Steve. I can see it clearly now. All the skills in this stupid game say "You attack x% faster" I thought that your attack speed (y hits/s) would be increased by x% leading to ((100+x)/100)*y attack speed increase.

However it's not, it's actually the attack duration that is reduced by 33% (confirmed by test).

So if I'm converting correctly, 33% IAS is actually 49% IAS, 25% is actually 33% IAS.--Ruine Eternelle 16:04, 9 May 2020 (UTC)