WoWWiki

This wiki contains inaccurate and out-of-date information. Please head over to https://wowpedia.fandom.com for more accurate and up-to-date game information.

READ MORE

WoWWiki
Advertisement

Attack speed is a game term used to describe the delay between attacks, measured in seconds; the reciprocal of the actual rate of attacks. Essentially, it can be considered the "cooldown" between attacks by the given weapon. It is determined by the weapon you wield and (if applicable) enchantments on said weapon.

Attack speed calculation[]

Attack_speed = "current attack speed" / (("Percent increase or decrease" / 100) + 1 )

You must apply this formula for each speed buff you apply.

Basically all of the calculations are reciprocal operations and are inverted from how you would expect to see them.

Example
Weapon speed = 1.8
Slice and Dice = 40%
Blade Flurry = 20%
JuJu Flurry = 3%
Attack_speed = 1.8 / ( (40 / 100) + 1 ) = 1.2857
Attack_speed = 1.2857 / ( (20 / 100) + 1 ) = 1.0714
Attack_speed = 1.0714 / ( (3 / 100) + 1 ) = 1.0402

So with all 3 speed buffs going the attack speed is now 1.0402

1.8 / 1.0402 = 1.73 = 73% increased attack speed

Or, in attacks per minute:

57.6812 / 33.3417 = 1.73 = 73% more attacks per second
With the increase in attacks you would instead deliver 1 attack every 1.04 seconds instead of 1 attack every 1.8 seconds. in a 60 second period you would have delivered an additional 73% more attacks or ~29 more attacks.

Note: Blizzard rounds to 4 significant digits.

Blizzard applies attack speed buffs multiplicatively; in this example the buffs provide 73% increase, because 40% increase times 20% increase times 3% increase is 1.4 * 1.2 * 1.03 = 1.7304.

If you flip the numerator and denominator, you get your number of attacks per second, meaning that a percentage increase in attack speed has the final result of increasing your damage per second by the same percentage, along with an added bonus of increasing the number of ability procs (from weapons or skills and talents like Improved Aspect of the Hawk).

A quick way to determine resultant attack speed, without applying the formula for each increase, is the following:

[current attack speed] / (increase1 * increase2 * increase3...etc)

Example:

1.8 / (1.40 * 1.20 * 1.03) = 1.0402

Improving attack speed[]

Various sources that improve attack speed are listed on the attack speed improvement page.

Patch changes[]

  • Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'Module:Inlinegfx/img_link_data.json' not found. Patch 1.7.0 (13-Sep-2005): Spells and effects that reduce attack speed will no longer stack with each other.

See also[]

Advertisement