Attack Speed


 * Attack Rate redirects here. See Attack Rating for the similarly named attribute that affects the chance to hit

The Attack Speed of a weapon is an item attribute that determines how fast the hero can attack. The faster one can attack, the less time it takes to get a swing in, leading to increased damage per second because of more hits in a shorter amount of time.

General Information
Generally, each class has their own set of attack speed bonuses and penalties. The more adept classes such as the Warrior or the Paladin, have a higher attack speed than caster-oriented classes like the Sorcerer.

Diablo I/Hellfire
Attack Speed is represented in its most basic form in Diablo I/Hellfire. One-Handed weapons, Two-Handed Swords and Maces attack at the same rate. Axes swing a frame slower than them, unless the wielder of choice is a Barbarian, and all other forms of attack vary depending on the class of the player.

Generally, however, it comes to no argument that:
 * Warriors and Barbarians swing faster than all other classes with Swords.
 * Barbarians swing faster than all other classes when using Maces or Axes.
 * Rogues shoot Bows faster than all other classes.
 * Monks attack faster than all other classes when he is unarmed or uses a Staff.

Weaponry can be enchanted with suffixes* that allow a hero to swing a weapon faster than he normally would. From weakest to greatest, they are:
 * Readiness: Quick Attack
 * Swiftness: Fast Attack
 * Speed: Faster Attack
 * Haste: Fastest Attack

&ast; Ingame, this series of suffixes is bugged. Readiness does nothing but change the gold value of the item, Swiftness affects the hero as Readiness would, Speed affects like Swiftness, and Haste does not offer any better than Speed. Blizzard Entertainment incorrectly claimed they fixed this in patch 1.07 for Diablo I.

Diablo II/Lord of Destruction
Attack Speed is a bit more varying in Diablo II and the expansion set, but classes still retain their bonuses and penalties.

Generally, it comes to no argument that:
 * Paladins and Assassins attack faster with most weapons than all other classes.
 * , Amazons, s, and s are slightly behind Paladins and Assassins with One-handed weaponry.
 * es have the hardest time attacking with One-handed weaponry.
 * Druids attack faster with Polearms, Two-handed Axes, and Two-handed Hammers than all other classes.

Attack Speed increases are not limited to just Weaponry as they were in Diablo/Hellfire, with Gloves being able to spawn with affixes that increase a hero's Attack Speed, as well as certain skills, like Fanaticism.

Diablo III/Reaper of Souls
Attack Speed returns in Diablo III, but in a different form compared to the earlier installments. Instead of class bonuses and penalties, each weapon type instead has a set attack speed value, in "Attacks per Second" (APS), ranging from 1.20 to 1.60 APS for one-handed weapons and 0.90 to 1.15 APS for two-handed weapons.

From highest to lowest, they are:
 * Hand Crossbows: 1.60 APS
 * Daggers: 1.50 APS
 * Swords, Bows, Ceremonial Knives, Fist Weapons, Flails, Wands: 1.40 APS
 * Axes, Mighty Weapons, Scythes: 1.30 APS
 * Maces, Spears: 1.20 APS
 * Two-Handed Flails: 1.15 APS
 * Two-Handed Swords, Crossbows, Daibo, Two-Handed Scythes: 1.10 APS
 * Two-Handed Axes, Two-Handed Mighty Weapons, Staves: 1.00 APS
 * Polearms: 0.95 APS
 * Two-Handed Maces: 0.90 APS

If the character fights unarmed (for example unequipping the bow a starts with) the APS is 1.0: it's somehow slower to throw punches than it is to shoot even a crossbow much less a bow and arrow: only polearms and 2H maces are slower than punching.

Attack Speed affixes are a bit more diverse than in the earlier installments, with Weapons, Jewelry, and Gloves being able to roll Attack Speed. And there are certain Legendary/Set Items that are guaranteed to have Attack Speed affixes on them. At level 70, all possible item slots can offer up to a +7% increase in attack speed. The one exception are Quivers, which can roll up to +20% attack speed.

In addition, certain skills, like the 's 3|Frenzy, can increase Attack Speed for a short duration. Frenzy Shrines can award +25% Attack Speed for a brief time. Heroes can also gain up to +10% Attack Speed from Paragon level points. There exists a hard cap, however; a hero may not gain more than +100% Attack Speed from more permanent sources, like equipment and/or Paragon levels.

Because of the Life per Hit statistic mechanics (the way it was prior to patch 2.1), Attack Speed is not multiplicative with each other except for a weapon with a bonus to Attack Speed. Regardless of circumstances, a weapon's Attack Speed becomes the base amount, upon which all other bonuses to Attack Speed are calculated.

Upon reaching level 61 and above in Reaper of Souls, almost all melee Two-Handed weaponry available will gain a flat 0.10 bonus to attack speed, with the exception of Swords and Daibos, which gain 0.05, and Flails, which gain no bonus.

For most builds, stacking Attack Speed is a matter of arguable efficiency (since the total amount of attacks a character can make is usually limited by their resource pools). Exceptions may be found in builds that make heavy use of resource-free and primary skills, rather than resource spenders. These builds may find the tactic of having as much Attack Speed as possible rather effective.

Off-hand items for the spellcasting classes (Source and ), along with some rings and amulets, can add a static amount of damage to successful hits. Because the amount does not change amongst weapons, these items are more of an aid to heroes when they wield faster attack speed weapons. Despite this fact, items that add to a hero's Critical Hit statistics are generally favored. Most skills use a % of raw weapon damage to calculate the total damage, and in some cases, having a more potent, albeit slower, weapon is yielding better results.

Some Damage Over Time skills and similar effects utilize a mechanic called attack period (also known as tick of damage) to determine the damage they are doing, in order to compensate for the "fast weapon vs. powerful weapon" dilemma. A skill stated to deal 100% weapon damage will deliver this damage every 1 / AttackSpeed seconds. For example, with attack speed of 1.0, it delivers 100% damage every 1.00 seconds; with AS 2.0, it will deliver a hit every 0.50 seconds (200% damage per second), and with AS 0.5 it will only deliver 100% damage every 2.00 seconds (that is, 50% damage per second). As slower weapons are usually more powerful, the actual damage output is more or less comparable for different weapon types. Example of skills and effects that utilize attack period include Sweeping Wind and the Chantodo's Resolve weapon set's Waves of Destruction. Pets also gain a damage multiplier equal to the attack period.

Some Damage Over Time skills gain no damage increase from attack speed, instead they only cast with a faster animation time. Examples include Haunt and Locust Swarm.

Only Tasker and Theo can increase the Attack Speed of Pets. Any other Attack Speed increase will increase the Pet's Damage instead. This makes Attack Speed critical for most Pet oriented builds.