Dark and Darker – Explanation of Action Speed for Warlocks

Action Speed Is Not (Entirely) a Dump Stat for Warlocks

All four current casting implements (Ceremonial staff is not released at the time of this post) are affected by action speed.

Spell casting speed affects the cast-time of the spell (the bar loading) but does not affect the cast point (the time for the spell to release)

The relationship between the cast time and the castpoint is incremental. In most cases you get about 45% effectiveness out of cast point + recovery time and 55% effectiveness out of spell cast speed time. For longer spells, spell casting speed is a more effective stat.

Spell release-time breakpoints at both 50% Action Speed and 0% Action Speed:

0% Action Speed

• Spellbook: 28 frames (466 milliseconds)
• Crystal Ball: 29 frames (483 milliseconds)
• Magic Staff: 39 frames (650 milliseconds)
• Crystal Sword: 59 frames (983 milliseconds)

50% Action Speed

• Spellbook: 19 frames (316 milliseconds)
• Crystal Ball: 21 frames (350 milliseconds)
• Magic Staff 25 frames (416 milliseconds)
• Crystal Sword: 41 frames (683 milliseconds)

Please Note: The above tests are affected by ping, and as such a difference of about 1-2 frames (Approx 33 milliseconds) should be taken into account. Tests were performed on the US-West server with very low ping.

The purpose of these tests, and this data is to show that dex is not entirely a dump-stat for warlocks. While it is true that we have higher stat priorities, a little bit of extra Dex or Action Speed will never hurt our kit.

Action speed also effects certain animations such as potion-drinking and weapon-switching and of course melee weapon-swings. So these benefits mean that you shouldn’t ever mind getting a little bit of extra Dex or Action Speed when building a kit.

I hope you found this useful!