Frequently Asked Questions

Index

• What do the terms Primary and Secondary Weapon mean?
• What does "IAS" stand for, and why are there 3 separate boxes?
• The speed is being displayed in ticks, now what exactly is a tick?
• What does the “left weapon slot“ box stand for, and what does its modification provoke?
• Why are some weapons and skills missing from the select list?
• Why does the hireling's attack speed not correspond to the displayed attack frequency?
• What does the message "calculation makes no sense" imply?
• Does the displayed IAS breakpoints table include the IAS I have already entered?
• What's the meaning of the message "further IAS useless"?
• Why does the calculator sometimes display floating point numbers, when the attack speed actually must be in whole numbers?
• For Zeal and some other skills, several numbers are being displayed, what does that mean?

What do the terms Primary and Secondary Weapon mean?

The primary weapon is the one that was equipped first, regardless of the weaponslot it has been placed in. Only the order of equipping is of importance. Accordingly a secondary weapon is one that is equipped when a primary weapon is already in use. Naturally this only applies to the Assassin and Barbarian character classes.
However, the game will internally reassign both weapons if you pick up your body or use the weaponslot-switch. When this happens the weapon in the left slot will always become the primary weapon.

What does "IAS" stand for, and why are there 3 separate boxes?

The abbreviation IAS stands for the attribute "xx% increased attack speed", which can be found on several items. Generally speaking it is of no imporance wheter IAS is actually coming from a weapon or another item, but for all wereforms and some special attacks, IAS coming from the weapon will work separately from IAS on other items. This is why there is a separate box for the weapon, but it is not necessary to use it for attacks which do not differentiate Weapon-IAS from other IAS.
There is also an entry for second weapon but this will only be used for the standard attack. For all other attacks IAS from the second weapon will be ignored, so it is not necessary to make an entry.

The speed is being displayed in ticks, now what exactly is a tick?

A tick is a unit of time and equals a 1/25th of a second. Some refer to it as a frame, a displayed image, because 25 such images are being displayed every second

What does the “left weapon slot“ box stand for, and what does its modification provoke?

While using two weapons, the attack speed also depends on which weapon slot has been equipped with the primary weapon. As a rule, the primary weapon would be equipped in the left slot, which is the default setting of the calculator. However, in certain cases it is possible to achieve a higher attack speed by equipping the primary weapon in the right weapon slot. This can be calculated by switching this field over to the secondary weapon.

Why are some weapons and skills missing from the select list?

The lists only include entries which actually can be combined together. For example, you can only select "Strafe" for Amazons equipped with a bow/crossbow. Accordingly you could only select Zeal for Non-Paladins if a weapon allowing the runeword "Passion" is selected.
Furthermore, all skills which do not differ from the standard attack are excluded from the list. In addition, skills whose speeds can't be calculated (for instance "Charge") are excluded too.

Why does the hirelings attack speed not correspond to the displayed attack frequency?

Unlike character attacks, the hireling does not attack continuously, but will make a short break after each attack. This break is added to the attack length in the calculation of the attack frequency.

What does the message "calculation makes no sense" imply?

When dual-wielding in wereform an error occurs if you use the standard attack.
An attack that does not cause any damage is generated instead of the expected stroke with the second hand. As this means losing half your attacks it does not make sense to calculate an overall attack speed.

Does the displayed IAS breakpoints table include the IAS I have already entered?

No, the table displays the required IAS breakpoints for the current weapon/skill/effects (Frenzy/Fanaticism etc) combination. Changing the entry for IAS will not affect the table.
The only exception is the standard attack with two weapons, where all IAS, including that on both weapons, is already taken into account. So the displayed values refer to the amount of additional IAS needed.

What's the meaning of the message "further IAS useless"?

This message appears as soon as the attack cannot be any more accelerated by adding IAS. However, for wereform this applies only to off-weapon IAS, not for that on the weapon. So if that notice appears for wereform, it means the attack could be further accelerated with more IAS on the weapon, but that for the currently weapon-IAS an increase in off-weapon IAS has no effect.

Why does the calculator sometimes display floating point numbers, when the attack speed actually must be in whole numbers?

There are a few attacks where repeated strokes are executed in a row. In this case the calculator does not display the total duration of the attack but the average duration of one single stroke. That is why floating point numbers sometimes occur, but as usual the overall duration of the attack is a whole number.

For Zeal and some other skills, several numbers are being displayed, what does that mean?

Those skills execute several strokes with different durations. The first displayed value applies to the first stroke of the sequence, the other values for the following stroke respectively. For Zeal, Fury and Dragon Talon the calculator uses sequences of five strokes, for Fend three strokes, as you can see in the display. For Strafe it uses ten strokes, however only the first, last and three medium strokes are displayed.