Attack Speed is the hero stat that affects the rate at which a hero may deal a Basic Attack. The greater the Attack Speed, the more basic attacks can be dealt within a given time period.
Building Attack Speed on a hero will increase a heroes DPS (Damage Per Second). Attack Speed & Damage both depend on each other for optimal scaling. Building too much of one over the other will lead to a DPS loss compared to building each together.
Terms[]
One of the most easily confused parts of the game if you don’t define terms before talking about it. For the clarification of this guide:
- Attack Speed - A stat that you can build. Is run through a formula with your BAT to determine your Attack Rate.
- Attack Rate - How many attacks per second your Hero will do if you hold down the button for your basic attack.
- Attack Cooldown - The interval at which your Hero will fire their basic attack.
- Base Attack Time - The interval at which your Hero will fire without any Attack Speed modifiers. A “cooldown” for your basic attack at lvl 1 with no Cards or Attributes.
Formula[]
Attack Rate = 1/ [Base Attack Time / (Attack Speed/100)] For those of you using that formula for various reasons, keep in mind every Hero starts with 100 Attack Speed and most gain more as they level. Be sure to factor Base Stats when calculating!
If we use a level Drongo for example, at level 1:
1 / [0.85 / (100/100)] = 1.18 attacks per second
But at level 20:
1 / [0.85 / (151.3/100)] = 1.78 attacks per second
A couple important things to note concerning Attack Speed:
- The maximum Attack Rate is 4 attacks per second.
- The minimum Attack Rate is 1 attack per every 3 seconds.
- There is a MoveSpeed penalty for basic attacking.
Like Defense, there are ways to increase and decrease Attack Speed. In these cases, what is reduced is the Attack Speed stat itself. Example: if you have Numbing Rogue against the level 20 Drongo shown above, it reduces his Attack Speed to 121.04 from 151.3.