TL;DR: Cadence hits every 3 attacks without DW, every 2.5 attacks on average with DW but no WPS and every 2 attacks with DW and 100%. When a WPS procs on a cadence strike, only the first swing is overridden by cadence.
I was looking for (yet another) DW cadence build and only found contradicting post on how cadence interact with WPS so I decided to test it with a level 50 character, so I haven’t tried all the item-based WPS.
In this post, “attack” to refer to an attack animation and a weapon swing refer to the character swinging/firing a weapon. With DW and WPS, one attack can cause multiple weapon swings.
When dual-wielding range or melee weapon, there is a 50% chance to swing both weapon if no WPS is used. When this triggers on the first or second attack the cadence rotation, it only grants one charge. However, it can also trigger on the cadence strike (further referred as CS, the charged cadence attack). In this case, only one attack is empowered and the second weapon swing will count as the first attack for the next rotation. This has 2 consequences:
- CS occurs every 2.5 attacks when dual-wielding with no WPS;
- Since the main hand always hit first when both weapons are swung, it is used more often for the CS (put the weapon with the highest dmg/hit in the main hand).
Now the WPS. With ranged weapons, all mastery WPS, Volley (from the gunslinger talisman) and Marauder’s Salvo (from the marauder ammo belt) swing both weapons. When triggered on the CS, the first weapon swing is overridden, but the other(s) have their normal effect and count as the first attack for the next rotation. This means that with 100% chance to use a WPS, CS is triggered every 2 attacks. WPS that fire a succession of projectiles (Volley, Marauder’s Salvo and Chilling Rounds) will grant 2 charges when used as the first attack. Note that with 100% chance to use a WPS, there is first attack is always done with the CS, so this becomes mostly irrelevant.
With melee weapons, all mastery-based WPS (except Zolhan’s Techinque) and Mutilate from the bladesworn talisman swing both weapons. ZT is main hand only for melee (but always use both weapons for range for some reason). When triggered on the CS, the first weapon swing is overridden, but the other(s) have their normal effect and count as the first attack for the next rotation. Same as with ranged weapons, this means that with 100% chance to use a WPS, CS is triggered every 2 attacks. unlike range, WPS that hit more than twice, like Amarasta’s Quick Cut and Mutilate only grant 1 charge when used as the first attack.
Hope this helps.