Which skills use Attack Speed and which use Cast Speed?

Grim Dawn Gameplay Discussion
1

Up until now, I thought the only skills that used Attack Speed were default attack replacers (Savagery, Firestrike, Cadence, etc.) and every other skill would use Cast Speed instead; however I read this morning that Blade Arc and Primal Strike actually use Attack Speed. I see nothing in their description that differentiates them from Force Wave (with Tremor), for example, which uses Cast Speed.

So how do you know which skills use what speed stat, aside from testing it? And if there’s no other way to know than testing, can we maybe make a list to refer to? I was about to gimp my Blade Arc Witchblade by looking for Cast Speed and skipping Attack Speed on gear and Devotion, would be great to avoid this in the future.

2

This is going to sound dumb and is probably not helpful:
If it attacks with a weapon then it uses attack speed.
If it’s a spell it uses cast speed.

It seems completely obvious which is which.

3

Attack Speed:

  • DAMs (Default Attack Modifiers)
  • Cadence
  • Blade Arc
  • Primal Strike
  • Amarasta’s Blade Burst (assuming 0 second CD)
  • Shadow Strike (assuming 0 second CD)
  • ‘Strike’ skills like Sacred Strike, or Oleron’s Might, which use the same attack animation/properties.

Cast Speed:

  • Everything else

Here’s a little textual flowchart you can use:

Does the skill utilize a weapon in the animation?
No - Cast Speed
Yes - …

…Does the weapon physically connect with enemies during the animation, or are projectiles produced from the (ranged) weapon during the animation?
No - Cast Speed (i.e., Forcewave/Tremor)
Yes - Attack Speed

4

K. This is helpful, thanks. So it only depends on the animation.

5

Actually, it depends on skill. Even if skill uses weapon damage, it may still use cast speed (Calidor’s Tempest, Forcewave, etc). Your best bet is just try it in game - it is pretty easy to notice, if skills uses attack speed or not - just use it with slow weapon, and then with fast weapon, for skills that use attack speed, the difference will be easily noticeable.

6

I didn’t mean weapon damage when I said ‘animation’, I know that it has nothing to do with weapon damage since I mentioned Forcewave myself in the first post. But thanks for the tip anyway.