Strafe HA break point

Since I can’t even post on the DH forum (gross ugh).

I’m reading a lot about these break points and I’m not too good with reading and interpreting the way that people have explained it on there…even in the video.

So simply put im sitting at 2.00 APS on my dual wield right now. Do I need to drop some AS or gain more to get this 9FPS that I keep hearing about? I was sitting at 2.14 but after losing AS on an item it’s dropped. I can gain it back on my gloves but not sure if it’s needed/worth it.

I’m using Vallas/Dawn and rock storm as my rune. I was under the impression that rocket storm game me more projectiles which stacks my stricken more? But apparently it also fills in some gaps if you have them.

So, you have 3 things to pay attention to.

First: Strafe is affected by attack speed, which directly affects how many frames it takes per shot.

Second: the GoD 4 piece bonus has a fixed frames per attemp of 9 (or 6.67 shots per second at 60 fps) to shoot your last used primary skill. This cannot be changed with attack speed.

Thirdly: frames per attack or breakpoints are typically calculated based on 60 frames per second (typical frame rate for pc players); however, the console version of d3 is programmed to run at 30 frames per second. Even if you have a newer xbox 1 x that can run at higher frame rates, the game will only run as it has been instructed to do. There is no setting for us to opt to run the game at higher frame rates.

So, pc version performs calculations 60 times per second (60 fps) console only performs 30 calculations per second (30 fps).

Based on GoD having a fixed aps of 6.67 at 6fps, that comes out to every 9 frames out of the 60 fps for pc. 60/6.67=9 frames per attack. If we now apply the same math to console 30 fps, 30/6.67=4.5 frames. This presents a dilemma, as the game does not process in terms of half a frame. So it will actually take 5 frames. 5 out of 30 frames. That then changed how often strafe actually fires to 6 attacks per 30 frames or 1 second. Translating that back to comparing to 60 fps, that comes out to 10 frames per second. Because of this, following reccomended breakpoints from the perspective of 60fps is ill adviced for console players. You have to run the math for 30 fps to figure out console breakpoints.

Needless to say, why breakpoints matter for the GoD build is because strafe can be affected by attack speed, which can de-sync it from the fixed attack speed of the GoD 4 piece bonus, causing potential damage loss because it cannot fire HA every time a strafe projectile is fired. The only time strafe can fire HA is when both skills are available or synced for that frame. If strafe is firing at 9 fpa and 4 piece bonus is fixed at 10 fpa, the first strafe projectile will hit and cast HA. The second strafe projectile now hits at frame 18, but HA cannot cast until 10 frames after it last cast at 9 frames or at 19 frames. Since strafe fired at 18 frames, HA will not cast on the second strafe attack. It must wait until strafe fires at frame 27. This results in lost time of 27-19 frames, or 8 frames, or .133333 seconds every 3 strafe shots. HA will cast 2 times every 3 times strafe shoots.

you can increase attack speed to attempt to reduce the lost time, but often it requires rediculous amounts on console.
If you were to get strafe to fire at 8 fps, HA is still fixed at 10 fps. At frame 1 strafe fires and HA fires. At frame 9(8 frames later) strafe fires again, but HA cannot fire again until frame 11. So we still need a third strafe attack at frame 17 to cast HA again. This results in 17-11= 6 frames times loss or .1 time loss.

Ideally, you want the two seperate attacks to line up as close as possible. The ideal situation would be that they have identical frames per attack, but that does not exist between these two skills/set bonus activation. The next best thing is to have one of them occur 2 times for every 1 time the other attacks. GoD 4 piece is fixed at 10 fpa(console perspective) , so you would want strafe to be able to fire at 5 fpa. Which would require an attack speed of 2.5 attacks per second. Its not likely feasible to reach that attack speed on console.

Any increase to attack speed will decrease lost frames. This means you could attempt to increase your attack speed if it is within reason (doesn’t require loss of too much of something else). This improvement is very negligible as the HA cast from the 4 piece bonus does not cast unless you hit an enemy with strafe. This presents timing offsets because of travel time that is different based on how far away you are from the enemy (not easy to precisely control).

Getting increased attack speed will not hurt, but is not likely to improve damage output.

If you are using the vallas bequest, it minimizes time loss significantly as it allows the strafe projectile to continue piercing, which in turn attacks another possible enemy, leading to a possible HA cast.

Thank you so much. Lot to take in but basically being on console I’m kinda stuck where I’m at then. I mean as long as it won’t hurt I suppose.

However when you say I’d have to reach 2.5 to actually see a difference then by getting to 2.14/ish and hitting the speed pylon I would have that for a short time? I’ve never actually checked what the increase is on a speed plyon but I know it’s significant

The speed pylon increases your attack speed by 30%. So yes, if you are at 2.14 starting out, the speed pylon should increase your attack speed to 2.5 or greater.

I’m not exactly sure if the speed pylon attack speed bonus just adds to your existing attack speed increases or multiplies over them. This will change to total amount received. If it adds then you only get 30% of your base attack speed before any other attack speed increases. If it does multiply, then 2.14 aps will go to 2.782 aps. If this is the case, you only need 1.92 aps before a speed pylon to reach 2.5 aps.

Is it true that we only get 30 fps on console? I remember reading from multiple sources a few years ago that Diablo 3 runs at 60fps 1080p on PS4, not counting the frame rate dips during high density pulls. Trying to make one last push on console God dh and whether the perfect 4-piece proc breakpoint is 9fpa (for 60fps systems) vs 10fpa (for supposedly 30fps on console) might end up making a significant difference in which weapon I’m gonna use.

As far as I know, the game runs at max 30fps on consoles.