Breakpoints

This page lists breakpoint and threshold values, and covers changes relative to the vanilla game.

Changes
Most breakpoint values haven't changed, and all threshold values remain unchanged. There is a new advanced character info page within the game which displays FCR, FHR, and FBR breakpoints.

Cast Rate
 * Frozen Orb now uses "slow" sorc FCR frames
 * Lightning now uses "normal" sorc FCR frames

Attack Rate
 * Whirlwind no longer benefits from attack speed - it hits once every 5 frames when using a single weapon or twice every 6 frames when dual-wielding (each weapon hits simultaneously)
 * Note: Blade Dance (the Assassin-only version on Chaos) was similarly changed, but hits 1 frame faster


 * Blade Fury is now affected by attack speed
 * Dragon Tail attack speed penalty reduced to -20 (was -40)
 * Fists of Fire, Claws of Thunder, and Blades of Ice now use standard breakpoints (same as other claw-focused martial arts skills)

Breakpoints
Diablo 2 runs at 25 frames per second and events cannot occur in timeframes smaller than a single frame, so improvements to animation speeds (from IAS, FCR, FHR, or FBR) are only realized in intervals of 1 frame or more. These intervals are called breakpoints.

For example, a Sorceress with +100% FCR will cast "normal" spells in 9 frames (9/25 = 0.36 seconds). In order to cast those spells faster, she will need +5% more FCR for a total of +105% FCR, at which point she will cast those spells in 8 frames (8/25 = 0.32 seconds) instead.

Weapon Types
 * Missile Weapons: bows, crossbows
 * Thrusting Weapons: spears, javelins, daggers, throwing knives
 * Swinging Weapons: everything else (except claws which have their own category)

The following table lists total attack speed (TAS) breakpoints for most attacks. For attacks that hit multiple times, wereform attacks, and oskill attacks, see the supplementary charts below. Note that these breakpoints are not the same as IAS breakpoints shown by many Attack Speed Calculators, although those can be derived from the values here by referencing the IAS thresholds further below.
 * Total Attack Speed = Effective Item IAS + Skill IAS - WSM
 * The Weapon Speed Modifier (WSM) is subtracted instead of added because its sign is flipped (it stores higher speeds as negatives)
 * Negative total speed values are possible due to "slow" weapons with WSM values above zero - the negative values are colored gray in the chart to help improve readability
 * Skill IAS: Burst of Speed, Increased Speed, Frenzy, Werewolf, Fanaticism


 * Rows with multiple attacks refer to the breakpoints for each individual attack (they'll last more frames when combined)
 * Fury is another sequential attack, but it is complex enough to have its own chart (will be added later)


 * Wereform Weapon Threshold = Weapon IAS - WSM
 * The Wereform Weapon Threshold (WWT) demonstrates how wereform attacks rely so heavily on weapon IAS compared to other attacks
 * Weapon IAS excludes any IAS gained from non-weapon items and refers to item IAS rather than effective item IAS, so it cannot be added/subtracted from TAS values which the rest of the chart uses


 * Most oskills use standard breakpoints and don't need to be listed here


 * The only sorceress spell that uses "slow" frames is Frozen Orb - all other sorceress spells use "normal" frames


 * Act 5 Barbarian does not have a hit recovery animation, so he cannot be put into hit recovery or knocked back


 * Act 3 Iron Wolf does not have a blocking animation, so he cannot block even though he can equip shields

Thresholds
Similar to how breakpoints emerge due to animation frames being tied to discrete intervals of time, thresholds emerge due to formula values being rounded when those formulas have parts which increase at different rates from each other. In other words, thresholds refer to the values resulting from formulas with diminishing returns.


 * Effective Item IAS = [120 * Item IAS / (120 + Item IAS)]


 * Effective Item FRW = [150 * Item FRW / (150 + Item FRW)]


 * Effective MF (Magic) = MF (no diminishing returns)
 * Effective MF (Rare) = [600 * MF / (600 + MF)]
 * Effective MF (Set) = [500 * MF / (500 + MF)]
 * Effective MF (Unique) = [250 * MF / (250 + MF)]

You can use the above table to help calculate how much clearspeed would be equivalent to a certain amount of MF for finding uniques, which can be useful for determining whether more clearspeed or MF would be better for a particular character.

Suppose you have 130 MF - effectively 85 MF for uniques. That means items are 185% as likely (nearly double the odds) to be unique when generated compared to 0 MF. Let's say you're trying to decide whether a new item with an extra 50 MF would be worth it. From the table, we can see 180 MF (130 + 50) would be 104 effective MF for uniques. That's a 204% likelihood to find uniques compared to 0 MF - but how much of a difference is that compared to the previous amount? Divide 204 by 185 and then multiply by 100 to find the percent difference.

204 / 185 * 100% = 110.3%

So that's an extra +10.3% unique items. If using the 50 MF item doesn't result in your clearspeed dropping by 10%, then you'll find more uniques with it than without it. Keep in mind that this doesn't apply to items which aren't affected by MF such as runes - if those kinds of items make up a large fraction of the valuable items you find, the usefulness of the MF will drop by however big that fraction is.