Breakpoints

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

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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 all breakpoints for your character.

Cast Rate

• Frozen Orb now uses "slow" sorc FCR frames
• Lightning now uses "normal" sorc FCR frames

Attack Rate

• Strafe has additional high-end breakpoints since its missiles no longer cause next-hit-delay
• Blade Fury is now affected by attack speed (same breakpoints as other traps)
• 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 single-hit martial arts skills)
• 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)
  • the Assassin-only version on Chaos (now called Blade Dance) was similarly changed, but hits 1 frame faster
• Dual-wielding attack speed breakpoints are now based on the faster weapon (determined via WSM) rather than taking both weapon speeds into account
  • if both weapons have the same WSM, the attacks are based on the primary weapon (unconfirmed)
  • applies to all dual-wielding attacks, even single-hit martial arts skills that don't alternate weapons - for those attacks, a faster weapon can be equipped as an offhand to bypass the inherent speed of the attacking weapon (may be unintended behavior and changed in the future)
• Berserk is now a dual-wielding attack and uses the same breakpoints as Frenzy

Note: Several multi-hit attacks (Fend, Strafe, Dragon Talon, Zeal, Fury) are now limited to 3 or 5 hits per attack - this reduces the number of intermediate hits, but doesn't change the breakpoints for those hits. Since intermediate hits use the same breakpoints as each other and there's still at least 1 intermediate hit per attack, this change doesn't affect breakpoints. While the total frames per attack will be lower for these skills, this difference is taken into consideration when they are balanced.

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 FCR, FHR, FBR, or IAS) 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

• Thrusting Weapons: spears, javelins, daggers, throwing knives
• Swinging Weapons: all other non-ranged weapons (except claws which have their own category)

Faster Cast Rate (

FCR

) Breakpoints

Animation Type	Frames per Animation
	19	18	17	16	15	14	13	12	11	10	9	8	7
Amazon	0	7	14	22	32	48	68	99	152
Assassin				0	8	16	27	42	65	102	174
Barbarian							0	9	20	37	63	105	200
Druid (Human)		0	4	10	19	30	46	68	99	163
Druid (Bear)				0	7	15	26	40	63	99	163
Druid (Wolf)				0	6	14	26	40	60	95	157
Necromancer					0	9	18	30	48	75	125
Paladin					0	9	18	30	48	75	125
Sorceress (Slow Spells)	0	7	15	23	35	52	78	117	194
Sorceress (Normal Spells)							0	9	20	37	63	105	200
Act 3 Mercenary - Iron Wolf			0	8	15	26	39	58	86	138
Act 4 Mercenary - Ascendant

• The only sorceress spells that use "slow" frames are Chain Lightning and Frozen Orb - all other sorceress spells use "normal" frames

Faster Hit Recovery (

FHR

) Breakpoints

Animation Type	Frames per Animation
	17	16	15	14	13	12	11	10	9	8	7	6	5	4	3	2
Amazon							0	6	13	20	32	52	86	174	600
Assassin									0	7	15	27	48	86	200
Barbarian									0	7	15	27	48	86	200
Druid (Human, 1H Swinging Weapons)				0	3	7	13	19	29	42	63	99	174	456
Druid (Human, Other Weapons)					0	5	10	16	26	39	56	86	152	377
Druid (Bear)					0	5	10	16	24	37	54	86	152	360
Druid (Wolf)											0	9	20	42	86	280
Necromancer					0	5	10	16	26	39	56	86	152	377
Paladin (Spear/Staff)					0	3	7	13	20	32	48	75	120	280
Paladin (Other Weapons)									0	7	15	27	48	86	200
Sorceress			0	5	9	14	20	30	42	60	86	142	280
Act 1 Mercenary - Rogue Scout							0	6	13	20	32	52	86	174	600
Act 2 Mercenary - Desert Guard			0	5	9	14	20	30	42	60	86	142	280
Act 3 Mercenary - Iron Wolf	0	5	8	13	18	24	32	46	63	86	133	232	600
Act 4 Mercenary - Ascendant

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

Faster Block Rate (

FBR

) Breakpoints

Animation Type	Frames per Animation
	17	16	15	14	13	12	11	10	9	8	7	6	5	4	3	2	1
Amazon (1H Swinging Weapons)	0	4	6	11	15	23	29	40	56	80	120	200	480
Amazon (Other Weapons)													0	13	32	86	600
Assassin													0	13	32	86	600
Barbarian											0	9	20	42	86	280
Druid (Human)							0	6	13	20	32	52	86	174	600
Druid (Bear)						0	5	10	16	27	40	65	109	223
Druid (Wolf)									0	7	15	27	48	86	200
Necromancer							0	6	13	20	32	52	86	174	600
Paladin (Normal)													0	13	32	86	600
Paladin (Holy Shield)																0	86
Sorceress									0	7	15	27	48	86	200

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

Total

Attack Speed

Breakpoints

Most attacks use standard Total Attack Speed (TAS) breakpoints which are listed in the first table below. Some attacks (multi-hit attacks & wereform attacks) use other breakpoints which are listed in separate tables. 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)
• Skill IAS: Burst of Speed, Increased Speed, Frenzy, Werewolf, Fanaticism (enemies may apply Decrepify & Holy Freeze)

If both WSM and Skill IAS are 0, Total Attack Speed and Effective Item IAS are equal. In this case, the IAS breakpoints can be immediately found from the IAS thresholds table by converting the TAS breakpoints into Item IAS. If either WSM or Skill IAS are non-zero, you'll first need to remove them from the TAS values - whatever is leftover will be the Effective Item IAS, which can be converted in the same way to find the IAS breakpoints.

Total Attack Speed Breakpoints (

Standard

)

Animation Type		Frames per Animation
Character	Animation	25	24	23	22	21	20	19	18	17	16	15	14	13	12	11	10	9	8	7	6
Amazon	1H Swinging, Bow									-20	-17	-12	-6	0	8	17	28	41	56	75
	1H Thrusting										-20	-18	-13	-7	0	9	19	31	45	63
	2H Sword						-10	-9	-5	0	7	13	21	29	39	50	64
	2H Melee (not sword), Thrown						-20	-19	-15	-10	-5	0	8	15	24	34	46	61
	Crossbow				-10	-8	-4	0	6	12	18	25	34	43	54	67
Assassin	1H Swinging/Thrusting								-20	-16	-11	-6	0	8	16	25	37	50	67
	2H Sword/Spear	-11	-7	-3	0	5	10	16	22	29	36	44	54	65
	2H Melee (not sword/spear)			-20	-17	-13	-9	-4	0	6	13	19	27	36	47	59	74
	Bow, Thrown, Traps						-20	-19	-15	-10	-5	0	8	15	24	34	47	61
	Crossbow			-10	-8	-4	0	6	11	17	24	32	41	50	62	75
	Claw (single‑hit)											-10	-9	-2	5	13	24	36	51	70
	Dragon Tail (Kick)					-20	-17	-14	-11	-7	0	2	7	13	20	29	39	51	65	83
Barbarian	1H Swinging/Thrusting, Thrown						-20	-19	-15	-10	-5	0	8	15	24	34	46	61
	2H Sword						-10	-9	-5	0	7	13	21	29	39	50	64
	2H Melee (not sword)			-20	-17	-13	-9	-4	0	6	13	19	27	36	47	59	74
	Bow										-10	-6	0	8	16	25	37	50	67
	Crossbow				-10	-8	-4	0	6	12	18	25	34	43	54	67
		25	24	23	22	21	20	19	18	17	16	15	14	13	12	11	10	9	8	7	6
Druid (Human)	1H Swinging/Thrusting			-20	-17	-13	-9	-4	0	6	13	19	27	36	47	59	74
	2H Sword			-10	-8	-4	0	6	11	17	24	32	41	50	62	75
	2H Spear	-11	-7	-3	0	5	10	16	22	29	36	44	54	65
	2H Melee (not sword/spear)					-20	-18	-14	-10	-5	0	7	14	22	31	42	55	71
	Bow									-10	-5	0	8	15	24	34	46	61
	Crossbow				-10	-8	-4	0	6	12	18	25	34	43	54	67
	Thrown				-20	-17	-14	-9	-5	0	7	13	21	29	39	50	64
Necromancer	1H Swinging/Thrusting			-20	-17	-13	-9	-4	0	6	13	19	27	36	47	59	74
	2H Sword	-10	-7	-3	0	5	10	16	22	29	36	44	54	65
	2H Spear	-7	-3	0	5	10	15	21	27	34	42	50	61	72
	2H Melee (not sword/spear), Crossbow, Thrown	-20	-19	-16	-12	-8	-4	0	6	12	18	25	34	43	54	67
	Bow						-10	-9	-5	0	7	13	21	29	39	50	64
Paladin	1H Swinging								-20	-16</sp