Faster Attacks against Multistrike pro/con questions

Basically I would like to know what the pros and cons are for each one.

I have been doing what research I can, and it seems that for physical builds Multistrike isn't worth it due to dealing less damage per hit against armoured enemies, but then again you are dealing 3 hits instead of one.

Faster Attacks makes your attacks % faster, but at level 20 the difference between the two skills is 44% vs 107% IAS. Even at level 1, the difference is still big, 25% vs 88% IAS, so the disadvantage of Faster Attacks is pretty evident there.

From what I understand, Faster Attacks is better for physical damage skills like Heavy/Double/Dual Strike or Cleave, while Multistrike is better for elemental attack skills like Lightning Strike, Glacial Hammer, Infernal Blow, Ice Shot, Burning/Lightning Arrows. Should I just use both, or is that not worth it?

Is this correct? Am I missing any other mechanics or features between the two gems that might make this debate clearer for confused players like myself?

Thank you very much.

One annoying thing with multistrike is that you can't interrupt the 3 attacks. So if you kill an enemy on the first attack, you stand there looking dumb for the next 2.

But as far as raw dps goes, multistrike is definitely better.

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tachiKC wrote:

Basically I would like to know what the pros and cons are for each one.

I have been doing what research I can, and it seems that for physical builds Multistrike isn't worth it due to dealing less damage per hit against armoured enemies, but then again you are dealing 3 hits instead of one.

Faster Attacks makes your attacks % faster, but at level 20 the difference between the two skills is 44% vs 107% IAS. Even at level 1, the difference is still big, 25% vs 88% IAS, so the disadvantage of Faster Attacks is pretty evident there.

From what I understand, Faster Attacks is better for physical damage skills like Heavy/Double/Dual Strike or Cleave, while Multistrike is better for elemental attack skills like Lightning Strike, Glacial Hammer, Infernal Blow, Ice Shot, Burning/Lightning Arrows. Should I just use both, or is that not worth it?

Is this correct? Am I missing any other mechanics or features between the two gems that might make this debate clearer for confused players like myself?

Thank you very much.

Multistrike isn't 107% increased AS, it's 107% MORE AS. You can view that as a straight up damage multiplier of 1.32 (2.07 increased dps * 0.64(from the 36% less damage) = 1.32). Faster Attacks will, at most, if you have zero attack speed otherwise, provide a 1.44 dps multiplier. Multistrike also has an IPD bonus which I discounted here. For a physical build then, considering these numbers, the preference would be: MPD >= Multistrike > Faster Attacks(With FA coming close if you have no attack speed whatsoever).

Use both, it's always worth it, in any case.

Btw, monster do not have more than 1k armor (most of them have really low armor).

So what about the %reduced damage that Multistrike innately has. Does the x% increased melee physical damage then negate that at level 13?

Also, what if you have IAS from gear and passives, does the dps muliplier of Faster Attacks increase beyond that of Multistrike?

Thanks.

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olop4444 wrote:

One annoying thing with multistrike is that you can't interrupt the 3 attacks. So if you kill an enemy on the first attack, you stand there looking dumb for the next 2.

But as far as raw dps goes, multistrike is definitely better.

This.

If you´re lazy (like me) and you don´t position well you lose the control to snipe casters or crucial dps/support mobs when surrounded and thus cutting your effective dps to those enemies by 2/3. So it happened that i felt more comfortable to choose faster_attack if i have my "Mouse-only" days, lying on the chouch etc etc. :)

If you´re focused on the game and position well with movement abilities the earlier argument is not a concern.

The "downside" of standing still for 3 attacks isn't much of a downside when you have 6+ APS. Multistrike is flat out much better for DPS than Faster Attacks in a melee build.

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tachiKC wrote:

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Sorry but I don't even know what you're talking about anymore. Please get your wording corrected. Increased&more, reduced&less, they're all completely different things. As are physical, attack etc. Just read the wiki or mechanics thread. Skills in this game are completely about wording, you have to read them word to word and make sure you understand what each and every one of those words exactly means. Almost nothing is ambiguous. I'll break it down for you why your post is completely incomprehensible.

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tachiKC wrote:

So what about the %reduced damage that Multistrike innately has.

Multistrike does not have %reduced damage, it has less attack damage.

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tachiKC wrote:

Does the x% increased melee physical damage then negate that at level 13?

I understood this until you said "at level 13"? So did you actually mean the Melee Physical Damage gem? If that's the case, that doesn't give increased melee physical damage, but more melee physical damage.

"

tachiKC wrote:

Also, what if you have IAS from gear and passives, does the dps muliplier of Faster Attacks increase beyond that of Multistrike?

Increased modifiers stacks additively, more modifiers stacks multiplicatively. Apply this knowledge to basic algebra and you see that as you get more IAS from gear and passives, more modifer becomes more important and increased multiplier becomes less important.

I used Multistrike in my Crit Lightning strike Witch along with Faster Attacks.
I don't use it anymore.

You deal less damage per hit and not reduced.That's quite a lot!
Since I crit a lot most white mobs die with one crit which means 1-2 LS hits.

Multistrike also destroys my already low fps.But tomorrow I'm getting my new pc and
I might give it a try.

Some screenshots.
Lightning strike with Weapon Elemental Damage


Lightning strike with Weapon Elemental Damage + Faster Attacks


Lightning strike with Weapon Elemental Damage + Faster Attacks + Multistrike


Lightning strike with Weapon Elemental Damage + Faster Attacks + Crit Damage


Lightning strike with Weapon Elemental Damage + Faster Attacks + Added Fire


As we see here multistrike gives me about 6k tooltip dps but destroys my damage per hit
by quite a lot.Faster attacks gives about 3.5k and Crit damage about 4.5k without sacrifing
my dph.Added Fire is the weakest of the possible combinations.
I use 3 damage support gems since my fourth is life leech.

Right now I'm gonna stick with WED + FA + ICD which suits me best

Bottom line, if u have good attack speed, go with multistrike, it scales off of attack speed as much if not more than it does off raw dmg. If u have slow attack speed to begin with, go with faster attacks.