Faster Attacks vs. Faster Projectiles

Hi!

I'm planning on mainly using projectiles on my char for OB. I had a look at some builds and most of them use Faster Attacks instead of Faster Projectiles. Why is that?

Faster Attacks increases Attack Speed, so you can spam your ability faster and thus increase DPS. What about Increased Projectile Speed? Does that just mean that my projectiles travel faster towards a mob but my attacks/sec stay the same? In that case I see why Faster Attacks might be superior DPS wise...

Can somebody enlighten me here please? :D

Exactly how you said it :) (only the faster proj. support also adds 10% projectile damage on lvl 1 IIRC, but yeah - faster attacks = more 'spamming'; faster proj = projectie travels faster)

Though especially some spells are really slow without faster projectiles (Fireball, Ice spear, Arctic breath come to mind) and a few get extended range from it (Freezing pulse and Etheral knives will travel further away from you if the proj. speed is increased - because those two travel for a certain time and with faster projectiles they can travel a greater distance in the same time). Also some bow attack can profit from it (Explosive arrow, since you can hit enemies faster, because the projectile reaches them earlier = more fuses ;))
And for PvP faster projectiles can be important...

EDIT: also for Rain of arrows projectile speed is really nice, because the arrows come down a lot faster with it and it is much easier to hit.

thanks for the answer!

i don't really see what big difference it would make for explosive arrow though. the first arrow would hit the target faster but since attacks/sec is not higher than before, it still takes the same amount of time to fire 5 arrows (minus a small time deduction for the last arrow since its projectile speed is higher). I'd guess that even there Faster Attacks would be better since you can fire the 5 arrows x% faster. am i on the wrong track here?

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Afghani84 wrote:

thanks for the answer!

i don't really see what big difference it would make for explosive arrow though. the first arrow would hit the target faster but since attacks/sec is not higher than before, it still takes the same amount of time to fire 5 arrows (minus a small time deduction for the last arrow since its projectile speed is higher). I'd guess that even there Faster Attacks would be better since you can fire the 5 arrows x% faster. am i on the wrong track here?

Yeah EA maybe wasn't the best example :)

But still there are some situations where faster proj. shines (another not that obvious advantage of faster proj. is the really low additional mana cost, so it can be useful as a support if you have mana problems with other supports), though i agree that often faster attacks is the better choise DPS wise

Faster projectiles is pretty much necessary for Ethereal Knives and Freezing Pulse builds. The extra range makes a huge difference.

I would disagree that its "pretty much necessary" for FP.

6L maybe. But I would still prefer cold penetration. Or a MF gem.