Can somebody explain to me the mechanics on recovery time

Hi everyone, im starting to play the Pillars of eternity though the deadfire is already launched. Im new to this game and im starting to love it.

To cut it short im using a DPS fighter class.

Im sorting out all possible combination of talents and weapon. But i stumble upon the recovery speed. There is not much info regarding this IMHO so far. Can someone enlighten me rgarding this.

 

By the way im using 1H Flails so that it increases accuracy and has a 30% more chance of making grazes to hits. I believe accuracy is important as a DPS player.

Ok, I'll try.

 

Most combat actions have attack speed and recovery speed (time). The attack speed is the time your attack takes. Longer attack times means higher probablity of some enemy interrupting your attack. That's just annoying.

 

Recovery time is time spent after an attack, where you recover yourself in preparation for next action. If you think it as attacking with a sword, it's the time after a swing where you have to use time to regain your footing and getting the sword back in the the position for a next swing. For magic you can perceive it as time you need to clear your head in order to cast a new spell, or somesuch.

It's time that your character spends getting prepared for a new attack, and gameplay wise the char does nothing. Recovery time is very annoying.  

In PoE 1 the only thing that reduces attack time is DEX. All other speed bonuses only affect recovery time!

 

In PoE the more speed bonuses you stack the higher the impact of every additional bonus. So with enough bonuses it's easy to reach 0 recovery which is the Holy Grail of dps in this game.

 

Some active attack speed bonuses don't stack though because they belong to the same "group". Generally speaking "active" speed bonuses like Frenzy, Alacrity (so, bonuses from abilities you trigger actively) that increase the same speed modifier (e.g. universal speed group) do not stack with each other. But they will stack with actives that address a different speed value (e.g. ranged attack speed group). Passive ones do always stack. Some speed bonuses from items are considered passive, some active (most of the time, when an effect has a duration and is triggered somehow it's active - but not always - e.g. Bloodlust from is stacking with everything).

 

In Deadfire the mechanics of attack speed and recovery time are totally different!

 

MaxQuest did two very nice attack speed calculators, one for PoE and one for Deadfire. Here's the PoE version:

 

https://naijaro.github.io/poe-speed-calculator/

Edited December 23, 2018 by Boeroer

Thank you @Boaroar, i think i get a grip of the idea of the action concept. I had more questions though. Do the Dex affects the recovery time or the attack time only?

Also i had read previously that dual weild huts more often vs 1h. Is this correct?

DEX affects both: attack (animation) time and recovery time. That doesn't matter too much with regular melee/ranged attacks but with spells (which tend to have a longer attack animation phase).

 

If you use a single weapon in one hand (without offhand weapon) or a two handed weapon (melee or ranged) you get a recovery penalty. If you dual wield you don't. Broadly speaking it's like a 50% recovery speed gain compared to single/two handed weapons. That's why characters who dual wield and pile up other speed bonuses can reach 0 recovery with their weapon attacks quite easily.

 

Dual wieldig only impacts your weapon attack recovery, nothing else. Same with "speed" enchantment on weapons and Two Weapon Style. While universal speed buffs like from Alacrity or Frenzy will shorten all your recoveries: from weapon attacks, spells etc.

Edited December 24, 2018 by Boeroer

I see, i guess dex(attack time and recovery time) doesnt count much if you dont land a hit. Specially with high deflection mobs. That is why i really like 1H because of +12 accuracy.

I also like Flails passive 30% graze to hit feature. Though it doesnt add accuracy but i guess i has better odds than rapier.

In the early game one handed style is good. Later on dual wieldig / two handed is def. better.

 

Because the ratio of your accuracy vs. enemies' defenses gets bigger and bigger.

Edited December 24, 2018 by Boeroer