Figuring the speed of Dtalon will require knowing one
other parameter of attack animations which I did not talk about in
the general mechanics section of this document. The additional
parameter which we need to know about in order to figure the speed of
a Dtalon attack is called the FrameDataActionFlag. This parameter
tells us on which Aframe the animations “action” happens.
In the case of Dtalon, this tells us at what point during the kick
animation the hit actually happens on. On most attacks, this
parameter doesn't need to be known in order to figure the speed of
the whole attack animation. Dtalon is, however, what is called a
“rollback” attack. This means that in order to achieve
the multiple kicks, the counter is rolled back and Aframes get
repeated to generate multiple hits. Dtalon is what is called a 100%
rollback attack. That means that the counter will be rolled back all
the way to zero in order to repeat the animation for multiple kicks.
We need to know where the hit acutally happens because that is where
the animation has to play through to before it can be rolled back. If
it didn't play through to that point, we could show multiple kicks,
but wouldn't actually get the server to register damage for them. The
FrameDataActionFlag for Dtalon is 04. That means the Aframe 04 is the
where the animation must get to before we can begin the next kick.
Looking at our chart of counter value ranges tells us that the
counter must equal at least 1024 for the Aframe to be 04. That will
be our counter target for repeating the intitial frames in order to
repeat the kick. This maybe will be clearer if we just run through a
2 kick Dtalon example real quick.
The parameters for
Dtalon:
AnimationSpeed = 256
DrawnFrames = 13 (numbered from 00
to 12)
FrameDataActionFlag = 04
base = 100
EIAS = 0, I'm
going to run this through without EIAS affecting the speed this first
time.
This leaves us with a terminating value of 3328 and an
increment value of 256
So, let's get started.
Game tick
1
counter is incremented, counter equals 256
is counter>=3328?
No
Aframe 01 is shown
is counter >=1024? No
Game tick
2
counter is incremented, counter = 512
is counter>=3328?
No
Aframe 02 is shown
is counter >=1024? No
Game tick
3
counter is incremented, counter = 768
is counter >=3328?
No
Aframe 03 is shown
is counter >= 1024? No
Game
tick 4
counter is incremented, counter = 1024
is counter
>=3328? No
Aframe 04 is shown
is counter>=1024? YES
More
actions needed? YES
counter is rolled back to 0
Game tick
5
counter is incremented, counter = 256
is counter>=3328?
No
Aframe 01 is shown
is counter>= 1024? No
Game tick
6
counter is incremented, counter = 512
is counter>=3328?
No
Aframe 02 is shown
is counter>=1024? No
Game tick
7
counter is incremented, counter = 768
is counter>=3328?
No
Aframe 03 is shown
is counter>=1024? No
Game tick
8
counter is incremented, counter = 1024
is counter >=3328?
No
Aframe 04 is shown
is counter >=1024? YES
more actions
needed? NO
animation continues normally
.
.
.
Game
tick 16
counter is incremented, counter = 3072
is counter
>=3328? No
Aframe 12 is shown
is counter >=1024? YES
more
actions needed? NO
animation continues normally
Game tick
17
counter is incremented, counter = 3328
is counter >=3328?
YES
animation over
get data for next animation, calculate new
increment and terminating values, reset counter
start next
animation on this tick.
As you can see from this, the first
kick took from tick 1 to tick 4 to complete. The second kick took
from tick 5 to tick 16 to complete. The animation as a whole took 16
ticks. However, Dtalon speeds are usually referred to by list the
number of ticks it takes for the last kick followed by the number of
ticks it takes to complete each of the initial kicks. So, the speed
of our 2 kick Dtalon attack with 0 EIAS would be listed as 12/4. Due
to this reverse notation, the kicks are generally referred to in the
opposite of when the occur in reality. For our example, the 7 tick
kick is usually called the main kick and the 4 tick kick is called
the follow-up kick. This is despite the fact that the 4 tick kick
actually takes place first. It's become the accepted way of talking
about Dtalon kicks, so I don't argue the point that the notation
would be much more accurate if the kick speed was listed as 4/7. Not
that big of a deal to me.
An even better way to note Dtalon
speed would be to call our 0 EIAS example a 4/8 Dtalon. That's 4
ticks for each kick and 8 ticks added on after the last kick to
finish the animation. This works well for figuring the total number
of ticks it takes to complete the whole animation. If you had a 6
kick talon, you have 6*4+8=32 ticks to complete the entire animation.
I couldn't see this as being accepted very widely either as it runs
contrary to the way the kicks are currently noted.
Next, I
want to explain why it is not possible to get a 2 tick kick out of
Dtalon. This has been debated over and over since patch 1.10 came out
and far more people began using Dtalon. The majority of people
playing Dtalon assassins on bnet still believe they can get 2 tick
kicks out of Dtalon. So, let's look at this. First of all, I'll just
run through the first part of a Dtalon attack with the maximum
increment value you can get. Remember, the value of the (base+EIAS)
part of the increment equation is capped at 175. This means we can
find the fastest speed Dtalon is capable of if we just figure the
increment with 175 put in place of this part of the equation.
Increment_value = AnimationSpeed * (base + EIAS) / 100 =
256*175/100=448
So, 448 is the highest value we can get for
the increment with Dtalon. We won't get this animation to play any
faster than this. Let's run through the first kick of a Dtalon attack
with this as our increment.
Game tick 1
counter is
incremented, counter = 448
is counter >=3328? No
Aframe 01
is shown
is counter >=1024? No
Game tick 2
counter is
incremented, counter = 896
is counter >=3328? No
Aframe 03
is shown
is counter >=1024? No
Game tick 3
counter is
incremented, counter = 1344
is counter >=3328? No
Aframe 05
is shown
is counter >=1024? YES
more actions needed?
Stop
here. As you can see, even at the highest increment value you can
have, it took 3 ticks to get to the point where the counter is rolled
back and the next kick is started. Given the cap on the (base + EIAS)
portion of the equation, it's impossible to attain 2 tick kicks. So
how did it get so widely reported that it was possible to attain 2
tick kicks? I've given that answer already, it's just been spread out
across everything I've posted so far.
At the end of most of
the animation walkthroughs I given so far has been a line along these
lines:
“start next animation on this tick.”
The
tick where the terminating value is reached isn't counted in the
speed of an attack animation. The equation I ended my last post with
reflected this by subracting one at the end of the equation.
fpa
= {(256*DrawnFrames) / [AnimationSpeed*(base + EIAS)/100]}-1
If
that equation is applied to Dtalon's multiple kicks, it shows that 2
tick kicks are possible. However, look again at the end of the short
Dtalon examples I've listed:
Game tick 4
counter is
incremented, counter = 1024
is counter >=3328? No
Aframe 04
is shown
is counter>=1024? YES
More actions needed?
YES
counter is rolled back to 0
Although the counter is
rolled back to zero on this tick, the next animation for the next
kick does not start on this tick, it starts on the next one. Thus,
there is no need to subtract 1 at the end. Simple error, really.
Unless one runs through the data as I just did for you or did some
speed testing at or near the maximum increment value, it wouldn't be
something you would really realize. I wish I had been the one to
notice this all, but I wasn't. Brianc84 did a lot of testing after I
posted the c/c attack speed basics document and found this answer.
Lastly, none of the parameters for the kick attacks change
due to what weapon type you are using. Your weapon's WSM will matter
when you figure you EIAS amount, but the animation parameters for
DrawnFrames and AnimationSpeed won't be any different. So, for
Dtalon, I can just give one set of parameters which will apply to any
weapon you choose to use. Those parameters are:
AnimationSpeed
= 256
DrawnFrames = 13
base = 100
FrameDataActionFlag = 04
You can find EIAS and BoS/IAS tables for Dtalon here. 7 fpa is the fastest this attack will go with any weapon.