Action Frames (Does RTB still visit here?)

Hi folks,

I have been reading up on action frames lately and I am wondering if anyone here has information about them. Specifically, I am interested in action frames of melee attacks, as I have a chart showing all of the action frames for fcr.

During an attack, there is an Action Frame where the attack is actually done - for example, well all know that at 194% fcr, a lighting sorc is at 11fpa. However, the Action Frame where the actual spell is cast is at the 5th frame, with the remaining 6 frames being the "backward" motion of the cast. Interestingly, at 200% fcr, the total animation is still 11 frames, but the Action Frame occurs at the 4th frame. So, if two lighting sorcs stood facing each other and each cast at the same time, the one at 200% fcr would hit first because of the faster action frame, even though both are at the 11 frame fcr breakpoint.

Info on fcr action frames can be found here for those interested: http://i.imgur.com/Qy0Qb.png|||This post needs more love; can anyone verify it's true?|||Action frames certainly exist, although the attack speed calculators only list breakpoints for total animation length. It would be useful if those for action frames were also included, since interrupting an animation before it reaches it's action frame can prevent the action from taking place, which means increasing FCR or IAS may still be useful even if the total length of the animation doesn't change. Since delays are applied after the action frame, knowing them would also be useful to know the true attack or cast rate of skills with delays (rate = action frame + delay), or the effect of Chance to Cast skills with delays on the attack rate of attacks that have no delay.

I'm unaware of any resource which specifies action frames for attacks, although someone like RTB with more knowledge of animation could probably derive them from formulae. I could (and have) derived them with empirical testing on occasion, but it would be extremely time consuming to do this across the board.

I do know that when a skill with a delay is used or cast by Chance to Cast, no active skill can be used for 11 frames after the action frame (Scrolls of Identify and Town Portal placed in the belt can be used), although this doesn't prevent a sequence of attacks like Zeal or Fury from completing.

In terms of specific examples, Dragon Flight has a 23 frame animation whose action frame should be the ninth frame, and Immolation Arrow's effective attack rate with its one second (25 frame) delay is as follows:


Code:

BOWS

FRAMES   EIAS   IAS
                WSM  10   WSM   5   WSM   0   WSM -10
-----------------------------------------------------
    32
    31      0        11         6         0
    30     21        42        34        26        13
    29     50       120       102        86        60



CROSSBOWS

FRAMES   EIAS   IAS
                WSM  10   WSM   0   WSM -10   WSM -40   WSM -60
---------------------------------------------------------------
    36
    35     -9         2
    34      0        11         0
    33     13        29        15         4
    32     29        58        39        23
    31     50       120        86        60        11

Action Frame = Frames-25, which would be the action frame for an Amazon's Normal Attack with a bow or crossbow.