Im not sure what Action Frames Actually does, and would like to understand better.
The "Attack rate" of 6 frames, stays the same along with the "Hits per second" of 4.17. The Animation Length is the same at 6.
But, i can lower the action frame 1 more, from 5 to 4, this does not change the attack rate or hits per second or animation length.
By lowering my effective IAS from 143 to 149. i reduce my Action frame from 5 to 4 and will be the final node on the IAS bracket.

Questions: Does it give initiation?
for example, if dueling. im melee 1v1.
Assuming its the same build, but my AF is lower that the attacker, so i strike first? 4af v.s. 5af @ 4.17hps

Questions: Does it give way to secondary frames, like FHR and Blocks? effective reducing their Frame by one or more.
because i have 4 or 5 Action Frames on a 6 Attack Rate, i gain 1 action frames that reduce the time needed to produce another attack after recovery
for example, at 4af v.s 5af
I gained 1 action frame during my attack sequence, was put into hit recovery i can produce an attack faster than the action frame of 5.

Questions: What else should i know.

iv linked 2 pictures for visual ref. along with build in maxroll.d2planner

:: Link To Build - Swap Belt for IK Belt in stash to see dif. ::
https://maxroll.gg/d2/d2planner/v528v0sr

:: With 5 Action Frames ::


:: With 4 Action Frames ::

Action frame is when the attack is performed, after that ur character need to retract his arm to make ready to strike again(kinda).

So yes, if there is stun in form of blockrate or hitrate u will hit first with faster actionframe and have better chance in stunning ur enemy.

Many sequence and serial attacks uses actionframe as a trigger as well, meaning it will skip the entire animation and only use it on last hit.

There are also rollbacks to be considered in serial attacks and sequence attacks.

This post was edited by gel87 on Mar 1 2024 01:45pm

imagine each attack as a sequence of wind-up/action/roll-back. changing the action frame means the action (attack or cast) is performed earlier in the sequence, but the total length of a sequence (i.e. the time between two actions) is still the same
exceptions are spells with cooldown, since the cooldown is usually longer than the roll-back, thus in that case you actually shorten the whole sequence by lowering the action frame