Published July 19, 2026 · ← Back to Blog
If you've ever stared at two pieces of gear — one with +5% Crit Chance and one with +10% Attack Speed — and didn't know which to pick, this guide is for you. We ran the math through our TBH gear calculator to find the definitive answer.
Attack Speed wins early. Crit Chance wins late. But the real answer depends on your current stats, and the crossover point is surprisingly consistent across most builds.
Both stats multiply your final DPS, but they interact differently with other modifiers. Crit Chance gets stronger the more Crit Damage you have. Attack Speed gets stronger the more base damage you have.
Here's why: Crit Chance's contribution follows (Crit Multiplier − 1) × Crit Chance, which means each point of Crit Chance becomes roughly 0.5%~1.0% more effective as you stack Crit Damage. Meanwhile, Attack Speed is a straight multiplier — if you go from 1.0 to 1.1 APS, you get exactly 10% more DPS.
With base 5% Crit Chance and 150% Crit Damage, adding 5% crit only increases expected damage by ~2.5%. A 10% attack speed increase gives a flat 10% DPS boost — 4× more effective at this stage.
Verdict: Stack Attack Speed early. Get to 1.5+ APS before investing heavily in crit.
Once you reach ~25–30% Crit Chance and 180%+ Crit Damage, the crossover begins. At this point, 5% additional crit chance adds around 4% expected DPS — close to what 5% more attack speed would give. This is when balanced gearing starts paying off.
Verdict: Aim for a 1:3 ratio of Crit Chance to Attack Speed gains. For every 1% Crit Chance you add, try to add 3% Attack Speed.
At 50%+ Crit Chance with 200%+ Crit Damage, crit becomes the dominant stat. Each additional 1% Crit Chance now adds ~1% expected DPS. Attack Speed hits diminishing returns around 2.5 APS (the practical cap), so crit is your endgame scaling vector.
Verdict: Push Crit Chance to the 75% soft cap, then dump remaining stats into Crit Damage.
We ran 50+ gear combinations through the TBH DPS calculator. Results consistently showed: below 2.0 APS, attack speed beats crit. Above 2.0 APS and 40% crit, every additional % of crit outperforms equivalent attack speed. The optimal late-game split is approximately 75% Crit Chance, 200%+ Crit Damage, and 2.0–2.5 APS.
Try your own gear combo on the calculator and see the DPS numbers for yourself.