Do Ritualist's binding rituals count as spells?

I was wondering if the Ritualist's binding rituals are classified as spells, therefore effected by the 20% recharge and 20% cast times of spells of off-hands and staffs. Or are they more of a skill.

No, they do not count as a spell. A spirit ritual thingy spell will never benefit from a 20% spell-cast / 20% spell-recharge mod.

They are not spells. This is why there are R/Rt Oath Shot spirit spammers (Expertise affects their energy costs).

And you can use them while affected by Backfire with no worries.

Ok thanks for the responses. I was gonna get an end-game green with the Drok key, and the green had 20/20, but then was thinking that the rituals didnt get interrupted by spell interrupts. Ok so ill just get a max Energy and defense staff/wand offhand instead of the 20/20 ones for my spirit spammer rit. Thanks again.

Weapons for Rits are tricky. Spirits do not benefit from the Casting speed bonuses, nor the recharge bonuses. If you use item spells, you lose your weapon while holding the ashes. This means any energy/health bonus you had is gone. I run a Restoration build that has me holding ashes 100% of the time. This means I get no bonus from my recharge or energy on the staff.

Takes a lot of playing around to find something that will work. If using spirits a lot, you'd be better off getting energy or health mods over casting speed and recharge bonuses.

If you look at skill definitions the first sentence will tell you what it is. Skill, Stance, Spell, Bind Ritual etc.