rock candy and attack skill activation speed

rock candy has the effect of reducing skill activation times. does this affect attack skills with reduced activation times? (or for that matter just normal attack skills?)

for example, dshot, savage shot, mystic sweeo, protectors strike etc.

these have posted 'skill activation' times, but it is still only affected by ias right?

are they skills? yes, so they will be effected.

Everything on your bar is a skill, be it a spell, signet, shout, chant etc so they'll all be affected by anything which says it changes skill activation time

yes all of those are affected, because almost everything is a skill therefore they are all affected.

Are you sure about this? And have you ever used rock candy before? I have used stacks of rock candy and noticed reduction in activation times for skills and spells on the bar. I have never noticed reduced activation times for signets... can't speak for shouts or chants though.

A skill is a skill, and the description for, say, Blue Rock Candy Rush. says:
It doesn't specify skill type affected, unlike some skills (like Ulcerous Lungs, Ignorance or Arcane Echo)


I have used rock candy. I don't see why any skill would be excluded if it's not stated, and to be honest I haven't noticed any skill activation times not being affected.

Yes, every single thing on your bar is a skill, so if it has an activation time it should be reduced. I honestly shouldn't be the one to verify signets and such though because I've only used them on my main, which is a mesmer.

Oh, and lol at a serious discussion about shouts having reduced activation. Stances need faster activation too

Edit: the last part was sarcasm

A signet is a skill that costs no energy and no adrenaline to use.

Shouts have not activation times so therefor they can't be reduced.

All Chants have casting time so they would be included in the reduction.

Also on a side note Fast-Casting from the Mesmer line includes spells and signets.

Also having the effect of a Red Rock Candy is roughly = to having 6 points in Fast casting.

Also reduction in casting time is multipled rather than added so using multiple activation boosters such as Mindbender, Essence of Celerity etc would only yield a slightly larger increase to the overall.

Shouts and Stances both do not have Activation times with the exception of Shadow Walk. So they will not be effected by Rock Candies, Essences, Mindbender etc.

Well, why can't you reduce an activation time of 0 seconds by 25%? 25% of 0 is 0, so you reduce the activation time by 0, and it's still 0..

so IMHO we can say that also shouts and stances are affected