Cadence Support Gem in Path of Exile 2: Deep Dive

With Path of Exile 2's Dawn of the Hunt (Patch 0.2.0) launching on April 4, 2025, Grinding Gear Games has been dropping teasers, with the community buzzing. One gem stealing the spotlight—despite flying under the radar—is Cadence, a new support gem promising up to 60% more attack speed for the right builds. Unveiled with little fanfare, it's poised to be a game-changer for attack-based setups, but its mechanics demand precision due to PoE 2's server tick system. MMOJUGG's breaking it down—breakpoints, quirks, and all—based on the teaser data from March 27, 2025. Let's get into it!  

Here's the teaser text for Cadence:  

Effect: Supports attacks you use yourself (no proxies like totems or minions).  

Mechanic: Grants 10% more attack speed per recent use, stacking up to 70% (at 7 uses), but locks the skill for 10 seconds if used 8+ times in a 4-second window.

This isn't a free-for-all speed boost. It's a rhythmic dance—attack too fast, and you're sidelined; attack too slow, and you're wasting potential. The sweet spot? A primary attack skill you can spam consistently without tripping the lockout, netting you that juicy 60% more attack speed once rolling. 

 

PoE 2 (like PoE 1) runs on a 33-millisecond server tick system—attacks don't land at exact times but snap to the nearest tick (0.033 seconds). If a skill lists 0.32 seconds, it rounds up to 0.33 (10 ticks); 0.34 becomes 0.363 (11 ticks). Cadence's 4-second window and 8-use cap mean your attack duration with the 60% bonus must stay shy of triggering the lockout. Here's the critical range:  

Ideal Duration with Cadence (60% bonus): 0.561 to 0.594 seconds (17–18 ticks).  

Base Duration (no Cadence): 0.899 to 0.950 seconds—this is your target without the gem.

Why? At 18 ticks (0.594 seconds) with full stacks, your 8th attack lands at 4.158 seconds—just past the 4-second window, dodging the lockout. At 17 ticks (0.561 seconds), it's 3.927 seconds—safely under but less optimal.  

Too Slow (>0.950 base): You won't stack Cadence fast enough—fewer than 7 attacks in 4 seconds means less than 60% bonus—wasted potential.  

Too Fast (<0.899 base): With 60% more speed, you'll hit 8+ attacks in 4 seconds, triggering the 10-second lockout. Disaster.  

Goldilocks Zone (0.899–0.950 base): Hit 7 attacks per 4 seconds with full stacks, indefinitely maintaining 60% more attack speed.

Base attack time of 0.90 seconds → With 60% more speed = 0.5625 seconds (17 ticks).  

7 attacks = 3.927 seconds (safe); 8th attack = 4.489 seconds (outside window).

Slow Skills: Hammer of the Gods (24-second cooldown) gets nothing—Cadence needs frequent use.  

Rarely Used Skills: Utility moves you tap occasionally won't stack.  

Non-Scaling Attacks: Some mace skills (e.g., static damage) ignore attack speed—Cadence's a dud here.  

Overzealous Speed: Native attack times under 0.899 seconds (pre-Cadence) risk lockout unless you nerf them intentionally.