What is Haste in AFK Journey?

Haste is an extremely useful and common buff, and it's best for characters with long skills.

Smokey and Meerky looking at each other in their ultimate animation in AFK Journey.
Screenshot by Dot Esports

Haste is a common stat in AFK Journey that you can see affecting characters in fights even if you don’t know where it’s coming from. Essentially, Haste is all about speeding up your characters’ actions and making them more effective.

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What does Haste do in AFK Journey?

A screenshot of an AFK Journey battle with the Haste buff affecting multiple characters at once.
Haste in action. Screenshot by Dot Esports

Haste is a hero attribute in AFK Journey. Each point of Haste increases a unit’s attack and skill frequency by one percent and animation speed by the same amount. That means a character will perform all actions faster the more Haste they have. For example, a character that attacks 10 times in 10 seconds without Haste will attack 15 times with 50 Haste, effectively boosting damage by 50 percent for that period.

The Haste effect increases the frequency of skill triggers for characters like Smokey and Meerky, whose Special Aroma heals allies faster with Haste. With Haste, characters cast Ultimates and other skills quicker, reducing animation times and allowing them to attack sooner. Over a fight’s duration, having Haste results in higher overall damage output and Energy gain due to quicker actions and shorter delays.

Haste changes are identified by an hourglass icon under the character’s health bar during fights; green indicates an increase, while red indicates a decrease. All characters have zero base Haste unless they have a skill that increases it, making character buffs the only other way to modify Haste values.

Temesia and Rhys are the only characters in the game whose actions aren’t sped up by Haste or Attack Speed. Instead, these stats boost Temesia’s charge damage by one percent per point and Rhys’ Crit Damage by two per point.

Haste vs. Attack Speed

The main difference between Haste and Attack Speed in AFK Journey is that Haste affects all character actions, including skills, whereas Attack Speed affects only normal attacks. This means Haste is generally more beneficial than Attack Speed since a character with Haste will use their skills faster and resume attacking earlier than with Attack Speed buffs only. You can stack Haste and Attack Speed buffs on the same character since they are different stats.

High Haste allows skills with multiple activations to trigger more often within their standard duration, but it does not change their cooldown or active duration. The cooldown, the period a skill is unavailable after use, and the duration, how long the skill is active, remain unchanged by Haste.

Character skills that affect Haste in AFK Journey

Here’s a comprehensive list of the abilities of every character in the game that affect Haste, either increasing or decreasing it for allies or enemies.

CharacterSkillsEffect
ValaNight Maneuver (EX Weapon skill)Increases self Haste
Smokey & MeerkySpecial AromaIncreases allies’ Haste in area
Granny DahnieSeed CannonEnemies, reduces Haste
LumontHero FocusIncreases self Haste
KorinHero FocusIncreases self Haste
KokoHero FocusIncreases self Haste
ViperianHero FocusIncreases self Haste
AtalantaHero FocusIncreases self Haste
EironnIce SpikeReduces enemy Haste
ShakirRavaging ClawsIncreases allies’ Haste in area
BryonFalcon Raid
Hero Focus
Reduces enemy Haste
Increases self Haste
RowanHero FocusIncreases self Haste
KafraSylvan BanishmentReduces enemy healer’s Haste
CassadeeHero FocusIncreases self Haste
SethHunter InstinctIncreases self Haste
FlorabelleOvergrowthIncreases self and minion Haste
CarolinaFrozen Grave
Freezing Nova
Snowball Witchery
Reduces enemy Haste
Author
Image of Bhernardo Viana
Bhernardo Viana
Bhernardo is senior guides writer and strategist at Dot Esports. He's been working in the gaming industry for over 9 years, with works published on Destructoid, Prima Games, ESPN, and more. A fan of Pokémon since 6 years old and an avid Steam Deck and Nintendo Switch player. Now writing strategy and quests guides for several mobile and PC titles.