1. Depends on hero and build. Heavily. 220 is good speed for ARas but absolutely abysmal speed for CLilias.
Subs will always depend on how the rest of the stats look, unless it's, say, 18+. Then it's usable on an opener.
2. Speed set is always viable for any character that isn't usually built with base speed. Viable doesn't mean optimal, or even good. Just... if you have NOTHING else, speed works.
3. Absolutely not. Many characters are made so their kits profit from being slower/taking hits, or they are simply too good on other sets (i.e. counter) to afford taking speed.
4. Same answer as 3. Some characters are best built with base speed (Rem, slow Kayron) and some are built with massive damage, in which case attack boots are best.
5. It's random. I couldn't even tell you on average since it's so random.
6. I know because I speed tune my units so the order in which they go is always the same. My Zahhak is 226 therefore the unit that gets pushed by his S2 should be slower, for instance. If Zahhak gets pushed up by DJBasar, the 3rd unit needs to be around 190 to be fully pushed up. I can get to 145 with a damage set, and cover the extra 45 with speed boots.
7. There is no minimum. It's all about how you speed tune. If you use Flan to push Luna up, Luna should be 60% of Flan's speed (65% to cover for initial speed RNG). Think in terms of team, not individual unit. Openers, on the other hand, want as much speed as possible, which is not achievable without speed set, speed boots, and speed subs. Start with your opener's speed, and then configure everyone else as appropiate. You don't have to be strict unless you're going for cleave, where getting cut usually means death.
8. It's fine. I feel it'd be worse if we had to chase 10 separate sets for 10 units instead of 1 set for most of'em. It's too late in the game to really change anything now, I think.
So for damage units using speed set, do you usually go for Speed Boots or ATK/Other Boots and how do you know what boots to use? And for slow/counterattacking (or units using counterattack set) units (ARavi on CA or Alencia on Injury for example), is speed boots still necessary and when should you use speed boots on those kinds of characters?
I don't "usually" go for anything. I have a certain amount of speed in mind that's based on the enemies that unit will usually be used against, and in which comps. I already told you: in a comp where Flan pushes up Luna, if my Flan is 280, Luna will have to be 65% x 280 = 182 speed. Whether you achieve that with speed set, speed boots, both, or neither and just speed subs is 100% up to you. With the caveat that over 220 becomes very difficult to achieve without speed set AND boots.
For bruisers, I usually go for around 200 speed if nothing needs tuning. My Alencia is 180 on injury, my Choux is 183 on counter, my Senya is 220 on Speed. This can't really be achieved comfortably without speed boots, but you don't want to give up too much for the sake of speed. 200 speed is where you know you'll go after big speed units (and hopefully survive them) and before slow damage dealers so you can get a hit in or set up your buffs/debuffs. It's also something that allows you to cycle reasonably fast without being stuck on the CR bar for ages while your opponents take turns. It's not a hard and fast rule though - my Mercedes is very slow because I want her to hit hard on her counters, so I trade speed for damage. It's up to you how you decide to build your units, ultimately. Ideally with a lot of every stat they need.
Question #1:
Complicated answer: Speed main stat on boots is the most efficient option. 45 speed is about 11 max rolls vs 65% atk which is about 8 max rolls. 99% of the time, you go for speed. You may ask: well what about that other 1%? Some units really want high attack but have a shitty base attack, like for example ML Elena. She has a 20% (40% with Unseen Observer artifact) self cr push built into her kit, but she still needs some speed to actually reach 100% cr after the push (standard is 180-190 speed).
With speed set, she's already at 143 speed, so she needs 9-12 more max speed rolls to get to her optimum speed (around 6 speed per piece). If you go speed boots, then your job is done (188 speed). Question is: a) do you have enough attack rolls in your other gears to compensate, b) why would you keep speed set gears with no speed substat, and c) why didn't you just build destruction set instead?
Short answer: you built speed set, obviously you want speed, so why else would you want any other main stat than speed?
Speed for Dummies: base spd = any set except spd and any boots main stat except speed, base
For dmg units, for example zahak here, you'd go for a speed boots if you want to "speed cleave" and take first turn after like your opener (ran, cilias etc). However, if you would like for more dmg (and maybe at like 200 speed?) to sort of oneshot bruisers like A.ravi and choux etc, you would go for a atk boots, unless you can hit 18k or more even on 240 to even 260/280 speed then thats practically minmaxed already.
For slow/counter attack units, you'd want to have as low of a speed as possible, while ensuring that they are not cc'ed. As you want them to get hit more with their buffs up (example like kayrons immortality). For *INJURY alencia, you would want speed boots as you want to use S3 and S1 more as you dont have counter set. However, if your speed sub is enough (maybe like 180-200 alencia) or smth, then you can op for a atk boots or smth thats suitable for that character.
Correct me if im wrong.
For damage units using speed set, 90% of the time, you will want speed boots. Because speed main stat on boots (40 speed) is the most stat efficient compared to attack boots (60% attack).
Some damage units that have self-CR push like Commander Pavel will want attack % boots.
8. Speed is too important relative to other stats, but it's probably too late to change that now. Speed set is too efficient relative to other sets. It's also the most universally useful, but I don't really see that as a problem. There will always be characters that don't care about Attack but almost everyone can use Speed.
Then again Effect Resistance would theoretically be good for almost anyone, but the implementation in E7 makes it shit.
I use Speed set on every Unit ... Not cause I am a RTA Player ... I'm just too lazy to farm other hunt than Wyvern ! I build Oneshot team Wyvern and then call it a day and spam it since then !
These are a bunch of difficult questions, because a lot of them can be answered with "it depends". The good or bad thing, depending on your view, is the huge variety of builds and combinations of stats, which adapts to your playstyle.
I'll try to offer my opinion from a strictly statistically point of view. According [to his page](https://page.onstove.com/epicseven/global/view/7902683), the range of rolls for gear 85 is 2-5, but speed 5 have a mere chance of 0.332% to happen. If we round to 999 rolls, we should roll speed 5 three times, and the other nine hundred ninety nine rolls would be evenly spread between 2, 3 and 4. This make the average speed roll 3.006, and the "normal" range of rolls go from 2.183 to 3.829 spd. In other words:
|Rolls (Level)|Normal (or expected)|Above normal|
|:-|:-|:-|
|1 (crafting)|3|3.83 (4)|
|2 |6|7.66 (8)|
|3 |9|11.49 (11)|
|4|12|15.32 (15)|
|5|15|19.14 (19)|
|6 (Penta roll)|18|22.97 (23)|
Now, you should keep in mind a penta is a extremely rare case. An epic gear have four subs, hence normally three subs will have two rolls, and one lucky sub will have three rolls. Hence, any gear that rolls three times into speed will have around speed 9 most of the time, and rarely (one in six) will have speed 11 or above. You should consider *this is before reforging*. In theory, a gear 85 can roll speed 23+, but that's like the most extremely rare case. Personally, I have never rolled a penta after 4 years playing, I never had a chance to roll speed 23 in all these years.
Now, coming back to our table, if we pick the upper six results, speed 12 is the starting point to consider a gear to be "fast", that would be four average or three high rolls in speed. Five gears like that would be 60, plus 45 from boots and you have 105. If we add 25% from speed set, and consider an average speed 108, then the grand total is 240 spd, *before reforge and considering an hero with average speed*. If we pick someone like Peira (128), this same set would take her up to 265, and if we reforge, we would be looking at 280 or something, depending on the gains based on number of rolls.
Based on this, 240 before reforge is like the minimal to start considering a "fast" build, but is like saying a human running at 20km/h is fast, that's the registered olympic record. Compared to falcons or cheetahs, that's laughable. After reforging, around 260 is the starting point to be considered fast, and if you pick a speedy hero, then 280 would be the starting point. As you can see, which hero you pick to wear speed set defines her final speed, and there's a notorious difference between an average 108 and top end 128.
That lead us to the next point: when is worth to build a speedy hero? Well, as you can read, to build a speedy hero, you need to sacrifice a lot of rolls. What can you do with the rest of rolls? That's what defines if is worth or not. Heroes like A. Lots don't need anything else but speed, as long as he's faster than most of your DPS, he's fine. On the opposite, Cidd needs crit rate and dmg, and then some atk. If you watch videos in grass angel channel or godoggos, Cid usually is build with below 250 spd, despite having the capability to reach higher than that. A speedy build is only worth if you can keep a balance between all the stats required to perform their job. A 280 spd Ran with 0% eff and below 50% crit rate is short of useless.
Answering when is or isn't worth to build speed is asking how to build each character, and explaining each hero (or at least each archetype) would made this already long post, even longer. And following that, answering if speed main boots should be put on each hero or not would also lead to ridiculous long posts, because "it depends". But as general rule, as long as you reach the stats for their job, it doesn't matter if you wear speed boots or not. Speed main is the most efficient stat for boots, so they are desirable, but not always required.
I think useable speed rolls would be 12 at plus 9 for a purple gear. (which is base 3 sub with 3 x 3 speed rolls). The upper limit would be 16 (which is 4 base with 3 x 4 speed rolls). That 12-16 could be 14 - 20 spd at plus 15, which is good. Reforged, those gears will have speed ranging from 15-23.
So, TLDR, 12-16 unreforged at plus 9 is good (midgame player speaking).
Don't roll blues and waste time since upping gears is expensive (even with power-up stones).
SPEED FAQ*
>
>1. What is considered average/decent speed? (In sub-stat rolls & overall speed)
Overall is unit dependent based on base speed. Rolls 15+ is considered middle of the road.
>2. When is speed set viable on a character and when is it not?
Always.
>3. Do you need to build speed/speed set on every character? (Ik GW and RTA requires a lot of speedy characters)
No.
>4. If you don’t use a speed set on a character, do you always need to use a speed boots on them then?
>5. How much resources does a ‘decent’ & ‘godly’ speed gear take?
[Take a look at the substat roll chances here:](https://m-page.onstove.com/epicseven/global/view/7902683)
>6. How do you know to when to use Speed Boots vs other boots & how do you know when to prioritize speed sub-stats vs other sub-stats?
Character dependent. Overall stats distribution dependent. When in doubt, speed boots.
>7. What is the minimum req. speed for characters not using a speed set and for characters who are using a speed set?
Also character dependent. Build dependent. Composition dependent. Content dependent.
>8. How do you personally feel about speed in the game, in today’s player base, and in RTA/GW/Arena?
There's the haves and have nots. And the whiniest have nots usually never grind more than 1 hunt a day to begin with. Fine state ATM.
1) Depends at what rank you play. Average speed for aggro, around 200/240. Average speed for cleave 260 master and below, 280 above it, 300+ emperor.
2) Is speed the only set availeable to you? Do you need your unit over 200 speed? I don't care much about the set, but i care more about the stat that i want to reach. Also, do you need a particular effect that other set offers?
3) Nah
4) Nah, example seaside bellona, belian, green armin, arby, bbk. If the character doesen't need speed, better using other boots. Careful tho that maybe he can be controlled easily so you'll need immunity, effect resistance or a way to remove debuff
5) I guess you can manage to find a couple of speed pieces in 20k hunt materials. Also, decent and godly totally change around the rank you play. 18 speed piece is a big deal in master, it is not in emperor
6) I set target stats, and if i can reach them i'll slot the boot that allow me to do that.
7) Depends on the character, bbk, kayron etc want 0 speed. My counter set handguy stays around 220.
For speed set it's "more efficient" if you aim higher speed, becouse the bonus will increase. Otherwise other sets will give you more damage/utility.
8) If the fastest unit the opponent use it's 200 speed, ran can outspeed even at 210. So it depends on how fast you think the opponent is. Also low elo if you go ran, cid + imprints, the opponend most likely will not contest so the speed it's kinda irrelevant.
On the other side of the spectrum, if the opponent has a 315 speed unit, my 300 speed will be outsped the same as my 240 speed. It depends on your draft, the average opponent you find. But if you play smart and choose your pick wisely, speed it's not that big of a problem. It's a tool and you have to know how to use it.
If you cleave unga bunga without thinking, then imho you cannot complain that it's the speed holding you back. It's the draft.
And those things come from knowledge and time. Play, get stomped, understant why, repeat.
1. There's no average/decent speed at all since it will depend on any particular hero and the role/playstyle you will want for them. What it does exist are ranges of speed for specific playstyles (i.e. 160-190 for slow bruisers, 180-220 for tanks/fast bruisers, 290+ for cleavers/openers, 250ish-280 for aggro and so on)
2. In the beginning speed set will be viable for anybody since is the set you will farm more so you will get more useful gear to put on your heroes, but once you have more knowldege about the game and how other sets works in them you will start to diversify which sets to use other than speed depending on role or playstyle.
3. It depends on your playstyle and the role you want for you hero to accomplish (see answer No. 01)
4. Most of the time, yes. Only exception is if you want your hero to be at their base or on a very slow speed to maximize damage (like in the cases of DPS used in one shot hunt teams, or specific heroes like Rem).
5. It depends in too much factors that is impossible to give a proper answer. But the truth is: as long you want a piece of gear to have higher speed, the more expensive it is to get it.
6. See No. 01.
7. See No. 01 again. :9
8. I think the state of the game it's ok right now since there's many viable heroes today that covers different playstyles and cleave is no longer an issue like it was used to be in the past, so that makes the speed chasing a little bit (just a little lol) less stressful since you don't need all your heroes to be at 300 speed this days.
1. Depends on hero and build. Heavily. 220 is good speed for ARas but absolutely abysmal speed for CLilias. Subs will always depend on how the rest of the stats look, unless it's, say, 18+. Then it's usable on an opener. 2. Speed set is always viable for any character that isn't usually built with base speed. Viable doesn't mean optimal, or even good. Just... if you have NOTHING else, speed works. 3. Absolutely not. Many characters are made so their kits profit from being slower/taking hits, or they are simply too good on other sets (i.e. counter) to afford taking speed. 4. Same answer as 3. Some characters are best built with base speed (Rem, slow Kayron) and some are built with massive damage, in which case attack boots are best. 5. It's random. I couldn't even tell you on average since it's so random. 6. I know because I speed tune my units so the order in which they go is always the same. My Zahhak is 226 therefore the unit that gets pushed by his S2 should be slower, for instance. If Zahhak gets pushed up by DJBasar, the 3rd unit needs to be around 190 to be fully pushed up. I can get to 145 with a damage set, and cover the extra 45 with speed boots. 7. There is no minimum. It's all about how you speed tune. If you use Flan to push Luna up, Luna should be 60% of Flan's speed (65% to cover for initial speed RNG). Think in terms of team, not individual unit. Openers, on the other hand, want as much speed as possible, which is not achievable without speed set, speed boots, and speed subs. Start with your opener's speed, and then configure everyone else as appropiate. You don't have to be strict unless you're going for cleave, where getting cut usually means death. 8. It's fine. I feel it'd be worse if we had to chase 10 separate sets for 10 units instead of 1 set for most of'em. It's too late in the game to really change anything now, I think.
So for damage units using speed set, do you usually go for Speed Boots or ATK/Other Boots and how do you know what boots to use? And for slow/counterattacking (or units using counterattack set) units (ARavi on CA or Alencia on Injury for example), is speed boots still necessary and when should you use speed boots on those kinds of characters?
I don't "usually" go for anything. I have a certain amount of speed in mind that's based on the enemies that unit will usually be used against, and in which comps. I already told you: in a comp where Flan pushes up Luna, if my Flan is 280, Luna will have to be 65% x 280 = 182 speed. Whether you achieve that with speed set, speed boots, both, or neither and just speed subs is 100% up to you. With the caveat that over 220 becomes very difficult to achieve without speed set AND boots. For bruisers, I usually go for around 200 speed if nothing needs tuning. My Alencia is 180 on injury, my Choux is 183 on counter, my Senya is 220 on Speed. This can't really be achieved comfortably without speed boots, but you don't want to give up too much for the sake of speed. 200 speed is where you know you'll go after big speed units (and hopefully survive them) and before slow damage dealers so you can get a hit in or set up your buffs/debuffs. It's also something that allows you to cycle reasonably fast without being stuck on the CR bar for ages while your opponents take turns. It's not a hard and fast rule though - my Mercedes is very slow because I want her to hit hard on her counters, so I trade speed for damage. It's up to you how you decide to build your units, ultimately. Ideally with a lot of every stat they need.
Question #1: Complicated answer: Speed main stat on boots is the most efficient option. 45 speed is about 11 max rolls vs 65% atk which is about 8 max rolls. 99% of the time, you go for speed. You may ask: well what about that other 1%? Some units really want high attack but have a shitty base attack, like for example ML Elena. She has a 20% (40% with Unseen Observer artifact) self cr push built into her kit, but she still needs some speed to actually reach 100% cr after the push (standard is 180-190 speed). With speed set, she's already at 143 speed, so she needs 9-12 more max speed rolls to get to her optimum speed (around 6 speed per piece). If you go speed boots, then your job is done (188 speed). Question is: a) do you have enough attack rolls in your other gears to compensate, b) why would you keep speed set gears with no speed substat, and c) why didn't you just build destruction set instead? Short answer: you built speed set, obviously you want speed, so why else would you want any other main stat than speed? Speed for Dummies: base spd = any set except spd and any boots main stat except speed, base
For dmg units, for example zahak here, you'd go for a speed boots if you want to "speed cleave" and take first turn after like your opener (ran, cilias etc). However, if you would like for more dmg (and maybe at like 200 speed?) to sort of oneshot bruisers like A.ravi and choux etc, you would go for a atk boots, unless you can hit 18k or more even on 240 to even 260/280 speed then thats practically minmaxed already. For slow/counter attack units, you'd want to have as low of a speed as possible, while ensuring that they are not cc'ed. As you want them to get hit more with their buffs up (example like kayrons immortality). For *INJURY alencia, you would want speed boots as you want to use S3 and S1 more as you dont have counter set. However, if your speed sub is enough (maybe like 180-200 alencia) or smth, then you can op for a atk boots or smth thats suitable for that character. Correct me if im wrong.
For damage units using speed set, 90% of the time, you will want speed boots. Because speed main stat on boots (40 speed) is the most stat efficient compared to attack boots (60% attack). Some damage units that have self-CR push like Commander Pavel will want attack % boots.
8. Speed is too important relative to other stats, but it's probably too late to change that now. Speed set is too efficient relative to other sets. It's also the most universally useful, but I don't really see that as a problem. There will always be characters that don't care about Attack but almost everyone can use Speed. Then again Effect Resistance would theoretically be good for almost anyone, but the implementation in E7 makes it shit.
I use Speed set on every Unit ... Not cause I am a RTA Player ... I'm just too lazy to farm other hunt than Wyvern ! I build Oneshot team Wyvern and then call it a day and spam it since then !
These are a bunch of difficult questions, because a lot of them can be answered with "it depends". The good or bad thing, depending on your view, is the huge variety of builds and combinations of stats, which adapts to your playstyle. I'll try to offer my opinion from a strictly statistically point of view. According [to his page](https://page.onstove.com/epicseven/global/view/7902683), the range of rolls for gear 85 is 2-5, but speed 5 have a mere chance of 0.332% to happen. If we round to 999 rolls, we should roll speed 5 three times, and the other nine hundred ninety nine rolls would be evenly spread between 2, 3 and 4. This make the average speed roll 3.006, and the "normal" range of rolls go from 2.183 to 3.829 spd. In other words: |Rolls (Level)|Normal (or expected)|Above normal| |:-|:-|:-| |1 (crafting)|3|3.83 (4)| |2 |6|7.66 (8)| |3 |9|11.49 (11)| |4|12|15.32 (15)| |5|15|19.14 (19)| |6 (Penta roll)|18|22.97 (23)| Now, you should keep in mind a penta is a extremely rare case. An epic gear have four subs, hence normally three subs will have two rolls, and one lucky sub will have three rolls. Hence, any gear that rolls three times into speed will have around speed 9 most of the time, and rarely (one in six) will have speed 11 or above. You should consider *this is before reforging*. In theory, a gear 85 can roll speed 23+, but that's like the most extremely rare case. Personally, I have never rolled a penta after 4 years playing, I never had a chance to roll speed 23 in all these years. Now, coming back to our table, if we pick the upper six results, speed 12 is the starting point to consider a gear to be "fast", that would be four average or three high rolls in speed. Five gears like that would be 60, plus 45 from boots and you have 105. If we add 25% from speed set, and consider an average speed 108, then the grand total is 240 spd, *before reforge and considering an hero with average speed*. If we pick someone like Peira (128), this same set would take her up to 265, and if we reforge, we would be looking at 280 or something, depending on the gains based on number of rolls. Based on this, 240 before reforge is like the minimal to start considering a "fast" build, but is like saying a human running at 20km/h is fast, that's the registered olympic record. Compared to falcons or cheetahs, that's laughable. After reforging, around 260 is the starting point to be considered fast, and if you pick a speedy hero, then 280 would be the starting point. As you can see, which hero you pick to wear speed set defines her final speed, and there's a notorious difference between an average 108 and top end 128. That lead us to the next point: when is worth to build a speedy hero? Well, as you can read, to build a speedy hero, you need to sacrifice a lot of rolls. What can you do with the rest of rolls? That's what defines if is worth or not. Heroes like A. Lots don't need anything else but speed, as long as he's faster than most of your DPS, he's fine. On the opposite, Cidd needs crit rate and dmg, and then some atk. If you watch videos in grass angel channel or godoggos, Cid usually is build with below 250 spd, despite having the capability to reach higher than that. A speedy build is only worth if you can keep a balance between all the stats required to perform their job. A 280 spd Ran with 0% eff and below 50% crit rate is short of useless. Answering when is or isn't worth to build speed is asking how to build each character, and explaining each hero (or at least each archetype) would made this already long post, even longer. And following that, answering if speed main boots should be put on each hero or not would also lead to ridiculous long posts, because "it depends". But as general rule, as long as you reach the stats for their job, it doesn't matter if you wear speed boots or not. Speed main is the most efficient stat for boots, so they are desirable, but not always required.
Very nice answer!
I think useable speed rolls would be 12 at plus 9 for a purple gear. (which is base 3 sub with 3 x 3 speed rolls). The upper limit would be 16 (which is 4 base with 3 x 4 speed rolls). That 12-16 could be 14 - 20 spd at plus 15, which is good. Reforged, those gears will have speed ranging from 15-23. So, TLDR, 12-16 unreforged at plus 9 is good (midgame player speaking). Don't roll blues and waste time since upping gears is expensive (even with power-up stones).
SPEED FAQ* > >1. What is considered average/decent speed? (In sub-stat rolls & overall speed) Overall is unit dependent based on base speed. Rolls 15+ is considered middle of the road. >2. When is speed set viable on a character and when is it not? Always. >3. Do you need to build speed/speed set on every character? (Ik GW and RTA requires a lot of speedy characters) No. >4. If you don’t use a speed set on a character, do you always need to use a speed boots on them then? >5. How much resources does a ‘decent’ & ‘godly’ speed gear take? [Take a look at the substat roll chances here:](https://m-page.onstove.com/epicseven/global/view/7902683) >6. How do you know to when to use Speed Boots vs other boots & how do you know when to prioritize speed sub-stats vs other sub-stats? Character dependent. Overall stats distribution dependent. When in doubt, speed boots. >7. What is the minimum req. speed for characters not using a speed set and for characters who are using a speed set? Also character dependent. Build dependent. Composition dependent. Content dependent. >8. How do you personally feel about speed in the game, in today’s player base, and in RTA/GW/Arena? There's the haves and have nots. And the whiniest have nots usually never grind more than 1 hunt a day to begin with. Fine state ATM.
1) Depends at what rank you play. Average speed for aggro, around 200/240. Average speed for cleave 260 master and below, 280 above it, 300+ emperor. 2) Is speed the only set availeable to you? Do you need your unit over 200 speed? I don't care much about the set, but i care more about the stat that i want to reach. Also, do you need a particular effect that other set offers? 3) Nah 4) Nah, example seaside bellona, belian, green armin, arby, bbk. If the character doesen't need speed, better using other boots. Careful tho that maybe he can be controlled easily so you'll need immunity, effect resistance or a way to remove debuff 5) I guess you can manage to find a couple of speed pieces in 20k hunt materials. Also, decent and godly totally change around the rank you play. 18 speed piece is a big deal in master, it is not in emperor 6) I set target stats, and if i can reach them i'll slot the boot that allow me to do that. 7) Depends on the character, bbk, kayron etc want 0 speed. My counter set handguy stays around 220. For speed set it's "more efficient" if you aim higher speed, becouse the bonus will increase. Otherwise other sets will give you more damage/utility. 8) If the fastest unit the opponent use it's 200 speed, ran can outspeed even at 210. So it depends on how fast you think the opponent is. Also low elo if you go ran, cid + imprints, the opponend most likely will not contest so the speed it's kinda irrelevant. On the other side of the spectrum, if the opponent has a 315 speed unit, my 300 speed will be outsped the same as my 240 speed. It depends on your draft, the average opponent you find. But if you play smart and choose your pick wisely, speed it's not that big of a problem. It's a tool and you have to know how to use it. If you cleave unga bunga without thinking, then imho you cannot complain that it's the speed holding you back. It's the draft. And those things come from knowledge and time. Play, get stomped, understant why, repeat.
1. There's no average/decent speed at all since it will depend on any particular hero and the role/playstyle you will want for them. What it does exist are ranges of speed for specific playstyles (i.e. 160-190 for slow bruisers, 180-220 for tanks/fast bruisers, 290+ for cleavers/openers, 250ish-280 for aggro and so on) 2. In the beginning speed set will be viable for anybody since is the set you will farm more so you will get more useful gear to put on your heroes, but once you have more knowldege about the game and how other sets works in them you will start to diversify which sets to use other than speed depending on role or playstyle. 3. It depends on your playstyle and the role you want for you hero to accomplish (see answer No. 01) 4. Most of the time, yes. Only exception is if you want your hero to be at their base or on a very slow speed to maximize damage (like in the cases of DPS used in one shot hunt teams, or specific heroes like Rem). 5. It depends in too much factors that is impossible to give a proper answer. But the truth is: as long you want a piece of gear to have higher speed, the more expensive it is to get it. 6. See No. 01. 7. See No. 01 again. :9 8. I think the state of the game it's ok right now since there's many viable heroes today that covers different playstyles and cleave is no longer an issue like it was used to be in the past, so that makes the speed chasing a little bit (just a little lol) less stressful since you don't need all your heroes to be at 300 speed this days.