is it acceptable to attach an action to a certain frame in a sprite? (Gamemaker)

So basically I'm making an attack mechanic where the player character charges in the direction of the mouse, but I want for there to be a slight input delay and I'm thinking about doing that by checking if the attacking sprite has reached a certain frame. Is this acceptable? Here's my code:

//attackingspeed = attackvelattackvel -= 0.1attackvel = clamp(attackvel,0,10)if attack and attackrecoil = false then{    direction = point_direction(x,y,mouse_x,mouse_y)    attackvel = 50    attackrecoil = true}

If this isn't efficient ill just use a timer but I don't really like using timers because I'm afraid they'll slow my game down.