Dual-wield or buckler?

[milias]

Hi, I recently created a Swashbuckler, and it's been really fun to play so far.  I can usually sneak up behind an enemy and just spam all my CA's, and it's dead before I finish my CA chain.  Anyway, I was wondering whether it's better to dual-wield or to use a buckler.  I was under the impression that it's always better to use a weapon/shield combo, since the extra damage from dual-wielding is negligible compared to the protection from a shield.  Is this still correct for Swashbucklers?  Thanks in advance!

[Dreadpatch]

There's several threads on AA lines, and that would make a huge difference in how you want to handle equipping weapons. I personally duel wield and use the str/agi lines, but some people have one handed weapon and go down wisdom line. With wis line, you can't use a shield. Shields should really only be used on a swashy in a situation where you have to tank. As for soloing, really no need to use a shield, unless you are trying to take out uber mobs solo. That's my feeling, and you really can't count out the AA's, as they make huge difference in your overall performance.

[NiteWolfe]

The best defense is a strong offense IMO, go with 1h and spec str, agi and wis lines! being able to spend 70 AA in each side makes for some wonderful damage output!

[Meinen]

<p>its all about how you want to play and what makes the class fun for you.  For me, i love to dual wield.  Its fun, i do some nice dps.  str and agi is a great build for DW.  I know a lot of swashes still swear by 1h, but for me, DW=more dps in my case. </p><p>If you wanna be able to tank with your swash, try out the stamina line.   i was gonna try out str/agi and sta build, mostly for giggles since the guild brig likes to tank Crypt of Agony.  So, i would like to see if i can actually hold aggro in a tanking set up vs. dps build.  Keep in mind, we still have great survivability even if we aren't tank specc'ed.  </p>

[NiteWolfe]

I tank courts, coa and vaults every day with my str,agi, wis build. Thats in a 5 man group where iam running 3 of the toons and a husband wife team run the other 2. ( i run the swashy, fury and the dirge) they run a mystic and a brigand. But yes run the build you have the most fun with. After all it is a game to be played for the fun of it!

[darkauron0]

<p>I personally use 1h for dps. And am right behind the assassin and the ranger in our guild on the parses</p><p>But my AA mirror sets me to tank spec. With this i am able to tank every (yes, every) instance in the game quite easily.</p><p>Jack-of-all-trades, master of none.</p><p>As for dps with the shield, all of my parses show my dps going down when i try to dps with a shield. But that's me, if you can figure it out than be my guest, more power to ya!</p>

[Rippitt]

I use a freehand setup for tanking. No STA line bonuses. 44881 str, 48 agi, 48881 wis I've tanked all the heroic content.

[Faenril]

While leveling solo: - Shield + sta line is good, most DPS is from CAs until you get end game weapons, and shield helps a lot. - Wis line gives you better DPS with still decent surviability. End game: - best DPS is with dual wield and stacking dbl attack items. - best tankability is with sta+shield (you really can tank any heroic content with that). The extra taunt is nice too for tanking. - Wis line is the compromise, very good DPS, and you can tank anything too, but it's harder and you need better healers (did maiden fencer specced with templar and warden, for instance).

[Xalmat]

So regarding 1-hand vs Dual Wield, do +Double Attack mods work on both hands, or just primary? If it works on both hands, it would take very little in the way of +Double Attack for dual wield to blow the 1-hand line out of the  water.

[Faenril]

<cite>Xalmat wrote:</cite><blockquote>So regarding 1-hand vs Dual Wield, do +Double Attack mods work on both hands, or just primary? If it works on both hands, it would take very little in the way of +Double Attack for dual wield to blow the 1-hand line out of the  water.</blockquote>That's the way I understood it at least <img src="/smilies/8a80c6485cd926be453217d59a84a888.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />With the itemization in ROK, and group buffs, your %Dbl Attack will hit the cap pretty easily with fencer spec, wasting the extra %Dbl Attack.

[Trojenn]

Well with the new Achievement Mirrors being around now i Have a Tank Spec and a DW DPS spec.. For [Removed for Content] and giggles i tried going Wis spec to see how it would work and uhm it sucked.. I went with Betrayals for this test, I was at 99% DA 62% Crit 969 STR, I was parsing 2.5-3k at most on heroic content ( Deep Chardok for Orange Con Mobs) Retrying going with DW , STR AGI spec I was going 3.8-4.4K Parses Consistently, 25% DA 66% Crit 1034 STR. So IMHO DW in RoK is deffinately the way to go. Wis Line was awsome pre RoK with 50 AA to spend..

[Faenril]

Indeed, 1 dbl attack point while dual wielding is close to 2 dbl attack points while fencing (a bit less than 2 because of the delay penalty)... That being said, theoritically if you dual wield you want to favor dbl attack (for the above reasons), which means you may have to sacrifice some %crit or %DPS depending on the stuff available to you. So things are not completely "black and white" <img src="/smilies/8a80c6485cd926be453217d59a84a888.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />