Finally got Anaph.. change to 1H Fencer?

[bcc123000]

<p>Hi all,</p><p>I've been dual-wielding Spellforged Skewer and Sebilite Dirk, and finally <img src="/eq2/images/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /> got Anaphylaxis last night.. I been going crazy reading all the different opinions on the forums about 1H (WIS spec) versus DW...</p><p>So my question is, would you all recommend I continue dual-wield with Anaph (primary) and Skewer (offhand), or should I respec as Fencer and 1H with Anaph only?</p><p>I am about 50/50 solo/group playstyle, and am a casual player with some RL friends.. we're probably never going to raid or anything.. just play for fun <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /></p><p>Thanks!</p><p><img src="/eq2/images/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /></p>

[PakMonyet]

Personally, I duel wield with main hand Anaph. and off hand spellforged skewer.The conventional wisdom among Swashies is that the 1H fencer (Wis line) is pretty much outdated and the way to go is Duel Wield now.  Of course that may change with the new TSO expansion and the associated new AA lines and increased AA cap.  We'll have to wait for TSO to go live to see what, if any, difference it makes to this 1H vs. DW issue.The combo of Anaph. main hand and Skewer off hand is working well for me.  Anaph has that wierd delay of 4.5, and until I "found" the skewer it didnt match well with other off hand weapons (with different, usually 4.0, delays).  Now, with this set-up, I am very happy with my dps output etc.Of course, I am still trying to kill Pirate Jones and get my fabled epic Charm's Way.  When I do get it I will probably still go with DW, though I'm not sure what I will pair it with at this time.  I'm still running all the RoK instances and named to try for a good pair with Charm's Way.Good luck!

[Thunndar316]

<p>I am suprised to see you guys dual wielding 4 delay or more weapons.</p><p>I am currently Level 63 with 86 AA and I am fencing with a mastercrafted xegonite sword.  Cant remember the specific name but it is like 60-260 with a 5 delay.</p><p>Should I be dual wielding long delay, higher damage weapons?  I assumes that a shorter delay, lower damage dual wield was the way to go.</p>

[riblete]

The weapons they are talking about do more damage than Mastercrafted, reguardless of delay.<ul><li>A very-high damage spread weapon has advantages in overall damage versus a low damage spread weapon, independent of the delay.  This is due to the mechanics of critical hits. The greater the percentage of critical hits, the greater the advantage to a greater-spread weapon.</li><li>A short delay weapon will also cause extra short delays due to CA's timers interupting the autoattack "swing" more often than a long delay weapon. This effect is partially mitigated by skillfully timing CA's inbetween autoattacks. Generally around 3 second delay is as short as you can get to be able to be effective at timing CAs.</li><li>If the two weapons in a dual weild are different delays, it messes up the ability to be skillful at timing CA's.</li></ul>Most of the commentary on single versus dual weild only applies to levels 1-75.  Around level 76-80 probably either way is still effective, depending on equipment and your play style (solo, group, etc). But once you start getting decent gear, especially double attack gear and nice weapons, the dual wield style does somewhat better damage in groups, and considerably more damage in raids.

[bcc123000]

<p>Sorry.. should have mentioned I'm L80.</p><p>But still lacking a bit in DoubleAttack gear.. for now, my Crits are at 31% and DA at a measly 6%.</p><p>Until I can get DA up to a respectable 20%+, should I be continuing to Dual-Wield Anaph and Skewer, or should I respec to 1H Fencer w/ Anaph alone?</p><p>From what I've read, if DA is <20%, then it might be better to go 1H Fencer, until I can get better DA gear?</p><p>Unfortunately, as I play only a few hours per week with RL friends, I'm probably never going to raid or get the appropriate DA gear anyway <img src="/smilies/9d71f0541cff0a302a0309c5079e8dee.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /> </p><p>Thanks !</p><p><img src="/eq2/images/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /></p>

[Olio]

That 20% rule is pretty fair.  You're way below that number which means for any given weapon, you will probably be better off fencer than dual wield.  If you spend a fair amount of time doing solo work, having coule makes this far prefarable when close on over all parsing because it will give you an extra benefit of more defense and better ability to hit the targets.

[riblete]

I found I solo'ed slightly better at level 80 once I switched to dual weild with a similar weapon setup to yours, and with only 6% DA. I found I was getting hit on average one more time during solo fights with a single weapon due to a slightly increased fight length. So even though my defense was better, it was not helping me. A good example for you to test on is to fight the level 80-82 single ^ dino's in JW.Our best defense at level 80 is faster killing, stuns, and knockdowns.

[Olio]

I would need to see a parse to prove that last statement.  I really doubt you are killing anything faster if you have 2 equal weapons with only 6 DA in a dual wield build over a single wield build.  Under those circumstances, you should have more dps single wield, better chance to hit and better defense...

[riblete]

To post parses that have any real meaning in an open forum, the experiment would need to be tightly controlled. In my case, the results are more anecdotal than scientific in my methods. I was single weilding, with what I considered excellent solo technique, killing the dino's many, many times for the hunter's faction quests. After I swapped from single weild to a dual weild for raiding purposes, my raid DPS jumped dramatically. I went back to the same dino area in JW with the same equipment (except extra sword!), and found my health at the end of the fights was 600-800 points higher on average than when I was single wielding. That is equal to an extra hit by the mobs most of the fights. Since my defense was worse, that can only mean the mobs hit me one time fewer because I killed faster or stunned them more often.A few things you are probably missing in the discussion of level 80 dual versus single weild builds:<ul><li>Single weild has coule, adding offense skill</li><li>Single weild has lunge reversal, adding some damage</li><li>Single weild has an increase in ripost, adding some damage</li><li>Dual weild has tramatic swipe, adding damage directly</li><li>Dual weild build has more points in the direct attacks torporous strike and walk the plank, adding damage directly</li><li>Dual weild has boot bagger, which might increase stun time for mobs depaning on use</li></ul>It may be the damage increase in the two Ap-attacks, along with the additional tramatic swipe is enough extra damage to make up the differences between single weild and dual wield.

[Dreadpatch]

I understand you are casual and that's fine. You're weapon's aren't terrible so this is not a flame. If you really want to get to a good level of auto attack dps without raiding, you want to get your fabled epic weapon (just try to bang out a step of the quest every time you play), and farm CoA to get carotidcutter. CoA will have a couple other items you will probably find useful, and for some reason I see more master spells drop in that zone than any other instance. Those are pretty much the best two weapons you can obtain without raiding.