Dual Wield vs Two Handed vs One handed and shield

[Cownose]

Hi everyone! I have played a few tank characters to about 20 or so, one paladin and one shadowknight, but it never really was alot of fun for me. However, I have since made a zerker on PvP server and I love him! My problem with the SK and pally was it felt like it took forever to kill a mob, with my zerker I feel like I'm really kicking [expletive haxx0red by Raijinn]. Anyways I have recently had two steel clusters crafted into pristine imbued steel tomahawks, dual wield axe. I'm not 22 yes to use them, but anyways, lets get on with it.Is shield bash with its stun just too good to ignore? From an RP standpoint my character just isn't the shield type so I don't really dont want to use one, but maby I can get used to it, if it makes me pwn more in pvp.And, how does the DPS compare between the same rare crafted weapons imbued, 1handed+shield vs two handed vs dual? I went dual because I figured the glimmering strike would proc more, I would hit more faster and generally maby do more dmg. But perhaps this isn't the best way to go, because I forgot about that shield bash. So next tier or if I get a good 1handed weapon I might switch to shield. Anyways, I look forward to your responses!

[DwarvesR]

Procs are normalized to having a 5% chance to proc every 3 seconds.  Faster weapons therefore have a lower chance to proc per swing, while slower weapons have a higher chance to proc per swing.

Additionally, only the main hand weapon can proc, so having the offhand weapon imbued doesn't mean anything.

So far as dps goes, it's normalized such that 2 DW = 1 2H weapon.  1H + shield is approx 75% of that damage, but theoretically the higher defense from the shield balances it all.

What this menas is that *any* fighting style is theoretically just as good as any other.

In practice, for dps, use DW or 2H in offense stance.  For tanking, use 1H + Shield in defense stance.  Weapon choice matters only so far as quality of weapon goes, don't bother imbuing your offhand weapon, and whatever the proc % shows on the weapon is its chance of going off in a given 3 second period.

[Cownose]

That is good to hear, because I just love haveing one big axe or two small axes, no sissy shield.I do however play on a PvP server so I also am interested in what anyone has to say about that,

[DasanW]

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DwarvesRUs wrote:

Additionally, only the main hand weapon can proc, so having the offhand weapon imbued doesn't mean anything.

P>

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When was this changed? I used to wield a PGT and a SSOY and both would proc.

[DwarvesR]

Was changed a few LU's back.  There were tons of complaints about it, especially from scouts, since losing the 2nd proc cut dps.

[Zerv]

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Cownose wrote:That is good to hear, because I just love haveing one big axe or two small axes, no sissy shield.I do however play on a PvP server so I also am interested in what anyone has to say about that,

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On pvp you should probably go stamina path with 1hd & bucklerThe pvp faction rewards 80dps sword = 80 + 60.8 (multiply 80 by .76) = essentially 140dps with maxed double attack a 60dps item (multiply by .76) comes out to 45 dps so thats about 105dps w/ a 1hder76% double attack w/ bow is almost a must havebuckler reversal is great for aggro/damageyou will do more dps than 2hd/duel once you get a 1hderyou get your extra shield bashyou get extra riposte & 360 degree protection

Message Edited by Zervun on 06-30-2006 09:03 AM

[Cownose]

That double attack does indeed look good! I will try out this buckler stuff in the next tier, thanks for the advice.

[Zerv]

the hardest part is finding a good bucklerSBS from 30 - 55ishAegis of Scorn from Roost in DoF @ 55? 58?@ 62+ is where things pick upBuckler of the Flapping wingAj'ezors guardIronplate shieldingEthereal buckler of BylzeBuckler of the witchhunt (or something close to that)

[Cownose]

Great, thanks again for the advice.

[R2Chie]

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DwarvesRUs wrote:

Was changed a few LU's back.  There were tons of complaints about it, especially from scouts, since losing the 2nd proc cut dps.

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quite sure ive seen my rangers off hand proc in more recent times.. Ive heard some people say this but ive always dismissed it, will look into it when im back ingame tommorow but im 95% sure that ive seen off hand proc without a doubt

[DwarvesR]

I did some further digging and found the following:

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Procs on weapons still proc from either hand, but all buff-type procs (such as dragon stance/advance) only proc off of the primary hand, now.

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This was early February.

So I was wrong about weapon procs, but right about spell procs.  I thought it was both weapon and spell.  My bad.  Sorry for the confusion.

[Khal]

If you not taking procs or AA into it, 2 hander and DW will give you pretty much the same auto attack damage, amd a 1 hand is 75% of that.

[Cownose]

So sad that I must use a shield, but I've been in a few fights that I've started to see a stun would have made the difference between life and death. The enemy is going to be useing everything they can to kill me, so I should do the same.

[TheBoh]

Both procs are applied, so they can both go off, but only the swinging of the mainhand can trigger the proc thats applied to either H1 or H2 while Dual Wielding.

[HelixStalwa]

As a low 20's zerker myself, I have found that 2DW means you tend to do a steadier flow of damage so early aggro gains are more predictable. If I use a 2H weapon and miss the first few swings, there is the risk of the mob getting peeled off me and hitting the guys in dresses at the back.

[Cownose]

I call em fingerwigglers meself. Got that from a gnoll.