Dual Wield, useless, mostly.

So, im runing a 70 Duelist that is skilled Dualwield.
I have to come to realize that DualWielding appears to be (to me) totally useless.
There are 2 Skills that have Synergy with DW. Once is Dual Strike, the other is Cleave.
Both have no AoE unless you link something into it.

At lvl 70, my Dueist is using REAVE versus Mobs because ist just cheaper, better and more effective than Cleave/Splash or Dual/Splash due to the inherent Splash on Reave. And in Addition to the inherent splash, the AoE on Reave is grossly larger than any Splash Support Skill could ever be.


I wish i would have a full Reset and could go 1H Shield or 2H wpn. I really, REALLY feel that DualWield is vastly inferior to those 2 Options.

Opinions ?

Buy a Wings of Entropy and mess around with that if you really want to explore options

"

RagnarokX wrote:

So, im runing a 70 Duelist that is skilled Dualwield.
I have to come to realize that DualWielding appears to be (to me) totally useless.
There are 2 Skills that have Synergy with DW. Once is Dual Strike, the other is Cleave.
Both have no AoE unless you link something into it.

At lvl 70, my Dueist is using REAVE versus Mobs because ist just cheaper, better and more effective than Cleave/Splash or Dual/Splash due to the inherent Splash on Reave. And in Addition to the inherent splash, the AoE on Reave is grossly larger than any Splash Support Skill could ever be.


I wish i would have a full Reset and could go 1H Shield or 2H wpn. I really, REALLY feel that DualWield is vastly inferior to those 2 Options.

Opinions ?

Cleave has no aoe...
Linking splash to cleave...

I suggest you read cleave again.

"

RagnarokX wrote:

At lvl 70, my Dueist is using REAVE versus Mobs because ist just cheaper, better and more effective than Cleave/Splash or Dual/Splash due to the inherent Splash on Reave.

Gear yourself a bit better and you'll see the difference. Dual/splash completely outperforms reave. Also duelist is well situated around very tasty DW nodes. Also DW may have damn high block chance, with few investments, especially as a duelist. The only downside is you'll lack the defensive stats, manipulated by nodes, that a shield gives to you(ar/ev/es+increased). But dps with DW is higher.

Cleave is an AoE skill, no need to link Melee Splash to it.

Reave's AoE is smaller than 20% Melee Splash's.

Dual Strike + Melee Splash will outdamage Reave, especially quality versions.

Although dual-wield nodes are mostly inferior compared to one-handed nodes, there are some exceptions: 12% attack speed near Shadow start, 10% Block near duelist start, 3-node cluster + "Twin Terrors" cluster + Ambidexterity (24% phys + 4% AS for 1 point) at the bottom of the tree.

Also, dual-wielding doesn't prevent you from taking one-handed nodes (or two-handed nodes if you're using Wings of Entropy).

So, I wouldn't say that dual wield is worse than 1h+shield in terms of damage.

1h+shield gives you better defenses though, especially if you're CI.

Let's not forget that DW gains innate attack speed, which is a very important stat on Reave.

Inferior is a big word, but I do think dual wield isn't in quite a good state at the moment.
There is a lack of skills synergy with it. I also think currently only dual strike is still pulling its weight if you compare to other melee options.

Issues I see with dual wield are:

1. 10% More attack speed got somewhat trivialized by multistrike support gem design.

2. Dual wield block is inferior to shield block, you do not get defense from shield. The only way to remedy this is through unique items (ungil 2x i.e.). Naturally shields should be better at blocking, but I don't see the big difference in damage between 1 handed vs dual wield.

3. Dual wield nodes and clusters look alike and could use some diversity and buffing. Dual wield did not see %life hyrbids. A lot of the clusters got accuracy and phys damage. Dual generally works better with elemental damage, which makes actually taking dual wield nodes due to the mandatory wasted phys not that interesting. This is an issue I have generally though, some weapon and melee clusters could be more general and less phys focused. Dual wield damage or melee damage, in stead of Dual wield physical damage and melee physical damage. General dmg nodes would be stronger, thus they should be lower. The twin terror cluster got overlooked twice. I do think thought that partially what I say here about dual wield is also applicable to 2 handed and 1 handed nodes or weapon nodes. With the innate stats on swords, axes and their respective nodes on the tree I see little variation between these two either. SO much that I feel it kind of is a waste of valuable tree space to have both axe and sword nodes. That is just me though, I would liek to see mroe nodes such as fencing, or having a good impact to stun enemies, bow pierce, adder's touch or knock back with wands and bows are the kind of nodes I would love to see more of.

4. Dual wield is being pushed into the corner where uniques make something out of alternating hand attacks or where offhand unique weapons provide a bonus to your mainhand weapon attack. Both of these are not true dual wield options in the current state of the game, especially if you only use your mainhand. Alternating could be a dual wield style, but the game except for uniques has not done a serious design/ plays-style attempt at this yet. This dual wield, with mainhand or 2 hand weapon skills is nice to have as extra, but doesn't deserve to be no1. method of build variation for dual wielding.

The above 4 points are just minor issues but they do add up. In general though the hybrid style between 2 handers and 1handed + shield doesn't distinguish itself enough anymore. Perhaps best would be if dual wield gets a new definition as a playstyle, instead of sitting in the middle. One is clearly defensive, the other offensive and this just allows for a more focussed build that will excel in these two playstyles better than dual wield.

That said these are minor differences and dual wield is no way under powered or severely inferior as you can make viable and strong high dps, good defensive builds with it. I just think it lacks identity these days.

you start by doing 10% MOREdamage (due to 10% more attack speed) compared to one handed.

you can take the same nodes as one handed as well as dual wield nodes

you have a passive +15% block which can be fursther boosted to be really good even without ungil's and stuff (10% block node near duelist means that with a single passive point you have practically 25% LESS damage from attacks)

you lose defensive stats of shield you gain offensive stats from weapon (accu for swords, loh for claws, crit chance for daggers, crit damage from foils, elemental damage from sceptres etc) as well as global affixes that only appear on weapons and are global (global crit chance/mult, weapon elemental damage, accu, loh, mana leech, life leech, etc)

overall dual wield loses some on raw defensive stats (armor/ev/es) and gains some on offensive while still retaining a decent block rate.

Pretty common, Dual Wield for Damage or Shield for Defense. It's up to their preferences whatever they want to play more offensive or more defensive.

And don't forget that Dual Wield means more option. You can go full damage main-hand and support off-hand(Soul Taker, Bloodseeker etc.).

You can gain max Physical Damage Reduction, max Resist and 5k+ Hp while Dual Wielding tho. I know you need epic gears, but the point is.. Yes you can.

Dual Wield, useless, mostly. Without epic gears, yes I have to agree with this(And mostly I suggest ppl goes for Shield).