How do you make a working Dual Wield build?

[Aksolotli]

???

[Nani!?!?]

I managed okay using Dex and Schimitars but ultimately Dueling was still better

[angelsenvy228]

I made a fighter with 4 levels in thief for the extra bonus action and get dual wielder perk.

[Blood of Kerensky]

Originally posted by Aksolotli:

???

Step 1: Pick a class that has two weapon fighting
Step 2: Fight with two weapons

[Aksolotli]

Originally posted by Blood of Kerensky:

Originally posted by Aksolotli:

???

Step 1: Pick a class that has two weapon fighting
Step 2: Fight with two weapons

My main Fighter can push out 120 damage with Haste and Action Surge in level 8 with Great Weapon
My second Fighter with Dual Wield can do only 60 damage with Haste and Action surge.

[Blood of Kerensky]

Originally posted by Aksolotli:

Originally posted by Blood of Kerensky:

Step 1: Pick a class that has two weapon fighting
Step 2: Fight with two weapons

My main Fighter can push out 120 damage with Haste and Action Surge in level 8 with Great Weapon
My second Fighter with Dual Wield can do only 60 damage with Haste and Action surge.

Nobody said every build is equal.

[Aksolotli]

Originally posted by Blood of Kerensky:

Originally posted by Aksolotli:

My main Fighter can push out 120 damage with Haste and Action Surge in level 8 with Great Weapon
My second Fighter with Dual Wield can do only 60 damage with Haste and Action surge.

Nobody said every build is equal.

But there is no damage. Why?

[AzureTheGamerKobold]

Dual Wielding is notoriously bad in 5e, its mainly used for rogues for the extra sneak attack chance but ultimately not really great. two handers and polearms will outdamage it.

[Grumpy Old Guy]

Originally posted by Aksolotli:

Originally posted by Blood of Kerensky:

Nobody said every build is equal.

But there is no damage. Why?

Because 2 handed fighting gets all its damage from great weapon master which has a really hefty penalty to hit. Haste helps more for that because the base attack action is where most of your attacks are coming from. Action surge is the same story its adding the same number of attacks with either the 2H weapon or a one hand weapon the only thing two weapons gets you is a bonus action attack and at that point its not really worth it if the other 6 attacks you have during a turn are weaker.

That's why onednd was looking at adding the extra attack from dual wield to the attack action instead of a bonus action to fix this exact problem.

PS you know what the best 2H weapon is? A polearm with Polearm master because that +10 to damage is added to the reaction attack and SHOULD (currently isn't) added to the bonus action attack.

[FenvalTTV]

Originally posted by AzureTheGamerKobold:

Dual Wielding is notoriously bad in 5e, its mainly used for rogues for the extra sneak attack chance but ultimately not really great. two handers and polearms will outdamage it.

Thank you for the info, I tried to make a pure ranger build work but without the assistance pf oil/potions/items the damage is quite underwhelming :(

Like many, my dream to do a "Drizzt Do'Urden" build has been disapointing.

[Chaos Theory]

I was researching (yes actually researching) this very question-- dex-based dual-wielder. ...Apparently 5e and BG3 are not ideal for this setup. It's playable in the first half of the game, but quickly falls behind other builds, and really is an ineffective no-go unless you absolutely want to role play that build. But you won't be a DPS hero like other systems.

[A]

Go dual handcrossbows before they nerf it lol. Pick Gloom Stalker and Assassin or Assassin then burst them before the fight starts.

[ChaosKhan]

Originally posted by Aksolotli:

???

Well, it "works" on pretty much every combat class.

If you want to "commit" to it though, I think you need 3 or 4 levels in Rogue for the thief sub-class. The extra bonus action on lvl 3 is crucial, so you don't fall behind too hard.

[Grumpy Old Guy]

Originally posted by A:

Go dual handcrossbows before they nerf it lol. Pick Gloom Stalker and Assassin or Assassin then burst them before the fight starts.

If you're going to do that don't bother with assassin grab thief rogue for the double bonus action because you can shoot twice with it if you have a crossbow in your off hand and the weapon is currently bugged.

Right now not only is it adding the dex bonus to the attack damage when it shouldn't be it's not taking the -5 from sharp shooter and still giving the +10 to damage.

So yeah Gloom Stalker 5/Thief Rogue 3 gives you five attacks on turn one and four attacks every turn after that.

[wendigo211]

Paladin 8/Rogue (Thief 4), get your dual wield damage from smites.

Edit: sorry, it would have to be Pally 2/Bard (Sword) 6/Rogue (Thief 4) since Pallies don't get 2W style, but Bards do.

[Myth Alric]

They work well on dex based fighters, since you can get finesse weapons that use dex instead of strength. If you compare two weapon fighting vs one handing a rapier with duelist, then they are far more comparable to like two handed weapon with a great sword.

So the question is why go with a dex based build? Because they can often get higher AC(especially classes with light armor, like a bard or something), or you might be wanting dex for disabling traps and stuff.

Which is often why you see barbarians and fighters with two handed weapons, while things like rogues some times use two weapons.