Weighing my options for STR-based dual wielder.

[Pneumokokki]

So, for my next character I'd like to make a STR-based dual wielder, with the Dual Wielder feat, wielding longswords or something. And having hard time choosing classes.
First I thought of Battlemaster for maneuvers - love riposte, disarming and pushing is fun too. But from the role playing angle fighter might be a bit boring, idk.
Then I thought of Ranger Knight with hunter and colossus slayer, that could be fun too. And I could speak to animals.

I could, of course, multiclass the two, but I was thinking about putting some levels to Rogue for extra bonus actions / hits.
I wonder, what would be the most fun way to go here. Thoughts?
(Might even go for tactician difficulty this time, but not sure yet.)

[Kafik]

Barbarian.

[TheOrneryClam]

Originally posted by Mal:

Barbarian.

Barbarian warlock?

[victorvnv]

Nothing can beat fighter for Str based dual wielder

You get 3 attacks + 4th as a bonus action plus Action surge for 3 more in round 1. Add haste that’s 10 attacks .

With 4 feats you will not have to sacrifice anything - you can get duel wielder+ ability points for Str plus Ethel’s hair . Then you will still have 2 more feats for stuff like Alert and something else .

You can get the Haste bow from act 2 and add War caster as a feat this way you can cast haste on yourself and never worry that it will get broken for example and you will be able to slaughter many encounters on your own.

[Pneumokokki]

Originally posted by victorvnv:

You get 3 attacks + 4th as a bonus action plus Action surge for 3 more in round 1. Add haste that’s 10 attacks .

Those are probably all main hand attacks?

[Gregorovitch]

In my experience the most effective melee combo is Battlemaster and Trip. This is because after you've got 'em prone with the first hit you get a big boost to To Hit chance so you can far more easily afford to turn on the +10 damage passive to finish them off quickly and efficiently.

It's for this reason primarily that I almost always take Lae'zel with me rather than Karlach. The Trip thing just destroys 'em and severely limits their ability to hurt you as well.

[larhtas]

Barbarian 9/ Fighter 3
-> Half-orc
Fighter champion
Barbarian elk is great to run long distance and keep your bonus to action to not jump anywhere.

Half-orc for better critical.
Fighter champion for two-weapon fighting style and better chance of critical.
Barbarian for bigger critical and damage bonus on "each" attacks (rage).

[Pan Darius Cassandra]

IMO, you definitely want three levels of Rogue for the extra bonus action if you're going to dual wield, then you may as well go Ranger for Two Weapon Fighting and the extra damage from Colossus Slayer and Extra Attack at level five. With Haste that's six attacks/turn, and one of them could be a small Sneak Attack.

You probably want to be a Ranger Knight for the heavy armor proficiency and this is also one of those cases where Hunter's Mark is a great idea since your spells will mostly be ritual spell buffs like Longstrider and Jump.

Don't forget to get Phalar Aluve in the Undersnark.

[✙205🍉🐆→]

I had this build for bg1-2
Human berserker or barbarian + dual class cleric, that was a great build
chain and hammer weapons

[Mike Garrison]

IMO, under these rules, dual wielding is not a great choice for DPS. I mean, it's cool for role playing, and I'm into role playing. So have fun with that. But straight up DPS, there are better options.

Accordingly, if you want to dual wield, you should get something other than just another 1d8+str out of that off-hand weapon. Ie. you want a "stat stick" of some kind. Something like one of the many staffs that give you damage and/or save bonuses. Or Blood of Lathander or Phalar Aluve for their aura effects. Things like that.

Blood of Lathander is kind of weak as a primary weapon for DPS, but it passively gives you light and blinds undead and also gives you a free AOE radiant damage spell you can use. That sort of thing seems ideal for an off-hand weapon.

[Boss]

Well STR > DEX to begin with, and the best thing you get out of dual wielding is you can apply all those great on-hit effects from two good weapons, instead of just one. And you can switch hands once you use up the weapon skills on one, so you should pretty much constantly have great tools.

Fighter or Ranger go well with this because of Two-Weapon Fighting fighting style and Hunter's Mark, and Barbarian gets too add the rage bonus to the offhand attack, too. Going 3 levels into Rogue for Thief's Fast Hands is also valuable.