Dual Wielding - please help me understand

[Swimfan]

So for my second playthrough I'm currently playing katanas to see what the buzz is all about and out of sheer luck I actually stumbled upon the second Ushigatana pretty quickly.

First off: Dual Wielding is - at first glance - SO MUCH less complicated than it was in DS2 or DS3 (DS2 you needed 1,5x better stats than one weapon needed to wield and in 3 dual wielding was limited to very specific weapon-sets that were designed as "dual weapons"). Both instances very functional, both were overly complicated imo..
I'm so happy that i just needed to equip the second Ushi in my Offhand and that was that.

It's really well made that you get the dual attack-combo on L1 and L2 ist basically your FP attack right out of the box (so you don't even have to hold the weapon in both hands anymore).

Now to the dual attacks which are the reason you want to dual wield in the first place:
How would you say is the damage output? For me it feels like I deal damage/bleed faster but I'm not so sure.
Also: Why isn't basically everyone dual-wielding? If the damage is indeed better, I wonder why I haven't seen more dual wielded katanas a.s.o.?!

[SmallGespenst]

dual wielding means that players can't use Sorcery or Invocations, also no shield and a lot of the larger weapons tend to be better to two-hand than dual wield

[Firaeveus Carron]

Dual wielding, 1Hers + shields, 2Hers and magic are all viable in Elden Ring so that's probably why. Some people don't want to give up their shields while others prefer the higher damage per strike of heavier weapons.

[Swimfan]

Originally posted by SmallGespenst:

dual wielding means that players can't use Sorcery or Invocations, also no shield and a lot of the larger weapons tend to be better to two-hand than dual wield

That's true but I found that I don't really need sorcery nor Invocations (and if I did I would just switch my offhand very fast) and well ... never used a shield in my first playthrough anyways.

But do you think that for smaller weapons like katanas dual wielding is worth it?! Especially katanas seem to be made for this stuff, don't they?!

[Theta]

I tried the dual katanas but im usually a str boy. Misses the staggers so i switched to 2 curved greatswords. The bloodhound fang and a blood dismounter. Not bleeding as fast but feels nice.

[Swimfan]

Originally posted by Thetan:

I tried the dual katanas but im usually a str boy. Misses the staggers so i switched to 2 curved greatswords. The bloodhound fang and a blood dismounter. Not bleeding as fast but feels nice.

Yeah, curved is what I wanted to do next.

I did slow Greatswords on my first playthrough and stuck with that. Staggering harder trashmobs felt amazing but bosses became less fun the faster they became.
This run I wanted to be quick.

[Warnstaff]

I went from sword and board wretched as my main to a dual uchigatana Samurai recently, and I am by far more successful as a dual wielder, BUT, I also have a few dozen hours of experience under my belt to bring to the table and know what I'm doing now vs before. It's harder to survive, but easier to kill with dual uchigatanas.

[Swimfan]

Originally posted by Warnstaff:

I went from sword and board wretched as my main to a dual uchigatana Samurai recently, and I am by far more successful as a dual wielder, BUT, I also have a few dozen hours of experience under my belt to bring to the table and know what I'm doing now vs before. It's harder to survive, but easier to kill with dual uchigatanas.

Hmmm true but again: I NEVER blocked on playthrough 1 anyways ;-) My offhand was basically useless for the majority of that run plus dual katana just looks more ..."flavorful".