Two handing vs dual welding

[Coffee]

Super early game loot atm buut what's better having two of the same weapon or two handing one weapon?
Atm I only have stuff like the starting swords and a few other weapons like the Wolverine claws (I do have some others from killing enemies like tree knight but my stats are too low to use them)

So for those weapons is it better to two hand them or to dual wield

[Mepho]

It really depends on your playstyle.
2 handing has specific perks like halving the stat requirements or removing bounce from hitting certain enemies or shields, but the damage increase (if you have the stats for 1handing) isn't that significant.
Powerstancing is basically one handing but 2 weapons at once. You get more hits in one attack.

If you're playing with something that applies debuffs (bleed, poison, etc) a fast dual wield is very good, for instance.

[Sopranos Italianos]

Depends! It can vary from weapon to weapon and your stats. Essentially, when you two hand a weapon, you'll get more damage out of it based on your strength stat. It's also useful because if you don't exactly meet the specs of a weapon, sometimes two-handing it will "boost" them enough to let you use it anyway.

Dual wielding (also known as power stancing) is also extremely good depending on what you're dual wielding. Effectively doubles your damage if you have both weapons upgrading, as well as allowing you to proc multiple statuses/proc statuses faster.

Is there a specific build you kinda want by the end of the game you're going for? That's gunna be the biggest determination for what you want to do (besides just going with what you think looks the coolest)

[Shower With Joe Dad Simulator]

unless you are using a shield, invested into casting offhand, or lack the STR requirement, it's always better to powerstance imo if you can. The damage bonus for 2h a weapon pales in comparison to the damage and status proc that dual wieldind the same category of weapon offers.

[Majorita]

So okay to explain:

- You can just have a weapon each hand like a sword and an axe. They don't have animations or a combo moveset.

- You can 'powerstance' (DS2 terminology) two weapons of the same type, like two greatswords, and get a combo moveset by pressing L1.

- There are some weapons like the claws piggybacking off DS3's dual weapon system where you two-hand and get a new moveset.

Two-handing gives you a damage boost thanks to the 50% strength bonus you get, however your moveset changes and maybe it's not super flexible, it might even be slower.

Dual-wielding you can probably do more damage per hit but you can't use a shield. It comes down to personal preference.

[Mepho]

Oh btw, it should be noted that some weapons automatically "pop" a second copy if you 2hand them instead of actually having a 2hand stance.
I saw fist weapons and claws do this, as well as a straight sword.
I'm not sure if the whole class of fists and claws do it.

[Sliske]

Originally posted by Mepho:

Oh btw, it should be noted that some weapons automatically "pop" a second copy if you 2hand them instead of actually having a 2hand stance.
I saw fist weapons and claws do this, as well as a straight sword.
I'm not sure if the whole class of fists and claws do it.

This isn't the case with most straight swords, the one dropped by Grafted Scion is actually 2 swords, not one so that's why.

[Bricky strong]

duel wielding is for try hards that have to win or they'll cry. Sword and board is cool. Two hand is cool too. Duel wielding is gimicky. imo that may change.
You know, I'm the kind of player that if I learn something is over powered, I avoid it? Why would I except victory when anyone could do it?
A fair fight is commendable.
This also means that when I lose to an over powered build I don't consider it respectable.

[Psycho Pie]

two hands work great with twin blades. You turn into a living mixer.

[SnakeshyperTTV/Kick]

It depends if you are rocking a str build and colossal weapons do it.

[pyton357ru]

Something that irritates me in dual-wielding slightly is one little control issue.
See, with single weapon you attack with right button and trigger, and block with left button. So, switching from sword and board to two-handing is easy -- you use same controls for same things. But to attack with both weapons (and AFAIG, this is what you should be doing mostly) you use the left button. Makes swithching from single weapon to dual awkward.

[Ice-Nine]

I'm new to Elden Ring and never played Dark Souls, but I decided pretty early to dual-wield because I came to the conclusion that blocking was always inferior to dodging, and so if I wasn't going to block then I might as well have the extra damage from dual wielding.

I don't know if it's true in PVP that blocking is always inferior to dodging, but it sure feels like that's going to hold true for all of the PVE.

[Pack 4 Potatoes]

For strength weapon, two hand. For dex weapon, dual wield.

Use two-hand if you like to use heavy attacks. Dual wield is useless for heavy attacks.

Dual wield will do more damage for the first hit, but the damage for the second hit will drop off. In truth, two-hand and dual wield will do similar damage after a combo is over.

Dual wield is good for hit and roll, and for activating bleed and poison ailments.

Two-handing a heavy weapon is good for performing heavy attacks that stagger enemies. Two-handing a weapon can also reduce the amount of stats required to wield a heavier weapon. Also, you can block with a two-handed weapon or quickly switch to putting your shield on.

[Psycho Pie]

I use two hands for the twin blade although it is a DEX weapon as a DEX build. I don't use heavy attack but the twin blade with 2 hands wield can land a good bunch of hits in a very short of time. If I need to stagger or even poise break my opponent, I use the impaling thrust ash of war. It works well, even against dragons.

[Ard Galen]

personally i like two-handing better, but that is for aesthetical reasons and because as soon as i get double the damage potential i tend to get greedy and take more hits, so thats a me-issue. what i DO though, is actually equipping weapons in both hands i plan to switch between mid-fight and just swap the hand i'm two-handing.
in regards to the actual question, well that has been answered plenty: two-handing gives you +50% STR, but doesn'T affect base weapon or DEX scalings at all. powerstancing gives you twice the base scaling, but also twice the base damage AND twice dex scaling if the weapon applies that how you're using them.
in total average you get +30-45% damage by two-handing it, depending on how high your STR is and therefore how big a percentage of damage stems from your STR, while powerstancing gives you flat +100%, so its definately the stronger option.
two-handing has the option to block, though dodging in my opinion is almost always better.

[Psycho Pie]

I'll probably try powerstancing twinblades once I get another twinblade weapon.. probably one wielded by the gargoyles or the godskin peeler.