Two handing vs dual weilding

[MF]

All things being equal and setting aside the ash of war, which does the most 'white' damage ? I've been trying to dual wield twinblades and, yeah, if I can get my distance correct a jump attack does seem to do a crap load of violence. Stamina though.............. yikes !!! I run out so fast,

Using Eleanora's Polearm in my main hand and the ash of war on that is decidedly mental ! Wonder if I should continue with the dual wield or wait until I get Alexander's Shard and switch back to two handing her.

[Vargas Erikson]

Two handing does more stance damage and increases strength but dual wielding increases status buildup

[toughnails]

The DLC adds a new Two Handed Sword talisman which gives a flat +15% damage when two handing ANY weapon, even elemental, which makes two handing a much more optimal strategy IMO.

Jump attacks with powerstanced bonk sticks are still the best for stance breaking though.

[Old Captain Yon]

Two-handing is always better for Str, dual-wielding is always better for Dex. Other than that, dual-wielding gets more dps, while two-handing gets hyperarmor and more stagger.

[Silyon]

Two-handing effectively doubles the STR stat for weapons and makes them harder to deflect off of hard enemies, like those using shield or the rock-skinned miners in the various mines. Therefore, it's best on weapons that scale off of STR to begin with, because the damage being done gets the best boost from the STR score being virtually doubled.

Dual-wielding is simply having a matching weapon in the your offhand, sometimes called power stance by the older players. This gives you an alternative attack in place of your guard, that lets you strike and combo with both weapons and theoretically double your damage. There's no other statistical benefit.

For STR builds, two handing is better until STR 45 or so, at which point it starts to shift in favor of dual-wielding because stats above 99 are wasted. For Dex builds, Dual-wielding is always preferred unless you need your off-hand for a casting focus or shield/parry tool

[Nemerlight]

dual wielding looks cooler imo most important stat

[Old Captain Yon]

Originally posted by Silyon:

Two-handing effectively doubles the STR stat for weapons and makes them harder to deflect off of hard enemies, like those using shield or the rock-skinned miners in the various mines. Therefore, it's best on weapons that scale off of STR to begin with, because the damage being done gets the best boost from the STR score being virtually doubled.

Dual-wielding is simply having a matching weapon in the your offhand, sometimes called power stance by the older players. This gives you an alternative attack in place of your guard, that lets you strike and combo with both weapons and theoretically double your damage. There's no other statistical benefit.

For STR builds, two handing is better until STR 45 or so, at which point it starts to shift in favor of dual-wielding because stats above 99 are wasted. For Dex builds, Dual-wielding is always preferred unless you need your off-hand for a casting focus or shield/parry tool

I have heard that Str scales above 80 if it is about dual-wielding, even then soft cap would be around 55. It is good for hybrid builds.

[toughnails]

Originally posted by Silyon:

Two-handing effectively doubles the STR stat for weapons and makes them harder to deflect off of hard enemies, like those using shield or the rock-skinned miners in the various mines. Therefore, it's best on weapons that scale off of STR to begin with, because the damage being done gets the best boost from the STR score being virtually doubled.

Dual-wielding is simply having a matching weapon in the your offhand, sometimes called power stance by the older players. This gives you an alternative attack in place of your guard, that lets you strike and combo with both weapons and theoretically double your damage. There's no other statistical benefit.

For STR builds, two handing is better until STR 45 or so, at which point it starts to shift in favor of dual-wielding because stats above 99 are wasted. For Dex builds, Dual-wielding is always preferred unless you need your off-hand for a casting focus or shield/parry tool

Lots of misconceptions here.

For starters, two handing doesn't double your strength, it's a 50% bonus to your STR, aka 1.5x.

Second, unlike the Dark Souls games, 99 is not the hard cap for STR, two handing will make it go above 100 and you will still get bonuses to your attack score.

If you want to be optimal, then stay at 54 STR, because 54 x 1.5 = 80, which is the softcap for STR scaling.

[EF_Neo1st]

Originally posted by MF:

All things being equal and setting aside the ash of war, which does the most 'white' damage ? I've been trying to dual wield twinblades and, yeah, if I can get my distance correct a jump attack does seem to do a crap load of violence. Stamina though.............. yikes !!! I run out so fast,

Using Eleanora's Polearm in my main hand and the ash of war on that is decidedly mental ! Wonder if I should continue with the dual wield or wait until I get Alexander's Shard and switch back to two handing her.

2handing:
+ poise damage than dual and single wielding
- proc and raw damage than dual wielding
"Look like" faster attack recovery
+ damage than single handing

Dual wielding:
+ raw damage than 2handing
+ proc damage
"Look like" slower attack recovery
+ poise damage than single wielding but less poise damage than 2handing

I may be wrong in some stuff, if I am someone correct it

[MF]

Wow thanks guys !!! I'm running an arcane/dex bleed build. Obviously for boss fights I want the bleed buildup and tbh, dual wielding has been working well in boss fights.

So two handing only increases damage if you're running primarily strength ? I didn't know that. When I was running a single polearm, I 'felt' like I was doing more damage lol. It's all about my feelings.

[MF]

Originally posted by toughnails:

Lots of misconceptions here.

For starters, two handing doesn't double your strength, it's a 50% bonus to your STR, aka 1.5x.

Second, unlike the Dark Souls games, 99 is not the hard cap for STR, two handing will make it go above 100 and you will still get bonuses to your attack score.

If you want to be optimal, then stay at 54 STR, because 54 x 1.5 = 80, which is the softcap for STR scaling.

Ah well there it is then. I only have bare minimum strength in order to put the Godskin Peeler in my offhand, which is 17. So..................... I guess my dex/arcane build is better suited to dual wielding. Numbers don't lie.

I have another toon who's a strength build, so yeah he'll definitely continue to two hand for the time being. Makes sense, mathematically.

[twiggy]

2handing is better, powerstance is only good for pvp duels and applying status in ng+

[EF_Neo1st]

Originally posted by MF:

Wow thanks guys !!! I'm running an arcane/dex bleed build. Obviously for boss fights I want the bleed buildup and tbh, dual wielding has been working well in boss fights.

So two handing only increases damage if you're running primarily strength ? I didn't know that. When I was running a single polearm, I 'felt' like I was doing more damage lol. It's all about my feelings.

These weapons "also" have STR to it too and it adds anyway, less but still adds so it is not "just a feeling".
Consider STR weapons with A or S benefit more... even Golden Halberd on a "non STR build" have less damage when compared to a "STR focused" build.