1h vs. 2h. vs dual-wielding

[Askel]

Title basically. Aside from the different movesets, what you guys think are the pro and cons of these three?

From my own testing, dual wielding does the most damage (if both weapons connect), and the best status buildup, but you also need to support the weight of 2 weapons.

2h does a good chunk of damage and doesn't require much weight, but has less dmg/status buildup as dual-wield.

1h does the least dmg and since catalysts aren't held in the offhand like in other soulslikes, it seems only worth it when you also run a shield.

[Thndslz]

I think its a matter on which moveset you like. Im particularly fond of polearms, hammers and fist weapons. Tried dw and its moveset is not for me. Quite liked the range GS gave while using with a shield. Have yet to try LS, Daggers, GHammers and GAxes tho.

[Zhou Yu]

I haven't tried parrying with a heavy shield yet (and probably never will) but medium and light shields in particular feel good. In contrast dual wielding or two handing feel more strict in timing plus more penalities if you're off. I did read on the fextralife that dual wielding daggers is supposed to be the best in terms of parrying but I don't quite believe that. Also being able to slap runes on shields like mana/health regen is imo top tier. Lastly you can always two hand your weapon regardless of your weapon arrangement.

[EF_Neo1st]

Originally posted by Askel:

Title basically. Aside from the different movesets, what you guys think are the pro and cons of these three?

From my own testing, dual wielding does the most damage (if both weapons connect), and the best status buildup, but you also need to support the weight of 2 weapons.

2h does a good chunk of damage and doesn't require much weight, but has less dmg/status buildup as dual-wield.

1h does the least dmg and since catalysts aren't held in the offhand like in other soulslikes, it seems only worth it when you also run a shield.

2h Bigger damage and I think also "more poise" (maybe)
1h is lighter damage but faster attaack recovery (so safer to land hits despite being weaker hits)
2 weapons is even higher damage even with a weaker weapon as second weapon but still is slower attack animation and recovery (also changes the attack pattern too).

In the end it is all about options for playstyles.

[Elnidfse]

Aside from the moveset?
2H gives you more damage and lets you benefit from a second weapon or shields runes while only having to scale one weapon.
1h lets you benefit from a shield and generally has the faster attack speed.

Dual wield yields higher damage. With some caveats
If you're doing an umbral build, accidentally killing full withered enemies with a dual wield charge attack is pretty common. So I swiftly swap to 2H to prevent that.

You also buff both weapons when you dual wield instead of only one letting you essentially double dip into your spellbuffs.

[Vvv]

Probably depends on what move sets you like the most.
I have 2 favourites.

1 hand short sword with a shield. I love to lunge heavy attack and it's super versatile overall

2 hand the halberd. It has great range with poke attack, good lunge heavy attack and it has wide area attacks if needed.

[Suwako]

One thing most people dont talk about is the recovery time. Heavy weapons and dual wielding leaves you exposed much longer than 2h/1h medium and light weapons which helps with new fights.

[EF_Neo1st]

Originally posted by Suwako:

One thing most people dont talk about is the recovery time. Heavy weapons and dual wielding leaves you exposed much longer than 2h/1h medium and light weapons which helps with new fights.

Well, indeed most people dont, I tend to mention when I remember people dont know about this.

Originally posted by EF_Neo1st:

1h is lighter damage but faster attaack recovery (so safer to land hits despite being weaker hits)
2 weapons is even higher damage even with a weaker weapon as second weapon but still is slower attack animation and recovery (also changes the attack pattern too).

[EF_Neo1st]

People tend to think "stronger is better and easier" but they forget you are also more exposed to taking damage if you mistime it and "the window" is shorter because the recovery time is longer so it is harder to find an opening but when you do it is worth the time as the damage is big.
Lighter weapons are faster and have faster recovery time so "opportunity windows" happen more often and even making a mistake it often is recoverable without taking damage because of it but it is needed to use these extra windows of opportunity because damage is lower.

In the end it is a trade off between amount of windows of opportunity and amount of damage per hit.
I tend to prefer damage per hit on all these games.

[Gargoyle]

Originally posted by Askel:

Title basically. Aside from the different movesets, what you guys think are the pro and cons of these three?

From my own testing, dual wielding does the most damage (if both weapons connect), and the best status buildup, but you also need to support the weight of 2 weapons.

2h does a good chunk of damage and doesn't require much weight, but has less dmg/status buildup as dual-wield.

1h does the least dmg and since catalysts aren't held in the offhand like in other soulslikes, it seems only worth it when you also run a shield.

Another thing, dual wielding is also good for mob clearing whereas 2 handing is more single target focused.

[Swanky]

My first clear was with a 2h Greatsword. Started off with the Wolf sword, then into the Rector Sword into the Skin and Teeth Greatsword. I like the one handed long sword heavy, excellent reach.
But the Greatsword had so much poise damage and stagger power that the recovery time didn't really matter in the end. I could just flatten everything in my way.
Only real drawback was it being pure offense, bad parry window and even worse block, so I had it combined with health on kill items and runes, and that supported itself very well.
I will have to check axes and longswords some more though, feel like sword / shield builds could work extremely well, depending on how good the parry windows for shields are.

[Suwako]

Originally posted by Swanky:

My first clear was with a 2h Greatsword. Started off with the Wolf sword, then into the Rector Sword into the Skin and Teeth Greatsword. I like the one handed long sword heavy, excellent reach.
But the Greatsword had so much poise damage and stagger power that the recovery time didn't really matter in the end. I could just flatten everything in my way.
Only real drawback was it being pure offense, bad parry window and even worse block, so I had it combined with health on kill items and runes, and that supported itself very well.
I will have to check axes and longswords some more though, feel like sword / shield builds could work extremely well, depending on how good the parry windows for shields are.

Shields have terrible parry windows, unless you're using a small shield which i second best to daggers. the only problem is that if you're using a small shield its defensive bonuses arent THAT great, so you might as well use a offhand weapon anyways.

Big shields are just... l mean you become invincible under certain conditions. You can just block everything, and once its safe, just poke them with your weapon to get your withered health back.

A heavy shield and the flickering flail is just... outright broken. You're dealing over 500 damage a hit and you throw the stupid light thing in bursts of 3. So if you block anything and have withered health you can get it back from a safe distance. I saw a guy using the flail getting around 1800 damage a special attack, and with the eye that regenerates soul flail in umbral you can just spam it non stop.

[Swanky]

Good to know, so I guess no more Dragon Crest Shield parries against Gwyn, so to speak. Tbf, it was pretty op. :D

[Gargoyle]

Originally posted by Swanky:

Good to know, so I guess no more Dragon Crest Shield parries against Gwyn, so to speak. Tbf, it was pretty op. :D

If you have good timing you can still parry easily.

[Arthemus]

I like 1-handing a long sword with a small shield. I feel like long swords have a satisfying balance between weight and speed, a really good swinging reach, and their 1h moves click with my personal playstyle more than any other weapon.

I like charging in and tapping the RMB to deliver a powerful attack, which also staggers the enemy. Immediately after, while the enemy is staggered, I follow up with a charged attack, which hits even harder.