Ember mage: Duel wands vs Wand + Sheild, witch might be better overall?

[War Kitten]

Greetings All,

I didn't realize until I read it somewhere that a EM could use a shield, so I was wondering which one might be better overall or is there much difference?

Thank you all for any help.

War
Kitten

[Cannonaire]

A second wand won't help any of your abilities by itself (although socketables like Whorlbarb Skulls or Rambren Skulls in it might). Dual Wands would be more for an autoattack build. My recommendation is Wand or another 1-handed weapon + Shield (for FOC-based abilities) or Staff (specifically for Shock Orbs, if you take it).

(To be fair, I keep posting to the best of my knowledge, and I keep being enlightened by more knowledgeable players here, so we'll see if I learn something again!)

[ADEC Inc]

Yeah dual wielding is the way to increase dps, with a faster primary weapon and a secondary adding bonuses like crit multiplier, crit chance, faster attack/casting, or FOC for your spells. Also doubles the number of sockets for all of the above.

It's my preferred method since I dislike relying on a random block chance to survive. Especially a chance that won't be very high until late in the game anyway.