Secondary weapons for dual wielders?

[ferrierj]

One guide said I should dual wield mace & flail. So far I have seen only daggers as secondary weapons. No swords, maces, flails, spears....etc. So am I supposed to be using a Flail/mace in Primary and the ever failfull Dagger in the off hand?

[probe]

Check this forum for answers> http://www.ironworksforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=44162

[goumindong]

Originally posted by ferrierj:

One guide said I should dual wield mace & flail. So far I have seen only daggers as secondary weapons. No swords, maces, flails, spears....etc. So am I supposed to be using a Flail/mace in Primary and the ever failfull Dagger in the off hand?

There are actually only two off-hand mace/flails. They're just good compared to the alternative. and easy to acquire. You're looking for something that says "secondary weapon"

The first off hand mace/flail you will find will be a "Hammer" 3-8 damage, +10 Mace/Flail, 5% KO. You can buy it from Antone in Arnika or Kunar from the Umpani*. It has -1 to hit on it, but the +10 Mace/Flail will make up for a lot of that and 3-8 damage[5.5 avg] is more than any dagger you can use. [Not that a stiletto isn't probably overall better]

The second mace/flail secondary weapon is found in Mt Wilderness (iirc its in the waterfall cave) but don't worry about acquring it fast. The first will suit you fine. Its got 14.5 average damage. Which is far higher than any other secondary weapon in the game.

*you can rest 3 times to reset their stock if they don't have one

[dualwield42]

I guess we can start another discussion, is dual wielding really worth it? It's great in the early game when you're just bashing slimes and bats, but later on...

Pros:
-potentially more damage

Cons:
-requires additional skill to pump points
-no shield (or 2 handers)
-more misses
-more stamina loss (I think people really underestimate this)

Especially around level 8-12, you need to make a decision on:
* Do I go with 2 swings from my primary weapon or go with 1 swing each on both hands?

[goumindong]

For mace/flail users definitely. For rogues? Also probably yes. (shields are good, but you will eventually have enough stealth for that to not matter). For Crit classes? most definitely

The other thing about it is that fighters have so few things to put points into anyway, you don't lose much by going DW because if you were going two handed you would just put points into ranged/bow/throwing. And if you were going shield, shield.

I can definitely see the argument for a Sword/shield fighter. Especuially if they are your only front line (IIRC shield fighters can block ranged attacks for the back line as well, but not sure) But DW isn't a detriment.

In the end i like shields for Bards, Priests, Valkyrie(sometimes), Alchemists, and some fighters.

[dualwield42]

Also if you are dual wielding different weapons, what is the best way to pump your stats?

Sword, Close, Dual?
Sword, Close, Dagger?

Assume both Speed and Senses are pretty close to each other.

[probe]

Great question Raph.

I don't know the answer. But running with a rogue I mostly focus on stealth, then distribute the remaining points between dualwield, sword,dagger and close combat. That is after I got my lockpicking up to around 15-20 points (which might even be slightly unneccessary).

[Lyle]

How about going for dual dagger with a lord? Or dual mace? Only one weapon skill to work on.

[probe]

I rarely roll a lord. But dual daggers are indeed a possible and viable build for rogues. I do like to give my rogue Bloodlust though to maximize damage early on.

[dualwield42]

Dual daggers, probably not. There aren't that many daggers in this game, you'll regret it when you find all these awesome swords.

Dual mace is definitely viable. A common Lord build is to start as a Mace Priest, select 2 spells, like Heal and Stamina, then switch to Lord at level 2.

Though in my party, I just run a dual mace Fighter and a pure Priest.

[Lyle]

Originally posted by Raph:

Dual daggers, probably not. There aren't that many daggers in this game, you'll regret it when you find all these awesome swords.

Funny, coming from RAPH :)

[goumindong]

Originally posted by Raph:

Also if you are dual wielding different weapons, what is the best way to pump your stats?

Sword, Close, Dual?
Sword, Close, Dagger?

Assume both Speed and Senses are pretty close to each other.

Well in general:

• You get more out of putting points into whatever is highest. Because it takes longer to train from 72 to 75 than it does from 0 to 3. Putting points in the 72 skill will overall get you further.
  
  
• You get more out of Close Combat than Weapon skills because weapon skills will be lowered by 1/2 (primary) to 3/4(secondary)
  
  
• Get more out of Weapon Skills than Dual Weilding because Dual Weilding is a scale on weapon skills and so does nothing when they're low. DW is worth 1/2 point of a primary and 1/4 point of a secondary weapon skill if the weapon skills are at 100 and a primary weapon point is worth 1/2 as much as normal (1/4 for secondary) when DW is at ZERO.

So generally its Close, Sword, Dagger for a rogue. A healty strategy would just be "whatever is highest on the sheet, that i will want to use, put points into that"