So how possible is a sword + dagger build?

[Caramelpoptart]

I was thinking of a right hand straight sword left hand dagger build, Warfare and scoundrel
but do scoundrel skills work with just one dagger, and is the build viable damage and defense wise?

[Robert Zerker]

Ok, so I am no 'pro' or anyhting at this game, that's just my opinion on that :

If you want to use most of the scoundrel skills, you have to have a dagger in your main hand (so right hand).

Then you can have a sword or an axe in your left hand if you want.

However, if you want to get the most out of scoundrels' skills, you have to attack enemies from behind, and there you will only get 1 hit with the 'backstab critical' bonus (so, thanks to the dagger) and your other (second) hit will be a normal one, unless you have a (really) high Wits and then it may crit.

At this point -and this is only a guess of mine, I haven't tested this- I think that either dual daggers or dual swords/axes should perform better than mixing one with another :

- Building a dual daggers character, you would aim for as much %critical damage as you can get and get the advantage of 100% crit chance with backstabbing.
- Building a dual swords/axes character, you could aim for damage or crit chance (or both at endgame) and pack a decent amount of power with most of your attack.

So, in the end, I guess a sword+dagger would perform ok-ish in the beginning, but would quickly be weaker through most of the game, to finally be ok-ish again at late-game, when you can easily find a way to either increase your %crit chance or %crit damage depending on what suits your build the most.

But this kind of hybrid build would demand a bit of planning because swords and axes need Strength and daggers need Dexterity. (I guess Polymorph would be a good investement at some point)
Also, you have to consider which active skills you plan on using the most and finally choose between being a Scoundrel part-time warrior or a Warrior pet-time scoundrel.

Anyway, if you get a bit far in the game with a physical damage dealer, if you really want to max your damage output, you will end up putting points in both warfare and scoundrel, so I don't know, maybe it's something worth testing end-game.

[Revolucas]

Attacks are separate. So if you use dagger and something else you will only have 100% crit with the dagger on backstab. You are just gimping yourself.

Most melee builds that aren't dagger/backstab focused use Enrage for 100% crit for 1 turn (or 1 turn + remaining AP if you use it on yourself)

I would like to note that almost all the Warfare skills work just fine with daggers and they can backstab. If you look at skill description ingame for a Warfare skill it will say "Scales with Finesse and Intelligence" if you are wielding a finesse weapon (dagger) Or Strength if wielding a sword.