Sentry: Dual Wield passive needs more synergy with skills.

[The.Spaz.]

I am DW fanatic but I don't like playing as a rogue. Kinda dislike the modern trend of this ability is mainly a Rogue passive. I was really excited to see the option for Sentry but it's sort of useless as you can't expand on it and only one or two skills in the Sentry provides some synergy but otherwise its mostly 2 handed combat or sword and shield. Anyone know what skills benefits this for a Sentry Void knight build? I am trying to make my character an agile dodgy warrior. It's pretty much a beefier version of a rogue, I guess.

[fruhead]

While it is true that there's not a lot of "stated" synergy for dual wield in the Sentry trees, that's true for all classes that have the option for Dual Wielding (which actually a lot of classes have access to somewhere in their perk trees). Having a second weapon is basically just "offensive stat stick #2" instead of "defensive stat stick". There are some things to keep in mind either way in regards to what you can do with it.

1: Block chance applies regardless if you're using a shield or not. You do miss out on a decent chuck of block effectiveness without a shield, but it's still a defensive option you can look in to.

2: Sentinel does have access to idols that can buff damage while dual wielding.

3: Think less about "skills that use dual wield" and more "do I want more offensive mods or defensive mods?" There are some neat things you can do by dual wielding uniques. One example is: Eye of Reen unique sword, gain a stacking buff that increases crit and fire over time damage. Wield 2 of those and you stack the buff faster. Or if you prefer void knight: Blade of the Forgotten Knight, a set sword with lots of void damage bonuses.

[Echo]

The problem with Sentinel's dual wield isn't just that it lacks synergy, but that it's an actual anti-synergy. You are unable to benefit from all the skill (and passive) nodes that buff 2h and shields, without having access to any for dual wield. Just look at the damage nodes on Warpath for an example.

The solution is simple: wherever there's a mention of "while wielding a 2h weapon" it should be appended with "or dual wielding".

[Jet Uppercut]

Any bonus that lists multiple weapons under it, if you're dual wielding two different weapon types you get the effects of both of them.
Like Weapon Master on Forge Guard. If you have a Sword and an Axe, you get both the 10% AS and 75% Bleed.
You can combine that with Weapon Specialist on Rive and get a bunch of flat damage from your Vit and Dex.
It's not some groundbreaking instant kill Uber Aberroth synergy, but it's there.

When you also consider that you get the listed effects of both weapons applied at 100% effect unlike most games, you open up some interesting combinations.
Like dual wielding Renegade's Will and Naal's Tooth on a Forge Guard to get a ton of +Skills for Vengeance and Forge Strike. With Master of Arms and Bladewall its a lot of free Parry Chance.
Just examples, I'm sure there's better builds out there that use dual wield.
But there is some decent synergy.

[The.Spaz.]

Originally posted by Jet Uppercut:

Any bonus that lists multiple weapons under it, if you're dual wielding two different weapon types you get the effects of both of them.
Like Weapon Master on Forge Guard. If you have a Sword and an Axe, you get both the 10% AS and 75% Bleed.
You can combine that with Weapon Specialist on Rive and get a bunch of flat damage from your Vit and Dex.
It's not some groundbreaking instant kill Uber Aberroth synergy, but it's there.

When you also consider that you get the listed effects of both weapons applied at 100% effect unlike most games, you open up some interesting combinations.
Like dual wielding Renegade's Will and Naal's Tooth on a Forge Guard to get a ton of +Skills for Vengeance and Forge Strike. With Master of Arms and Bladewall its a lot of free Parry Chance.
Just examples, I'm sure there's better builds out there that use dual wield.
But there is some decent synergy.

Normally I would agree but the fact that you are limited to only be able to equip a sword in your off hand, significantly reduces your combination options. It would also be nice if there were some specific skills that can only be specialised with DW, similar to skills like lunge and void cleave that need a spear or a 2H weapon specifically.

Better yet, how about a branching path on a skill tree that maximises frenzy with DW. I was hoping multi strike was going to be that kind of skill where you can build up charges that significantly improves your attack rate with a given weapon as well as chances to dodge/parry attacks. Maybe passive nodes that allow you synergize with warpath where you flurry into warpath and all frenzy charges get spent into creating multiple echos of your character doing warpath in different directions. Or a reversal were you can build up charges with warpath and changing to flurry makes to do a short distance dash into a group and daze/imobilize them etc. I don't know I think there is some creative stuff you can do with synergizing echos, warpath and even rive.

These can be even further customized based on the weapons you use like maces and hammer can end with a smaller version of an erasing strike (which can be expanded via other passive nodes and weapon prefixes). I just feel there are real creative skills and synergies that are left on the table.