1. #1

    Dual-wield question

    So on monk I have weapon in main hand with 700 dps, with it and shield I have 9k dps. When i remove shield and put 200 dps weapon on it's place, my dps on character sheet drops from 9k to 7k.

    Shield has zero offensive stats on it (no + damage, no IAS, even has less dexterity than 200 dps weapon).

    So how is dual-wield damage calculated? Doesn't it add up dps on weapons? Or it adds up and then takes average value and your character hits enemies first with MH, then with OH (where he would strike with MH instead if was wearing shield)?

  2. #2
    Been wondering the same but the damage difference is noticeable so I haven't dual-wielded in quite a while since 1h+shield gives higher damage as well as higher survivability.

  3. #3
    The Lightbringer Zethras's Avatar
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    I know it doesn't work the same way it does in WoW.

    I'm not entirely sure, but I think it does do the average damage between the 2 weapons, my friend told me don't dual wield unless you have 2 weapons with identical dps.
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    Senior Memb- malkara's Avatar
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    Yeh, I was wondering about that the other day. I figure it has something to do with your specials hitting with your main-hand, then off-hand, then main again and so forth. So it would actually lower your DPS if offhand damage is significantly lower than mainhand.

    That's what I think anyway
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  5. #5
    the dmg you do is averaged between two weapons if you dual wield. If you equip two weapons with very different DPS each - the average DPS will be low. This is why you should either equip two similar DPS weapons, or weapon and a shield if you don't have second good weapon.
    I don't know the exact formula that calculates dmg while dualwielding - but it's deffinitelly some kind of average between their DPS.
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  6. #6
    Quote Originally Posted by malkara View Post
    Yeh, I was wondering about that the other day. I figure it has something to do with your specials hitting with your main-hand, then off-hand, then main again and so forth. So it would actually lower your DPS if offhand damage is significantly lower than mainhand.

    That's what I think anyway
    I also think it works out something like this. You need weapons that are close in DPS for duel wielding to be worthwhile. Otherwise your hitting them with your huge weapon....then a stick over and over again. Rather then if you had a sword and board and just kept smashing them with your main powerful weapon.

    With an equal offhand weapon though you can do alot more damage then with sword and board, although I have no idea how it's calculated. You can also get some good effects on the off9hand weapon like life steal and spirit regen and things like that. I don't think you can get some of those weapon stats on shields. Plus you get 15% dodge from passive.
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  7. #7
    The Unstoppable Force Elim Garak's Avatar
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    When you dual wield you do attacks with each weapon, alternating them with each attack, example:
    1. You click a mob - you attack with main weapon
    2. You click it again - you attack with second weapon
    3. Repeat

    Now keeping that in mind hear this: Only damage from the actual weapon that is currently used for attack is accounted for when you dual wield. So your first attack will use main weapon damage, but your second attack will use secondary weapon damage.

    That means that for optimal setup you must have 2 IDENTICAL weapons DPS-wise.

    If off-hand weapon does less DPS - that means you are doing less DPS across the board. And 15% attack speed bonus for dual wielding doesn't compensate for that enough. It is more effective to use the weapon with biggest DPS as main weapon and put a shield in off-hand.

    The DAMAGE value you see on character sheet is maximum possible DPS you can achieve with weapon(s), that includes all class buffs, items, crit chance crit damage bonuses, etc (as it states in tool tip). if you dual wield it calculates your off-hand weapon according to the above that means if your off-hand weapon has 200 DPS less than main hand your over all DPS will be lower than with a shield, no matter the stat difference.

    EDIT:
    Easy numbers example

    main hand 100 dps
    off hand 50 dps

    if you use only main hand your dps is 100xK, where K is all the coefficients used to calculate the maximum possible DPS
    if you dual wield - your dps is 0.5x(100+50)xK = 75xK

    With your numbers:

    700xK = 9000
    0.5x(700+500)xK = 600xK = 7000

    These are numbers provided by you

    Let's check them

    700 vs 600 = 100 dps difference
    100 is 1/7th of 700
    9000/7 ~ 1300
    9000 - 1300 = 7700

    Now you certainly rounded your numbers, I didn't account for stat difference between shield and off-hand weapon and damage scaling isn't linear, but numbers are quite close even if it was linear and stats were identical.
    Last edited by Elim Garak; 2012-05-30 at 09:15 PM.

  8. #8
    Quote Originally Posted by ag666 View Post
    When you dual wield you do attacks with each weapon, alternating them with each attack, example:
    1. You click a mob - you attack with main weapon
    2. You click it again - you attack with second weapon
    3. Repeat

    Now keeping that in mind hear this: Only damage from the actual weapon that is currently used for attack is accounted for when you dual wield. So your first attack will use main weapon damage, but your second attack will use secondary weapon damage.

    That means that for optimal setup you must have 2 IDENTICAL weapons DPS-wise.

    If off-hand weapon does less DPS - that means you are doing less DPS across the board. And 15% attack speed bonus for dual wielding doesn't compensate for that enough. It is more effective to use the weapon with biggest DPS as main weapon and put a shield in off-hand.

    The DAMAGE value you see on character sheet is maximum possible DPS you can achieve with weapon(s), that includes all class buffs, items, crit chance crit damage bonuses, etc (as it states in tool tip). if you dual wield it calculates your off-hand weapon according to the above that means if your off-hand weapon has 200 DPS less than main hand your over all DPS will be lower than with a shield, no matter the stat difference.
    So when I equip two identical DPS weapons. What makes my dps better then with the sword and board solely relies on the various stats on the offhand weapon and the 15% increased attack speed you get for dual wielding? That's all that makes the damage value go up more then with sword and board in that case?

    Did I get that right? Thanks for that info.
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  9. #9
    The Unstoppable Force Elim Garak's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Duncanîdaho View Post
    So when I equip two identical DPS weapons. What makes my dps better then with the sword and board solely relies on the various stats on the offhand weapon and the 15% increased attack speed you get for dual wielding? That's all that makes the damage value go up more then with sword and board in that case?

    Did I get that right? Thanks for that info.
    Yes. 15% attack speed and stats.

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