What is the advantage of dual-weilding?

[PsyBomb]

This goes for every class, but especially for Barb/Monk/DH. I just don't get what the point of using two weapons versus one good one could possibly be in this game. Can someone please tell me? Plus any other info that might be handy.

EDIT: Just to be more clear, the one-handed weapons don't seem to make you hit any harder on your attacks, nor do they both seem to fire. Do they share traits somehow? If so, how?

[Deleted]

They're inferior to 2 handers or sword and board because you don't hit with both you just swap weapon so you don't do more damage, the 2nd weapon is really just a stat stick, and the only class that's really a decent option for is monks because of the absurd high amounts of life on hit their fist weapons get.

[Deleted]

This goes for every class, but especially for Barb/Monk/DH. I just don't get what the point of using two weapons versus one good one could possibly be in this game. Can someone please tell me? Plus any other info that might be handy.

EDIT: Just to be more clear, the one-handed weapons don't seem to make you hit any harder on your attacks, nor do they both seem to fire. Do they share traits somehow? If so, how?

Faster attack, as far as I know in Diablo each weapons damage is from its own weapon dmg stat, not total dps. You swing/shoot faster or more should i say and suppose u have two 150 dmg weapon each swing deals 150. if you have 150 and a 100 u hit 150 and a 100 for each swings.

which is to say they may be higher dps, but they wont hit as hard.

[Deleted]

If you dual wield you gain 15% attack speed. Other than that nothing, but that's essentially a 15% DPS boost plus whatever stats you can scrounge up on the 2nd wep.

[Mempha]

You attack faster and you get more stats from having 2 weapons. as a barb it allows for twice as amny crits. if i have 2 1000 dps 1 handers or 1 1000 dps 2 hander im gonna do more overall dmg DW because it attacks 15% faster due to dual wield. You crit more often as well so for a barb it can be very good. ive rolled DW since the start and im in act 2 inferno. great burst dps. insane to be honest sometimes i roll elite packs i otherwise assume i'd get wiped on.

I roll with Ground stomp, WotA, Ignore pain, Frenzy, Revenge, and War cry. Weapons master, Berserker rage, and unforigiving passives. i basically run in and ground stop and start my dps, pop warcry and ignroe pain and wota once they are ot of the 4 second stun and rape 1-2 elites down. by then its pretty safe and as long as you use revenge and get ur health globes you can kill virtually and gear relevant elites. (for the most part) sometiems you gotta kite till ur wota is down but usually jsut wat the 20 seconds for ignore pain to come up, pop it and ground stomp and warcry and take the remaining elites otu 1 by 1. works very great with dual wield becasue of the amazing fast burst dmg u deal.

[Hanto]

On my monk, I feel like I generate spirit exceptionally faster while dual wielding; probably because the weapon speed affects how fast your attacks are. Plus, that 15% dodge is pretty amazing in Inferno, just sayin'.

[Deleted]

+15% attack speed, the weapons need to be relatively close in DPS because the cycle will use left right both>left right both so if you have a crappy offhand it will do a lot less damage and drag your overall down.

[PsyBomb]

15% attack speed and the stats... hmmm...

I would like more detail here. Does it just key off of your main-hand attack speed but use alternating damage ratings of the weapons? If both have elemental damage bonuses, do they both apply on every attack? A lot of this does not make sense to me. Thanks to everyone for the help so far, though.

[Deleted]

I would like more detail here. Does it just key off of your main-hand attack speed but use alternating damage ratings of the weapons? If both have elemental damage bonuses, do they both apply on every attack? A lot of this does not make sense to me. Thanks to everyone for the help so far, though.

Attack speed is
( (mAS + oAS) / 2 ) * 1.15
for both weapons, where mAS is main hand attack speed and oAS is off hand attack speed.

Individual damage is inflicted every other hit. If one weapon has fire damage and the other has holy damage, it'll be fire - holy - fire - holy et cetera. Likewise with damage, if one hits significantly harder (which it shouldn't), every other hit will be significantly more damaging.

[Shadzta]

for barb faster attack speeds and more notably faster gcd's for your abilities rend for example i can use rend alot quicker after an auto attack than i can with a slow 2hander...with my 2h mace i swing then hit rend straight after and it wont go off anywhere near faster than when im dw'ing...if thats not dw'ing specifically doing that then im not sure but i'm fairly confident thats it etc...

[PsyBomb]

Attack speed is
( (mAS + oAS) / 2 ) * 1.15
for both weapons, where mAS is main hand attack speed and oAS is off hand attack speed.

Individual damage is inflicted every other hit. If one weapon has fire damage and the other has holy damage, it'll be fire - holy - fire - holy et cetera. Likewise with damage, if one hits significantly harder (which it shouldn't), every other hit will be significantly more damaging.

Ah, I see now. That actually clears a LOT up.
So, Dual-wield is generally for the builds where you either need frequent attacks or high resource generation in those classes that attack to generate. That, or if they're both within shouting distance of the best available 2H... Man, figuring these guys out take way more work than the Wizard/WD

[Deleted]

Well, from what I've seen so far, there's no valid trade-off for using a two-handed weapon. Two-handed weapons seems to have about the same stat budget as one-handed items - meaning if you find a two-hander with +1000 strength, you'll also be able to get a one-hander with +1000 strength. And since all classes can dual-wield most weapons, 1000+1000 is a lot better than just 1000. And even if you can't dual-wield for whatever reason (not having a good enough offhand weapon, needing the defense, whatever) you can always slap a shield in the off hand and still have more stats than with a two-hander.

I may just be "unlucky" with drops though, so take this with a pinch of salt - there might be two-handers with more stats than one-handers making the loss of an item more bearable.

[Redfingers]

When you add a one hander of equivalent DPS to the one you're already using, you should see an infinitesimal spike in your DPS stat. If you read the "Damage" category in your stat table, hover over it with your mouse cursor until it presents a tooltip that should describe what "damage" does. It will say that your Damage stat is a composite of your critical strike rating, your strength, damage done, and attack speed gained from dual wielding.

e.g. dual wielding increases your attack speed and the resultant change will show up in our damage dealt stat table in your character pane.

[Deleted]

They're inferior to 2 handers or sword and board because you don't hit with both you just swap weapon so you don't do more damage, the 2nd weapon is really just a stat stick, and the only class that's really a decent option for is monks because of the absurd high amounts of life on hit their fist weapons get.

That's not entirely correct. Demon hunters are also perfectly viable to dual wield with 1Hs crossbows. Sure, you'll do less damage per hit but you will have more stats with two weapons. That includes max discipline stat, which you can get for both your hand crossbows. With Justice is Served and Mortal Enemy each hit will regen your hatred faster, amounting to more dps and with the night stalker passive you also increase your discipline regen, amounting to more survivability.

That's a lot of good reasons to go dual wielding on a demon hunter.

So, Dual-wield is generally for the builds where you either need frequent attacks or high resource generation in those classes that attack to generate.

Yep

[Jersovic]

For me the main advantage of dual wield is looking cool.

[rhorle]

That's a lot of good reasons to go dual wielding on a demon hunter.

The problem with Demon hunters is a Quiver can be equipped in the offhand with a 2-handed weapon. So you will always have a "stat stick" in the offhand no matter what you equip as a Demon Hunter. The question for a demon hunter then becomes is the Attack speed from dual wielding worth it. Or do I have a better 2-hand and quiver.

[Krolikn]

From experience and watching videos testing this dual wielding gives you faster attacks (obvious one) but your ability attacks that use resources are slower (travel time) but far more powerful with a good 2 hander equipped. Dual wielding looks cool but for example the Barb, its either wep/shield or 2 hander IMO. You either want defence or heavy hitting attacks, no inbetween.

[Deleted]

The problem with Demon hunters is a Quiver can be equipped in the offhand with a 2-handed weapon. So you will always have a "stat stick" in the offhand no matter what you equip as a Demon Hunter. The question for a demon hunter then becomes is the Attack speed from dual wielding worth it. Or do I have a better 2-hand and quiver.

Ofc, it always comes exactly what two items you are comparing. You can have IAS on a bow and a quiver, which will usually out perform the 15% from DW. However, the problem is that people are often running unfair comparisons. Yes, bow+quiver can easily be better than the 15% but the 15% is simply the extra you add to all the stats you have on your 1Hs.

So on a level playing field you have to run the comparison as 2H + quiver vs. 1H + 1H + 15% IAS, instead of just 2H + quiver vs. 15% IAS, as I see a lot of people doing.

[Hattai]

Dual wielding is an extra 15% dodge for monks using The Guardians Path as one of their passives.

[Bigbazz]

For barbarions you attack faster, its nice for example if you have a smite (stun) rune frenzy, you can keep things stunlocked far easier, I think in all out damage though I noticed right away (in normal mode) that a 2h just seems to do more, its probably no surprise that most barbarions either go weapon + shield or a 2hander.

I'm disapointed that you can't wield a 2hander in the 1hand + a shield or dual wield, as you were able to in Diablo 2.