Dual Weapons

[Jazintha Piper]

G'day all,

Plodding through Dragon Age, I seem to favour using the dual weapon scheme. However, all my character tends to do is swing out and hope for the best.

I've been using a sword in the main hand and a dagger of sorts in the other. A fellow player suggested I use two swords or two daggers, to balance out.

Daggers are pretty poor in attack, anyway. Is it possible to use two swords? Or is my best bet what I've been going with anyway?

She's a human noble warrior with medium armour, as well as profficient with the bow and arrow.

Cheers,
--Piper

[Ragin Cajun]

You'd have to find a sword that is not listed for "Main Hand". I was looking through the weapons list for longswords and they don't show that listing for the weapons. As long as it's not "main hand" equippable only then you can use as an off hand weapon.

[Crenshinibon]

The easiest way (and if I recall correctly, the only possible way) to dual wield two large weapons is by achieving Dual-Weapon Mastery. If you're using Dexterity as your primary attribute, then I strongly recommend that you stick with daggers. For large weapons, put points into strength.

Large weapons (such as swords) primarily use strength as bonus damage. Daggers on the other hand split evenly between strength and dexterity. The advantage of becoming a dagger fighter is that you get to put ALL of your character points into dexterity and leave with good damage and an amazing defense score.

[Jazintha Piper]

Ragin Cajun:
Most of the swords I find immediately jump to MH. I'll keep hunting, nonetheless.

Crenshinibon:
Off to hunt for more potent daggers. Cheers!

[Scottg]

Don't forget that Daggers also effect your attacks vs. time. Daggers attack more often.

IMO a warrior based Dual-wielder is best using sword and dagger.

Part of the reason is you don't need a full 36 in Dexterity (for Dual Weapon Mastery Talent), and instead can put the extra points into Strength.

(Typically I go to 26 in Dexterity, sometimes 30 for the Rose's Thorn. Excepting a point or two for Cunning, the rest is Strength.)


Another reason is that there are some excellent daggers with special bonuses.

Speed for a sword/dagger combo is good, neither slow like a dual-wielding swords, nor as "fast" as dual-wielding daggers.


Additional damage can be offered from the Berserker specialization.


The most important Dual-Weapon skills are the two from "branch one" and the 3rd one from "branch 3". (i.e. Dual Weapon Training, Dual Weapon Finesse, and Momentum.)

It's also nice if you have a mage in your party that can cast Haste.

[Crenshinibon]

However, by using dual daggers you save a talent point by not investing in Dual-Weapon mastery, get more out of abilities that grand damage (such as Berserk) and, once again, you can almost completely ignore strength and just put all of your points into dexterity, making you practically unhittable.

Note that you DO NOT want to use Haste while using Momentum. The reason for this is that the increased attack speed effect is capped at 50%. So momentum gives you 30% and Haste gives you 25%. As such, the numbers will loop and you will only have 5%. The best way to max out attack speed is to use Momentum and Swift Salt. As a warrior, you can also choose to lower your attack speed by 10%, while at the same time increasing your chance to cause a critical hit. So, with Precise Striking, Momentum and Haste you would have 45% increased attack speed.

[Scottg]

. As such, the numbers will loop and you will only have 5%. The best way to max out attack speed is to use Momentum and Swift Salt. As a warrior, you can also choose to lower your attack speed by 10%, while at the same time increasing your chance to cause a critical hit. So, with Precise Striking, Momentum and Haste you would have 45% increased attack speed.

..that I didn't know.

Thanks for the intel!

(..it also explains why I never noticed it - I always had Precise Striking on.) :laugh:

[Thing]

If you want to see some impressive damage on a dual wielder, try momentum+beserker - the DPS is frightening!

[SirSponge]

Question along the same lines I guess. I usually play a Cunning, Dex built DW Rogue. With a combination of Momentum for speed, Assassin spec for damage, and Bard spec for buffs. I always use two daggers as my weapons. Could I get away with using Sword/dagger combo?
I put 20 points into Strength for tier 7 armor and around 40 or so Dex, and the rest into Cunning. I could alter my point spending a bit for higher tier swords Would the Lethality skill be enough to bump up the damage for the sword, or should I just stick with the two daggers?

[Crenshinibon]

You're better off with two daggers since other weapons do not gain bonus damage from both, Dexterity and Strength. The damage bonus that you receive from Cunning, through Lethality, will be the same for either weapon, however, daggers tend to make you attack faster than swords do.