this question usually always comes up in every mmorpg ive played
mu, lineage, knight online, etc. all had dual wield and 2 handers

in mu, 2h was best early on, and later on dual wield for the bonuses

its completely different in dungeon runners with 5 different weapon attack speeds, different damage and stat modifiers on the weapons

theres dual wielding luda weapons, or even fast with low damage
or 2h grandma and normal with higher and lower damage

so, what are some of your opinions on this?

for pvp/pve/stats/anything

personally preffer duel weild, i just seems to have a higher dps with them. also i like them cosmetically

Early on (pre 40) I stayed strickly to 2h'ers. As I went along and found some good 1h weapons I eventually moved to strictly dual weld. Now at lvl 100 I have 2 sets for dw and a Deathbringer axe that I switch between depending on the situation.

A lot of it is preference and still more is the luck of the drop.

As far as one being better than the other... I like them both:)

Gary

what are the speeds of the weapons you guys are using? is there a certain preference like dual with freakin fast vs 2h with sloth?

speed is one thing thats making it hard to decide what weapon(s) i should use

Some skills have cooldowns that are weapon speed related. So if you plan to use these skills you will able to use them more often if you use 1h weapons.

I prefer wielding 1h weapons a single miss is not so important. But I think I do more damage with a 2h weapon.

But for me the most important thing is how I look. And I look damn hot with my two short swords.

Outside of selecting your weapons based on how "cool" they look there are several factors to consider. You need to consider the situation, your skill selection and attribute points.

Every day, I hear a young fighter asking why they miss most of the time. The answer is their attack rating is too low for the mobs they are fighting. If you miss regularly you need to increase your attack rating by upping agility or use mad melee mastery. Players with low attack ratings should generally avoid 2-handed weapons.

Time and XP: If you are using a 2-hander to kill 40 fodder you may 1-shot them all, but 40 strikes at .73 speed is going to take longer than killing the same fodder with two .40 speed weapons. The Ratsputin, Widowmaker and SC encounters immediately come to mind as taking much longer with a 2-handed weapon. If you are killing Vergrim or Abby a 2-hander may get the job done considerably quicker.

Average DPS: One thing to consider is your attack rating, especially when using very high damage, but slow weapons. If you miss with very fast weapons it is a tiny blip, but each miss with a grandma weapon greatly reduces your dps.

Weapon speed: Two weapons with the same speed rating (Ludicrous -> Granmda) may actually have different speeds. Part of this is due to speed modifiers on the weapons, but there is a variance within a speed class. To view the real speed of the weapon you need to press "C" and look at the value. I also find it easier to get in special attacks with faster weapons than slower ones.

For me the importance lies strictly with DPS. Since lvl 1 I have dual wield and usually I dont use a 1her that is slower then Freak Fast. There were 2 occasions where I used a two hander for a few lvls, prob 6 lvls total. And this was because they were RB 2hr's that were Fast and Freakin Fast. I know people see the big dmg on the 2hr's and like it, alot. But the point of killing mobs is not dmg per hit, it's Dmg per Second. DPS is the Main focus of all mmorpg's for many people including me.
So in short, If I dual wield they are FF or Ludi.
If I 2hand its Fast or faster, Normal only if the stats are great, which is rare.

Second point: Stats bring a huge variable to the table, if I had a 65% crit chance on a Fast speed 2Hander I would use that rather than dual wield a Ludi FF combo.
How? Why? I can't get you numbers but, I would fight a group of mobs with one setup and then fight a group of similar type and # of mobs with the other, and see which is faster.

This is all strictly on DPS, there are many factors that weight into deciding on a weapon setup. If the stats of one setup out weight the stats of the other then obviously I would have to take this into consideration.
You also have to think about how the stats of your armor affect your toon when equiping different weapon setups.

If you try to take a broad general assumption about weapon setups then I would say Dual Weilding would be the setup of choice, mainly because it is easier to find 1handers with decent to good dmg and are really fast, than it is to find a 2hand with sufficient speed.

IMO the choice for most fighters should be DW two 1handers but keep an eye out for a Fast, FFast, or Ludi 2hand weapon.

Just wanted to add; I do not claim all this knowledge as my own, the majority of these theories were taught to me by a very knowledgable friend, for which I am greatful.
I merely added a little tweek as to what I theorize.

Also, its my assumption that if you are a big user of cleave, 1 handers seriously gimp this ability. Its much more valuable to have a shot from a high damage 2 hander than a single shot from a lower damage 1 hander.

I've been using a 2 hander for 8 levels now (currently 33) simply because I've had 2 hand rb's drop.

I personally love 2handers. People say its about the "big #'s" I tend to disagree. Its how quickly you take down a mob. My 2h is at a .60 speed with the haste buff it drops it to .50 thats very fast for a 2h and I can shred through the lil mob as fast as someone dual wielding.

I usually test it, If I can kill fster with a 2h I stick with the 2h, If I can kill faster with the dual wielding, I go to dual wielding. It is really all based on what weapons you have.

I believe there are FF and Ludi 2her's, I'm pretty sure I saw a link from a friend for both granted they were RBs and rare RBs, but Im fairly certain I saw them. As always I would love to be proven wrong =)

My main point is that, the focus shouldn't be on an individual stat or on a few stats. Focus should be on DPS and how fast the mobs go down.

Personally I am working on figuring out a way to calc True Dps so we can get some actual #'s to work with. So far I have been unable to find a truely accurate and reliable formula. =\



Edited by Doog_05 (12/12/07 11:30 AM)

For my build dual is neccesary cause of crappy ar. My strength is high enough a i can one or 2 hit ll fodder, and take out heros in 6 secs. Just invest 60% in end, 30 in str, get all purple/rainbow armor that tailors to that, 7%agil(opt), 3%int(very opt). Then grab some awesome looking soul swords, and start owning

I forgot to add that a few days before Chunk2 I reluctantly equiped a Normal 2hand I thought it might ba a little slow and I was worried about the misses. But with the new Roo post Chunk2 there are no misses and it seems to be slightly better at clearing mobs. This maybe due to my particular build but I have become a little more accepting of 2Hand weapons since the change.

ps- This is without respecing I'm currently still running the 2-Str, 2-Agi, 1-End ratio



Edited by Doog_05 (12/12/07 11:54 AM)

There are none and I can say thats 100% sure. Wake of the Devastator is the fastest 2 Handed weapon, with speed Fast.

Good to know LR. Thought I might have been missing something with last patch. Havent been around as much in game lately.

Thanks for the correction LR. =)