Yeah, I missed that one. But my point still stands.
Since they added that new stat to increase skill levels, maybe 2H can give +2 instead of +1 or something.
The new “+X to skill Y” stat is only available on class-süecific gear (helmet, body armour and relic)
Some uniques have more generic “+X to Y type of skills” though.
So balancing around weapon types is not a thing here.
This is definitely something we’re keeping a close eye on. Dual wielding has only been in the game since December and the dust has only recently started to settle on the state of its balance compared to 2h weapons. It certainly looks like 2h weapons are underpowered at the moment and you can expect buffs for them in future patches.
One thing to keep in mind is that we’re still in the process of redoing our item base types, with shields, sceptres, and relics being overhauled this patch. With each of these base type reworks we plan to introduce multiple viable base types for end game and often these base type are more powerful than their equivalents pre-rework, especially for builds that can take advantage of their new secondary/niche stats. This sort of rework hasn’t happened yet for any two handed weapon types and when it does they will inevitably increase in power.
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While changes to the bases would help, I think the numbers on the prefixes needs a look into as well, a 2h prefix is less than 2x the number of the same tier prefix on a 1h, therefore dual wielding will always do more. And since 1h are faster than 2h, they’ll do more, faster.
IMO, if they were to keep their existing numerical values, 2h would need some new afixes (such as the “less damage from crits”, if that went higher than 50% in t6/7 affixes, that one affix would free up some other suffixes &/or a blessing slot) &/or new implicits that make them different to 1h. If you have an X axis with damage (DW) on one end and tankiness (1h + shield) on the other end, 2h need something on the Y axis to make them stand out, otherwise people will skip over them to get to the more effective ends of the axes.
This does sound sooo interesting.
Having multiple endgame viable base items in each category gives so much more choices and build diverstiry, while also probably gives you guys at EHG more levers for balancing and tuning.
Looking forward to it!
Thanks for the clarification
In the archetypal rpg setting, 2-handed weapons were often the big damage weapons. You gave up lots of defense in return. Dual-wielding gave you speed (which in LE is powerful with dots), as well as some defensive synergies in evasion and parry. Maybe attack skills should only use the offensive stats of the weapon they are hitting with.
I think maybe putting main-hand and off-hand gear back in line with the archetype may help.
I understand LE wants to break the mold where it can, but it may take more in depth balancing with secondary and tertiary effects of the chosen weapon.
imho, dual weilding should NOT be penalized. each weapon style should come with its own benefits. if we’re talking about themes:
1handed (no offhand) - improved accuracy/dodge/crit chance
1hand+offhand - offhand provides bonuses already. gearing flexibility
dual wield - ability to attack with 2 weapons at once with average attack speed of the 2 items, gearing flexibility. procs happen more often
2handed - huge ass attack but slow, procs less but should be more impactful when it happens. no gearing flexibility (cant slap on a fire resist shield if dealing against tough fire damage mobs)
thats really good to hear, cant wait for the changes! also one thing i didnt mention earlier is dual wielding allows for more procs due to their attackspeed and having 2 weapons attacking.
It just seems very unreasonable that your offhand sword with added fire damage also adds that fire damage to attacks with your mainhand weapon. It doesn’t make sense.
Dual wielding shouldn’t be “penalized” arbitrarily, but its functionality should at the least make sense. For what it’s worth, it doesn’t make sense that you take 12% more damage for dual wielding either. It is an arbitrary “balancing” mechanic because dual wielding is mechanically overpowered right now.
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yeah, offhand bonuses conferring to main hand is an issue. in poe it was so terrible that the term “stat stick” was born since their offhand were usually just carried for the sole purpose of buffing their main weapon while they used skills that only work with their main weapon.
the hard decision that the devs have to make to avoid this is to decide whether or not the bonuses conferred would be global or specific to that weapon only OR reduce the numbers.
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Oh boy where do u begin.
I love 2 handed style but right now it’s very hard to justify incorporating them into a build other then just for looks.
The only real upside I see right now for two handers is one unique suffix which reduces the damage to crits which is interesting and the forge guard tree … but the tree does have some issues.
Forge guard tree being so newish it still lacks synergy because it’s hard to build around the nodes. But if you can do it they provide a large amount of dots and damage… but that is about it. I don’t hate the forge guard tree but it just feels awkward, nodes should be tweaked little so certain nodes don’t feel so “forced” and open up more interesting nodes for 2 Hander style. Like for example block chance while using a 2 hander, or increase leech or increase spell power; just something build enforcing so it’s worth going into the forge guard tree for a 2 hander style other then damage.
I also agree that I wish there were more nodes in skills to incentive 2 handers as an option, maybe slowing down attack speed for more damage for example or opening up the ability to be able to be charged up if holding a 2 hander. It could open up more play styles that are strictly the best with 2 handers which would be fun to build around.
I’ll look forward to 2 hander updates in the future, till then I’ll still be using them. 2 handed swords are just so cool.
@ExSea @darkdeal At the moment, LE is programmed such that you don’t hit with weapons you hit with skills (even the basic attack is a skill, it just has no tree nor many bonuses) and all weapons are stat sticks.
IMO, I like that LE does things differently & I hope that 2 handers get something that’s not purely on the damage/defence axis to make them a viable option. I also wouldn’t want them to just copy what every other game does.
The problem is that 2handed weapons have bad secondary stats outside of dmg. Only polearms having crit chance for example is reducing the weapon choice for crit depending skills on polearms if you want to get the best bang fot the buck.
There are simple ways to make 2handed weapons more intresting… just increase the dmg of the bases. Increase the roll range of affixes for 2handed weapons. Finaly implement weapon range into the game so 2handed weapons have a advantage over 1handed weapons this way. introduce new affixes only effecting 2handed weapons in a meaningfull way.
There are sure more complex ways to get things done that might be better or more elegant solutions but I can’t come up with one.
What is impressing me is that DW is december content.
We have another patch, in playtesting and with the plethora of community testers, in two months or even before the rogue patch was released, nobody ever came out with doing the 1+1 calc to realize that DW would have been > 2H and by a whole one third more? What is people actually testing then?
I know it sounds like being a dick but sometimes you need to make a statement
This was known for some time now and you don’t sound like a dick but like someone who isn’t following the forum closely. This topic was touched many times and it was going back and forth all the time.
I’m not sure if CTs mentioned the problem because it was before my time as a tester but so far I’m unhappy with DW. Many other games took an approach of less accuracy or lower offhand dmg and stuff like this but in LE it’s simply add up everything and always hit with both weapons what is completely unrelisitc even for a fantasy game.
I have no idea how this could be solved but I’m no dev so it isn’t my problem at all 
and I can simply voice my oppinon on the topic.
I agree that it would be better if 2-h weapons had unique affixes or stats that made them viable in other ways. This could be handled with something as simple as more impactful implicit modifiers for 2-h weapons. The base crit chance on polearms is actually already really good for that. It represents the big 2-h weapon have more heft and getting hit by it is more damaging. Staves may also be good as they can get some absurd adaptive spell damage, i’m just not sure how impactful that particular stat is for builds.
I also think that the way DW is handled is poor. That all weapons are just stat sticks even for the added damage stats is absurd. This needs changed in a way that doesn’t also gimp “sword and board”. As I stated somewhere else, the 12% more damage taken as a “balance” for DW is arbitrary and meaningless. If trying to look at it realistically, it would seem someone with a big 2-h weapon would be the one more likely to take hits. DW characters would be more able to parry and move around on the battlefield to evade attacks. I just don’t know how that can be translated into game mechanics in a balanced way.
Staves are the DPS weapon of choice for non-crit caster builds, nothing else will give as much adaptive spell damage.
That boils down to how the game deals with damage. The only way to deal damage is with a skill, even the basic attack is a skill (albeit without a tree & precious little in the way of tags). Every single weapon in the game (melee, bow, caster) exists solely to give stats to skills. You aren’t swinging a weapon & doing damage, you’re using a skill (that does damage & has a weapon-swinging animation).
I agree that it would be better if 2-h weapons had unique affixes or stats that made them viable in other ways. This could be handled with something as simple as more impactful implicit modifiers for 2-h weapons.
The “more impactful” stat that is already in place is Crit Multi. Higher base damage is a hidden “Base Multi” stat.
It depends on the availability of Crit Chance and the defense types of enemies (e.g. a flat damage reduction vs a miss percentage) how much that will explode, and how noticeable the difference is.
it works for melee, spell and ranged damage - a Fireball from a Burning Branch should be smaller than from a Meruna Staff. One-handed darts should do less damage than arrows from a 2H bow.
If each 2H weapon would implicitly give Crit Multi, and it would be less abundant elsewhere, you have your “impact” stat within the current model. 
And we would be back at a polearm meta because these have crit on the base. Thx but no thx untill other 2handed weapon bases are changed.