Most of player already playing with spell and ranged builds. Why is there this penalty when the number of players playing dual wielding is so low? There should be an urgent buff for dual wielding or at least the +9% increase damage taken should be removed.
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Because Dual-Wielding adds a 2nd weapon (not shield or catalyst) to get additional attack-based stats off of that wildly increases your damage when built correctly.
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I know to reason but I’ve played most of ARPG like diablo - path of exile - grim dawn etc. there is no penalty like that.
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Well basicly the downside in PoE is that you have less defense bc you wont use a shield which can give you a max to 100+ life modifier, no resistance etc.
I can’t even imagine how pissed people would’ve been by the old more in line negative effects of DW. Now you almost have only benefits for almost no downside.
The downside in Grim Dawn, specifically, is that you don’t attack with both weapons. Some attacks only use the primary weapon, whereas others will alternate hands. You never get the full benefit of both weapons on an attack.
Conversely, here in Last Epoch you get the full damage stats of both weapons applied to every attack, which can add up to a similar level of power as a 2H weapon except in this case you tend to have higher base attack speed.
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Then perhaps a slight penalty to attack speed instead of incoming damage? 2h weapons get good bonuses. Affixes on 2h get values high enough to compensate lack of off-hand weapon. I see no point for DW unless for exotic combinations, e.g. axe + sword for bonuses from implicits or uniques. It seems 2h sword is better than DW 2 cloned 1h swords with same affixes. So that +9% incoming damage penalty seems pointless.
Disclaimer, i don’t play rogue or many other DW builds.
In my mind an attack speed penalty would remove one of the main draws for DW over 2H, and especially so when you take Titan Heart into account. The only reason to DW over 2H at that point would be if the skill itself has usage restrictions based on DW, like Shadow Cascade.
I think the current penalty makes sense thematically. You’re opting for two weapons for maximum damage potential and leaving yourself more vulnerable due to the lack of a free hand. However, I think this starts to fall apart practically when you account for Titan Heart and the fact that two 1H affixes tends to add up equally to one 2H affix.
I do agree that the penalty feels a bit harsh for the way itemization is currently designed, but I don’t think taking away one of the main differentiating factors for DW would be the right call. Frankly, I don’t think there needs to be a penalty at all, especially since each mastery is limited in which weapon types it can equip in the offhand.
You can split your suffixes and use Frailty on one of your weapons which more than compensates for the penalty.