2 handed vs 2 X 1 handed - rule of thumb?
- Thread starter Minerios
- Start date
Wesell
Dalayan Elder
Well, you can divide the weapon's damage by its delay to find its ratio of damage to delay. More damage per delay is more damage per second, so the weapon with the largest damage to delay ratio should provide the highest DPS.
For the case where you are using 2 one-handed weapons like yours, you can add the ratios of both weapons together and compare that against the ratio of the two-handed weapon you are considering.
Minerios's Weapons
If your secondary hand were performing as well as your main hand it would be as simple as adding the ratios together for comparing to two-handed weapons.
Minerios's Fictional Weapon Options
So you can see that the Dust-Covered Runesword is going to be your best bet if DPS is your concern. You should also note that until you have the AA Ambidexterity your secondary hand will not function to it's full potential and after you have the AA Melee Mastery 3 your primary hand will never fail a double attack. These factors cause the two one-handed weapon setup to perform a bit worse than one two-handed weapon with the same ratio. If you are considering weapons that are so close that you can't determine the difference using this method the stats on the weapons are likely a larger factor in which you should chose than differences in damage to delay ratio. In a close case the only way to really know for sure is to parse.
There are a number of other factors that weigh into this decision as well that you or someone else reading this thread may not be aware of, so I'll list them here.
Reasons to Chose a Two-Handed Weapon[list type=square]
[*]Fewer repostes while aux tanking (raid bosses reposte hard)
[*]Fewer hits from DS (not always worth dispelling)
[*]You will generate less aggro
[*]A two-handed weapon is required for some combat styles
[/list]
Reasons to Chose Two One-Handed Weapons[list type=square]
[*]You will generate more aggro
[*]Two one-handed weapons are required for some combat styles
[/list]
General Tips[list type=square]
[*]When using two one-handed weapons put the weapon with the highest damage to delay ratio in your main hand (especially at lower levels).
[*]Your secondary hand works just like your main hand with the exception of the AA Melee Mastery 3, and the fact that it must pass a dual-wield skill check before swinging. Don't believe any strange rumors from live about using a slow weapon with lots of damage in your off-hand or anything like that (it wasn't even true on live).
[*]There is nothing in the game favoring fast weapons for DPS.
[/list]
For the case where you are using 2 one-handed weapons like yours, you can add the ratios of both weapons together and compare that against the ratio of the two-handed weapon you are considering.
Minerios's Weapons
- Glistening Wasp Stinger - Damage: 5 Delay: 11 Ratio: 0.454545...
- Berg's Basher - Damage: 27 Delay: 54 Ratio: 0.5
If your secondary hand were performing as well as your main hand it would be as simple as adding the ratios together for comparing to two-handed weapons.
Minerios's Fictional Weapon Options
- Glistening Wasp Stinger + Berg's Basher - Combined Ratio: 0.9545454...
- Dust-Covered Runesword - Damage: 35 Delay: 36 Ratio: 0.97222...
So you can see that the Dust-Covered Runesword is going to be your best bet if DPS is your concern. You should also note that until you have the AA Ambidexterity your secondary hand will not function to it's full potential and after you have the AA Melee Mastery 3 your primary hand will never fail a double attack. These factors cause the two one-handed weapon setup to perform a bit worse than one two-handed weapon with the same ratio. If you are considering weapons that are so close that you can't determine the difference using this method the stats on the weapons are likely a larger factor in which you should chose than differences in damage to delay ratio. In a close case the only way to really know for sure is to parse.
There are a number of other factors that weigh into this decision as well that you or someone else reading this thread may not be aware of, so I'll list them here.
Reasons to Chose a Two-Handed Weapon[list type=square]
[*]Fewer repostes while aux tanking (raid bosses reposte hard)
[*]Fewer hits from DS (not always worth dispelling)
[*]You will generate less aggro
[*]A two-handed weapon is required for some combat styles
[/list]
Reasons to Chose Two One-Handed Weapons[list type=square]
[*]You will generate more aggro
[*]Two one-handed weapons are required for some combat styles
[/list]
General Tips[list type=square]
[*]When using two one-handed weapons put the weapon with the highest damage to delay ratio in your main hand (especially at lower levels).
[*]Your secondary hand works just like your main hand with the exception of the AA Melee Mastery 3, and the fact that it must pass a dual-wield skill check before swinging. Don't believe any strange rumors from live about using a slow weapon with lots of damage in your off-hand or anything like that (it wasn't even true on live).
[*]There is nothing in the game favoring fast weapons for DPS.
[/list]
Wesell
Dalayan Elder
Okay, I've done some preliminary parsing to try to quantify the two-hander damage bonus. I'm fighting a kobold clansmans and so far I don't have any conclusive results. I'd hoped that we'd be able to see a trend developing early, but that isn't the case.
8 Damage One-Handed Weapon (No Stats)
8 Damage Two-Handed Weapon (No Stats)
This is a very small sample so it doesn't really mean anything, I thought it might be fun to see. We should be able to draw some conclusions after I record a few thousand more hits.
8 Damage One-Handed Weapon (No Stats)
- Total Hits: 1549
- Total Damage: 38254
- Average Hit: 24.695932859909618
8 Damage Two-Handed Weapon (No Stats)
- Total Hits: 954
- Total Damage: 23895
- Average Hit: 25.047169811320753
This is a very small sample so it doesn't really mean anything, I thought it might be fun to see. We should be able to draw some conclusions after I record a few thousand more hits.
Sooo... how many swings total? What is the percentage of hits vs. total swings? If it was timed, are the weapons an equivalent delay?
If you're just concerned about damage bonus though your test may be accurate just measuring the average hits. I do wonder if the amount of damage put out with the damage bonus scales with the innate (base) weapon damage and/or delay.
Do you have the same skill in the 1 handed weapons as the 2 hander?
If you're just concerned about damage bonus though your test may be accurate just measuring the average hits. I do wonder if the amount of damage put out with the damage bonus scales with the innate (base) weapon damage and/or delay.
Do you have the same skill in the 1 handed weapons as the 2 hander?
Wesell
Dalayan Elder
They are both slashing weapons, I'm only trying to determine the two-hander damage bonus. I'm fighting the same type of mob everytime (a kobold clansman from the first floor of sorc's lab). Both weapons are in the main hand which does have some AAs effecting it, but no AAs that benefit one type of weapon (if there are any).
What I'm asking is that your 1hs and 2hs skill are the same skill level. It's not a good comparison if you have 200 1hs skill and 110 2hs skill or something.
And it may not matter TOO much, but is that "same mob" always the same level? Like when it respawns are you sure it's conned the same?
I'm not trying to say your parsing isn't worth anything, just trying to see if you missed anything in the setup is all.
And it may not matter TOO much, but is that "same mob" always the same level? Like when it respawns are you sure it's conned the same?
I'm not trying to say your parsing isn't worth anything, just trying to see if you missed anything in the setup is all.
Wesell
Dalayan Elder
Okay so, after consider the feedback I got after posting some results yesterday I decided to change my experiment a bit. I'm going to do multiple small well controlled experiments. I'm fighting the same mob each time, not a just the same type of mob. I'm logging the hits until the mob is at 20% hp then retreating and allowing him to regen before I reengage with a new weapon. I'm fighting him with a one-handed weapon with 8 damage (base damage), with a one-handed weapon with 10 damage (25% more damage than base control), and with a two-handed weapon with 8 damage (unknown bonus).
Here are the results of the first round of these new tests:
One-Handed 8 Damage Weapon (Base Damage)
One-Handed 10 Damage Weapon (25% More Damage Control)
Two-Handed 8 Damage Weapon (Unknown Bonus)
If nobody sees anything wrong with this method of testing I'll go ahead and collect enough data to make a firm conclusion.
Here are the results of the first round of these new tests:
One-Handed 8 Damage Weapon (Base Damage)
- Total Hits: 490
- Total Damage: 11006
- Average Hit: 22.461224489795917
One-Handed 10 Damage Weapon (25% More Damage Control)
- Total Hits: 454
- Total Damage: 12345
- Average Hit: 27.191629955947135
- Results: 21.060318720825885527022855074809% more damage
Two-Handed 8 Damage Weapon (Unknown Bonus)
- Total Hits: 529
- Total Damage: 12233
- Average Hit: 23.12476370510397
- Results: 2.9541542386057240577215464170303% more damage
If nobody sees anything wrong with this method of testing I'll go ahead and collect enough data to make a firm conclusion.