ArcheAge Dual Wielding Information

ArcheAge Dual Wielding Information by Odweller

I thought I’d consolidate some of the information concerning dual-wielding, and add in some pictures to illustrate what I’m talking about. I’ll lead this off with the same disclaimer: this is data I collected over a couple hours and have not tested extensively. Furthermore, math is not my strong suit, so if anyone wants to re-crunch any numbers or log in and get some test data, by all means do so. This is by no means a guide, and if you believe something I’ve stated is flat out wrong or your own observations contradict mine, feel free to say so, so that we can conduct further tests.

Dual-Wielding Pros:

1. 8% global cooldown reduction. Useful if you use a lot of instant cast skills, not useful if you use skills with cast bars or long “countdown” cooldowns. If you have a lot skills that are instant-casts with short cooldowns (Triple Slash, Rapid Strike), this could come in handy.

2. 8% increase in weapon speed on both weapons. This is shown in the detailed character sheet *But not the main character sheet*. Not sure if this is a bug or what, but the detailed character sheet shows an increase in attack speed while the main character sheet DPS remains unaffected (except by any bonus stats ie: strength on the offhand weapon).

With one weapon equipped:

With two weapons equipped:

When auto-attacking while dual-wielding, both weapons attack simultaneously, however the off-hand weapon’s weapon speed doubles (resulting in half the DPS, along with the the 8% attack speed bonus).

Auto-Attack Melee DPS = ((MHMax + MHMin) / 2) / (Weapon Speed * .92) + ((OHMax + OHMin) / 2) / (Weapon Speed * .92 * 2)

Weapon speed seems to only affect auto-attack, as well as DPS calculation. From what I’ve tested, skills seem to all go at the same speed regardless of weapon type. The only way to speed them up is the global cooldown reduction from dual wielding (and for some skills, level them up).

3. Bonus stats from the secondary weapon, such as extra strength, stamina, etc. These are useful, but aren’t as important as the above bonuses. For example, in the above picture, you’ll see that I get the bonus 3 strength from my offhand weapon.

4. Some skills have a one handed and two handed version. Example:

As you can see, some skills gets a bonus base damage as well as bonus melee damage % when you have two weapons equipped. Note that this only exists for some skills; others (such as Charge) have the same base damage and melee damage % regardless of how many weapons you’re using.

Dual-Wielding Cons:

1. You don’t get the larger weapon DPS of two-handed weapons.
2. Most melee skills are based off your “Melee Attack” which is largely based off your main-hand. The only way your off-hand can affect this number is through bonus stats, and potentially the 8% weapon speed buff if it is indeed applied to your Melee attack despite not being shown. For this reason, having a high DPS main hand (a two hander) would result in higher skill damage.

Concerning Pure Casters:

If you’re a pure caster, you have two choices: a two-handed staff or a scepter and an offhand. Currently, magic skills are based off your “Magic Attack” and your intelligence. Magic attack is determined from your weapon’s “+ Magic Attack” stat and NOT your weapon DPS. Furthermore, most (if not all) magic attacks have a cast bar, rendering the cooldown reduction (which is usually much shorter than the cast bar) obsolete. Essentially, the only benefit you get from wielding a scepter and an offhand seems to be the offhand’s bonus stats. It’s for this reason that I feel that the only viable offhand for a caster is a shield, as the bonus stats from any other melee weapon are too insignificant to make up for the Magic Attack lost from not using a two-hander.

That’s all I’ve discovered so far. Again, if you find anything else or anything that disagrees with the above points, feel free to post it in this thread so we can figure out how all this stuff is really calculated.