Ranger: dual wield 1HS or use 2HS?
 

Apologies if this has been asked before, but searching the forums for short, commonly-used words doesn't get the results that I'm looking for.

I have a level 45 ranger and am wondering what the DPS comparison is between using a 2HS vs dual wielding 1HS weapons.

Currently using Lamentation (9/19) primary and Sarnak Skullsplitter (12/26) secondary. How doest that compare to either Nature's Wrath (29/44) or Silver Swiftblade (16/24)?

What kind of dmg/del should I look for in a 2H weapon to be equivalent? How does double atttack affect primary/secondary weapon attacks?

woodsmans staff and a swarmcaller is all you need til epics

Rip uses some big 2 hander from ToV on his big dick ranger parses.

DW is more fun but unless you have a Swiftblade of Zek or raid 1hs and epic, 2h is going to do better. Less damage shield woes, bigger ripostes (more a concern than the number you will take), can cast without the same penalty.

I would probably get a Silver Swiftblade and Swarmcaller. At 30 swap to an Argent Protector. Woodsman or Exquisite is better but for the hard stuff you can cast Firestrike between AP swings without much loss of DPS. Making it easy to put down targets like Dyrna, especially if she has a damage shield active. It’s also slow so your bow hits get a higher damage bonus later on.

Keeping all skills trained is annoying.

You should be using a high delay 2H and swapping to a high damage offhand inbetween primary swings if you're willing to put the effort in.

Argent Protector 2H with Green Jade Axe offhand is cheap and a huge upgrade over your current setup. Argent Protector on its own will be better than the 1-handers you're using.

Double attack triggers independently on your off hand but you have to roll a swing with your offhand that round, so it's less command than a primary swing.

For reasons other people have pointed out (ripostes, damage shields, casting between spells, etc.) I prefer 2h. On super high AC raid targets (not a current concern for you) dual wield can be better for DPS though.

You'll basically need a Woodsman Staff of Exquisite Velium X to out do your current dual wield setup.

Whatever crack zuranthium is on he's a moron. So it's to be expected.

You use a woodsmans staff or exquisite X till you get epics.
You offhand swiftwind and then upgrade your mainhand intermittently until it's a baton or kriezenn's.

If you loot a Meljeldin and get yourself some 41% haste in a different slot, it's BiS for DPS on most mobs.

You still keep a 1h set for tunare/AoW/KT/vyemm where baton/kflame and swiftwind parses higher. But then you also don't do this as if you bring ANY OTHER CLASS you'll do more dps. You bring a ranger to bump. To bump you need to know your consistent aggro output, and doing that with a 2h like meljeldin or primal 2h is very easy to keep yourself in the top 5 for aggro so you're only a disc and lick away from a bump.

Or dont bring a ranger. Both of mine are now bots. Noone even uses them I don't think.

If you're a complete loser like me you get a bfg and fuck around with that tripe. Do it once to get it out of your system then delete it and wish you used the plank on something else and useful.

Swarmcaller/woodsmans is the real 'epic' until Meljeldin however if you can get haste elsewhere.

Earthcaller is a nice thing to swap in as you can also use a shield of the rainbow hues while trying to get a slow proc on dragons or even HoT trash etc, lot more stats to carry than a swarmcaller to achieve the same thing.

You're the moron who is ignoring factual game mechanics and giving bad advice.

Argent Protector on its own is within 1 DPS of the Woodsman Staff, and it gives +AC and boosts to various other stats, while also being much cheaper, and the higher delay already allows for spellcasting to be better weaved inbetween attack swings. When using an offhand swap with the Argent Protector, it is better DPS than Woodsman Staff.

Nobody is doing that.

If there was an advantage, we would be doing it.

There is no advantage. Go get me a 10 minute video of you doing it, footage of hands.

fucking muppet.

That's their choice. It remains a great option for anyone who wants to do it, and new players should be aware of it so they can make the choice. It's especially relevant when not having much haste. There's no reason aside from laziness to sit there and wait 4 seconds between every attack round. You can get extra attack swings in that period of time without a stressful exertion.

Also, at the most basic level this IS being done. It's calling jousting. You equip your highest damage weapon for the first swing against an enemy to maximize that first swing, and then swap to the better ratio weapon after the first swing if you're fighting something that's standing still. It's your own lack of expertise in the game to not understand this. Keep showing how wrong you are, it's funny.

This.

If bandolier function was present on p99 it would be possible but so annoying that I wouldn’t be doing it. Bandolier, however, is not on p99 so unless you’re using some hack program - I’d argue that doing it would either not be possible or (if possible in short bursts) sustainable.

Nobody is doing it.