Which weapon for which hand?

[Goregasmic]

1 handers get no damage bonus so it is pure ratio before lvl28:
Formula: (Weapon damage / weapon delay)

Offhands never get weapon damage bonus so they go by pure ratio too.

1handers with get damage bonus at 28 and it scales every 3 levels or so until 60. It caps at +11.
Formula: (weapon dmg x2 + dmg bonus)/delay.

2handers work like main hand but the slower they are the higher the damage bonus. Look at the chart snaggles posted for the numbers.

That being said:

For main hand 1handers, low delay weaps will often beat higher delay weapons with better ratios due to weapon damage bonus being applied more often. It isn't a linear thing though so you have to run the formula for every weapon at every damage bonus steps basically (if you care that much).

2handers are generally better due to higher weapon damage bonus AND the fact that it will cost you 3000pp for a solid 2hander while getting equivalent 1handers will run you a 40 000pp+ bill. Also, two handers relationship with ratio and damage bonus is linear so you can just pick best ratio.

Springwood stave is the woodsman budget option but I've looked for a 2hb practice option on my ranger and never seen it for sale, ended up getting a stormwood battle staff in sebilis for now.

List of cheap 2h options (below 1k)

250pp stormwood battle staff 26/40 --- 0,65
85pp nature's wrath 29/44 --- 0,659
100pp silver swiftblade 16/24 --- 0,667
50pp argent defender 33/49 --- 0,673
500pp swarmcaller 29/41 --- 0,707
250pp springwood stave 31/42 --- 0,738

I'm farming chardok nowadays so if I see a silver swiftblade or an argent defender I can snag it for you, free of charge if you're interested.

Swarm caller is more expensive but it is the better pick since you'll keep it until epics for the slow proc.