Dual wielding in Baldur's Gate 3 primarily offers the benefit of granting an additional attack as a bonus action during combat, significantly increasing a character's potential damage output per turn.
This combat style involves equipping a weapon in both the main hand and the off-hand, allowing for an extra opportunity to deal damage or apply unique weapon effects in a single turn. While providing a clear offensive boost, it's a particular strategy that usually works best for dexterity-heavy martial classes, but even then, it can be a risky way of fighting and doesn't always prove superior to just one weapon.
Core Advantages of Dual Wielding
The primary appeal of dual wielding stems from the ability to make an off-hand attack using a bonus action after performing an attack with your main hand weapon.
- Increased Attack Opportunities: This grants an additional damage roll each turn, which can substantially boost overall damage, particularly during the early stages of the game or against enemies with lower Armor Class (AC).
- Leveraging Weapon Properties and Enchantments: Wielding two weapons allows a character to benefit from the unique properties, magical enchantments, and passive abilities of both weapons simultaneously. For instance, one weapon might inflict a specific status effect, while the other provides additional elemental damage or a critical hit bonus, enabling powerful synergistic combinations.
- Tactical Versatility: Using two different weapons can offer versatility in damage types (e.g., piercing and slashing) or provide different tactical options (like a melee weapon paired with a throwing weapon for specific builds), allowing you to exploit enemy vulnerabilities more effectively.
Requirements and Optimization for Dual Wielding
To effectively utilize dual wielding, characters must meet specific criteria and consider certain optimizations to maximize its benefits:
- Light Weapons: By default, both the main-hand and off-hand weapons must possess the "Light" property. This ensures the weapons are small and manageable enough to be wielded simultaneously without penalty.
- Bonus Action Consumption: The off-hand attack consumes your bonus action for the turn. This means you must carefully consider if sacrificing your bonus action for an attack is more beneficial than using it for other abilities, such as a Rogue's Cunning Action or various class-specific features.
- Ability Modifier Exclusion (Default): Typically, your ability modifier (Strength or Dexterity) is not added to the damage roll of the off-hand attack. To add your ability modifier to the off-hand attack's damage, you must acquire the Two-Weapon Fighting fighting style, which is available to certain classes like Fighters and Rangers.
- Key Feats for Enhancement:
- Dual Wielder Feat: This feat is crucial for dedicated dual wielders. It allows you to dual-wield non-Light weapons, significantly expanding your weapon choices to include more powerful armaments. Additionally, it provides a +1 bonus to Armor Class while dual-wielding, enhancing your survivability.
- Ability Score Improvement Feats: Boosting your primary attack stat (often Dexterity for dual-wielders) directly increases your attack rolls and main-hand damage, indirectly improving your overall dual-wielding effectiveness.
Ideal Candidates for Dual Wielding
Dual-wielding is a particular strategy that generally works best for dexterity-heavy martial classes. Classes such as Rogues (especially the Thief subclass due to their extra bonus action), Rangers, and certain Fighter archetypes often find considerable success with this combat style. Their inherent high Dexterity, access to relevant fighting styles, or additional bonus actions synergize effectively with the dual-wielding mechanics.
| Aspect | Description |
|---|---|
| Core Advantage | Grants an additional attack as a bonus action each turn. |
| Weapon Type Default | Requires two weapons with the "Light" property. |
| Damage Modifier | Ability modifier is not added to off-hand attack damage unless "Two-Weapon Fighting" style is active. |
| Best Suited For | Dexterity-heavy martial classes (e.g., Rogues, Rangers, Fighters). |
| Key Feat | Dual Wielder (allows non-Light weapons, provides +1 AC). |
| Consideration | Can be a risky strategy; not always superior to single-weapon builds depending on character optimization. |
Limitations and Strategic Nuances
Despite its benefits, dual-wielding has specific drawbacks. It can be a risky way of fighting because it commits your bonus action to an attack, potentially foregoing crucial defensive maneuvers, utility spells, or class features that also require a bonus action. Moreover, it doesn't always prove superior to just one weapon, especially for builds that rely heavily on powerful two-handed weapons, a shield for enhanced defense, or specific feats like Great Weapon Master or Polearm Master, which might offer higher damage or greater tactical advantages in different scenarios.
Ultimately, the benefit of dual-wielding lies in its potential for increased offensive pressure and strategic versatility, provided it is thoughtfully integrated into a character's class, build, and available feats.
