Dual Wielding VS 2 Handed Guide & Analysis | Baldur's Gate 3 | BG3
3,726In this video I breakdown exactly how Two-Weapon Fighting and Two-Handed weapons work, looking at the Feats that impact them and comparing damage potentials against each other.
#BaldursGate3 #BG3 #BG3Guide
My other BG3 videos:
Character creation and ability points guide: https://youtu.be/DJxYeVy4DOk?si=IEOxIsu9IN03eVkl
Saving throws explained: https://youtu.be/BvRNvjxzhcs?si=UTJzDyG7asberYK8
General Tips: https://youtu.be/eNH09OOQNmI?si=xck-owZups8D-TUq
Written reference guide for this video:
Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/BaldursGate3/comments/1arlonz/dual_wielding_vs_two_handed_weapons_guide_baldurs/
STEAM: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3161116493
FAQ/Corrections:
Q1) You said it’s only ever worth to have one Character Dual Wielding, I don’t agree, I have a Rogue and a Fighter DW and doing great.
A2) You can run multiple DW Characters of course and BG3 is a game where you can use many different builds and still succeed. I’m not here to tell you not to do something, just providing information. And from my analysis, the damage output of DW is still lower than Two Handed, even if you stack all the best Critical Hit items and bonus damage dice on the DW Character. Therefore adding a second DW Character with none or less of that equipment will be even more behind.
Q2) What Dual Wielding build do you recommend and do you use the Dual Wielding Feat?
A2) This video is not a build video. There are plenty of other resources to find specific builds. But in my Honour mode run I’m running:
To level Gloomstalker 5 | Thief 4 | Fighter
Respec – Fighter 6 | Thief 3 | Gloomstalker 3
Although I don’t think there is much difference between the two above versions. I’m not saying this is the best build, simply that it’s what I used. Because I'm using two light weapons I took the Savage Attacker Feat instead of Dual Wielding for better damage consistency.
Q3) Why did you round down in the examples, that has lowered the damage output and is not the correct maths.
A3) I did this so that the information would display and be easier to process when viewing the video. Rather than keep on saying 7.33 and 7.5 constantly. I decided to round down in every examples to make it easier and sound less maths intensive for casual viewer.
Q4) Not including accuracy in the damage charts massively impacts the outcome. -25% chance to hit with GWM will reduce your damage and make DW look much better.
A4) I do mention that DW will be consistent and you will hit more often. I made the decision to not include accuracy because it is very subjective. Look on Reddit and the forums and you will find most people say the -5 from GWM makes little difference. I must say that has been my opinion also. Different enemies have different armour values and it makes testing and charts a lot more complicated. There seems to be more people agreeing that you can get your Character to hit consistently with the -5 to hit. At lower levels it is of course more of an impact but later on it feels like a minimal impact.
Q5) How is the Math worked out on the Critical hit comparison damage table?
A5) I took the average for the whatever the base weapon was including GWF if applicable. Included the Modifier bonus of +4 on each example. For the Bonus dice examples I also included two D4 to represent say fire or psychic damage. I averaged these out at as 2 for all examples, including the GWF even though it should be 3 really but I rounded down for every example.
For the Crits I doubled all the dice rolled. Short Sword 2 attacks got 1 crit and 1 normal, did the same for the Dagger to even it out across both weapons.
LINKS:
GAMING EXISTENCE DISCORD SERVER - https://discord.gg/EB6AVGQCFD
AceCalhoon GWF Post: https://rpg.stackexchange.com/questions/47172/how-much-damage-does-great-weapon-fighting-add-on-average
0:00 Intro
0:10 Dual Wielding Basics
1:17 2 Handed Basics
2:19 Level 1-3 Comparisons
4:09 Dual Wielding with Feats
5:51 2 Handed with Feats
6:51 High level Damage comparison
9:28 Critical Hits
11:33 Crit Damage Compared
13:00 DW Hand Crossbows