I'd really like to learn how to calculate 1 vs. 2 hand dps and not concerned with other issues in this thread.

An example scenario: Suppose a level 70 warrior has no AA's and has a choice of two different weapon setups. One setup is a 2hs 58 dam 39 delay. The other setup is consists of a 1hs 16 dam 19 delay with a +1 magic damage modifier and a 1hpierce 17 dam 19 delay combo.

Question 1) Which setup yields more dps assuming the warrior has max skills in the setup of choice?

Question 2) Suppose that same warrior had AA's to burn and wanted to go for max dps, which setup would be best?

When you say "given equivalent weapons..." that's what I'm asking here essentially. How do I determine when 1 dual wield weapon equals 2 single wield weapons for dps?

Anyone have any ideas besides parsing?

I had always been under the impression that most times two one handers are better dps than 1 2hander. that was why warriors on a normal mob have the higher dps, of course that is weapon dependent. And if you had a two hander with stats that exactly matched 2 one handers, you would still have a higher damage output with the one handers due to each miss on the 2 hander would = 2 misses with the one handers.

edited to add that that I am not sure of the formula, but I think warriorjoe posted it awhile back.

Edited, Tue Feb 28 09:44:05 2006 by Tawynia

Hey Guys,

I'm here again to sing the virtues of a 2h slash weapon like my Winblade versus duel wield. Taking my weapons into Dranik"s Scar solo I can say with confidence that with crtits/cripaling blows from the 300-500 range they far exceed any duel wield combo I have come across yet at lvl 54.And as far as Holding aggro in a group, I have yet to meet it's match.

I think what you realy want to know is how to compare the damage you might get by using a 2h weapon vs what damage you might get using two 1 hand weapons.
The damage you will do with any weapon in your primary hand can be estimated by the following equation
(2 times damage plus bonus)devided by delay.
for weapons used in your off hand use
(2 times damage) devided by delay.

So you can use the above equations to estimate the damage you do with your 2 hand weapon and your two one hand weapons. However you need to remember that you you don't hit as often with your off hand as you do your primary. You can determine the ratio of how often you hit with your primary vs secondary by using two weapons of diffrent types that have the same delay. Count how many off hand hits you get per 100 primary hits. (due to dubble attack etc this isn't 100 acturate). The number of off hand hits you get devided by 100 will be the number to multiply your estamated damage rate by.
Or you can simply down load one of the programs that do all of this for you. The one i used was called YALP i think.

Some inacturacy in the equation come from what is called damage creap. This results from the fact your base damage ranges towards 3 (not two) times the damage of the weapon at higher lvl. This tends to favor weapons that have a higer ratio.
Another thing to keep in mind is that for all 1h weapons the damage bonus is constant, but delay veries. This can lead to a fast weapon with a lower ratio actually out damaging a slower weapon with a higher ratio.

So to put it simply u can compare possible damage between 1h weapons and 2h weapons by the above equations. However the equations are more acurate when comparing 1 hand weapons to 1 hand weapons and 2 hand weapons to 2 hand weapons.

As for holding aggro, a good 2h weapon can be just as effective as two good 1h weapons. Two examples of good 2h weapons for agro are the Great Staff of Thunder and the Edge of Envlopment

Thank you Warriorjoe,

All that you've said makes sense, and would provide an answer to what I'm after. I'm just wondering if there is a mathematical formula out there that utilizes dual wield skill and damage / delay ratios etc to calculate dps so I don't have to download some program or parse hits manually. Has anyone seen such a formula?

Hi all,

Playing my 75 Warrior with only 30 AA.. mostly in HP related AAs. I have the following weapons and parses for DPS over a evening of fighting.

Main hand Blade of the Eclipse 26/24 Bonus of 16.
It has a Faerie Hex Stone. Giving me 2 175 Procs of Chaotic Strike IV.

Offhand Trident of the Pyrilen 17/20 Bonus of 16.
Giving me Vampire Fangs for 60 Lifetap
Auged with Darkened Hex Stone with Chaotic Strike IV for 175 Proc.

This yields a DPS consistantly in the 130-140 range via Yalp.


My 2H is a Signal Fire Scepter. 39/58 Bonus of 56.
It has Chaotic Strike IV for 175
Firecore Geode with Fiery Strike IV for 175
Dusky Lolite Stone with Freezing Strike III for 150.

This yields a DPS consistantly in the 180-190 range via Yalp.


When kicking off something like Mighty Strike, when below 30 percent health I have consistant crippling blows for over 1K.
With my 1H weapons.. the DPS is nothing like that.
With 2H I am getting in excess of 500DPS when doing the low health Mighty Strike thing.

When grouping I HAVE to use the 1 hand weapons. I can NOT hold aggro with the 2H weapon.

SOO As for calculating? Cant tell you.. but with my combos.. I have to use 2H to increase my DPS. 1H for my aggro.

Rgrog 75 Warr/Thanantos 70 Wiz.

AA,s to burn ? get ur defence aa,s first which will run u upto about 300-400 aa,s to complete .then worry bout DPS with offencive aa,s.at 70 if u cant tank a mob with no defencive aa,s u will b hard pressed to find a group.

miss post sorry :-p

Edited, Mar 29th 2007 10:38am by jonasvleugels

Warriors arent supposed to be dps, they are meant to take damage not give. For dps u would want to be a monk or zerker or something. But as goes 1hs vs 2hs 2hs will give higher dps but 1hs will keep better agro.

No arguements what so ever with what you're saying, but one factor that you've neglected to consider is what happens when you're fighting a mob who wears a damage shield. 2 weapons means twice as many swings, twice as many hits, and twice the damage inflicted on you. At the end of the fight the damage inflicted vs damage received equation will be much better using the twohander. In simple terms, you can inflict same damage (given equal dps weapon arrangements) but only receive half as much damage from the mobs damage shield. Just one more tidbit to factor in when choosing a weapon or weapons.

So I parsed today with my new warrior(67, 0 aa's) to see what was the best. I work with all elaborate defiant weaps until I hit 71 to upgrade. What I found (will all skills at 301/301) and no aa's/discs used, it was comparable. Without procs (I boxed with my shammy) I was hitting reds at 160-170 dps average with dual wielded weaps, and 170ish average with 2hander. Now, it was a little bit higher with the 2 hander, but I proced more often with two weaps swinging faster. Just a thought so its situational


Edited, Aug 27th 2008 8:33pm by TeittoJaqsun