Dual Wield's Duality

Banged my head around and actually found a different approach to dual-wielding that won't just make lighter/faster weapons useless 99% of the time.

Currently, the damage formula when dual wielding is:

(Player ATK/Enemy DEF) * [(75% Player ATK)/Enemy DEF]

In short, only the total ATK mattered, no big brains are needed here.

Here's how things change: the effectiveness of the off-hand weapon depends on its type! The damage increase per ATK point varies greatly for different weapon types:

• Off-Hand Hammer/Axe/Staff/Power Gloves...: -75% off-hand ATK score
• Off-Hand Sword/Katana/Whip/Spear: -25% off-hand ATK score
• Off-Hand Claw/Dugger/Gun: -0% off-hand ATK

And additionally:

• Off-Hand HUGE weapon: -25% off-hand ATK score, additionally to the weapon-type modifier.

Here's an example:

Big Game Cleaver (HUGE Axe) sports a great +110 ATK stat (-5 DEF -15 AGI), but...

... we can clearly see how it's outperformed by a Blood Whip (Whip) on the off-hand, even if the latter has only got a +30 ATK stat (and a +30 M.ATK stat that could always come in use)!

Here's why:

• Big Game Cleaver + Off-Hand Big Game Cleaver

Effective Player ATK = Total ATK - (75% off-hand ATK, because AXE) - (25% off-hand ATK, because HUGE) ~= 316 - 82.5 - 27.5 = 206

The off-hand Big Game Cleaver gives no damage increase at all!

• Big Game Cleaver+ Off-Hand Blood Whip

Effective Player ATK = Total ATK - (25% off-hand ATK, because WHIP) ~= 236 - 8 = 228

Using the less powerful weapon, in this case, is just better!

You can have fun looking for the optimal dual-wielding combination now, it certainly will make different builds viable, and make access to different weapon types more important!

Final note, the "Dexterous" Progeny Skill denies any damage reduction while dual-wielding!