Been wondering this for awhile. What’s the exact calculation to compare the two in terms of DPS/Speed. Does Dual Wield hit twice per rotation vs Two Handed? How does the weapon speed exactly factor in? Every time I try to look this up all people talk about is the base weapon speeds with no in depth explanation, or they just say “use two handed cause reasons”. Does anyone have an in depth formula for this so I can compare?
WW has no speed impact. Attack speed doesn’t improve WW attack ticks. This was even part of the reason they updated the unique Gohr’s gloves. Damge wise, max item level 1H sword is half of 2H sword. so if both are i925 damage will be same except for things like glpyhs, weapons expertise, etc.
I could be wrong as non barb main. But I believe this to be correct.
I think most guides use the 2H mace b/c of weapon speacialization. Or 2x 1H due to ramaldini unique.
I’m not talking about IAS I’m talking about Base Weapon Speed.
What I’m trying to understand is, does Dual Wield hit 2x (one time with each sword) per spin and Two Handed 1x per spin? And how does the base weapon speed factor in? I’m trying to compare based on DPS not raw damage numbers and no one ever explains how.
So like, if I’m hitting for 1.5 mill per sword dual wielding is that = 3 mill dps or per spin?
To be sure I understand the lingo, what is IAS and what is ‘Base Weapon Speed’ in your mind?
I don’t believe there is any calculation that goes into speed of any kind (base weapon speed,. Again, could be wrong.
So in this case total number of ticks per second and absolute damage per second is unchanged between 1H vs 2H. (Assuming all stats equal)
2x 1H doesn’t ‘hit twice’, I think it hits once with 2 weapons at the same time.
Again could be wrong. It’s hard since there is no log or timer, but you can try and put a stop watch next to dummy and try and measure how quick the ticks come in from WW. To me it looks the same. But if it’s off the 1-5ms, I could be hugely wrong. But I believe the game is calculating the hits at the same rate regardless of 1H or 2H, it just adds the two 1H damage together when the hits go off on WW.
Base weapon speed is listed on the weapon itself:
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1h weapons are 1.1 attacks per second.
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2h Maces are .9
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2h Slashing are 1
Increased attack speed increases that base speed, depending on the weapon used.
Thanks Conan. That’s what I assume as well. But then I read ‘IAS’ as Item attack Speed or Inherent Attack speed and I interpret as the base stats you have listed as well.
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both work okay, dpends if you got a grandfather or not
No one seems to be able to answer my question. I’ve phrased it as straight forward as I can.
IAS stands for Increased Attack Speed. When I reference Base Attack Speed I’m talking about the inherent speed differences of each weapon type. I’m not referring to the Increased Attack Speed stat.
One handed weapons are naturally faster being 1.1 base attack speed vs 1 on two handed swords.
But how is this calculated? Does one spin with a two handed sword = one damage tick?
Does one spin with dual wield = two damage ticks?
And if so does the base weapon speed also factor in, in that every 9x rotations you get +1 extra tick on each one handed sword?
Am I asking clearly enough yet?
I don’t know. They don’t really document forumulas. Gotta guess a lot of it. If you are asking if 1 big slow wpn hits harder than 2 little ones, common sense would say yes.
That’s not what I’m asking. I’m trying to figure out how to calculate my own damage based on DPS or should I say Damage Per Rotation/Tick.
So, if both swords hit together and are calculated together and the base weapon speed doesn’t matter, what is the point of having dual wield as an option?
Rama sword gives .4 damage if equipped although im pretty sure it snapshots. I think channeled skills in this game are capped at 2/sec. I tried googling it but got some redits that are impossible to follow lol
That’s my problem too. There are no straight forward explanations on this.
But if it’s as Macro stated, then even having an option for Dual Wield makes no sense.
The whole point of Dual Wield is that you do lower damage per hit, but faster and/or more hits.
It’s the whole concept of “well you hit for way more with a 2 hander, but over the course of 10 seconds and equal base damage weapons, you do more DPS with dual wield over that time”.
But everyone keeps making it sound like weapon speed and dual wield are irrelevant. So then WHY EVEN ADD IT TO THE GAME?
when i started playing, 2H felt better to me, like it did more stuff. duel wield WW kinda sucked imo. you play WW more than any of us though, just use your gut feeling 
Well, damage ticks are exactly the same because despite 2 handed sword having a higher damage I also have paragon dedicated to multiplicative damage bonus with 1 handed swords and naturally nothing specific to two handers. So literally my damage ticks with either show identical values.
Dual wield “feels” a little faster, but it sooo hard to tell. Which is why I was hoping someone on the forums maybe had a link to an in depth calculation or someone having done extensive testing but I’ve searched a lot myself and just can’t seem to find anything actually relevant.
I just wanted to see if I could find a definitive answer.
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There’s youtube videos on it.
Thanks for the clarification.
As far as I know and have tested, 1H weapon does not get you more rotations per second.
Said another way channeled skills in D4 not affected by base weapon speed.
Again, reserve the right to be wrong.
Finally, you’ll notice on i925 weapons, 1H + 1H = same (or like off by a few points) damage as 2H weapon.
Tie breaker goes to conditions that require ‘damage with this weapon’.
Someone needs to run some tests with white weapons. Presumably, they all have the same item power. It just too hard to find 925 white weapons.
Care to share one that explains what we’re discussing?
As far as I know Macro weapon base speed is the ONLY thing that affects WW tick rate.
Where’s Rage when you need him?
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All the test videos I could find only test a single WW pass. My assumption is still that because the base weapon speeds are different, but only so slightly, that continued WW will differ in in tick rates over time.
2 Hand Mace = .9 attack speed (slower over time)
2 Hand Sword = 1 (baseline)
1 Hand Weapons = 1.1 (faster over time)
I’m guessing this because it “does” in fact feel slightly faster to me and always has, just that the difference feels very small.
But what this means to me is that continued WW would = more ticks after the 9th tick. By the tenth you would get an extra WW tick. Sure this doesn’t matter vs enemies that you one shot anyway, but against bigger bosses or hefty elites in high tier dungeons I feel like it could be a benefit if I’m doing the same damage regardless.
I’ve also watched some more recent videos regarding IAS and WW. The consensus that WW is unaffected by IAS looks to be wrong. Just that again, the difference in speed is very minor vs the amount of attack speed invested. A super gradual change. It is also inconsistent because some IAS factors snapshot at the start of your WW and some actually can change during. Making the investments very inconsistent unless you learn what affects WW how and when.
I really hope down the line they just change all of this. One of the most amazing things about WW builds in D2 was being able to go Max IAS Breakpoint on a Dual Wield WW Barb. Which was particularly awesome for BVC (Barb Vs Caster) builds that also piled on huge amounts of Faster Cast Rate. I know this isn’t relevant to D4 since Enigma/Runewords aren’t a thing. But it helps explain why IAS really mattered for Whirlwind and more importantly, why Dual Wield being an option had its own benefits.