Is dual wielding overrated?

[nii07]

Personally, I don't think there isn't anything wrong with dual wielding so long as it's done right. I think it's easier to do if you choose the right weapon such as like dual daggers, dual small axes, or even tonfas. However, trying to give someone two large hammers is a bit unrealistic and bad in my opinion. I'd also like to see how they got to the point of dual wielding.

 

[BearlyAlive]

Yes, dual swords are overrated and only used by tryhard wannabes. Do not copy any move described! You are in danger of losing your life! Dual daggers are mostly used by noobs or edgelords, but are otherwise functional enough that writers don't tend to make mistakes that would cost a limb or two if copied. Dual axes or hammers is pretty common, and axe movements are easy enough to incorporate unless you try spin-to-win. Dual shields get a bit of niche traction here and there and are pretty easy to not screw up, just pummel people with 'em. Using a weapon and shield or parry dagger is also pretty easy to learn.

Don't get me started on dual greatswords or dual lances, tho... It looks cool, I know, but more high-damage weapons doesn't mean more high-damage unless you're writing a buggy litrpg. Chances are your character lost at least a limb two moves into the fight if they didn't outright impale themselves on their own weapon...

And dual scythes are just an edgelords wet fantasy. Those things weren't practical to begin with, doubling them is just doubling the trouble...

 

[Anonjohn20]

It seems like whenever someone wants to make their character cooler than the rest of their cast, they make them dual wield something. On one hand, I get it. The image of someone effortlessly using two weapons will always look cool. But how many dual wielding badasses can we read/watch before it starts to feel tropey and cliche? Are you already at that point?

Its really OP in duels, It just sucked on the battlefield where ranged weapons were being used. As for it feeling tropey and cliche, thats how some feel about swords in general. They could have given their MC a Poleaxe or a gauntlet with spikes.

The trick of dual wielding is NOT that you have two swords to attack or block with, it's that you can attack and defend at the same time!

There is not a single documented case of real-life dual wielding sword users doing this. Either they were attacking with both swords or they were defending with both swords. The're just not enough coordination in our brains to have each of our hands do something completely different.

 

[CharlesEBrown]

Unless the dual wielder is part of a martial tradition that trains with two weapons (Florentine Fencing, some forms of Wu Shu/Kung Fu, Escrima), dual wielding is nothing but a threat display.
Traditions that use two weapons typically have one used for blocking/parrying the other used for attack (a truly ambidextrous or expert user can alternate between the two, otherwise, the offhand is usually used for defense, the primary for offense), and most have the secondary weapon being smaller or something designed for defense, like the Main Gauche.

 

[RecursiveDescent]

Its really OP in duels, It just sucked on the battlefield where ranged weapons were being used. As for it feeling tropey and cliche, thats how some feel about swords in general. They could have given their MC a Poleaxe or a gauntlet with spikes.


There is not a single documented case of real-life dual wielding sword users doing this. Either they were attacking with both swords or they were defending with both swords. The're just not enough coordination in our brains to have each of our hands do something completely different.

That's why, at least if you're not a master, you don't try to use both actively and keep one in an idle position. When you block, you defend and attack with the other sword in one motion, removing the need to coordinate both arms at once.

I can assure you there are plenty of cases of anyone dual wielding swords attacking with the offhand sword after blocking, that's the main advantage of having another sword.

Here's a good example.

 

[Anonjohn20]

In the first comment you said:

you can attack and defend at the same time!

Which is incorrect.

In your second comment you said:

there are plenty of cases of anyone dual wielding swords attacking with the offhand sword after blocking

after blocking

Your first comment was not saying the same thing as your second comment. One incorrectly implies they are doing both at the same time, and the other implies that they are doing one thing first and another thing afterwards. Good job moving the goalpost.

 

[cabbag3]

I'm not sure but I think this kind of question is more appropriate on Reader forums.

Anyway, I noticed that the amount of dual wielding characters in the novels I read isn't really much. And if there are, most of them don't usually used full length swords (dual knives, mace, shields, axes, asymmetrical pairs, etc.).
I guess people generally don't immediately think of dual-wielding as the go-to sign of making their characters cool.

I think it's more common in anime, movies, and video games since it actually looks cooler ngl.
So yeah, it's not that tropey to me.

Actually, I think there was only one novel I read that actively used the dual sword trope for their MC, it was a katana IIRC, and I laughed for a solid minute cause they had him hold it in a reverse grip cause he was surrounded by enemies.
I think it was more of a confused laughter I guess.

 

[Anonjohn20]

I'm not sure but I think this kind of question is more appropriate on Reader forums.

Anyway, I noticed that the amount of dual wielding characters in the novels I read isn't really much. And if there are, most of them don't usually used full length swords (dual knives, mace, shields, axes, asymmetrical pairs, etc.).
I guess people generally don't immediately think of dual-wielding as the go-to sign of making their characters cool.

I think it's more common in anime, movies, and video games since it actually looks cooler ngl.
So yeah, it's not that tropey to me.

Actually, I think there was only one novel I read that actively used the dual sword trope for their MC, it was a katana IIRC, and I laughed for a solid minute cause they had him hold it in a reverse grip cause he was surrounded by enemies.
I think it was more of a confused laughter I guess.

Dual swords is old school. Dual shields will be the new META. 10/10

 

[Navillus]

View attachment 31902

Isn't that Tri wielding though?

 

[Deleted member 84247]

Why would you dual wield when you can be like this guy?

 

[Navillus]

Imagine if someone was dual wielding something like These though.

 

[RepresentingWrath]

Why would you dual wield when you can be like this guy?

 

[Anonjohn20]

Why would you dual wield when you can be like this guy?

No fair, he was trained by Dooku on the Jedi arts.

 

[CharlesEBrown]

Dual swords is old school. Dual shields will be the new META. 10/10

Believe it or not, the current edition of the HackMaster roleplaying game has rules for this. It's pretty useless unless you know your enemies are not strong enough to break a shield and you are more worried about blocking attacks than doing damage though.

 

[Navillus]

No fair, he was trained by Dooku on the Jedi arts.

I never knew that!

 

[Anonjohn20]

doing damage

Put a spike on the center of the shield for a shield bash and around part of the edge for a shield strike (not the entire edge, as certain parts of it can come into contact with your body). Now you have shields of destruction.

 

[CharlesEBrown]

Put a spike on the center of the shield for a shield bash and around part of the edge for a shield strike (not the entire edge, as certain parts of it can come into contact with your body). Now you have shields of destruction.

They also have rules for that but if you use the spike then you are just doing "sword and board" (except on "Perfect" and "Near Perfect" defense) and not Two Shield style... :D

 

[QuercusMalus]

View attachment 31902

Yes.

 

[Anonjohn20]

They also have rules for that but if you use the spike then you are just doing "sword and board" (except on "Perfect" and "Near Perfect" defense) and not Two Shield style... :D

HackMaster sounds lame if I can't dual "board."

 

[theInmara]

Chow Yun Fat made it cool, so it's still cool: