Best duel wield weapons for stam NB

SASKIY

I get there's a lot of things that determined it but for weapon dam/ or just BEST two one handed weapons to have that's good or anything? I know this isn't really a easy question to answer but can anyone just try. Thanks!

Daemons_Bane

Daggers.. take a look at the last passive in dual wield it explains why

SunBro

PVE dual daggers for crit chance
PVP dual sharpened maces for armor pen

Now as for what set and what trait for them to be depends totally on your other gear

jkolb2030

Many players go dagger/axe for the crit chance + the bleed proc from the axes in PvE.

If you want to focus on straight crit dmg - dual daggers
crit dmg + bleed chance - dagger/axe
raw wep dmg - dual sword (each sword increases your wep dmg by 5%)

Zerok

Stamblades have a passive increase in critical hit %. It makes sense to stack even more critical hit % on top of it. Hence, daggers should be used.

In PvP, penetration is more important than critical damage, therefore maces should be considered over daggers.

Elijah_Crow

In my experience, Sharpened Maces are the way to go all around. In PvE it matters little what the DPS is on the trash and with bosses you will benefit from all the penetration as well. Daggers will get you crit but you will only see a damage output increase on mobs with little to no resists particularly when you reach more than 50% crit without daggers.

I've tested swords, axes, and daggers consistently (as I prefer the looks) but it's always a DPS loss from my Maces.

Daemons_Bane

Zerok wrote: »

Stamblades have a passive increase in critical hit %. It makes sense to stack even more critical hit % on top of it. Hence, daggers should be used.

In PvP, penetration is more important than critical damage, therefore maces should be considered over daggers.

Then I would be bad in PvP I would not use maces, since I would cringe every time I did a stab animation

susmitds

Daggers are the best in PvE. Specifically, vMA daggers.

SASKIY

Elijah_Crow wrote: »

In my experience, Sharpened Maces are the way to go all around. In PvE it matters little what the DPS is on the trash and with bosses you will benefit from all the penetration as well. Daggers will get you crit but you will only see a damage output increase on mobs with little to no resists particularly when you reach more than 50% crit without daggers.

I've tested swords, axes, and daggers consistently (as I prefer the looks) but it's always a DPS loss from my Maces.

I'm just wondering is there a best set for DW that adds any good bonuses with just DW equipped?

Elijah_Crow

You definitely want to stack as many set bonuses as possible. Many set bonuses can be partially weapons/armor/jewelry slots. For example I use sets that give weapon damage. As a stamina night blade I would recommend hundings rage set, agility set, Kena mask and shoulders sets. If your just starting out try getting someone to craft you a Hundings Rage set.

TheDarkRuler

SunBro wrote: »

PVE dual daggers for crit chance
PVP dual sharpened maces for armor pen

Now as for what set and what trait for them to be depends totally on your other gear

Pretty much this.

fgoron2000

this is a very interesting topic...I wondered about this myself recently, but keep in mind I'm still low level and not enuf points to open all the skill line, so those are not currently factors for me....yet

currently I'm just mostly dealing with the weapons themselves. I had been using daggers, but then I switched to swords, because it seemed that they had a much longer reach. I don't know if that's true or if it was just my perception from previous games. I was concerned about losing weapon speed because daggers are traditionally the fastest weapons in other games like this, but after I switched, I seemed to do better, and I attributed it to a better reach..

I understand that as I level the skill, and gather more points to put into it, these other factors will come into play, but I'm wondering now, are weapon speed and reach actually factors in this game?

Elijah_Crow

Speed is not, but reach can be important but particularly with special attacks. In addition different skill lines such as duel wield grant additional bonuses depending on what type of weapon you duel wield. It's a balance between straight damage, crit, armor penetration, etc and if you want to proc dots, etc.

The possible combinations of skills, champion points, weapon choice, type of enchant, etc is one of the reasons I love this game.

fgoron2000

Elijah_Crow wrote: »

Speed is not, but reach can be important but particularly with special attacks. In addition different skill lines such as duel wield grant additional bonuses depending on what type of weapon you duel wield. It's a balance between straight damage, crit, armor penetration, etc and if you want to proc dots, etc.

The possible combinations of skills, champion points, weapon choice, type of enchant, etc is one of the reasons I love this game.

Thanks very much for the insight. I guess then, the best is to stick with the swords for the moment, for increased reach & no loss of speed, until I can start taking advantage of the various bonus & buffs from the skill line later on.

KingYogi415

Percise dagger and sharpened axe!

Elijah_Crow

Sharpened Maces.

Unless you are doing end game trials or running with highly advanced players utilizing various armor debuffs, this will be your easiest way to hit the armor penetration you need particularly if you are leveling or not near CP cap.

See the math. This concurs with the testing I've done personally.

https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/262295/nirnhoned-precise-and-sharpened/p1

polar

Elijah- How do you manage to pull 5511 Weapon Dmg, with 29.7K stam, and 1995 stam regen?

I have been working numbers as much as I can on my stam NB and because of tradeoffs, I cant even come close- I am closer to 3500 Dmg, 27K stam, and 1000 regen. That is running unmatched weapon damage shoulders, 3 pieces of agility, gold weapons, morag tong etc.

ForsakenSin

@Elijah_Crow

Yhea damm that is the some impressive numbers there...

what are you running ? and what is your base weapon damage ?

Elijah_Crow

@polar @ForsakenSin - Please see wall of text below. You have been warned.





I get asked about my build a lot and one of these days, I'm going to do a full build guide and video. First let me say that regardless of what I read on the forums, I prefer to test for myself and this equipment and skill build is designed around my personal play style and what I have personally seen to be effective.

The top picture is of my stats buffed and the bottom is un-buffed, with the exception of food which will give you a better guide of what to shoot for if you want to do something similar. Both images were taken outside of Cyrodiil and does not include any battle spirit buff. Might be some very slight anomalies as one image was taken before the most recent patches and one after, but my gear and build hasn't changed.

If I'm going to tell you how I got my stats to where they are, I also want to include WHY I chose to build this way.

I need to go briefly into my abilities so you understand what is supplying some of the buffs in the image. 95% of the time I run Duel Wield and Two Hand with my DW bar being my DPS bar and TH being my support bar.

I do both PvE and PvP and I don't like to run completely different sets of gear (or builds) for both (though I have in the past). Currently I don't change gear and I only swap out two skills when I enter Cyrodiil. I Swap Razor Caltrops for Mass Hysteria (for small battles) and Killers Blade for Cloak. I can change out my DW DPS bar for a Bow DPS bar for large battles and keep my distance and my support bar is mostly the same.

If you wish to focus on just PvE or just PvP, you could make improvements to the gear and build set up which would make it more effective for in that arena, but again I've been looking for a sweet spot where I can go anywhere and do most anything without having to make major skill or equipment changes.

Resource Pools - The gear I selected is designed to give me resource pools of a significant size without depending completely on the resource pools for my damage output (i.e. Stamina of just over 30K). I wanted Health of about 20K and Magicka pool that can support repeated Cloaking to disengage in PvP.

Stamina Regeneration - I can't stress this enough for both PvE and PvP. Everyone wants to hit hard but consistent DPS and the ability to survive long fights is more important than burst. The key is to be able to bring both to the table and burst when you choose without sacrificing regeneration

Damage Output - The way I do damage is based around a couple of philosophies.

1. There is a diminishing return on Critical Hits. Once you reach a certain level, more crit isn't going to net you increased damage as most of your hits are going to be crits. I want respectable crit chance without relying on it for performance particularly in those cases where you cannot crit in PvP.

2. Shields can't be crit in PvP.

3. Crit resistance can be stacked in PvP.

4. Armor penetration is the most important way to ensure high weapon damage actually hits your target. If you are fighting trash will little armor, and you negate all of it (trash or solo pve), you don't need to be concerned about maybe doing more damage with less penetration and more crit. You have more than enough stopping power to put everything around you down. If you are fighting bosses or heavily armored players, the same applies. You have more than enough stopping power to put them down where those focused on crit will struggle (unless running with an advanced group maintaining armor debuffs in situations like trials).

5. Weapon damage is the final piece as now you have the resource pools, the regeneration, strong crit, and you are negating most armor of anything you are fighting. You want a good solid amount of damage and the ability to burst when you need to up to even higher damage.

Armor - There are other ways and other mixes of gear where you can reach similar stats. I chose what I am using due to the reasons above. I prefer 5 medium and 2 heavy (over other options) due to the Nightblade Shadow Barrier passive and partial undaunted bonus'. Your chest piece should always be one of the two heavy armor pieces as it provides the most benefit of heavy armor, and the second should be either helm or legs (other big pieces).

5 Piece Hungings Rage - All armor slots except helm and shoulders. All CP 160 Legendary. Large pieces infused, small impenetrable. Enchants on small are Truly Superb Glyph of Stamina, Enchants on large (Chest and Pants) are Truly Superb Glyph of Prismatic Defense.

Molag Kena Shoulders and Helm - All CP 160 Legendary. Both infused though I would prefer impenetrable on shoulders. Enchants are currently Truly Superb Glyph of Stamina, but I may be changing the helmet (as it is a large piece) to Truly Superb Glyph of Prismatic Defense. I don't mind loosing the bit of stamina as I am not reliant on it for DPS and pool size is less important due to this and high regen.

Jewelry and Weapons - I use Jewelry and weapons from the Endurance and Agility Sets as the two piece set bonuses are still among the best in game and suit my needs well.

All jewelry Purple CP 160 and each is enchanted with Truly Superb Glyph of Increase Physical Harm (174 weapon damage each). All Jewelry is Robust. I use 2 Rings of Endurance for the 1540 additional health and one Necklace of Agility which synergizes with my weapons.

All Weapons are CP160 Legendary Sharpened Agility set weapons. For TH Maul of Agility Enchanted with Truly Superb Glyph of Foulness. Bow of Agility with Truly Superb Glyph of Foulness. Duel Wield Sharpened Maces of Agility main hand enchanted with Truly Superb Glyph of Weapon Damage, and off hand enchanted with Truly Superb Glyph of Foulness.

When I am on my Duel Wield bar, I get the full three set bonus for the Agility set providing 191 weapon damage. As the weapons can be upgraded to legendary and the jewelry cannot, I prefer the extra weapon damage for this set up vs three piece Agility jewelry. When I swap to my two hand bar I loose 191 weapon damage, but I don't dps on that bar. If I go TH and Bow, I also loose the 191 weapon damage, but all else remains the same.

Ability Bars - I prefer to use active buffs such as Rally and get crit from having Camouflage Hunter on the bar as opposed to potions for Major Brutality and Major Savagery. Not only do I use less consumables, I can still benefit from the heal and the Magicka regen from Tri-Pots (for cloaking) in PvP.

DW - Surprise Attack, Steel Tornado, Camouflage Hunter, Killers Blade, Ambush - Ult Flawless Dawnbreaker
TH - Razor Caltrops, Retreating Maneuver, Rally, Relentless Focus, Resolving Vigor - Ult Reviving Barrier

Throughout combat (and prior) I swap to TH and hit Rally and Relentless Focus, swap back to DW and fight, and switch to re-apply as needed.

Champion Points - For Champion Points, I'm going to include just my priorities as this is already getting very long and would be better presented in a video and build guide.

Blue: The Ritual - Everything in Mighty, then Precise Strikes for most with a little in Thaumaturge and piercing isn't as necessary as you already duel wielding sharpened maces.

Green: The Lover - Mooncalf and The Tower - Warlord

Orange: The Lady - 40% Hardy / 40% Elemental Defender / 20% Thick Skinned

Note on Vampire - I choose to be a vampire for the Dark Stalker Buff and the 10% Stamina Regen. When I'm doing content where fire damage is an issue and Dark Stalker is not needed I feed back to Stage 1. When I want to move fast in stealth in Cyrodiil, I go to stage 4. I understand the pro's and con's, but this is my personal choice.

Note on Woodelf - 21% Stamina Recovery, 6% Max Stamina, 10% increase damage in stealth (among other buffs)

Note on Consumables - I use Tri-Pots for potions (20% Health/Magicka/Stamina Recovery) and Orzorga's Tripe Trifle Pocket (5000 Health and 457 Stamina Recovery)

Buffs up in image above.

Tri-Pot - Major Fortitude, Major Intelect, Major Endurance, (20% Health/Magicka/Stamina Recovery)
Orzorga's Tipe Trifle Pocket (5000 Health and 457 Stamina Recovery)
Rally - Major Brutality (in addition to the heal over time)
Relentless Focus - Minor Berserk, Minor Endurance, 10% Stamina Recovery
Surprise Attack - Major Resolve, Major Ward (only self - does not include buffs applied to enemy)
Camouflage Hunter - Major Savagery (2191 crit just for being slotted)
Flawless Dawnbreaker - (Weapon Damage Increase 5% for being slotted)
Molag Kena Proc - Overkill (additional 516 weapon damage)
Warrior Mundus Stone (Weapon Damage)

The Kena Proc is for when I need to burst. It's there when I need it and I have the recovery to use it frequently when I need to.




I think that's pretty much it. Again, this is the build that suits me and my play style. Hope this helped you a bit.

Elijah_Crow

I forgot to include @TheDarkRuler in my tags. See above.

TheDarkRuler

Thanks alot for this.

Elijah_Crow

TheDarkRuler wrote: »

Thanks alot for this.

You're welcome. I hope the "why" portion helps as well as the "how".

ADarklore

Elijah_Crow wrote: »

Sharpened Maces.

Unless you are doing end game trials or running with highly advanced players utilizing various armor debuffs, this will be your easiest way to hit the armor penetration you need particularly if you are leveling or not near CP cap.

See the math. This concurs with the testing I've done personally.

https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/262295/nirnhoned-precise-and-sharpened/p1

The only problem I have is that the spreadsheet states, "A reasonably common spell critical for endgame builds is around 60%" and if that assumption is put forth through the calculations... if you aren't running 'around 60%' crit chance, then doesn't this effect the difference between Precise and Sharpened?

Elijah_Crow

ADarklore wrote: »

Elijah_Crow wrote: »

Sharpened Maces.

Unless you are doing end game trials or running with highly advanced players utilizing various armor debuffs, this will be your easiest way to hit the armor penetration you need particularly if you are leveling or not near CP cap.

See the math. This concurs with the testing I've done personally.

https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/262295/nirnhoned-precise-and-sharpened/p1

The only problem I have is that the spreadsheet states, "A reasonably common spell critical for endgame builds is around 60%" and if that assumption is put forth through the calculations... if you aren't running 'around 60%' crit chance, then doesn't this effect the difference between Precise and Sharpened?

On that you are going to have to direct your question to @Asayre and most likely better asked in the other thread.

ForsakenSin

@Elijah_Crow

WOW that is full on thank you SO much for that i know i speak for all when i say we all appreciated it you putting so much effort and sharing it with all of us , the numbers are crazy and i will be sure to try out that build.

Again thank you

Elijah_Crow

You're welcome. Apologize for the delay in responding to you.