Is DW/2H pve DD now possible, what do you think?

MashmalloMan

DW/2H had the issue of not enough available and strong dots to be considered viable in pve where dots are supreme, deadly cloak was a utility skill, carve and twin slashes (bleed damage) were balanced with lower coefficient dot damage due to the ability to pass mitigation, in pve you build to reach pen cap anyway.

I think the most viable would be DW front bar, 2H back bar, mostly because DW has stronger front bar passives and 2H can be utilized like Bow as Infused WPD enchant.

I’ve highlighted the main changes I think can make this setup viable, keep in mind, bleeds not passing mitigation is a non issue in pve when you build to fully penetrate bosses anyway.

Deadly Cloak lasts 8s, ticks every 1s instead of 3s. Slightly reduced cost and damage.

Twin Slashes deals 37% more dot damage.

Twin Blade and Blunt passive buffed total bleed damage by 24%, this applies to 2H axes too. You should be able to stack the bleed from DW and 2H, 1H axe front bar + Dagger and 2H axe back bar may be BiS here.

Carve sees slight reduction in 9% less dot damage which is fine after it was buffed by 25% direct dmg and 50% dot dmg last patch.

2H Stampede was changed to cause a ground dot, this means it may proc enchants the same way Bow’s Volley does for 100% WPD enchant uptime.

VMA 2H buffed with an additional tick, I assume it still lasts 5s, but a tick was added at the 0s mark, total dmg increased by 20%. They noted this procs and refreshes off every tick from the new Stampede aoe. This may be a strong back bar replacement for a VMA Bow, especially since Volley was nerfed a little, however PI looks to be more consistent with it’s dot from 0-100% hp.

If you still have space for a dot, Soul Trap seems to be a viable option for a single target dot now.

I have yet to test this, I doubt it will be stronger than a DW/BOW setup, but that doesn't mean it's not viable to use for fun and it looks stronger than it's ever been in the past. Remember how it took 4+ years for bow/bow builds to be brought in line with ranged pve dps, so the fact that this is showing hope just open more build variety that I'm excited to see ZOS explore.

GeorgeBlack

If you remove vMA bow yes.
Hell I hope you can DW/2H without vMA bow nerf. We will have to see.

That is why I like most of the changes I have seen so far.

But people dont use the nugget.

John_Falstaff

2H have never been not viable for fun. It was, and is, will be. Doesn't mean that it's competitive though, that's already a different thing. Yes, Cloak can proc enchants now, but what's the point of proccing enchants if they're meager halves of what they used to be, now? And 2H on the front bar still doesn't have dagger counterpart that would give crit though TBaB passive.

Abhaya

I’m curious on this as well. The long reign of dual wield / bow back bar is stale and I never got that vMA bow anyways. I am curious however about how different setups fare against mostly trash fights as well in cases like vDSA. I feel like master’s two-hand with bow back bar would be really good at clearing those trash packs but haven’t tried it since I didn’t want to scare the other members of my group.

tourerttrwb17_ESO

I hope it will be possible to use DW/2H. This will be fun!