One of the questions that pop the most for a stamina player is the type of weapons we should use to have the largest DPS possible: double sword, double dagger, or double maces?

Two swords or two daggers?
Well, in order to answer this question, I propose to detail here the formula I use in order to determine how much damage I can deal in function of my crit rate (C), and my crit damage bonus (D).

If we don't have any crit damage bonus (D=0), a critical hit deals 50% more damage than a normal hit. If we have some crit damage bonus (D > 0), a critical hit deals 50% + Dx100% more damage than a normal hit:
Crit damage = normal damage x (1.5 + D).

Therefore, the basic formula to compute how much damage we deal in average is:
average damage = normal damage x [(1 - C) + C x (1.5 + D)]
average damage = normal damage x [1 + C x (0.5 + D)]

Now let's see what happen when we use two swords or two daggers.

With two swords, we can deal 5% more damage:
average damage = normal damage x [1 + C x (0.5 + D)] x 1.05

With two daggers, we can deal 10% more crit:
average damage = normal damage x [1 + (C + 0.1) x (0.5 + D)]

So we deal more damage in average with two swords if:
1.05 + C x (0.5 + D) x 1.05 > 1 + C x (0.5 +D) + 0.05 + 0.1 x D
C x (0.5 + D) x (1.05 - 1) > 0.1 x D
C > 0.1 x D / [(0.5 + D) x 0.05]

C > 2 x D / (0.5 + D)


So, two swords or two daggers?

1. If we don't have any crit damage bonus (D=0), using two swords always deal more damage in average than two daggers.
2. If we have a huge crit damage bonus (D=0.5: a crit hit deals twice as damage as a normal hit), using two daggers deal more damage in average than two swords
3. If we have a moderate crit damage bonus (D=0.125 or less: shadow stone, or CP), and if we have a crit rate of 40% or more, then using two swords is better than two daggers; if we have a crit rate of less than 40% (before the dagger bonus), using two daggers is better than two swords.
4. If we have an important crit damage bonus (D=0.25 or more), and if we have a crit rate of 67% or more, then using two swords is the best choice; otherwise, if we have a crit rate of less than 67% (before the dagger bonus), using two daggers is the best choice.

What does this mean?
If we have a low / moderate crit damage bonus, then:
- if we have a low crit rate, then we should use the daggers
- if we have a high crit rate build, then we should use the swords

If we have a very high crit damage bonus, then equipping two daggers is often the best choice, but not always - see below.

We can use the following formula to determine what is our best choice:
- two swords if our crit rate is greater than 2 x D / (0.5 + D)
- two daggers if our crit rate (before equipping the daggers) is lower than 2 x D / (0.5 + D)

Where D is our bonus to crit damage
- D is about 0.125 for the shadow stone
- D is either 0.125 or 0.25 for 100 points in precise strikes (I'm still determining whether precise strikes is additive or multiplicative)
- D is the sum of the two value above if we have both the shadow stone and 100 points in precise strike.


Two swords or two maces?
Under construction