Tons of reasons (although a dw magblade can be viable for most content)

- with destro you benefit from every passive on the list. With swords all you get is 5% more damage. That damage boost is what prevents swords from being a total waste. (However, destro boosts single target damage by 8%...this probably beats the 5% overall damage on swords)

- dw does offer the ability to wear a 5/5/2 setup and get two sets and a monster set. That’s not insignificant. Maybe end game trials wouldn’t work with this, but for most content it’s viable.

- big issue - sword heavy attacks return stamina and not magic. Most builds weave light and heavy attacks to get resources back. Dual wielding messes with this ability.

- somewhat related, grim focus or whatever the magblade version is called has you do five light attacks to get the spectral bow. My vet magblade does like 8k damage per light attack w a staff...with swords it’s like 400. That’s 40k damage at no cost you miss out on by using a physical weapon.

- likewise, for heavy attacks it’s a difference of like 20k for a staff and 1k for swords.

- when you use a staff you can go around to people in pubs asking “would you like to touch my wood”

I’d really like a two piece magic based weapon, but for the time being it’s hard to be an efficient magblade if you don’t run magic based weapons.

a viable build with 2 swords on one bar is this one:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hjlYy2JOSA4&index=6&list=PLpLLa0Ytu1i9i8msWd8Y788AkXJTwTNuQ

try it, it is fun to go!

4 reasons.

-First, mageblade builds are centered around merciless resolve from a damage standpoint. To make this skill function, you need to do light attacks to proc it.

-Second, similar to the the first point, mageblades sustain with siphoning attacks. This is another skill based around a good light weave. If you want sustain, you need to light attack.

-Third, Light attacks from a staff hit much harder and from much further away than DW light attacks. In fact your light attacks from your front bar fire staff should be near the top or at the top of your damage recap.

-Forth, Since they changed the destro passives (fire now gives ST boost and Lighting gives AOE boost), the extra spell damage that you get from DW isnt as big of an advantage as it used to be. Even though your funnel health might still hit a touch harder with swords, the LA>funnel will not.

Glad to be of help. Keep in mind, that this is mostly from the perspective of end game PVE DPS. NBs have perhaps the most impressive tool kit of any class. While perhaps not meta, they can certainly act as very good tanks and healers in PVE and would certainly not be bound to double destro staffs in those roles. In PVP DW swords on a mageblade is very popular, especially for bombers.

That said, if your goal is to maximize PVE damage, you will not beat double destro on a mageblade and DW/bow on a stamblade, and NB is across the board the best PVE damage class. Furthermore, that statement holds true for really any class.

Bladerunner1 wrote: »

In addition to all the other things already mentioned about sets, a Magblade could use the same meta traits as stamina builds with the dual wield weapons to jack spell damage up, nirnhorned mainhand + infused offhand. You also get an extra glyph, I tested with a shock glyph on the main hand, weapon damage glyph offhand and infused flame glyph on the back bar staff.

Even with all the extra damage added it was still about 5% weaker on average for me than staff/staff following the same rotation, but it matched my typical DPS on one test. It felt exactly like playing a stamblade with soul harvest thrown in, but weaker.

I'm sure it's viable for melee, but I still go with double staff because the ranged playstyle for me is too good to pass up. I already have a Stamblade for up-close fighting.

That's it right there. If you want to play melee DW as a NB, go stamina.