One DnD Dual Wielding Rules: How Does Two Weapon Fighting Work?

Summary:

• One DnD Dual Wielding Rules give characters an extra attack with a Light weapon as part of their Attack Action.

• Additional feats let players add their strength bonus to the damage of the second attack and use a non-Light weapon that isn’t Two Handed as their primary weapon.
  

• Characters can still use their Bonus Action when Dual Wielding.
  

• You can only use the extra off-hand attack once per turn regardless of how many actions you can take.

Double Your Deadliness with This One DnD Two Weapon Fighting Guide

Dual wielding is a popular combat style in Dungeons and Dragons (D&D).

In One DnD, the rules for Dual Wielding are governed by the Light Weapon property. According to the Unearthed Arcana 3 (UA3) release, When you take the Attack action on your turn and attack with a Light weapon, you can make one extra attack as part of the same action with another Light weapon. You don’t add your ability modifier to the extra attack’s damage. You can make this extra attack only once on each of your turns.

Optimize Your Character for Two Weapon Fighting in One DnD with Two-Weapon Fighting Feats

To make Dual Wielding more powerful in One DnD, there are two feats available that can help: Two-Weapon Fighting and Dual Wielder.

Two-Weapon Fighting is a 1st-level feat that allows you to add your ability modifier to the damage of the extra attack of the Light weapon. This means that you can deal more damage with your off-hand weapon, making dual wielding a more viable combat option.

Dual Wielder is a 4th-level feat that offers several benefits for dual wielding.

1. It allows you to increase your Strength or Dexterity score by 1, to a maximum of 20, which improves your ability to hit and deal damage with your weapons.

2. It enhances your dual wielding abilities by allowing you to treat a non-Light weapon in your off-hand as if it had the Light property, as long as it lacks the Two-Handed property. This means that you can use more powerful weapons, like a battleaxe or morningstar in one hand and a scimitar or other light weapon in the other.

3. The Dual Wielder feat also gives you the Quick Draw ability, which allows you to draw or stow two weapons that lack the Two-Handed property when you would normally be able to draw or stow only one.

How Is Two Weapon Fighting in One DnD Different from DnD 5e Two-Weapon Fighting?

The short answer is, it’s changed a lot and in a good way.

In D&D 5e two-weapon fighting, the attack made with your off-hand was a bonus action. According to the DnD 5e Players Handbook, “when you take the Attack action and attack with a light melee weapon that you’re holding in one hand, you can use a bonus action to attack with a different light melee weapon…”

A character that is Dual Wielding in One D&D makes an extra attack as part of their Attack Action AND retains their Bonus Action which can be used for all kinds of goodies like Smites and Spiritual Weapon Attacks. That gives two-weapon fighters the ability to potentially deal significantly more damage each round. It also makes two weapon fighting a viable alternative to swinging around a giant sword with Great Weapon Master.

Who Benefits The Most From Two Weapon Fighting?

Just about any class that engages in melee combat can benefit. But the biggest benefactors are Rogues, Paladins and Hexblade Warlocks.

Rogues can use two weapon fighting to make more attack rolls and improve the odds of hitting high AC enemies with a sneak attack, then use their bonus Cunning Action to Disengage.

Paladins and Hex Blade Warlocks get an extra attack and retain their bonus actions to add Smite damage to their attacks.

Barbarians and Rangers: Barbarians can use their Rage to gain an additional bonus to the damage of each attack, making the extra attack from Dual Wielding more valuable. Rangers have a similar benefit when using Hunter's Mark.

Can Fighters Who Are Dual Wielding Take an Extra Attack If They Use Action Surge?

No. According to the UA3 One DnD rules, “you can make this extra attack only once on each of your turns.” So fighters who use action surge or haste or another buff that provides an extra action can still only make their off hand attack only once.

Which Deals More Damage, Dual Wielding or Great Weapon Fighting in One DnD?

With the One DnD Dual Wielding Rules, Two Weapon Fighting and Great Weapon Fighting are pretty balanced. Most front-line fighters will still do more damage as Great Weapon Fighters but there is greater opportunity to apply buffs and other effects that give two-weapon fighting an edge. The choice between the two should really come down to the player's preference.

We’ve calculated the average damage from both Two-Weapon Fighting and Great Weapon Fighting below to help you choose which is best for your character.

First Let's Look at Duel Wielding

Assuming the fighter is at level 5 with a +4 Strength modifier, a +3 Proficiency Bonus and the feats TWO-WEAPON FIGHTING and DUAL WIELDER. They have the Extra Attack feature and can make two attacks with their Action, and can make an additional attack with their off-hand weapon . We'll choose the strongest non-magical weapons we can select from the Player's Handbook.

The Battleaxe does 1d8 damage, and the Scimitar does 1d6 damage. With a 1 in 20 chance of a critical hit on each attack roll, we can factor in an additional 1/20th of the average critical hit damage to get an accurate average.

Assuming the fighter hits with all three attacks, on average they will deal:

• First attack with battleaxe: (4.5 + 4 + 0.225) = 8.725 damage on average

• Second attack with battleaxe: (4.5 + 4 + 0.225) = 8.725 damage on average

• Off-hand attack with scimitar weapon: (3.5 + 4 + 0.175) = 7.675 damage on average

Total average damage per round: 25.2 - Not too shabby.

Now Let's Look at Great Weapon Fighting

We'll use a level 5 fighter with a +4 Strength modifier, a +3 Proficiency Bonus, and the GREAT WEAPON FIGHTING and GREAT WEAPON MASTER feats. His weapon is a greatsword.

The greatsword does 2D6 damage, so the average damage per hit is 7. With the GREAT WEAPON FIGHTING feat, we need to re-roll any 1s or 2s. When rerolling the 1s and 2s, the outcomes of one d6 are: 3.5, 3.5, 3, 4, 5, 6. The average of that is 4 1/6. So the average damage of rolling 2d6 and rerolling 1s and 2s is 4 1/6 + 4 1/6 = 8 1/3 or 8.33.

With the GREAT WEAPON MASTER FIGHTER feat, the first attack gets an additional +3 bonus from the character’s Proficiency Bonus, bringing the total damage to 15.74 for the first attack.

Additionally there is a 1 in 20 chance of a critical hit with each attack so we need to add 1/20th of the average damage to each attack to get a true average. Since GREAT WEAPON MASTER also lets our fighter make an additional attack as a bonus action when they gets a critical hit*, we will add a third bonus attack that also does 1/20th of the average damage plus their Strength modifier.

• Assuming there are 3 attacks per round (2 regular attacks and 1 bonus action attack), the average damage per round would be:

  • First Attack: 8.33 + 3 + 4 + .41 = 15.74 damage on average

  • Second Attack: 8.33 + 4 + .41 = 12.74 damage on average

  • Bonus Action Attack: .62 damage on average

Total Average Damage Per Round: 29.1

As you can see, Great Weapon Fighting can deal out slightly more carnage, especially for a Fighter who adds additional attacks at higher levels and can do more damage with a two-handed weapon when using Action Surge.

However, Any character with a damage modifier of +9 or higher from strength, magical weapons, buffs, etc. will do more damage with two weapon fighting. Two Weapon Fighting also offers more chances to score a hit by allowing the attacker to make more Attack Roles. Based on those considerations, we consider Two Weapon Fighting and Great Weapon Fighting to be pretty balanced in One DnD, but Greatweapon Fighting still has the edge.

It's worth noting that the One DnD Unearthed Arcana that introduces these rules for Dual Wielding is still in playtesting and may be subject to change. However, for now, the rules for Dual Wielding in One DnD offer a different and potentially more powerful combat option than in D&D 5e. With the right feats, dual wielding can become a formidable combat style that allows your character to become a whirling tornado of destruction on the battlefield.

*Note: GREAT WEAPON MASTER also lets a character make a Bonus Action attack if they kill an enemy, but there's too many variables to calculate the probability of that happening, so we factored it out.