Skill Dual Wield

Dual Wield is the combat skill that allows a character to make attacks with an eligible weapon equipped in the secondary slot while continuing to attack with the primary slot.

Dual Wield Calculator

The calculator provides a target-neutral comparison between two one-handed weapons and one two-handed weapon.

It is a normalized weapon comparison, not a complete average-DPS simulator. Its result is most useful when comparing weapons on the same character against the same type of target, particularly when the relevant weapon skills are similarly trained.

Calculator Score

The calculator uses the traditional weapon-score benchmark:

Main-hand score =
    ((2 × Main Damage) + Main-Hand Damage Bonus)
    ÷ Main Delay

Offhand score =
    Modeled Dual Wield Chance
    × ((2 × Offhand Damage) ÷ Offhand Delay)

Dual Wield score =
    Main-hand score + Offhand score

Two-Hander score =
    ((2 × Two-Hander Damage) + Two-Hand Damage Bonus)
    ÷ Two-Hander Delay

The factor of 2 × damage is a traditional comparison benchmark sometimes called the weapon's "magic number." It should not be interpreted as the exact average damage of every successful hit.

The calculator automatically tests both one-handed arrangements:

• Weapon A in primary and Weapon B in secondary.
• Weapon B in primary and Weapon A in secondary.

This is necessary because the primary weapon attacks whenever its own timer is ready, while the secondary weapon's attack opportunity is additionally limited by the Dual Wield check.

The calculator does not currently model:

• Hit rate or target avoidance.
• Different weapon-skill values or skill caps.
• STR, ATK, Offense, or target mitigation.
• Double Attack, Triple Attack, flurry, critical hits, or special attacks.
• Proc damage or hand-specific proc rates.
• Haste rounding, minimum-delay rules, or other timer rounding.
• Stances, invocations, disciplines, or temporary combat modifiers.
• Encounter-specific weaknesses, resistances, or armor.

These omitted mechanics can change actual combat performance, especially when the calculator reports a close result.

Core Mechanics

Independent Weapon Timers

Confirmed on EverQuest Legends: the primary and secondary weapons use independent attack timers.

Each weapon uses its own delay. A fast secondary weapon may therefore reach multiple offhand attack opportunities before a slower primary weapon reaches its next attack.

Equipping a slower primary weapon does not directly slow the secondary weapon, and equipping a slower secondary weapon does not directly slow the primary weapon.

Offhand Attack Opportunities

When the secondary weapon's timer becomes ready, the game performs a Dual Wield check. A successful check permits the secondary attack opportunity to proceed; a failed check produces no secondary attack for that timer cycle.

Higher Dual Wield skill therefore increases the percentage of secondary timer opportunities that become attacks. It does not change the secondary weapon's listed delay.

Primary and Secondary Hand Assignment

At less than 100% Dual Wield chance, hand assignment matters for two reasons:

1. The primary weapon attacks on every eligible primary timer cycle.
2. The secondary weapon contributes only when its Dual Wield check succeeds.

The calculator therefore tests both possible hand assignments rather than relying on a universal "best weapon goes in secondary" rule.

Using P for Dual Wield chance, the difference between placing Weapon A or Weapon B in primary depends on both:

(1 − P) × difference in base weapon score

and

Damage Bonus × difference in attack frequency

This means the preferred primary weapon may be:

• The weapon with the stronger damage-to-delay value.
• The weapon with the lower delay, allowing more frequent primary-hand damage bonuses.
• A compromise between those two advantages.

Hand Assignment at 100% Dual Wield Chance

At exactly 100% Dual Wield chance, the ordinary weapon-damage contributions of the same two weapons are identical regardless of which hand holds them.

Under a primary-only damage-bonus model, the only remaining difference is how frequently the primary-hand damage bonus is applied.

Therefore:

• Put the lower-delay weapon in primary when the primary hand receives a positive damage bonus.
• Hand assignment does not matter when both weapons have the same delay.
• Hand assignment does not matter when the primary-hand damage bonus is zero, assuming no other hand-specific mechanics apply.

Damage Bonus

Weapon damage bonus is a flat amount added to an eligible successful attack. STR and ATK affect the rolled weapon-damage portion of an attack; they do not directly increase the flat damage-bonus value.

In the traditional EverQuest model:

• The ordinary weapon damage is rolled first.
• The appropriate main-hand damage bonus is added afterward.
• The standard secondary attack receives no primary-hand damage bonus.
• A two-handed weapon may receive a different damage bonus from a one-handed weapon.

The calculator currently follows this traditional primary-only damage-bonus model. The exact Legends damage-bonus rules remain subject to in-game verification as described below.

Shared Modifiers

A modifier that changes both setups by exactly the same proportion does not change which setup wins the normalized comparison.

For example, ordinary haste generally accelerates all equipped weapon timers. When the same haste multiplier applies to every compared weapon, it scales both totals together.

However, shared effects may stop cancelling perfectly when the game applies:

• Integer timer rounding.
• A minimum weapon-delay floor.
• Different eligibility rules for primary, secondary, or two-handed attacks.
• Different Double Attack, Triple Attack, or flurry behavior by hand.
• Hand-specific proc rates or bonuses.

Classes and Skill Caps on Legends

The calculator recognizes the following classes as Dual Wield-granting classes:

• Bard
• Beastlord
• Monk
• Ranger
• Rogue
• Warrior

On a three-class character, the calculator uses the highest applicable Dual Wield cap supplied by any of the selected classes. Class caps are not added together.

The current working level-based cap model is:

Class	Working per-level formula	Current modeled cap	Status
Bard	(Level × 5) + 5	210	Working model; additional Legends observations needed
Beastlord	(Level × 5) + 5	210	Working model; additional Legends observations needed
Monk	(Level × 7) + 5	252	Supported by observed caps of 89 at level 12 and 96 at level 13
Ranger	(Level × 5) + 5	210	Working model; additional Legends observations needed
Rogue	(Level × 6) + 5	210	The per-level formula is documented; additional Legends observations remain useful
Warrior	(Level × 5) + 5	210	Working model; additional Legends observations needed

The class-specific cap is applied after the per-level calculation.

For example, the observed Monk progression is:

Level 12: (12 × 7) + 5 = 89
Level 13: (13 × 7) + 5 = 96

The calculator assumes the character's Dual Wield skill is trained to the applicable cap. A character whose current skill is below cap will have a lower actual offhand success rate than the calculator models.

Era-Dependent and Unconfirmed Mechanics

The following mechanics have differed between EverQuest eras, community servers, and emulator implementations. They should not be presented as confirmed EverQuest Legends behavior until tested directly on Legends.

Exact Dual Wield Chance Formula

The exact Legends formula that converts level and Dual Wield skill into offhand success chance is not yet confirmed.

Several incompatible reference models exist:

Reference	Chance model	Status for Legends
Historical Project 1999 community model	(Level + Dual Wield Skill) ÷ 400	Conjectural; not confirmed on Legends
Historical Project 1999 Warrior estimate	(Level + Dual Wield Skill) ÷ 475	Based on outside Warrior testing; not confirmed on Legends
Other inherited community documentation	Divisors as high as 600 have been proposed	Conflicting and unconfirmed
Current EQEmu client reference implementation	(Level + Dual Wield Skill + Ambidexterity Value) ÷ 375	Inspectable implementation, but not proof of Legends behavior
EverQuest Legends	Unknown	Requires a controlled in-game parse

Because the older 400 and Warrior-specific 475 divisors are themselves unverified community estimates, they should not be displayed as settled class mechanics.

Until a Legends-specific parse is available, the calculator may use a clearly labeled provisional reference model. Its detailed view should always display which model is being used.

Ambidexterity

The Legends description of Ambidexterity states that it increases the chance to successfully Dual Wield by 32%.

What "32%" means internally has not yet been confirmed. Plausible implementations include:

• Multiplying the base success chance by 1.32.
• Adding 32 percentage points to the final chance.
• Adding a raw value of 32 to the numerator of the Dual Wield check.
• Another server-specific implementation.

The current EQEmu reference implementation treats Ambidexterity as a raw value added to the Dual Wield chance calculation before a roll against 375. Legends may or may not use the same behavior.

The calculator's Ambidexterity checkbox must therefore identify its handling as a working assumption, not a confirmed Legends formula.

Damage-Bonus Eligibility and Values

Traditional classic-era damage-bonus behavior commonly includes:

• Damage bonuses beginning at level 28 for eligible melee characters.
• A one-handed primary bonus based on character level.
• A two-handed primary bonus based on both character level and weapon delay.
• No ordinary damage bonus for the secondary hand.

A commonly referenced one-handed formula is:

floor((Level − 25) ÷ 3)

This produces:

Level	One-Handed Bonus
28	1
31	2
34	3
37	4
40	5
43	6
46	7
49	8

Two-handed damage-bonus tables have changed across eras and depend on weapon delay. The calculator currently uses a classic-style level-and-delay table as a working model.

The following still require Legends-specific confirmation:

• Whether damage bonus begins at level 28.
• Whether all Legends melee class combinations qualify identically.
• The exact one-handed damage-bonus formula.
• The exact two-handed damage-bonus table.
• Whether any Legends AA, stance, invocation, item effect, or class combination grants secondary-hand damage bonus.
• Whether damage bonus is applied before or after any Legends-specific outgoing-damage multiplier.

Double Attack, Triple Attack, and Flurry

Additional attacks are excluded from the basic calculator because their relative effect depends on hand-specific eligibility.

Mechanics that require confirmation include:

• Whether secondary attacks can Double Attack at every Double Attack skill value.
• Whether the secondary hand has a minimum Double Attack skill requirement.
• Whether a two-handed attack receives any different Double Attack treatment.
• Whether Triple Attack is limited to the primary hand.
• Whether flurry can trigger from primary, secondary, or both.
• Whether class selection changes these rules on a multiclass character.

When the same additional-attack multiplier applies equally to every compared weapon, it cancels from the relative comparison. When eligibility differs by hand, it does not.

Proc Rates

Proc damage is not included because proc behavior may differ by:

• Primary versus secondary hand.
• Weapon delay.
• Dexterity.
• Proc-per-minute normalization.
• Spellblade or other Legends-specific systems.
• Weapon effects transferred through Legends item customization.

A weaker-ratio weapon with a valuable proc may outperform the calculator's normalized weapon score.

Skill Acquisition Levels

Current Legends wiki pages contain conflicting inherited information about the level at which Bard, Rogue, Warrior, and other classes acquire Dual Wield.

Because multiclassing and Legends skill grants differ from historical EverQuest, the skill's acquisition level should be verified in-game for each relevant class rather than copied from historical class tables.

The calculator assumes that the character already possesses Dual Wield.

Post-Level-50 Skill Caps

EverQuest Legends currently operates in its level-50 Classic Era.

Historical class tables commonly list the following later caps:

• Bard: 210
• Beastlord: 210
• Monk: 252
• Ranger: 240
• Rogue: 245
• Warrior: 240

These values are not currently reachable Legends behavior and should not be treated as confirmed future Legends caps. They should be retested if the Legends level cap increases.

Empty-Hand and Primary-Slot Requirements

Some traditional implementations require an eligible primary weapon before a secondary weapon can make Dual Wield checks, while Monks may receive special empty-hand behavior.

The following are not yet confirmed on Legends:

• Whether a non-Monk can attack with a secondary weapon while the primary slot is empty.
• Whether a Monk can use an empty primary hand with a secondary weapon.
• Whether an empty secondary slot can still produce Dual Wield skill checks.
• Whether Hand to Hand attacks use the same independent timers as equipped weapons.

These behaviors should remain in the unconfirmed section until directly tested.

Legends Verification Priorities

The highest-priority tests are:

1. Dual Wield chance: use distinguishable primary and secondary attack types, count both successful hits and misses, and compare observed secondary attempts against the number of secondary timer opportunities.
2. Ambidexterity: repeat the same long parse before and after purchasing Ambidexterity without changing equipment, haste, skills, or target.
3. Damage bonus: compare minimum and common hit values using the same weapon in primary and secondary at several character levels.
4. Two-handed damage bonus: compare otherwise similar two-handed weapons with different delays at the same level.
5. Class skill caps: record the displayed cap at each level for every Dual Wield-granting class and for multiclass combinations.
6. Additional attacks: separately test primary and secondary Double Attack eligibility at several Double Attack skill values.

A long parse should count attempted attacks rather than only successful damage, because hit rate is separate from the Dual Wield success check.

Reference Implementations and Historical Sources

• Alternate Advancement — current Legends Ambidexterity description.
• Game Mechanics — inherited community formulas and mechanics notes.
• Project 1999 Game Mechanics — Comparing Weapons
• Project 1999 Game Mechanics — Dual Wield
• Current EQEmu attack and Dual Wield reference implementation
• Current EQEmu primary and secondary timer processing

Skills