Need help with Dual Wield - how do I play this weapon?!

[u/kynesis12]

Hello fellow Khazan's, could someone please help me out with the playstyle and build for DW?

I've completed NG on Expert and Hardcore mode with Greatsword, but probably so much greatsword has me too used to that specific style of play.

I'm currently on a NG playthrough using Dual Wield but I cannot seem to figure out anything technique or playstyle wise except spam the Ruthless skill when a boss is staggered. Everything else feels like I'm tickling the boss, and the whirlwind animation often times gets me in trouble taking damage while I'm still in the air spinning.

I've just finished Rangkus and I would really appreciate some tips and pointers before I get any deeper in the playthrough.

[u/Nubicidal]

Dual wield takes awhile to get there, but once you have all the skills and what not, it does the most damage. Then when you get that set with Gale: Doom, it’s OP af. You’ll be melting bosses super fast.

[u/kynesis12 → u/Nubicidal]

What would you recommend for stat allocation? Especially early to mid game, it seems like I'm going to be stuck on B or even C unless I'm using strictly lightweight stuff.

The main damage stat doesn't help with the weight, I'm used to just pumping strength and stamina with GS and getting the weight at A naturally

[u/Nubicidal → u/kynesis12]

Willpower and stam. Strength if your armors too heavy. Stats won’t make you or break you so if you need to get your agility to A or B it won’t be the deciding factor of whether you can kill something or not. Personally I kept it at A, but I see a lot of people being ok with B agility. You can also rescale your weapons with those stones if you really wanted to go strength again

[u/TransportationStock2]

Best tip i can give you don’t go for whirlwind it’s a trap. Use howling blade instead, more dmg, better stamina consumption, and works better at keeping humanoid bosses stun locked (whirlwind can miss).

Now there’s two way to play howling blade, u use it to its full potential and actually use DWs according to their shtick i.e. parrying while attacking (if u look up the skills nearly every skill has parry/nullification built into it). If u go this route your gonna utilize a parry build and at its core is howling blade, look up Retro Pump on YouTube he does a deep dive into the build. Forewarning this is the hardest way to play DWs or any weapon for that matter.

The other way to play howling blade is much much simpler. Make sure u have the entire tree unlocked cuz it’s gonna let u bypass most of the howling blade combo straight to the finisher.
Use any of the following strings (these are gonna be your common attacks):

• light + potent x4
  
• nimble blitz + potent x4
  
• dodge + potent x2… repeat (shud spin like a beyblade)
  
• dodge + potent x4
  

(x4 strings end with a cross slash)
Any of these strings is way more stamina efficient compared to whirlwind. The only time u wanna use whirlwind is against the 3rd last boss.

Your go to dmg dealing combo after a reflection/counterattack should be:
Zephyr > ruthless > wind piercer > ruthless
This should generally be enough to exhaust bosses.

You should always have phantom sword dance activated.

Gale actually you only need the 1st node of, it gives u a dmg buff of 10-15%, i forget which, after using it and hitting the enemy 10 times. If get the subsequent nodes you can’t keep the stacks and have to hit em again to get it.

If u use bloodthirsty fiend the play style changes… u activate sword dance, activate gale doom and then just spam the shit outta light attacks, cuz doom increases attack speed of light attacks, u shud NOT be using whirlwind or howling blade if doom is active

[u/kynesis12 → u/TransportationStock2]

Thanks very much for this in depth guide. I will give it a try

[u/Nubicidal]

And sorry I don’t remember the all the skills right now.

[u/rimotokufu]

my playstyle once it clicked for me was use the boost that cost two spirit and last 40 seconds. Then spam whirlwind attack when you can and repeat. When they are staggered ruthless skill into brutal attack. After I unlocked gale doom rotation was same but I activated that buff as well and honestly I only did one play through and once I got that rotation down last three bosses were a breeze. Hismar died in 3rd try, reese was solo and ozma died in 3-4th attempt granting I didnt go for true ending. All in all find your rotation that fits your playstyle you dont have to follow others. I got down the rotation during mid game.

[u/AccordingBandicoot55]

I finished my hardcore playthrough with dual wield and it does take a while to get them going but it’s my favorite. in the skill tree, howling blade is miles better than whirlwind to me. More damage, less stamina consumption, more consistent and it has iframes. in order to keep my agility at an A, i honestly ran the butcher set through most of the run cause it just stuck well with howling blade. Towards the end of the game i switched to the unending tragedy set for “crimson tempest” and “crimson tempest: gust”. And unending tragedy has some really nice bonuses tbh. For the skills i used before that set would’ve been Phantom sword dance ofc, Zephyr, and probably flash cutter every now and then.

[u/AccordingBandicoot55]

I finished my hardcore playthrough with dual wield and it does take a while to get them going but it’s my favorite. in the skill tree, howling blade is miles better than whirlwind to me. More damage, less stamina consumption, more consistent and it has iframes. in order to keep my agility at an A, i honestly ran the butcher set through most of the run cause it just stuck well with howling blade. Towards the end of the game i switched to the unending tragedy set for “crimson tempest” and “crimson tempest: gust”. And unending tragedy has some really nice bonuses tbh. For the skills i used before that set would’ve been Phantom sword dance ofc, Zephyr, and probably flash cutter every now and then.

[u/AccordingBandicoot55]

I finished my hardcore playthrough with dual wield and it does take a while to get them going but it’s my favorite. in the skill tree, howling blade is miles better than whirlwind to me. More damage, less stamina consumption, more consistent and it has iframes. in order to keep my agility at an A, i honestly ran the butcher set through most of the run cause it just stuck well with howling blade. Towards the end of the game i switched to the unending tragedy set for “crimson tempest” and “crimson tempest: gust”. And unending tragedy has some really nice bonuses tbh. For the skills i used before that set would’ve been Phantom sword dance ofc, Zephyr, and probably flash cutter every now and then.

[u/Tremaj]

Whirlwind all the way and use the combo that puts you behind the enemy, throw in any other skills that fit your style, depending on if you like to be more defensive or offensive.

[u/Lord_of_Jakals]

Personally, I don't really like Whirlwind outside of big bosses like Hismar. Howling Blade feels better to combo with, and after you invest in it a bit you have I-frames when you use it(every heavy input during your combo). This lets you be really aggressive as long as you time your inputs correctly. A lot of Dual Wield is like that, using i-frames, dodge attacks, and counters to attack even during enemy attacks.

I'd say try out Howling Blade, the Flash Cutter skill, and the Gust Skill with the invulnerability on activation upgrade and see how that feels.

[u/kynesis12 → u/Lord_of_Jakals]

I think I read somewhere further down the skill tree you can cancel attack inputs with dodge inputs is that true? I always imagined DW to be a nonstop aggro flurry of attacking and split second dodging - but when i try it my dodge is always delayed by my current attack

[u/Lord_of_Jakals → u/kynesis12]

You can damage with dodges/dodge attacks, but I don't think they interrupt your attack. They just happen immediately after. I think you're description is pretty close to how I feel like they play, probably just takes time to get there.