Can dual wielding be an effective strategy?

Every time I attempt dual wield weapons it doesn't go very well. I find it impossible to defend myself, especially when there is no way of lessening the blow of an incoming power attack.

The extra damage output you can get from dual wielding weapons just doesn't seem worth the extra vulnerability to me, although I don't know if this is because of my play style.

So I guess what I am asking is, is there a way to make dual-wielding an effective strategy for the core combat spec of a character? Or is it merely something that's a fun little add on to play around with every now and again?

Solution 1:

I found dual wield doable (and fun) in a few ways:

• Heavy armor paladin.
• Sneaky character with extreme illusion and the 15x sneak damage.

The paladin could heal himself and the heavy armor negated much of the damage. Next to that I developed a knack for dodging incoming blows which makes fighting one opponent extremely easy. The sneaky character pacified (charmed) the attackers, snuck behind them and stabbed them. Both characters were played on master difficulty (I like the challenge), which means you'll have to be very patient (aka dying a lot) early game anyway, but when past level 35-40 it becomes almost too easy. The sneaky character had to hit multiple times though for killing anything above bandits since master difficulty gave enemies extreme amounts of health (or just nerfed your own damage).

There are plenty more builds to think of, but since you are indeed vulnerable to incoming blows you'll need some way to negate or dodge incoming damage. Skyrim provides quite a few ways to do this (armor, spells and actually moving your character out of harms way) so even an unarmored mage could pull off dual wield in theory. (That would make for a fun character btw: unarmored priest dual wielding maces.)

Solution 2:

There are many situations where your enemies are not that strong, and you are not that worried about dying. In those situations, you can take advantage of dual wielding's higher damage output and kill everyone quicker. With Dual Flurry perk, your weapons deal out damage 35% faster. It's a very powerful way of increasing your damage, and it's especially good if you have enchanted weapons. In late game, especially, when you have good armor rating and high health, you won't miss being able to block that much.

Dual wielding can be very powerful for assassins. If you dual wield daggers and do a dual wield attack, you can get two powerful backstabs instead of just one. With 15x perk, 2x Dark assassin gloves, it gives you as much damage as hitting your opponent 60 times with that same dagger.

You do not have to commit 100% to dual wielding. I personally find it best to switch it up between shield-and-weapon and dual wielding depending on the situation.

Solution 3:

I can see why dual wielding is coming under fire, but investing the right perks and using the right strategy makes shot work of even the toughest enemies out there. With the 3 dual perks in one handed and the insainly overpowered attacks, you can cut down a dragon in seconds compared to with a shield. Just be sure to mainly upgrade health and some stamina, and only use heavy armor! With the right combo, this build becomes insainly overpowered (and fun)

Solution 4:

I believe it would be very effective if you do these following things... First off, have a basic stealth crit hit build lined up. If you can get more sneak attacks in on an enemy before they notice, more damage. Next up, light armor is probably your best bet because dual wielding eats up stamina (of course heavy armor and conditioning perk works too). I noticed that using a dagger and sword makes you significantly faster while dual wielding, as compared to 2 daggers or swords. Try to dodge those heavy hitting power attacks. Dual wielding is about being more agile and dealing enough damage quick enough to kill your enemy.