DW offhand attack rate

[Tappin]

How does offhand weapon delay work? Does the delay matter? If you use a fast mainhand and slow offhand and proc dw back to back off mainhand will the offhand not be able to swing because of its slower delay?

Also does dex affect how often dw occurs? Or just based off of dw skill level and RNG?

[gcobb]

My understanding is that the mainhand and offhand swing completely independently of one another. This means (I think) that, as long as autoattack is on, your offhand has a certain % chance to swing once its weapon's delay is met. This probability is based on your DW skill.

Hence the conventional wisdom regarding how to equip weapons for maximal dual-wielding DPS: your mainhand weapon should almost always be the fastest weapon you can come up with, as it will be the only one of the two affected by your level-based primary-hand damage bonus. Do the math with each weapon, as there are (rare) exceptions to this rule. On the other hand (couldn't resist), since the offhand has no damage bonus, its damage output will be directly proportional to its weapon's ratio. This is why, for monks, the Adamantite Club (ratio 15/25 = 0.6) is better in primary (at 60, the damage bonus makes it 26/25 = 1.04) than the Stave of Shielding (w/ bonus 28/28 = 1.00), but the SoS is superior--disregarding the AC's proc--as an offhand weapon. The SoS's innate, unbonused ratio of 17/28 = ~0.61 trumps the AC's flat 0.6. This is also why the monk's epic fist ((9+11)/16 = 10/8 = 1.25 at 60) trumps everything as a primary-hand DPS weapon.

One of the rare exceptions to this rule would be the efficacy of the ranger's Revultant Whip (5/14) vs. the Fayguard Parrying Dagger (9/17). At 60, the latter's 20/17 = 1.17 > the Whip's 16/14 = 1.14. In the offhand, though, the Parrying Dagger would always outperform the Whip due to its better innate ratio.

Anyway, I know that became a bit more of a digression on the general mechanics of 1-handed DPS than you asked for, but I hope it's helpful (and correct).

[Tappin]

Very good information! What levels is weapon damage bonus added? It looks like 11 bonus dmg at 60 from what you have posted.

Also to clarify... the offhand swings totally independent from the mh? Its not triggered by a mh swing?

[Cippofra]

Absolutely independent of main hand. Controlled by your dw skill.

[mtb tripper]

aye, the delay doesn't really matter much

[Wizerud]

Damage bonus begins at level 28 I believe then scales up from there.

[Tappin]

Awesome, thanks for the information everyone.

[gcobb]

From the P99Wiki 'Monk' page, reproduced w/ permission of no one:

Primary Hand Damage Bonuses

This is the same for all melee classes, but listed here for reference. See the Combat section of Game Mechanics for more information.

Level 28: 1
Level 31: 2
Level 34: 3
Level 37: 4
Level 40: 5
Level 43: 6
Level 46: 7
Level 49: 8
Level 52: 9
Level 55: 10
Level 58: 11

(This is why a quality 2-hander will normally outperform far better 1-handers from level 20 through anywhere from the mid-30s to the mid-40s. A good example of this would be the early and temporary superiority of the hilariously named Wu's Quivering Staff over the Jade Mace/Adamantite Combo.)