PS3 Dual wielding; Dagger+Sword viable option?

[JCD-Bionicman]

I havent tried it, but that seems to be one of the dragonborn's signature combinations other than sword and shield.

Is there any benefit to doing so? Does the dps remain about the same or higher than a sword+sword or dagger+dagger combination?

 

[Morgan]

I have a char that I modeled after Arab dervishes. I go back and forth between dual scimitars and scimitar/dagger. Unfortunately I don't have any hard figures for you, but I feel like the damage with scimitar/dagger is higher by a little bit. Certainly it's much much faster, and he looks very dervish-like with this combo. At a certain point the distinction is moot though, since all three produce so much damage that even elder dragons get annihilated in seconds.

 

[Dagmar]

Early on using a dagger in your off hand and a heavier weapon in your main hand will yield better damage because the off hand weapon determines your dual wielding attack speed. As you level this becomes less advantageous and eventually does less damage because damage scales disproportionally between the dagger and the main hand weapon not only because of the higher base damage of the other one-handed weapon but because One-handed damage perks and Fortify One-handed enchantments don't apply to daggers.

 

[JCD-Bionicman]

One-handed damage perks and Fortify One-handed enchantments don't apply to daggers.

I don't think that's accurate. Why would thesda make it so perks and enchants don't apply to daggers? Makes no sense.

 

[Dagmar]

I don't think that's accurate. Why would thesda make it so perks and enchants don't apply to daggers? Makes no sense.

It is accurate. It's been tested by players, including myself but if you don't believe it test it yourself.

Perks and enchantments work on daggers. It's only One-handed perks and Fortify One-handed enchantments that don't work on daggers. Daggers get their own very powerful perk in the form of Assassin's Blade under the Sneak perk tree. The damage multiplier eclipses the damage multipliers from the Armsman perks and may be the reason why Bethesda didn't want to give daggers the benefit of the One-handed damage bonus perks.

 

[JCD-Bionicman]

It is accurate. It's been tested by players, including myself but if you don't believe it test it yourself.

Perks and enchantments work on daggers. It's only One-handed perks and Fortify One-handed enchantments that don't work on daggers. Daggers get their own very powerful perk in the form of Assassin's Blade under the Sneak perk tree. The damage multiplier eclipses the damage multipliers from the Armsman perks and may be the reason why Bethesda didn't want to give daggers the benefit of the One-handed damage bonus perks.

Well if it's true its a stupid move by bethesda, since x16 really is nothing compared to the 3x of the bow considering the bow is ranged and therefore makes sneak attacks much easier and much more frequent due to being able to hide for longer. Its hard to sneak up on people with daggers, yet you arent rewarded for that difficult by a greater damage bonus.

An orcish dagger will do 240 when upgraded to flawless versus a dwarven bow which does 180. Again, considering the range of the bow, its not exactly balanced.

I assume you mean "armsman" doesnt apply to daggers in addition to the dual wielding perks, or am i hearing you wrong?

 

[Dagmar]

Sorry, I meant Bladesman not Armsman. Armsman works but Fortify One-Handed enchantments don't work on daggers. Given that you can get over a 200% skill bonus for other weapons with Fortify weapon skill enchantments, it's a potentially astronomical difference in melee combat damage on top of the damage gap created by lack of base damage of daggers compared to other weapons.

The damage multipliers with Sneak based weapon damage bonuses aren't 16x and 3x for the dagger and bow, they're 45x and 6x. This is because there are already base backstab/archery sneak attack modifiers without the perks of 3x and 2x respectively. On top of that there is a 2x Backstab enchantment that comes with certain unique light gauntlets and there's no corresponding enchantment available for bows so the potential damage mulitplier comparison is 90X versus 6x. It's pretty clear that the message Bethesda wants to convey is that daggers are not favored as weapons for pure melee combat builds. They're meant for stealth combat builds.

 

[Adam Warlock]

I wish I had your sword by my side , Dagmar.
J`zargo is starting to get on my nerves.

 

[Adam Warlock]

I like using those double-damage handwraps with a mace from sneak.
Along with my other 1h modifiers , it nocks `em out of their socks every time !

 

[Dagmar]

It seems the sneak perk descriptions already factor in the default sneak attack modifiers so it's actually 30x (not 90x) and 3x (not 6x). It's still quite a huge ratio difference (10:1).