which weapons to dual wield

[Demon6324236]

The one time I saw someone with it, I was out in Abyssea-Uleg when doin the Ironclad for seals. A BLU had it and we teamed up, on both the Ironclad and the mobs for pop items it seemed to proc 10~20% of the time, mind you I was eyeballing it but it was definitely procing a lot. Also the numbers were quite high, often 60~80 TP on each proc, so I assume it is good, but the main problem with really testing it out myself is that its so hard to get.

[ManaKing]

It's good, it's just hard to get. I've talked to a couple people that have them and the potency of the drain is basically Absorb-TP on hit and the rate is somewhere around 10%.

Positive side is that Req can use extra TP to reduce it's damage penalty, so at least you aren't wasting excess TP. If you're /DNC (which seems to be all i sub anymore) you can redistribute it to things like Haste Sambas.

It's still my offhand goal because I don't see anything else that is a significantly better offhand for an Excalibur. I'm not sure if the additional affect can go off during WSs, since some Pulse Weapons do, and I didn't think of that when I was talking to the person. But, if it can, then that would be an extra bonus.

[Demon6324236]

If you're /DNC (which seems to be all i sub anymore) you can redistribute it to things like Haste Sambas.

Sambas work just like enspells sadly, if you use one you lose the other, so in this case TP drain would probably be lost to Haste Samba, so thats not really a use for it. However, the effect so far as I know is quite a bit better than Absorb-TP, there are screenshots of even draining 80 or 90, so it is similar yet much more potent than the Absorb spell.

[Crimson_Slasher]

For those on servers where flame geodes are through the roof in prices, its not optimal, but theres always aluh Jambiya, it loses 1 str and a small chunk of attack, the lower delay and damage kinda balance eachother a bit, but atleast for crit ws (like CDC) it adds 3% damage which isnt unwelcome either.

[Demon6324236]

Yeah that dagger is kinda the middle ground, its a good offhands for all weapons, best for Mandau I believe, but there are betters for the other weapons if you are more serious. Admittedly though, no matter the price of Fire Geodes, if you are willing to spend 100Mil+ on a relic, you can afford a Fire Sword. :P

[Crimson_Slasher]

True, i was more looking to the sort making MND/STR mainhand weapons(Requiescat) or Almace, and wanting to save a few bucks, or not having quite enough to foot the bill for the offhander. For those elite who want the big bucks toys, mandau and str shikargar are great combinations, however we should keep the semi-casual and less hardcore in mind with our advice too. Lest we become seen as condesending. Not that we are behaving that way, but we cant exclude other players who come here for information and are met with rather, seemingly insurmountable goals.

[Demon6324236]

Right, for the more easily obtainable gear like Almace, that dagger is the best thing you can pick up for your offhand without going through to much trouble or spending a few million while doing annoying trials. It all depends how far you are willing to go on it. The absolute best is Almace+Oneiros, Mandau+Aluh, and Excalibur+Mandau, but Aluh is the offhand that works for basically everything, it works well with KoR & MS, the Attack helps Req, the low delay with nice damage is good DPS, and the crit damage helps CDC quite a bit. STR Shikargar wins sometimes, but it is more expensive and takes a lot more work because of it involving fire trials, or even trials at all, where as Aluh can be bought off the AH for 1 Mil, or gotten if you go after the feet from the NM that drops it. Those are the basic weapons though, if you can not get an Emp or Relic, STR Shikargar or Aluh are good for your main hand, but you probably want both of them since Aluh is Rare and STR is the only other good offensive weapon for RDM that works well in most situations.

I do agree though, its not just about the best, I myself though have been so focused on the best as of late I have found it harder to think of decent gear or average gear and put them together as easily, so if I am being somewhat condescending I do apologize.

[Crimson_Slasher]

You were entirely fine, i just wanted to put some other thoughts because we get a lot of reads (even if it is mostly just us here.) And i felt someone needed to keep an eye out for the little guys too. Nobody here has come off with that rude arrogant attitude that used to be present in our more heated debates here on the rdm forums. Again just wanted to make sure someone was thinking middle ground too!

[ManaKing]

It's entirely possible to miss things like Oneiros Knife or Ephemeron because almost no one has them. 'insurmountable goals' are even more 'insurmountable' when you don't know they even exist. I'd always rather have terrible goals instead of nothing to do...sitting in PJ....

The other issue is also that most of the good offhand's differences are flavoring, preference, or situational. The perfect example is the Sanus Ensis. It's a really well rounded offhand, but it is by no means the best DPS. It's technically not even the best single hand healing piece either unless you are specifically only caring about self healing. That goes to the Tefnut Wand. But you wouldn't pick anything else if you were looking for a good balance between DPS and Healing.

Sambas work just like enspells sadly, if you use one you lose the other, so in this case TP drain would probably be lost to Haste Samba, so thats not really a use for it.

Put on your Excalibur and Twilight Knife and use Haste Samba. They both still work. Sambas are the lowest priority additional affects, even under weapon additional affects. It's one of the reasons I switched over to RDM/DNC from RDM/NIN.

It's the whole reason that the thread about Enlight/Enspells + Excal thread blew up. People got offended when Camate basically said, we could make having an Excalibur better, but we aren't going to. SE can set their additional affects to whatever priority they want, they just don't.

[Protey]

@ManaKing wondering why you'd use /dnc over /nin. You use 35% TP and get 5% haste. /nin you don't have to use TP and you get 10% more dual wield than you would with /dnc. or are you just doing it so you can cure with tp?