One of the most fun aspects of Dungeons & Dragons is the player’s ability to customize every aspect of their character, including how they choose to fight. Although D&D‘s rules technically allow any character to wield two weapons at once, only certain builds are able to make effective use of this feature. The best build for dual wielding in D&D requires a specific class, subclass and feat in order to overcome some of the feature’s drawbacks.
In order to attack with two weapons in a single turn, a player must expend their bonus action to attempt a hit with their off-hand. Both weapons also need to be classified as “light” for this to work, which usually means using weapons that deal less damage overall. Another significant drawback of this option is that players cannot add their ability modifier to their off-hand’s damage, although this can be overcome by some characters.
Dungeons & Dragons’ Fighters, Paladins, and Rangers can all choose the “Two-Weapon Fighting” fighting style in order to add their modifier to the second hit. This is a moderate damage increase for players looking to wield two weapons, although there are plenty of other fighting styles with more impactful benefits. There is another class in D&D that can make much more effective use of dual wielding than any of these three, even without access to this specific fighting style.
Why Rogues Are D&D’s Best Dual Wielding Class
Rogue’s are easily the best Dungeons & Dragons class for players interested in dual wielding. A Rogue’s primary damage dealing mechanic is “sneak attack,” which allows them to add damage to their attack once per turn. Missing the chance to deal sneak attack damage can be very costly to a fight, but having an off-hand weapon allows Rogues a second opportunity to do so whenever necessary. Since attacking with the off-hand weapon uses a bonus action, it could hinder a Rogue’s ability to escape damage, but luckily there is a subclass in D&D that accounts for this
Introduced in the Sword Coast Adventurer’s Guide, the Swashbuckler is a Rogue subclass that specializes in single target dueling. Swashbucklers have access to a class feature called Fancy Footwork at level 3, and this ability allows them to ignore opportunity attacks after successfully hitting a creature. The book itself acknowledges that Fancy Footwork significantly decreases a Rogue’s need to Disengage from a creature, freeing up their bonus action to attack with an off-hand weapon instead.
If players using two weapons want to increase their damage output even further, they can make use of one of D&D‘s more underrated feats. “Dual Wielder” allows characters to ignore the “light” tag for the sake of two-weapon fighting, which means that players can use rapiers and deal 1d8 damage with each attack. Dual Wielder also increases the character’s armor class by one point, making them more capable of staying on the frontlines during a fight.
Although Rogues are the ideal class for two-weapon fighting in Dungeons & Dragons, players should feel free to build whatever character appeals to them. Any martial class can make legitimate use out of two weapons, and fun should never be sacrificed for the sake of viability.