2h or dual wield for leveling?Follow

Curious about this one - I'm currently dual wielding, but I feel like maybe my dmg would be better and leveing would be quicker if i just had a big heavy hitting 2 hander. Sure, it's fun to watch your toon dual wield, but is it worth it? Whats the best option for leveling? I'm currently lvl 46. Thanks!

Without a doubt its dual wielding. Switched to a two-hander for a bit at about lvl 55. After a nights play I went back to dual and sold the two hander off.

Three things are vital to heavy dps though (don't know if I'm giving you any new info here): Keep both weapons buffed with your Windfury Weapon buff, make sure that both weapons have a speed of 2.6 or slower (2.8 preferred as slower speeds take max advantage of Windfury Weapon), and spam your Stormstrike as much as possible.

This combo, along with a fire totem planted at your side, is pretty much devastation to mobs even through the 60s.
Their health bars will go down faster than a two bit [edit] hanging about the docks when a Navy ship pulls in for shore leave.

Edit:
Thanks for the fix point out BonYogi, was typing and not thinking.

Edited, Apr 16th 2008 10:38pm by OzoneSSX

Fixed.

First of all duel wielding is great 2 have either for pvp or pve, but out of my experiance with my shaman is that with 2h (Maces) do very good DPS, with only glad. gear i havnt experianced to much 2 tell you what is better or not, but out of the time I've taken to see the differances myself. What think is better for you is to stay duel wielding for lvling. 2h would be better if you get it at the max lvl (60 or 70) but that is just my opinion. With 2h you will see some HEAVY damage with some good +strength on yourself

In the past? How long ago was this "past" that you speak of?

This is not "the past" though. A 2H doesn't put out a "huge" amount of DPS, or at least the amount of DPS it does put out is less than what a dual-wielder is putting out.

Enhancement Shaman kill healers by grinding them down with high DPS, constant Purging, and interrupting heals every time your Shocks are off cooldown. Infreqent Windfury procs/crits off of a two-hander are just not as threatening as they used to be. Resilliance has taken a lot of the bite out of crits' bark, and even healers just have a ton of HP anymore.

Steady, reliable, high DPS > higher but infrequent and random burst DPS.

Edited, Apr 17th 2008 2:25pm by Gaudion

Having only done pre-70 PvP on my shaman, I'm going to go ahead and say you're still wrong.

Proccing Flurry is far more important than getting one huge WF crit, as Flurry procs more WF attacks.

Basically you're not going to be getting a WF hit every 3 secs with a 2h. With DW, you will because of the speed of your weapons, and Flurry.

Theo, while normally I can see your point and frequently find myself agreeing with you, on this subject I can fully vouch for 60 and under pvp dual weilding kills.

Three key factors make this possible:

Low HP pools

No resilience to speak of

Ability to stack absurd amounts of strength

1 shotting or 1 shot + shocking most classes is very very -if- windfury procs. Will it proc every time? No. Will it not proc when you need it most? Yes. I will, however, say this. It all boils down to playstyle. I, knowing the downsides, -leveled- with a 2h until outlands. Yes, that's right, I knowing gimped my dps by using a 2 hander. Regret it? Not in the least. Hell, if you checked my bags you will find I still, to this day, keep a 2h on me just for goofing off.

Recap: End-game PvP = Dual Wielding. Pre-60 PvP = Play what you want (though 2h is viable). All PvE = It's your game, play what you want. (Speaking strictly on numerical figures it's always smarter to Dual Wield as soon as you get the ability).

There might be a slight bit more argument for the two-hander if Stormstrike didn't attack with both weapons.

Slight.

Aww, we are all friendly Shamans here...let's get along.

I just recently leveled to the point where I can dual wield and use storm strike and I am not missing my two hander at all. Mobs just melt at the amount of DPS you can put out. I haven't tried it for PvP but will as soon as I hit 49. It would be really hard for me to believe that it would gimp you must to dual wield.

But I think playing what you find fun is important. I like to be optimal. But my main is a Rogue and I still swear by leveling with a dagger because I just like that style better. This game is made to be casual (even end game raiding to a certain extent) so there is a bit of flex in how you play as long as you play it well.

I agree but name calling isn't well, called for.