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Main Hand versus Off Hand

A very common question, and for good reason. The question of what weapon type seems to be the most common, and the answer is very simple. If you're not Mutilate specced, your offhand weapon type makes absolutely no difference aside from the Combat talents that effect only one weapon type.

That being said, what you actually do put in your offhand is a bit more involved than that. Your offhand weapon does 50% damage (75% with Dual Wield Specialization maxed out), so getting higher damage weapons will have a much lower effect than doing so on your main hand. This applies to attack power bonuses as well. The off hand weapon is not used for instant attacks, aside from Shiv, either, so that frees up all damage range considerations entirely.

Now, the end all, be all answer. All other relevant stats equal (DPS, base stats, attack power, etc), faster is better for every build except Mutilate. There are three reasons for this.

1. Poisons are a set proc rate, and are not normalized to weapon speed like Enchantments are. This means that if Weapon A is exactly twice as fast as Weapon B, Weapon A will proc your poisons exactly twice as often (on average, though I realize an exact average is an oxymoron).

2. More swings means more spell interrupts. Most classes get talents that reduce this chance, but frequent interrupts can be the difference between life and death in a very close match. Granted, it's not a big difference, but if the stats are identical between weapons, why not take any advantage you can get?

3. Combat Potency. If you're combat, each offhand hit gives you a chance to gain energy. More attacks means more energy. More energy is more damage. More damage means a better Rogue.