Dual Wielding - DarkSouls II Wiki (2024)

Dark Souls 2 expands the player's offensive ability in combat when using two weapons at the same time. When you equip compatible weapons in each hand, you can enter a power stance, which allows new attack animations and the opportunity to inflict greater damage on your opponents.

While in power stance, R1 and R2 will keep the regular attacks of your right hand weapon. Thrusting swords R2 becomes a parry(only the rapier parry which always does it). Your L1 will become a combo attack using both weapons and L2 will be a single powerful attack using both weapons.

Your power stance attacks will vary depending on held weapons. Some weapon types have priority on the power stance attacks type. (ex. dagger < curved sword = straight sword < greatsword)
If two weapons have the same priority (ex. curved sword and straight sword), the power stance attacks type will be dictated by the right hand weapon.

Requirements

In order to enter power stance, you will need to:

Have 1.5x the max required stats of your equipped weapons.

Your two equipped weapons need to be compatible. (more testing needs to be done to confirm which weapons work together / at all).

- Example of compatible weapons : Greatsword / Curved Sword, Thrusting Sword / Straight Sword, Dagger / Katana
- Spell tools (staffs, sacred chimes, pyromancy flames) may not be power stanced in any combination.

Right Hand Weapon
Left Hand Weapon	Axes	Claws	Curved Swords	Curved Greatswords	Daggers	Fists	Greataxes	Great Hammers	Greatswords	Halberds	Hammers	Katanas	Lances	Reapers	Spears	Straight Swords	Thrusting Swords	Twinblades	Ultra Greatswords	Whips
Axes	Yes	No	Yes	No	No	No	Yes	Yes	No	No	Yes	Yes	No	No	No	Yes	No	No	No	No
Claws	No	Yes	No	No	No	Yes	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
Curved Swords	Yes	No	Yes	No	Yes	No	Yes	No	No	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No	No
Curved Greatswords	No	No	No	Yes	No	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	Yes	No
Daggers	No	No	Yes	No	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	No	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No	No
Fists	No	Yes	No	No	No	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
Greataxes	Yes	No	No	Yes	No	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	Yes	No
Great Hammers	Yes	No	No	Yes	No	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	Yes	No
Greatswords	No	No	Yes	Yes	No	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No	Yes	No	No	No	Yes	No	No	Yes	No
Halberds	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	Yes	No	No	No	Yes	No	No	No	Yes	No	No
Hammers	Yes	No	Yes	No	No	No	Yes	Yes	No	No	Yes	No	No	No	No	Yes	No	No	No	No
Katanas	Yes	No	Yes	No	Yes	No	No	No	Yes	No	No	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No	No
Lances	No	No	Yes	No	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	No	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No	No
Reapers	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	Yes	No	No	No	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	No
Spears	No	No	Yes	No	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	No	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No	No
Straight Swords	Yes	No	Yes	No	Yes	No	No	No	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No	No
Thrusting Swords	No	No	Yes	No	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No*	No	No
Twinblades	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	No	Yes*	Yes	No	No
Ultra Greatswords	No	No	No	Yes	No	No	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	Yes	No
Whips	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	Yes

*Thrusting Sword and Twinblade can only be Power-Stanced with the Thrusting Sword in the right hand, it will not work the other way round.
*Crossbows can also be power stanced, though the one-handed damage drops to ~63% of what it would be non power stanced for only ~26% gain in damage for shooting both crossbows at once. You cannot power stance a repeating crossbow with a non repeating crossbow, though Avelyn can be power stanced with Sanctum Repeating Crossbow as the other crossbow. While power stanced you can't use the scope feature of 2 handed which also means you can't use the special ability of the sanctum crossbow and repeating crossbow when dual wielding without exiting power stance. (tested in Scholar of the First Sin while in Company of Champions covenant). Due to the drop in power it would be advised to only use the double shot feature of power stance and leave single crossbow fire for when not in power stance. Can be considered the "strong" for crossbows as it takes longer to do 2 power stance double shots than to fire one hand and then the opposite hand despite consuming the same amount of stamina
**Table is a work in progress. There are potentially exceptions for dual wield viability within each weapon type.

Tips

You enter power stance by holding (not just pressing) △ (PS3) / Y (360). If your weapons are not compatible or if you don't have the appropriate stats, you will two-hand your left hand weapon instead of entering power stance. When you are in power stance, your character will hold the weapons differently at rest and your left-attack and left-strong-attack animations will use both weapons together.

The stat requirement is 1.5x the higher of the two weapons you are attempting to dual wield, rounded down. So if weapon #1 requires 20 str / 13 dex and weapon #2 requires 18 str / 15 dex, you will need to have 30 str (1.5x 20) & 22 dex (1.5x 15 = 22.5, rounded down to 22).

In power stance, you forgo your shield and your ability to block with the weapons. Therefore, attack and roll timing are crucial to effectively dual wield.

Here's the weapon hierarchy and what it means:

Spears/Lances
Axes/ Hammers
Straight Swords/ Curved Swords/ Katanas
Thrusting Swords
Daggers

The moveset works from the top to the bottom. If you have a spear in one hand and an axe in the other, you will have the spear power stance moveset. This is regardless of which hand the weapons are held in.

The hand in which the weapons are held only matters if they have the same spot in the hierarchy (such as curved swords and katanas, or lances and spears). Then they will take the moveset of the weapon in the right hand. If the weapon has a special attack, for example Ricard's Rapier, it can only be used if held in the right hand.

Note: Estoc/Mace does not work.

Different Strong Attack with Curved Swords in your Left Hand

A curved sword in your left hand can use a strong attack, instead of parrying as normal, when attacking with a weapon in you right hand first. Some of them also have attacks not normally found in the weapon's regular move set.

How do you use these 'different' strong attacks you might ask? Well, for example, say I have a Longsword equipped in my right hand and a Falchion in my left hand. To do the 'different' strong attack I would first need to do a regular attack (R1/RB) with my Longsword then quickly use the strong attack (L2/LT) with my Falchion. Instead of parrying like normal, the Falchion will actually use its R2/RT strong attack even though it is be held in the left hand.

Things to note:

You can't be in a power stance

You must have a weapon equipped your right hand

You must have the necessary stats to use each weapon effectively (needs testing)

You must have the necessary stats to do a power stance (needs testing)

Compatible Weapon Classes

Basically which weapons you can use in your right hand to override your left hand's curved sword parry animation. Testing was done on a 45 STR/DEX character with one weapon used from each category and using the Falchion as the left hand weapon.

Weapon Class	Works? (Yes/No)
Axes	Yes
Claws	No
Curved Swords	Yes
Curved Greatswords	No
Daggers	Yes
Fists	No
Greataxes	No
Great Hammers	No
Greatswords	Yes
Halberds	No
Hammers	Yes
Katanas	Yes
Lances	Yes
Reapers	No
Spears	Yes
Straightswords	Yes
Thrusting Swords	Yes
Twinblades	No
Ultra Greatswords	No
Whips	No

Notes

This also applies to the Caestus but only if your character's using their Fist or another Caestus in the right hand.

page revision: 43, last edited: 28 Jan 2019 19:50

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