One of the things I was very excited for in DS2 was the reworked dual-wielding. With the advent of power stance, and some new tweaks made to the system in general, it's a very legitimate style of play and hell it's straight up the most fun I've had with Dark Souls ever.

To help people who might be interested in trying it out, lets go over some basic concepts and questions you might have about it.

• What can I dual-wield? Well, theoretically anything. As long as you have two things equipped, one in the left hand, and one in the right hand, and are using them to attack, you are dual-wielding.

However, to be more clear on the subject; dual-wielding say, shields or twinblades is probably a bad idea, unless you're just in it to have fun and mess around. If you're in it to win it, you'll be happiest with shorter weapons with low stats, which I will go into in more detail further down.

• What is Power Stance? Power Stance is essentially what you are aiming for with a legit DW build. Power Stance changes your moveset for your left hand weapon to incorporate the weapon in the right hand.

In order to use a Power Stance, you have to have x1.5 the required stats for both weapons. I hate having to say x1.5 because it's kind of confusing so lets go over exactly what that means.

You need the required stats to one-hand the weapon without penalty, and then an extra half of what the requirements are.

Lets assume you want to power stance with two Longswords. Longswords require 10 Strength (or STR) and 9 Dexterity (or DEX).

Doing basic math, half of 10 is 5, and half of 9 is 4.5.

So, the required stats to power stance would be 15 STR, and 13.5 DEX, but 13.5 DEX is really weird so we'll round up to 14 to be safe. EDIT: It has come to light that Dark Souls 2 does not round up for power stance, it rounds down. So it only takes 13 DEX to power stance with longswords.

So you're left with required stats of 15 STR and 14 DEX. Those are the minimum to power stance with longswords.

• Wait, so what can I power stance with exactly?

Most any weapon class can be power stanced but there's one thing to consider.

You can only power stance if both weapons are of a similar class.

BIG EDIT: This is not necessarily based off only weapon class as previously assumed, it's also based off attack type. Slash weapons will work together, thrust weapons will work together, and strike weapons will work together. However, even this isn't exact, as you can use hammers and swords together even with the difference in attack type. It seems to be that similar weapons in both weapon and attack type will work together but the exact necessities for it to work is somewhat unclear.

Another thing is that the moveset with power stance is usually determined by your right hand weapon. For instance, a shortsword in the right hand with a scimitar in the left hand will do a single slice for every press of LB/L1. However, if you have the scimitar in the right hand and the shortsword in the left, your LB/L1 attack will have multiple hits. However, depending on what weapon class and attack type, the moveset may change to accommodate the left hand weapon.

This is important when we get into damage.

• How IS damage calculated anyways?

As far as I know, and mind you I am actually just going off experience here, damage is dependent on both moveset and weapons as it always is, but with a few tricks.

Remember back to the shortsword and scimitar I was talking about. How the moveset for the power stance changed when you switched what weapon is in what hand? That changes your damage output.

For instance, the shortsword moveset basically adds the damage into one swing. If the shortsword is doing 100 damage, and the scimitar is doing 105, you'll get that combined output of 205.

However the scimitar moveset hits multiple times. So the damage will be spread out over the attack animation instead of all at once, but it may do an extra slice for just a bit more damage to compensate for the longer animation.

There might be some weird math to this, and there probably is, but from what I've been able to tell through my playthrough, this is as much as I know and it's been accurate so far.

Now lets get into the actual build and what you will probably want

To clarify before I begin, this is in no way a definitive "you-have-to-do-this" thing. You can play Dark Souls however the hell you want as long as you have fun. This is just a general idea of what I've found best so far.

so keep that in mind while i yell at you about what's the best

• Weapon Types

STRAIGHT SWORDS.

That's it that's what you want.

DS2 has this fantastic thing where basically every weapon is viable for the endgame. So now weapons that were notorious for just being not worth it in DS1 are actually very worth it and can be very good weapons.

Straight Swords kind of come out on the top of the list of improved weapons, especially when dual-wielding, for their spectacular right-hand moveset. Having a combined damage output in one swing is just fantastic, and while it uses a ton of stamina, a solid build will wreck things with more damage than an ultra greatsword while leaving you far more mobile.

Curved Swords get an honorable mention because they are fantastic for the left hand. Besides the parry when you're not in power stance, they're very good for just starting out and stay very good through the game. The Falcion I want to get a very specific mention to because of just how much it's been useful. I got it expecting to drop it and it's just stayed at the top of the pack.

What I've been using recently is the Sun Sword 10 and a Falcion 10. The combined damage output I believe is around 600 which is far more than I got on my previous build with a Greatsword 10.

I very very much recommend the Sun Sword. It is the best Straight Sword in the game. Getting it requires a lot of work, 20 sun medals to get to 2 in Heirs of the Sun, but it's the best sword and the best covenant so it's worth the trouble. Pick an easy boss and just spam that thing for all it's worth. At 10 it has A/A scaling which is just straight up incredible and will double it's damage output easy if you're going quality build.

• Good Stat Spread

You want a quality build. Straight up. Go for 30 STR and 30 DEX. Especially with the Sun Sword, as I talked about above, this is really solid and it will get you power stance with basically any of the smaller weapons. You won't be able to swing greatswords around but doing so anyways would require excessive amounts of STR, we're trying to keep options open.

You'll want a lot into Vigor (VGR), Vitality (VIT) and Endurance (END) because lets be honest you're gonna be taking a lot of hits. Until you've got that roll down straight and perfect and true you will take a lot of hits. You need to be able to roll, you need to be able to dish out damage and have the stamina left to roll, and if the roll fails you need to have armor good enough to take the hit while still having the ability to roll at a decent speed.

After that everything else is basically whatever. Adaptability (APT) is a good stat, but that's still pretty optional. After you're comfortable with your weapon damage, VGR, VIT, and END, you're basically free to do what you want with your stats. I'm personally dumping a ton into faith to increase my pyromancy and give me some more healing options.

• How to actually go at this

Scared. Very scared.

You'll probably want to pick Swordsman as a starting class if you're making a new character. Starts out with upgraded scimitar and shortsword and really good DEX and light armor. The issue is, you can't power stance yet and all your other stats are shit.

This is fine, because it'll teach you the importance of roll, and of using that parry with the scimitar you start with is a really really big deal, it's why I consider curved swords to be the best for left-hand. That parry is your only way other than rolling to avoid attacks. You'll need to figure that out.

Rolling is so essential I can't stress it enough. Dual-Wielding is your crash course on how not relying on a shield is both fantastic and terrifying. Bosses like The Pursuer and The Dragonrider are so much easier if you roll, while bosses like the Bell Gargoyles just get that much harder.

You need to roll. You need to get used to rolling.

Which brings me to equip weight.

Stay below 70%. That fat roll is death. You want to be able to move around and avoid attacks and fat roll is slow and shitty and not worth it under any circumstance ever do not even start.

This is actually the main reason having a shield is a bad thing. It's extra weight you do not need.

You could theoretically have a shield in your offhand for situations where you need it but A: you never need it I've gotten through over half the game without a shield and B: come on if you're gonna go for it go as hard as you can.

For armor, the Drangleic set is good once you get some higher VIT, but top of the class is probably the Faaram set, at least the chest. The description mentions they were deadly with two swords and the armor reflects that. Good protection when upgraded, stays light, and hey it's probably the coolest looking set in the game like wow comfy knight.

• Is... is that it?

Well, yeah.

There's not much more to say about it. How you play and how you go at different scenarios is up to you. I can tell you what's worked for me, and let me tell you it has WORKED, but I can only do that much.

Hopefully I've given people ideas, maybe cleared some things up about what the hell is going on with power stances and shit.

Now go, tater. Take your dual-wieldy reward, and bring the word to the streets.