[X] My Assistant

I played level 10-30 or so as Heavy Tank with 1H+S, and 30-54 so far as "rogue" Dual-wielder (I didn't really "play" before level 10... I let the dawn bonus level me up). I've found DW to be vastly superior so far, despite the loss of defense that I suffer from lack of shield and lighter armor.

When I first tried it out, I even had a 0-parry Axe in my offhand due to lack of any other offhand weapon, so I straight up lost 21% block. Areans were STILL easier because mobs die SO MUCH faster. I can consistently 3-shot most mobs on Normal, and I occasionally luck out with crits and/or PA procs, and I 1- or 2-shot them. The simple fact that monsters die faster, and therefore hit me fewer times, makes up for the loss of defensive stats.

I do tend to rely a little bit more heavily on the Shield spell for Arenas, Normalfest, and later Cakefest rounds, but I only cast it once per round, and my natural regen restores most of that cost.

I started off with 1H and Shield (the object, not the spell) as well. Then I began to Dualwield for grinding, and switch back to 1H and Shield for Arenas (where the damage was always worse, since I couldn't grind on Normal then).

But lately, I tend to go full Mage in Arenas. I didn't realize how much more powerful my staff magic had gotten, and it's even better now that I've gotten my hands on an Elementalist Staff and Cap. Monsters fall much faster than they ever did with two weapons. But it's a trade-off, since hits I could once parry or avoid tend to hit MUCH harder, and far more often. Not to mention weapon accuracy sucks bad for mages. I used to switch out my staff for Battlecaster weapons, and while doing that does improve my one-on-one skills, I lose a lot of my magic power in the process.

But I still go back to DW for Grindfest and IW, as I find a rapier and anything with decent parry to be pretty effective for many rounds of battle, offense and defense-wise. And my interference is usually low enough that I can still cast attack magic on top of that, if I have to.

Way back I started out as a mage lv30-50 then dw with real heavy gear for about another 20 levels.

Decided to switch to light gear dw with rapier and dagger for another 20 levels since double hits were thrashing me.

Now im stuck between a staff again and DW-ing.

I really wish there were wands to balance out the mix. Hopefully they might be there someday...

I started off with 1H and Shield (the object, not the spell) as well. Then I began to Dualwield for grinding, and switch back to 1H and Shield for Arenas (where the damage was always worse, since I couldn't grind on Normal then).

But lately, I tend to go full Mage in Arenas. I didn't realize how much more powerful my staff magic had gotten, and it's even better now that I've gotten my hands on an Elementalist Staff and Cap. Monsters fall much faster than they ever did with two weapons. But it's a trade-off, since hits I could once parry or avoid tend to hit MUCH harder, and far more often. Not to mention weapon accuracy sucks bad for mages. I used to switch out my staff for Battlecaster weapons, and while doing that does improve my one-on-one skills, I lose a lot of my magic power in the process.

But I still go back to DW for Grindfest and IW, as I find a rapier and anything with decent parry to be pretty effective for many rounds of battle, offense and defense-wise. And my interference is usually low enough that I can still cast attack magic on top of that, if I have to.

I ditched my normal 1H setup today and did all the arenas with a staff. I was surprised at how well I did, especially as I only have staffs I got as drops, and I haven't figured out how to use one yet. Actually I just wanted to see if I could do the same thing Alpha did, which was to take out a mini-boss in one shot... anyway, with Staff, Cap and Gloves of the Elementalist equipped (total Elemental bonus 47.62), I got a modest quota of kills:

2 5 Apathetic Canuck has been defeated.
2 4 Meteor blasts Apathetic Canuck for 2311 fire damage.
2 1 You cast Meteor.

2 11 Blue Hedgehog has been defeated.
2 10 Chain Lightning blasts Blue Hedgehog for 2490 elec damage.
2 2 You cast Chain Lightning.

1 5 Zombie Cow has been defeated.
1 4 Blizzard blasts Zombie Cow for 2664 cold damage.
1 1 You cast Blizzard.

1 5 Apathetic Canuck has been defeated.
1 4 Meteor blasts Apathetic Canuck for 2653 fire damage.
1 1 You cast Meteor.