What is the dual-wield penalty?
The dual-wield penalty is that your base chance to miss for each weapon, on normal attacks, is 24%. Furthermore, your off-hand weapon does 50% damage (though it can be increased with talents). If you dont dual-wield, your base chance to miss on a normal attack is 5%. Your base miss chance on special attacks is always 5%, the dual-wield penalty does not apply to them. Remember here that base chance is different from effective chance. There’s several other factors which determine whether or not you hit the enemy, including their level versus yours and your weapon skill. Also, misses are different from dodges and parries. However, in spite of this it is recommended you train dual-wield and use it, as your damage per second (DPS) will be increased by about 10-15%, assuming similar DPS weapons. Furthermore, it gives you another equippable weapon, which means you can have more stat boosts on your character.
