Like a whirlwind of steel, the elven dervish flashes her twin blades with deadly grace as she cuts down her foes.
Ax un one hand, hammer in the other, the berserker cleaves through the battlefield like a factory of death.
Adventurers learn the ways of weaponcraft to hone their bodies in battle and prove their mettle in the forge of war, their styles as diverse as the valiant murder hobos that employ them.
The Crucible of Battle.
5th edition Dungeons and Dragons is a combat-heavy role-playing game. Combat is so ingrained in its system that it’s one of the three pillars of gameplay, and one wrong step can spell the end of your brave warrior.
Whether you are a dexterous assassin or an unmovable tank, your combat style becomes the trademark of your adventurer, and it can be a daunting task to settle on one to exploit, but worry not, for tonight we talk double: Here are five fun dual-wielding builds to bring in the pain to your table!
These aren’t meant to be cookie cutter builds, feel free to customize them as you see fit to satisfy your roleplaying needs.
If your game uses feats, it’s important to keep in mind that all of these builds will benefit greatly from the Dual Wielder feat, so picking it up is a priority.
We’ll be using options from the Player’s Handbook (PHB), Tasha's Cauldron of Everything (TCoE), and Xanathar’s Guide to Everything (XGtE).
5. The Horned Stallion
This build focuses on making the best of the Cavalier fighter subclass from Xanathar's Guide to Everything.
The Lance can be wielded one-handed when mounted and it has reach. This means that, if your game uses feats, you can combine Dual Wielder with Mounted Combatant to dual-wield lances on horseback…with advantage!
Class details: http://dnd5e.wikidot.com/fighter:cavalier
Race: If your Dungeon Master allows variant Humans, choose them. The extra feat at level 1 will let you engage in shenanigans from the get go!
Class: For this build, you’ll need only level up as fighter, choosing the Cavalier subclass at level 3.
Ability Score Priority: Since lances are strength weapons, our ability scores will be arranged as follows: Strength > Constitution > Dexterity > Everything else.
Build Overview.
Purchasing, taming or stealing a decent mount is the first order of business. Once you do, the extra feat at first level and the two weapon fighting style from being a variant Human fighter will let you shine with a weapon on each hand.
Cavaliers excel at mounted combat, something that we’ll enhance by picking up the Mounted Combatant feat at level 4, now, whenever you charge towards a foe you’ll not only have advantage, but also bring the full brunt of your attacks on them.
Since fighters get so many feats, at level 6 you could pick up the Piercer feat to become unparalleled at skewering your foes!
What the Horned Stallion Excels In.
- Extra Mobility: Riding a steed to battle means that you can traverse larger distances in a shorter amount of time. No foe will be too far to strike!
- Higher Accuracy: Since most mounts will be large animals, you’ll get advantage on your attacks against foes smaller than your ride, increasing your chances to hit.
4. The Mind Render.
These rogues have developed powerful psionic abilities that allow them to manifest shimmering blades of psychic energy to assassinate their foes with deadly efficiency.
Class details: http://dnd5e.wikidot.com/rogue:soulknife
Race: Any race that boosts your Dexterity will be a good choice. We recommend picking the elf Race.
Class: For this build, you’ll need only level up as rogue, picking the Soulknife archetype at level 3.
Ability Score Priority: Since your psychic blades have the finesse property, our ability scores will be as follows: Dexterity > Constitution > Everything else.
Build Overview.
Unlike other builds, the “Mind Render” excels in its simplicity. By keeping dexterity as our highest ability score, we increase both our damage and our chances to hit.
Once we reach level 3 in the rogue class, the Soulknife archetype unravels our latent psionic potential by letting us summon blades of mental energy that we can use lethally and behave just like dual-wielding.
The best part of this build is that our third level feature, Psychic Blades, replaces the need to even grab the Dual Wielder feat, freeing up our first Ability Score Increase!
As our power increases, so does our arsenal. Eventually we’ll gain the ability to teleport with our weapon, become invisible and even daze the minds of our foes.
What the Mind Render Excels in.
- Never Unarmed: Since we can manifest our weapons out of psychic energy, there’s no scenario in which we are unarmed, and, since they disappear after attacking, there’s no way they can be traced!
- Psionic Potential: Besides are very straightforward dual wielding style, our latent powers enhance our roguish escapades, letting us be so much more than simple warriors.
3. The Punisher.
The “Punisher” makes the most out the Oath of Vengeance from the Player’s Handbook by capitalizing on the paladin’s damage potential and the 1-minute advantage granted by the Vow of Enmity feature.
Class details: http://dnd5e.wikidot.com/paladin:vengeance
Race: A crusade for vengeance requires a strong presence and a stronger arm, the Aasimar race with its fallen subrace fits the bill perfectly.
Class: For this build, you’ll need only level up as a paladin, taking the Oath of Vengeance at level 3.
Ability Score Priority: We recommend making the most out of your heavy armor proficiency and focusing on Strength, turning our priorities to: Strength > Constitution > Charisma > Everything else.
Build Overview.
Even though they lack the Two Weapon Fighting style from their list, paladins more than make up for it with the massive damage their Divine Smite feature grants them.
Since Divine Smite requires you to hit, increasing your number of attacks also increases the amount of times you can deliver radiant punishment upon your foes, and, thanks to your heavy armor, you can withstand as much as you can give.
By taking the Oath of Vengeance at level 3, we can pick out a foe, more than likely the boss, to be the receptacle of our fury. By taking the Vow of Enmity all of our attacks against them are done with advantage for 1 minute!
As if weren’t enough, Fallen Aasimars get the Necrotic Shroud feature at level 3, letting them add their level as extra necrotic damage on the first blow they land.
What the Punisher Excels in.
- Insane Damage: The combination of a 1-minute advantage, divine smite and the aasimar racial feature make the “Punisher” one of the heaviest hitting warriors in the land.
- Durability: Thanks to the paladin’s Hit Die, the lay on hands feature and heavy armor proficiency, you’ll become extremely hard to take down if you play your cards right.
2. The Arcane Dervish.
Incorporating swordplay and dance into their combat style, these dervishes adopted a series of graceful techniques that allows them to channel magic into their fencing.
The “Arcane Dervish” is a build focused around the School of Bladesinging from Tasha's Cauldron of Everything. Thanks to their rework, these weapon-using wizards can now dual wield properly!
Class details: http://dnd5e.wikidot.com/wizard:bladesinging
Race: Honoring their ancient tradition, the Elf race with the high Elf subclass makes for a powerful choice.
Class: For this build, you’ll need only level up as a Wizard, adopting the School of Bladesinging at level 2.
Ability Score Priority: By mixing sword and sorcery, this build requires some fairly high stats achievable by the high elves, going as follows: Dexterity = Intelligence > Constitution > Everything else.
Build Overview.
From the Get-go, high elves get the ability to mix swords and spell, however, once you grab the School of Bladesinging at level 2, this achieves a whole different meaning.
Your main feature, Bladesong, is a powerful buff that should last throughout whole encounters each time you use it, raising your Armor Class, speed as well as your concentration saves.
With their rework, bladesingers can now both dual wield and cast a cantrip in place of an attack, the latter once they reach level 6.
What this means is that, by picking melee-oriented cantrip based around your weapons like Booming Blade or Green Flame blade you can unleash powerful blows and use your bonus action to make sure your foes are dead.
Spells like Shadow Blade are particularly powerful, letting you manifest a lethal weapon that deals psychic damage, and don’t even get me started on Haste!
If your game uses feats, you should get Warcaster to become even more deadly.
What the Arcane Dervish Excels in.
- A mix of spell and blade: The Arcane Dervish can cast spells to improve their martial ability, such as buffs to their speed, defenses, or damage.
- Great mobility: When bladesong is active, your movement speed increases and your Acrobatics faces a boost. As if it weren’t enough, at level 10 you can sacrifice spell slots to reduce damage taken.
- Amazing AC: Your high dexterity, mage armor spell and bladesong all combine to give you one of the highest possible armor classes, one that can be even higher with the shield spell.
1. The Invulnerable Whirlwind.
The best offense is a good defense, and this mighty warrior exemplifies that with their stubbornness to die.
The “Invulnerable Whirlwind” is a powerful tanking build that plays with the Path of the Totem Warrior from the Player’s Handbook for the Barbarian.
Bonus damage per hit scales better with more swings, and, since barbarians never get a third extra attack, dual wielding performs as well as two-handing.
Doubling your chances to score a critical hit at will via Reckless Attack also scales better with extra attacks.
Class details: http://dnd5e.wikidot.com/barbarian:totem-warrior
Race: Sturdy and powerful, Goliaths can become immovable warriors who keep their allies safe.
Class: You’ll only need to level up as a barbarian for this build, picking the Path of the Totem Warrior at level 3.
Ability Score Priority: Since a barbarian’s rage scales solely off of Strength, that will be our top ability, as follows: Strength > Constitution > Dexterity > Everything else.
Build Overview.
Barbarians excel at dishing out large amounts of damage, sadly, they never get a third attack with their extra attack feature.
While it’s true that both rage and the extra attack from two weapon fighting consume your bonus action, an average combat lasts from three to four rounds, meaning that you’ll still get enough hits in by entering your rage.
Unlike other builds, the “Invulnerable Whirlwind” is made out of stronger stuff, by picking the Path of the Totem warrior and adopting the spirit of the bear, you gain resistance to all damage except psychic damage while raging.
Combine that with the Goliath’s racial features and the amount of punishment you’re able of putting out while fishing for critical hits with the Reckless Attack feature, and few foes can even hope to bring you down.
What the Invulnerable Whirlwind Excels in.
- Outlast your foes: Resistance to almost all sources of damage mixed with the barbarian’s already high Hit Points means that you’ll be tough enough to stand up to any punishment.
- Sure to kill: By throwing caution out of the window and spamming your Reckless Attack feature, you can keep striking your foes with abandon until they’re nothing more than pulp!
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