So yeah, what is it? Dual daggers, swords, axes, maces? Or a mixture of two of them?

I just started playing, and my character is only level 5, but he was dual wielding steel maces. But I now have an ancient nordic axe of frost, and the axe you get froom the jarl for killing the dragon at the watchtower. I'll need to pick up soultrap to keep them fueled, though.

Legendary unechanted Daedric Daggers + Elemental Fury = Profit!

Hehe, I'm currently level 60 with maxed enchanting/smithing and I have a Daedric Sword currently doing around 280 damage without enchants. I was a spellsword, but the 90 damage from destruction spells doesn't compare to the 280 with my sword, so I'm switching over to dual-wielding.

Here's the deal with dual-wield:

Your left hand weapon determines the swinging speed for both, and right hand weapon hits twice during a dual-power attack.

Maces do the most raw damage, so if you want max DPS, you'll want a mace in your right hand. Maces are also the slowest, so you don't want one in your left hand. Since daggers don't get a bonus for Fortify One-handed enchants, you may want to avoid those later on in the game...

UNLESS

You have high backstab multipliers, in which case you may want to have dual daggers, as the multiplier during a power attack will take the x15 (or x30) for all 3 hits. With the right gear and circumstances (stealth), dual daggers will pwn nearly anything very, very quickly.

For non-stealth characters, you are best served with a sword in left hand and a mace in right hand for max DPS with better speed than 2 maces can offer. Also, the power attack animation bug with swords will come in handy for quickly staggering opponents and getting in a set-up shot for a dual power attack.

-Loth

Thanks very much Loth, that's the kinda thing I was looking for.

I haven't used a Daedric mace yet so I'll see how it works. I never really liked dual wielding weapons when they were of different types unless I had a dagger in my left hand and a sword in my right. And are you sure that fortify one handed enchants don't work on daggers? Cause that really svcks. But anyway, thanks for the post. I know a lot more now so I can try some stuff out.

I will assure you that daggers most definitely do NOT benefit from Fortify One-handed... but they backstab like maniacs, so that's the balance there. You could always hotkey dual-daggers for backstab opportunities, and roll sword+mace for when your cover is blown...

-Loth

While probably getting the most out of the game, the mace/sword combo just looks odd. I've got a plan for a DW character, but I'll probably stick to sword/sword for the looks. Probably try to keep identical weapons as well.

If you want identical weapons I would go with war axes. Middle of the road in speed and damage, will work well and look badass

You can actually do much better with dual swords, simply for the fact that there is a beneficial animation bug with them. Try this in-game: do a normal strike (with one sword), and as you start swinging your sword, hold down the attack button immediately thereafter (again, one sword). With a mouse, it'll be *click* then *click and hold*. What happens is that your char will not do the half-second recovery animation that is supposed to happen after a sword swing, and instead immediately power attack without any delay whatsoever. The second strike is unblockable, and will stagger your opponent. During this stagger, now perform a dual power attack for 3 hits in a row that do triple damage -- BRUTAL. If you want to have an even faster combo, use dagger in left and sword in right. Do the set-up single/power attack with the sword (it will have the dagger's speed), and then lay into them with the dual power attack combo. Lightning, baby! hehe

-Loth

I use dual swords, but was thinking about using an axe in one hand to look scarier.

Interesting.

Bit of a sword fetish going, so I've tried both one armed and two armed swords.
Generally, dual wielding does more damage IF you have the right weapons. It's great fun to use two weapons with various enchantments and bonuses. Also Dual wielding can be hilarious to view.
I'm currently using an orcish sword with effects that cause burning and more damage to things on fire in one hand, and I'm using Molag baals Mace in the other. It's a suprisingly fiersome cocktail of weapons, and a good way to make extra gold if you carry around alot of empty soul gems that sell for alot more when filled.

Mehrunes Razor + Windshear = Perma Stagger-Lock w/Insta-Kill criticals. The best part is neither weapon ever needs to be recharged!

Level 34. A few perks put into one-handed. Dual-wield conjured swords, fully perked. There are very few things that can survive more than two power attacks.

Two daggers, and I use

I've got a Soul Trap-enchanted Legendary Daedric Sword paired with an unenchanted Legendary Ebony Sword. Due to a bug, I don't run matched weapons, even enchanting and tempering doesn't make matched weapons unmatched like it would in Oblivion.

Whatever looks cool.

No really, I just go for dagger [L], sword [R]. What actually looks cool is two axes.

Does that seem to go off reasonably well? I was thinking about using that when I start an Assassin-type.

If you have dual flurry, it certainly helps your chances. Also, with Windshear they are pretty much always staggered so you don't have to worry about taking damage while you wait for it to hit. I've heard 5% chance, I've also heard 15% but honestly I have no idea.

Mehrunes Razor is 1% chance of insta kill

Ah...I'm still gonna' try it on an Assassin/Thief type. I've always had better %ages than are usu reported. o.O

I have been working on a dual weilding Argonian today, only lvl 8 now and I am a bit unimpressed with the damage he's doing using 2 fine steel daggers. I might give dagger/axe combo a go. I can see it being kinda cool, like swing the big axe with your strong hand and then stab with the dagger in your left.. I do agree that dual axes would definitely look the most badass so might have a mess with that also.

Daggers aren't big damage weapons dude

I personally like having a bladed weapon in one hand and an enchanted staff in the other. Gives me both close up and distance attacks at the same time. If nothing else, the light show is fun.

Especially with the wabbajack.