How to dual wield in Baldur’s Gate 3 – Effectively use two weapons

Dual-wielding weapons in Baldur’s Gate 3 offers many advantages such as taking an extra attack as a bonus action while striking with two weapons; one in your main hand and one in your off-hand. If you want to wield multiple melee weapons in BG3, you can do so very effectively but you must do a few things first. Here is how to do it.

How to dual wield in Baldur’s Gate 3

If you want to dual-wield in Baldur’s Gate 3, you simply need to equip two one-hand weapons onto your character. This can be done by choosing a weapon for your main hand and one for your off-hand and equipping them in your inventory. However, to wield two weapons, both weapons must have the Light trait.

That’s all. As long as you are wielding two light weapons, you can dual wield, though it won’t be very effective other than giving you a main-hand attack and an off-hand attack as a bonus action. Remember, non-light weapons normally cannot be dual-wielded. For instance, you won’t be able to wield two greatswords because they are heavy weapons. Great weapons are better used for single-weapon fighting.

Most RPGs have some form of two-weapon fighting in them. If you want to be effective with multiple-weapon fighting in Baldur’s Gate 3, you will want to focus mainly on Dexterity (DEX) instead of Strength (STR). This is because many Light weapons in the game focus on Dexterity due to the Finesse trait which lets them use Dexterity instead of Strength for their attack rolls.

✓ Did you know?

The Thief subclass of Rogue allows you to take more bonus actions, granting you the ability to attack up to three times in a turn using both your main-hand and off-hand weapons.

Taking the Two-weapon Fighting Style that the Fighter, Ranger, and College of Swords Bard classes offer can give you extra damage.

Best Classes for Dual-Wielding in Baldur’s Gate 3

The following classes make great choices for dual-wielding in Baldur’s Gate 3:

• Rogue (Thief, Assassin subclasses)
• Ranger (Beast Master subclass)
• Barbarian
• Fighter
• Bard (College of Swords subclass)

Best Feats for Dual-Wielding in Baldur’s Gate 3

The following Feats will allow you to dual-wield more effectively:

Feat	Description
Dual Wielder Feat	You can use two-weapon fighting even if your weapons aren’t Light, and you gain a +1 bonus to Armour Class while wielding a melee weapon in each hand. You cannot dual-wield Heavy Weapons.
Defensive Duelist Feat	When attacked while wielding a Finesse Weapon you’re Proficient with, you can use a reaction to add your Proficiency Bonus to your Armour Class, possibly causing the attack to miss.
Savage Attacker Feat	When making weapon attacks, you roll your damage dice twice and use the highest result.

Best Weapons for Dual-Wielding in Baldur’s Gate 3

The following weapons are good for dual-wielding in Baldur’s Gate 3 and are useful in combat:

• Short swords
• Long swords (with Dual Wielder feat)
• Rapiers
• Hand Crossbows

✓ Stop automatic attacks

One of the downsides of a dual-wielding build is that your character will automatically attack with the off-hand weapon. You can change this in the settings or by selecting the toggle near your character portrait on PC. Turning off automatic off-hand attacks will allow you to choose which bonus action is best for you at any given time.

You can use ranged weapons for dual-wielding as well if you want to go the route of the sharpshooter. Multiple classes in the game are designed to dual-wield weapons effectively. Because of this, you should check out our Rogue Build guide and our Ranger Build guide.