Jun

Now on to dual wielding weapons. There is no reason why you can't use both weapons defensively, offensively, or one of each or even switch in combat. Most people are right handed which makes their right hand stronger than there left this also makes swings with it more controlled and accurate, as such it makes sense for one to use your dominate hand for attacking while using your off hand for defensive actions. This however is not the only way to fight with two weapons. It is also equally possible to fight with both weapons offensively or defensively. I myself being a primary sword and shield user at the larp I attend prefer to take a defensive stance when dual wielding allowing my opponent to attack while I parry making shots to the arms and body as they present themselves. One of my friends however takes an almost complete offensive action coming in swinging and knocking weapons out of the way. Being on the receiving end it is often difficult to keep track of both weapons as they come in from different sides and different angles making defense quite difficult. I've seen many newer inexperienced players freeze up when attempting to defend against two weapons as their brain tries to figure out what's coming and from where. While it is true that when you go on the offensive with both weapons it is more difficult to defend yourself there really isn't much need to, if you are doing it correctly the opponent will be more worried with defending themselves than being able to find an opening and striking. After countless fight with him there is no clear winner between our two fighting styles. I've noticed however that when he wins he often wins early on into the fight while when I win it is often after a drawn out battle.
Most of the time when I win it stems from the fact that my friend is either fatigued from taking such energy demanding actions over and extended course of time, or from him loosing track of his off hand.

When dual wielding it is necessary to keep track of both hands placement. Failure to do so will result in an easy win for your opponent. It is easy when taking the offensive position to loose track of one hand while swinging with the other, it is necessary to keep your mind focused on both limbs and thinking from which direction you are going to strike from next. Newer less experienced players often leave one of their arms extended when they switch to striking with their other arm, and this lack of awareness will result in several quick strikes to the over extended arm from a diligent player.

When fighting defensively it is much less likely that you will lose track of limb position as both weapons are often in sight. The trick to fighting defensively is being aware of your opponent. You need to be able to read their body language in order to anticipate where they are going to strike from so that you may defend and you need to be watching for an opening to occur and waste no time in exploiting it with either hand. Keeping track of how your legs are positioned is important so that they don't get struck. Whenever possible one should avoid dropping their guard down to defend their lower body and instead side step or back up to avoid the strike all together. This will leave you in a position with two open arm to have one come down and strike at your opponent before quickly coming back to defend yourself.

Hybrid stances are good for the sake of having balance, the ability to strike and the ability to defend and while it doesn't do either quite as well as a pure offensive or defensive it will often suffice when fighting someone using only one weapon. Although it occurs loosing placement on a limb occurs much less frequently than that of a pure offensive stance, but more frequently than that of a defensive stance. Over all this simply provides balance and flexibility that the other two stances do not provide.

Switching between stances in combat is something that generally occurs for one of a few reasons in a limited number of ways
1) offensive> defensive or hybrid this often occurs when the opponent is is much better offensively than you are and it becomes necessary to defend yourself.
2) Defensive> offensive or hybrid the fight is going nowhere as the opponent is using a defensive stance as well and offensive action must take place in order to win.
3) Hybrid > Defense your opponent is much more skilled offensively than your single defensive arm can handle
4)Hybrid > Offensive the opponent is to stilled defensibly to strike them with only one offensive hand
The last reason for switching stances is to disrupt the flow of a fight in an attempt to win. This often occurs after a set rhythm has taken been established and the fight is going nowhere and by breaking the flow you hope to be able to slip in a strike or two before your opponent can adjust.

Now than on to what types of weapons to use. The easiest weapons to use when dual wielding are two identical length weapons of the same type. This is because it is easier to judge your threat range with two weapons of the same length and this helps to avoid slip-ups where your think your opponent is close enough to strike and they are not. By using weapons of the same type and length you also gain a sense of symmetry making it easier for your brain as each weapon functions in the same way.

After becoming more skilled in dual wielding however it becomes possible to use weapons of different lengths and types. The advantages to doing this are as follows
Using weapons of different lengths, it becomes difficult for your opponent to judge your exact threat range.
Using weapons of different types (mace, sword, ax, ect) different weapons can perform different tasks, for example maces work well at performing damage over an area, breaking bones and potentially crushing armor. Swords however are not good with dealing with metal armor but they can cut though leather into flesh causing wounds that bleed out. The difficulty with using two different weapons comes from the brain recognizing which hand is using which weapon, and how to swing with it and where.


So, I think that is it, and I hope this explanation of dual wielding has been helpful to everyone.