How to Dual Wield Weapons in Baldur’s Gate 3

BG3 allows you to experiment with character builds and stats, especially regarding the armor and weapons you use. Let’s talk about how to dual-wield weapons in Baldur’s Gate 3 to take this to the next level.

How to Dual-Wield Weapons in Baldur’s Gate 3 (BG3)

If you don’t have the dual-wielder feat, you’ll have to use weapons with the light trait to dual-wield them. When you hover over your equipment, you’ll find attributes like thrown, finesse, and one- or two-handed, with light among the options. Daggers, short swords, hand axes and hand crossbows are a few examples of weapons that commonly have this trait.

Alternatively, if your character has the Duel Wielder feat, they bypass this restriction, allowing you to dual-wield any weapon type aside from heavy weapons. In short, if you want to dual-wield spears, staves, or tridents, you’re free to do so, as long as they’re not heavy weapons.

Are Dual-Wielding Weapons Good in Baldur’s Gate 3?

Depending on your character’s class and build, dual-wielding can be an incredible way to eliminate enemies swiftly with a few attacks. Typically, you’ll use dual-wielding builds with character classes such as rogue, whose power scales with dexterity. The extra offhand attack you get can help perform deadly sneak attacks, especially if you’re using two finesse weapons.

However, the main downside of dual-wielding is that your offhand attack uses a bonus action that you could otherwise use to heal and shield your party or try different attacks. While this may not be an issue for certain classes and builds, it’s still good to remember if you’d rather spend your bonus actions elsewhere.

How to Turn Off Dual-Wielding in Baldur’s Gate 3

If you want to turn off dual-wielding during your playthrough, you can do this by pressing R on your keyboard or selecting the small dual-wielding icon next to your character’s portrait and skill bar. By doing this, you’ll turn the automatic double-hit mechanic of dual-wielding, allowing you to control how you fight with your two weapons.

To learn more about the game, check out how to get the Dawnmaster’s Crest in BG3, or click the tag below to browse our growing article list.