Thread: Comparitive DPS 1hand vs 2hand

Hi Guys,

Sorry to post yet another "DW or 2h" post, but I promise, I DID search and I can't get the answer to a specific question I have.

I'm levelling my Champ now (first Lotro character), and have committed to DW AND 2 handing my way along based on the better weapon(s) I can get hold of.

Question is ... what 1handed weapon would be considered the equal of a 2 hander, given that you can Dual wield 1 of the 1hander. For example ... I have 2, let's say, 10dps 1 handers, what DPS 2 hander would I need to find in order for the 2 hander to be the better option. I realise that stats place some part, but stats aside, where's the break-even point.

Thanks in advance.

p.s. LOVING the game, community is great, look and feel is great, world is awesome ... I seriously feel like I'm in Tolkien's world. Now I just want to level up so that I can go exploring without fear of being ripped apart by some irate bear who didn't get his breakfast that morning ;-)

This is a very inconclusive test, but on a recent Draigoch run. A DW champ with a captain in his group for the whole fight pulled 2.6 million damage. I had a 2 hander, but no captain in my group, i had a minstrel but only in the last phase cause he was healing the tank up the top at the start. I did 2.55 million damage.

Not really sure what to take from this. The captain buffs for the entire fight was probably the most potent buff. Meaning that is the absence of the buffs i would have done the most damage.

I don't really want to say completely one way or the other til i get a 2nd age 1 hander myself but it would seem that 2 hander is slightly ahead atm for a single target.

Edit: i didnt really answer your question

For levelling, go with whatever you like the feel of more. As a general rule of thumb, go with the higher level weapon for higher performance.

Regarding those totals.
1. Was the Captain Blade Brothering? To Arms only gives a damage buff with Blade Brother, it's alternate forms are Reduced damage & Boosted healing.
2. Was the Captain Fellowships Brother traited. If not only their specific target gets a damage buff.
3. Did you both have equivilent LI's with the same damage type, and did the DW Champ have the best offhand he could get.

Regardless, those numbers seem closish to each other, so your not giving up anything like 50% by taking one option or the other, maybe 5%.

Originally Posted by usernamealreadyinuse

This is a very inconclusive test, but on a recent Draigoch run. A DW champ with a captain in his group for the whole fight pulled 2.6 million damage. I had a 2 hander, but no captain in my group, i had a minstrel but only in the last phase cause he was healing the tank up the top at the start. I did 2.55 million damage.

Not really sure what to take from this. The captain buffs for the entire fight was probably the most potent buff. Meaning that is the absence of the buffs i would have done the most damage.

I don't really want to say completely one way or the other til i get a 2nd age 1 hander myself but it would seem that 2 hander is slightly ahead atm for a single target.

Edit: i didnt really answer your question

For levelling, go with whatever you like the feel of more. As a general rule of thumb, go with the higher level weapon for higher performance.

Captain amounts for a certain crit rating.
What buffs do actually matter a whole lot is that yellow traited minstrel keeping Anthem of War up all the time you should have in your group

I find DW vs 2h mostly comes down to playstyle, however, with all melee dmg buffs I have in raids dw comes out on top by at least 15% according to my recent parses. Might be worth noting I am topping damage across the board in the raid. Could be that my 2h (both are second agers, btw, theodred offhand) has relics tailored for pvp and all around (morale moff, vita crit, true rune of the trees) while my 1h goes pure damage (crit moff icpr, agi crit, -attack duration) - but that shouldn't account for that much, apart from the -attack duration which is our single best dps stat. I think the incredible melee dmg % I get in raids simply make the very frequent autoattacks from dw (flurry, warcry, 2x-2,5% AD runes etc) so much beefier it simply wins out in the end.

Dw attack priority being rend>ferocious/clobber>remorseless/clobber with back-to-back remorse/clob & ferocious every 40 sec (frenzy).
2h attack prio being rend>remorseless if seeking is available>brutal/clobber with back-to-back brutal/clobber & remorse every 60 sec (frenzy).

Originally Posted by Targean

Captain amounts for a certain crit rating.

Captain's IDOME plus War Cry for -attack duration% and possible Blade Brother buffs can equal a large DPS increase.

I never got used to the feel of a 2h-weapon. Tried it a couple times, but never parsed my dps. The times I tried it (while leveling), I never noticed a huge difference in damage, but I did in feel. The 2h-weapon felt slow and clunky to me after the time spent DW (and before I fully discovered the joys of flurry).

In short, I have no emperical answer for you, but rather just a personal opinion: do what feels better. You'll slaughter most of the stuff as you level anyway...does it really matter how finely a mob is diced up at the end of the day? No matter what, there is still blood on your boots.

For comparable weapons, the 2h has 1.14 times the dps value of the 1h.

Rofl, this thread got derailed so quickly.

For comparable weapons, the 2h has 1.14 times the dps value of the 1h.

This is accurate, and is observable in comparable crafted weapons.

I don't really want to say completely one way or the other til i get a 2nd age 1 hander myself but it would seem that 2 hander is slightly ahead atm for a single target.

As it has been for awhile. Hotswapping between 2h/DW is still the best.

Originally Posted by Jamers

Captain's IDOME plus War Cry for -attack duration% and possible Blade Brother buffs can equal a large DPS increase.

Yeah - in my tests I have cpt for both. You usually have IDOME or crit or whatever on anyways...

What I meant was that fully traited and legacied anthem of war from a minstrel is stronger in regards potency of buffs.

+20% melee damage > +10% inc damage(emphasis on inc, the +10% and +20% aren't directly comparable...), -15% attack duration(from war-cry, doesn't blade brother also give -5% attack duration as well? not sure), +crit, +25% damage 1/3-nearly 1/2 the time, and a bit of power help?

One does not exclude the other mate. I always have them all pretty much.

I meant as in regards to as a single buff, anthem of war is extremely strong.

Originally Posted by Malephor

+20% melee damage > +10% inc damage(emphasis on inc, the +10% and +20% aren't directly comparable...), -15% attack duration(from war-cry, doesn't blade brother also give -5% attack duration as well? not sure), +crit, +25% damage 1/3-nearly 1/2 the time, and a bit of power help?

Still no one knows how the Cappy was traited, if the Champion in his group was bladebrothered at all or if the Cappi was even with the group (maybe he was upstairs to support the tank). If the Champion didn't receive any bladebrother buffs, then there's hardly a buff that makes or breaks the DPS. Sure, IDOME is woth 750 points of melee offence, but then again, how much is that in percent? As for the crit buff, a good Cappy will also buff the other group with relentless attack. And for war cry and/or power support (guess you aim at battle cry, if traited?), those require defeat events (there will be none in the Draigoch fight) or crits from pressing attack (hope that's the correct skill name, I use to play the German client), so I won't bet on any of these to be up all the time. We also don't know about the minstrel (neither if he traited for anthem of war or if he used it at all). That comparison is just more than inconclusive. Next thing is that the Champion in the Cappy's group will likely have been in the conjunction group, so there's plenty of timeouts for his personal DPS to stall (he ain't doing much Damage in the midst of a conjuction). Open questions on top of all that are equip and traits of the involved champs. That comparison really counts for nothing, there's just too many unknown variables.

I would also be very interested to know at what point the 2H becomes the better choice. Most people (me for example, and many others I know) never get the good offhands from raids and such (as I won't raid), so getting one good 2H beats the DW setup hands down at least when you just have gotten your final weapon. For 2H you only need to get one LI and that's it (relatively as there is also the fact that some get multiple weapons for different purposes). So please think of it also from the non-maxed-out point of view.

I have leveled a Champion to 65 previously, and it felt like 2H started to shine only when I got my first "proper" (level 52) LI. The increased power of the weapon was especially noticeable in AOE, which seemed to get a huge buff in moving from "normal" weapons to a LI. Before that I used Strikes even against 3 mobs, after that it was AOE against 2+. That might also be because of the extremely nice buffs from the LI:s legacies to crit (THE primary legacy for me) and generally to DPS...

I have now two Champions (at this point 16 and 19. Taking it slow as I now RP more than actually play) on a new server (Laurelin), one of them 2H and the other is DW, and the DW seems to rip through the mobs extremely fast compared (the DW toon's gear is just excess non-critted from my "main" 2H toon), even though I have as good weapons on both that is possible to get. The power consumtion difference is now negligible, as both eat power like no tomorrow (translated to "worse than Wardens"). Before I went without any food at all till at least 35 with 2H, now I need to eat all the time which ever toon I play.


So, any idea what is the point when 2H starts to outshine the DW setup on single target with same level weapons (Not even a question for AOE. Low level DW beats 2H hands down in AOE.), or does it only apply to LI:s (when one "looses the edge" (excuse the pun) from having an equal DPS+buffs offhand)?

For what it's worth, and since we're all just citing anecdotal evidence. I have never been convinced that overall dps is better for either.

2H will spike higher, if you're one of those who likes to see big yellow numbers. Beyond that...I've never once in all these years seen real solid evidence that makes me believe there is ANY advantage of one over the other.

Go with what feels better. Go with what is more fun for you to play. That's my advice.

A better player will always out DPS a closely equipped poor player. Always.

Understand your build and playstyle and you'll be on top more often than not.

One advantage with dual wield though, is that you get your stats from the offhand weapon and thus, only have to worry about the legacies in the LI. Also, you can deal two different types of damages instead of one (I use Westerness on the main-hand LI and Beleriand on the off-hand weapon).

So, assuming that the DPS average out to approximately the same, dual-wield gives you a bit more freedom to pick and choose stats and damage-types.

Originally Posted by Thane9

For what it's worth, and since we're all just citing anecdotal evidence. I have never been convinced that overall dps is better for either.

2H will spike higher, if you're one of those who likes to see big yellow numbers. Beyond that...I've never once in all these years seen real solid evidence that makes me believe there is ANY advantage of one over the other.

Go with what feels better. Go with what is more fun for you to play. That's my advice.

A better player will always out DPS a closely equipped poor player. Always.

Understand your build and playstyle and you'll be on top more often than not.

QFT ... more words

+Rep!

Just hit 75 yesterday.. but I was ALWAYS DW , but recently have switched to try out a 2h..

Frankly you still build fervour faster, do more hits in AOE situations as a DW. More hits, more crit chances on AOE, quicker build time.

But with the advant of improved seeking blade and Flurry trait moved to Fervour, I think single target 2h will probably come out ahead, you lose out on overal DPS with a dw set up on alot of your strikes, since there is no penalty for use a 2h weapon on Ferocious/brutal/savage strikes and when you hit improved seeking blade, your crit hits will devestate for more on a 2h, then the 2w set up..

I think thats how TURBINE has set it up.. but meh, you might lose a small percentage either way, but its not so great that its going to matter much.

I know most MOORS play wants massive spike damage vs steady dps #s, so they go with 2h, in pve play, either way is fun. Im hoping to get a 75 2nd age for each.

I can clear a few of the questions up since I'm the other champ Bele was referring to. I believe the captain was blue line because there were times when he was the solo healer for the dps group but he was definitely giving me blade brother and the occasional war cry (Draigoch does give defeat responses when you the kill the arms for each cycle). I was part of the conj group. And people don't generally complain of an egregious lack of dps from me.

I think the only thing we can conclude conclusively from the anecdote is that Bele is an absolute dps beast.

On a side note, I am a strict believer in 2h for st dps and dw for aoe. In this case I built a 1h sword for the continual skirmish raids we're running. 2nd age number two will be my signature 2h hammer (elf champ).

-Scrump of Gladden

EDIT: the only minstrel was on the tank, so BoW would only have had an impact during the shorter final stage.

Wow, massive amount of responses here, and all very good info, thank you. It's all very interesting, and very impressive how they (Turbine) have actually been able to (apparently) balance the DPS between the 2 styles, and leave it to pure aesthetic preference. I'm sure other game developers can take a few tips from that.

However, I must specifically thank dietlbomb and Targean for answering the question - that's exactly what I wanted to know.

A quick response to Ecsmyth on the point of it not really mattering while levelling. I agree, stuff dies quickly ... heck, in order to do some comparitive, non-scientific tests with the 2 configurations, I engaged a host of mobs (1 at a time, mind you) 2 and 3 levels above me, just to let the fight have some meaning.

That being said, if you are running with an inferior set of 1 handers over the 2 hander you just passed on, the small (however insignificant) boost on a single fight adds up over the course of you running from mob to mob, and will affect your ability to avoid downtime (or safely pull that 4th mob, just to show those pesky monsters just how amazing you are). This is relevant from my perspective, as questing, levelling, exploring, discovering and the fellowship with other players, is THE game from me, end game raiding is a distance second.

/bow.

That being said, don't stop the conversation ... it's interesting.

Edit:response was fairly unpleasant, and i'd rather not get into a stupid argument over miscommunications.

The statement that you originally responded to was that captain buffs > minstrel BoW, specifically.

Originally Posted by Galrilion

That being said, if you are running with an inferior set of 1 handers over the 2 hander you just passed on, the small (however insignificant) boost on a single fight adds up over the course of you running from mob to mob, and will affect your ability to avoid downtime (or safely pull that 4th mob, just to show those pesky monsters just how amazing you are). This is relevant from my perspective, as questing, levelling, exploring, discovering and the fellowship with other players, is THE game from me, end game raiding is a distance second.

The most important point from his post was to determine what for you is the more enjoyable play experience. They definitely feel slightly different, and your spec preference as you level up will also impact that.

2H feels decidedly "sluggish" to me compared to DW, but the "perma-flurry" you can trait for Fervour later on definitely helps with that. Brutal+Clobber combos are amazing for burst with a 2H, but can drain your power much faster now.

DW "feels" faster/more-responsive to me, but will definitely have lower burst damage in Fervour than a 2H. But if you end up liking the slightly slower but insanely tough playstyle of Glory, you can get Off-Hands with Tanking/Mitigation stats to improve your Defence.

And none of this even covers if you end up liking the feel of AoE in Ardour...

Just focus on what "feels" the most fun to you - I mean an extra 5 seconds/combat with a playstyle/pace you love will feel a lot faster than shorter combats that aren't as fun

was that 2,5 mil on the beast itself, or all dmg combined, claws and stuff?

Originally Posted by usernamealreadyinuse

This is a very inconclusive test, but on a recent Draigoch run. A DW champ with a captain in his group for the whole fight pulled 2.6 million damage. I had a 2 hander, but no captain in my group, i had a minstrel but only in the last phase cause he was healing the tank up the top at the start. I did 2.55 million damage.

Not really sure what to take from this. The captain buffs for the entire fight was probably the most potent buff. Meaning that is the absence of the buffs i would have done the most damage.

I don't really want to say completely one way or the other til i get a 2nd age 1 hander myself but it would seem that 2 hander is slightly ahead atm for a single target.

Edit: i didnt really answer your question

For levelling, go with whatever you like the feel of more. As a general rule of thumb, go with the higher level weapon for higher performance.

Originally Posted by Fenaril

Just focus on what "feels" the most fun to you - I mean an extra 5 seconds/combat with a playstyle/pace you love will feel a lot faster than shorter combats that aren't as fun

You make a good point there. I've been experimenting with the 2 hander over the last few days, simply because it's a more powerful weapon (level 12) than my sword and dagger (level 7) (I'm level 13), and have only now realised that the slight feeling I've had of boredom (if it can be called that) with the game is that it isn't as exciting/engaging as DW.

I'll switch back to DW tonight, even with my lower level weapons, and see how that feels again. I think I already know the answer though.

See, talking about it helps, thanks guys :-D

On a related note, should I be looking for gear upgrades via quests, or are there better ways to keep my gear in line with my level and the areas I quest in (crafting, reputation ... Instances??). This is more a new player question than a Champion question, but I figured I'd throw it in here while this thread had so much attention :-D

Crafted all the way, for all slots, up to Dunland (unless you want to run Moria or Mirkwood for gear which is obsolete quickly). Oh, except LIs of course, when you get them.

2-handers are overated:P

Dual-Wielding FTW! <3 Speed is all that matters it works in real life,in games and at your job also.

Originally Posted by Galrilion

I've been experimenting with the 2 hander over the last few days, simply because it's a more powerful weapon (level 12) than my sword and dagger (level 7) (I'm level 13), and have only now realised that the slight feeling I've had of boredom (if it can be called that) with the game is that it isn't as exciting/engaging as DW.

2H does feel a bit better later on with perma-flurry and the Brutal+Clobber combo, but early on I definitely prefer DW.

Personally at 67, I've become addicted to my Glory/Exchange of Blows/Blade-Wall build - I don't hit nearly as hard but I can generate 4 Fervour in less than the 1.8 second cooldown on Remorseless Strikes - Remorseless Strikes spam while being "Tank Tough" is the awesome

Originally Posted by Galrilion

On a related note, should I be looking for gear upgrades via quests, or are there better ways to keep my gear in line with my level and the areas I quest in (crafting, reputation ... Instances??). This is more a new player question than a Champion question, but I figured I'd throw it in here while this thread had so much attention :-D

As a previous poster said, crafted gear in this game (especially the "Crit Crafted" stuff) is really good. Metalsmith (Armour) or Tinker (Jewelry) seem a bit more useful overall than Weaponsmith (more slots-worth of craftable upgrades and useful even after you can get LIs at lvl 45) but even WS is nice for Offhands and Crafted 2nd Age LIs (You'll need your Guild Rep maxed out for that though).

Originally Posted by Galrilion

On a related note, should I be looking for gear upgrades via quests, or are there better ways to keep my gear in line with my level and the areas I quest in (crafting, reputation ... Instances??). This is more a new player question than a Champion question, but I figured I'd throw it in here while this thread had so much attention :-D

I think for champions, more than any other class, it's important to keep your equipment up to date. Generally the crafted stuff is the best until the 50s, but sometimes you'll find some good drops. There are certain armour sets that come from quests that are nearly as good as the crafted stuff at those levels.

I would prioritize getting the best weapon for your level, which is usually crafted until you hit Moria. You can find crafted weapons on the auction house. They should be cheap for levels 14, 22, 32, 42. The other levels require more materials to make. I recommend joining a kinship. If you are in a kinship, someone will probably offer to make you all sorts of equipment.

Let's assume we will eventually get 2 worn symbols one for each of 2h and 1h weapon (I just got my second and am planning to make a 1h with it)
Assume you have all the legacies in the world to choose on the 2 weapons. (Within reason obviously majors are bound to luck still)

Pre-Isengard, dps tests and combat analysis gave us the following *rules of thumb*.

2handers are better for single target DPS. And Brutal Strikes is most fitting main dps skill.
2handers are therefore also the better weapons to put tanking relics into.
Often will be used while in Glory. Possibly with lots of blue traits.

1handers/dual wield is better for AoE DPS. And Remoresless is best main dps skill.
Most often will be used while in Fervour (or Ardour naturally) So red or yellow or mix.

Question: Post-Isengard do these hold true at all or should they be totally re-thought?

Brutal strikes: Is it completely overshadowed by the new skils linked to relentless/remorseless?

2hd AoE: Is it still ridiculous to specialize in AoE with a 2 hander?

Glory: Is there a weapon type most appropriate to tanking stance?

Originally Posted by Thermight

Let's assume we will eventually get 2 worn symbols one for each of 2h and 1h weapon (I just got my second and am planning to make a 1h with it)
Assume you have all the legacies in the world to choose on the 2 weapons. (Within reason obviously majors are bound to luck still)

Pre-Isengard, dps tests and combat analysis gave us the following *rules of thumb*.

2handers are better for single target DPS. And Brutal Strikes is most fitting main dps skill.
2handers are therefore also the better weapons to put tanking relics into.
Often will be used while in Glory. Possibly with lots of blue traits.

1handers/dual wield is better for AoE DPS. And Remoresless is best main dps skill.
Most often will be used while in Fervour (or Ardour naturally) So red or yellow or mix.

Question: Post-Isengard do these hold true at all or should they be totally re-thought?

Brutal strikes: Is it completely overshadowed by the new skils linked to relentless/remorseless?

2hd AoE: Is it still ridiculous to specialize in AoE with a 2 hander?

Glory: Is there a weapon type most appropriate to tanking stance?

DW for tanking ALWAYS

You need a) the extra stats b) the quicker intial bladewall/swift blades to get initial aggro which is everything. If you don't get qucik aggro on all/most mobs initially you won't get it later.

It may not seem like a big deal but really, it is.

Originally Posted by Thermight

Let's assume we will eventually get 2 worn symbols one for each of 2h and 1h weapon (I just got my second and am planning to make a 1h with it)
Assume you have all the legacies in the world to choose on the 2 weapons. (Within reason obviously majors are bound to luck still)

Pre-Isengard, dps tests and combat analysis gave us the following *rules of thumb*.

2handers are better for single target DPS. And Brutal Strikes is most fitting main dps skill.
2handers are therefore also the better weapons to put tanking relics into.
Often will be used while in Glory. Possibly with lots of blue traits.

1handers/dual wield is better for AoE DPS. And Remoresless is best main dps skill.
Most often will be used while in Fervour (or Ardour naturally) So red or yellow or mix.

Question: Post-Isengard do these hold true at all or should they be totally re-thought?

Brutal strikes: Is it completely overshadowed by the new skils linked to relentless/remorseless?

2hd AoE: Is it still ridiculous to specialize in AoE with a 2 hander?

Glory: Is there a weapon type most appropriate to tanking stance?

When i reached 75 i was using a 2hand Hammer of the Third Age. And it was fine but not perfect.
So 2hn AoE : The bad thing about 2h is the slow attack speed as we all know.So if you got DeathStorm (aka Great Cleave)You need fast dps to burn all the aoe asap cause it has a small duration.

The high crits and Dmg hits Aoe can be pretty awsome with 2hander did like 1.7k with a third age on Blade storm!And i'm pretty sure more have reached more than that.Cause my Third age wasnt that good on legacies and relics also.

Brutal Strikes,I noticed they slowed and animation and the new version of it with 2h that requires 3 than 4 it makes it quiet hard to combo with a Clobber but its still fine. Though i noticed Ferocious strikes deal ALOT of dmg with 2hander like on crits cant deal around 200 more dmg than Brutal but its legendary has more Cooldown and costs more fervour

While Tanking as my friend Targean said : Always Duals
Speed is all that matters while tanking and in genneral in my opinion Only.Especialy when you got alot of skills to use and little time to use them!

I am a Dual-Wield Lover.I just love that style and because i love it i do my best while using it.
I PvMP with Duals ,i PvP with Duals ,i tank with Duals,i dps with Duals,I heal with Duals,i CC with Duals,i debuff with Duals!!!!1
And it works for me pretty good.

This is just My opinion and My way of playing.

I have gone from 2H to DW with ROI simply because the Stat bonuses on the Off-hand weapon were far better than I could get from a legendary 2H weapon. Plus getting both the stats and the legacies wanted was monumental. I went through over 100 level 65 Great Axes to get the 4 that I kept.

I used to used at 65, a golf-bag of 2H (Great Axe) each with 3 with slayer (beast/orc/undead), and 1 with Ancient Dwarf. (1 rune, and one farming slot)

Now I have same set up at level 75, I just carry a two one handed axes (slayer Beast and Orc) and off hand with +54 might, ICPR, +Offense Ancient Dwarf Axe. Still looking for something to fill the other slots. Still have my level 65, 2nd Age Rune, have not found a level 75 one thats better yet.

I do not like mixing 2H and DW because changing weapons can get tricky and I find myself single wielding to often.

Have had my SA 75 2h sword for a week now, almost perfected other then a couple items left.. Maxed, crit, remorsless, aoe, frenzy and rend bleed. I might drop rend and add Sudden defense on the minor and max that instead.

Been working on my zeal, so brought a group through 16th hall.. I had to drop glory and go with fervour.. not a big issue in a 10 level diffrence instance.. I can off tank fine, but not sure I would want to MT in a on level 75 12 man with one =(. It is a tad slower to grab aggro. For how much we have been given, its still hard to grab multi target threat, other then to hit FAST and HARD. Even then some hunter or rk will blast your non target and ask why they died ={

But man the crits.. AOE crit hits on blade and raging and even rend, between 1400-1700, I usually hit a couple with every hit.This is the everage crit! Not the devestates, seen a few at 2k+.

I used to max out my brutal strikes, but honestly with the advent of the 100% crit chance on remorseless, I just maxed out that legacy .. Ive hit some 5k -6k devestate without burg or cappy, Ive hit a few 7.5ks with cappy in group. I want to see what I hit with a cappy, a burg and a mini in same group =P, I can see a outer range of 9k with all of them in group. Normal crit chance is between 3.9k -4.5k area. Im not a glass cannon full dps build either.. My might is only 1250, becuase I like to have my morale over 8k. My agility is only around 600. I can up those by a couple 100 , but havent been doing that.

Ive also started using ferocious again, seeing 1k over and over.. I usually pull 4k damage out of it now, then hit clobber. My one disapointment with champs is that these legendaries, should cost 1 less fervour or give more significant damage vs a non legendary strike/blade skill. If you dont have more then 5 targets, you can get more damage out of rend and blade wall combined.

The move of flurry to fervour, really kind of balance the 2h vs 1h debate. Not sure you are going to be wrong either way.

Its fun to hit like a mack truck anyways.

Im seeing hunters boast about thier 11k, 12k HS hits, not that I dont want to see those with my hunter at some point, but pfffttt.. while they are sitting around drinking tea waiting for thier skill to go off, I just did more damage by 2-3k..

With regards to OP and starting a new champ, I find that if you are not going to be playing multiple craft alts, the best profession for champs is Armorsmith. There are so many crafted components to keeping your armor up to date that it gets prohibitively expensive to do so in the auction house. It is a lot easier to buy 1-2 crit crafted weapons than it is to buy 6 pieces of critted armor.

Even with a kin, I find it easier to ask for weapons than armor. Given the material and time costs for so many pieces, it is easier to ask for weapons than armor.

I run two champs, one for DW and one for 2H. They have different traits, UI setups, although the gear is usually about the same. I have taken my DW Champ up first and my 2H is still sitting at 65 until I get some other classes up for kin purposes. I haven't seen too many differences on my DW yet although I think with some of my new ROI gear I am getting better crits. I'm still experimenting with gear. Without using any meters, I always "felt" like a 2H did more damage, and it definitely does hit incredibly hard at times. It is quite a bit slower and with DW you can pretty much keep a continuous string of damage numbers, even if smaller, flying off the mobs head. It got me thinking about weapon speed and auto-attacks. Auto-attacks always do make up a good portion of overall damage. Seems like I can fit in more attacks around the faster occurring auto-attacks in DW than in SH which over time, is probably yielding more damage. There are also some skill like Wild Attack or Ferocious Attack that give you an extra offhand attack in DW.

So I guess I don't really have an answer except (as so many have already said) much of it really does have to do with play style and whether you are more comfortable with the faster pace of the DW or the slower 2H that will give you more of those 4 digit floating numbers.