Rules edition: This guide covers the 2014 fifth-edition two-weapon fighting rules and options published for those rules. The 2024 rules revise weapon properties and add weapon mastery, including Nick; use the version your table has adopted.
How 2014 two-weapon fighting works
When you take the Attack action and attack with a light melee weapon you are holding in one hand, you can use a bonus action to attack with a different light melee weapon you are holding in the other hand. The bonus-action attack does not add your ability modifier to its damage unless that modifier is negative. You still add the ability modifier to the attack roll, and you can add other damage bonuses when their rules allow it.
This costs your bonus action, so you cannot use another bonus-action feature on the same turn. It also requires the Attack action: making an opportunity attack, for example, does not qualify. If you have Extra Attack, the second-weapon attack remains one bonus-action attack; it does not grant another attack for each attack in your Attack action.
Damage: compare the actual attacks
Consider a 1st-level character with Strength 16 using two shortswords. If both attacks hit, the Attack-action strike deals 1d6 + 3, averaging 6.5 damage. The bonus-action strike deals 1d6, averaging 3.5, for 10 damage total before other features. With the Two-Weapon Fighting style, the bonus strike also adds Strength, for 13 damage total. A greatsword hit with the same Strength deals 2d6 + 3, averaging 10 damage. These are on-hit comparisons, not guaranteed damage: each attack has its own chance to miss, and two-weapon fighting uses your bonus action.
At higher levels, compare the additional bonus-action attack with what else your character can do. Extra Attack increases attacks made as part of the Attack action; it does not multiply the two-weapon bonus attack. Features that add damage on each hit can favor making more attacks, while bonus-action abilities can compete for the same turn resource.
Fighting styles and the Dual Wielder feat
The 2014 Two-Weapon Fighting style lets you add your ability modifier to the damage of the bonus-action attack. It changes damage, not the number of attacks or the light-weapon requirement. The 2014 Defense style can improve AC while you wear armor. Dueling requires wielding a melee weapon in one hand and no other weapons, so holding a second weapon prevents its benefit.
The legacy 2014 Dual Wielder feat has three benefits: +1 AC while you are wielding a separate melee weapon in each hand; permission to use two-weapon fighting when the one-handed melee weapons you wield are not light; and the ability to draw or stow two one-handed weapons when you would normally draw or stow only one. It does not grant an extra attack, add your ability modifier to bonus-attack damage, or let you use a shield while holding a weapon in each hand.
For example, the feat can let you make the bonus-action attack with a longsword in one hand and another one-handed melee weapon in the other, even though those weapons lack the Light property. It does not make a two-handed weapon eligible. Compare the feat’s benefits with an ability-score improvement and other feats available under your table’s rules before choosing it.
Class features and bonus-action conflicts
Fighters, Paladins, and Rangers can choose the 2014 Two-Weapon Fighting style when their class features offer a fighting style. A Rogue does not receive that style from the 2014 Rogue class, so its bonus-action weapon attack normally omits the ability modifier from damage. It can still be useful as a second chance to land a hit: Sneak Attack can apply once per turn when you meet its requirements, not once per attack.
Rangers may want to use a bonus action to cast or move Hunter’s Mark, depending on the spell and situation, while Rogues often use Cunning Action. Barbarians can add Rage damage to qualifying melee weapon attacks made using Strength, including a second-weapon attack, but must weigh that against other weapons, features, and their character concept. These are tradeoffs to evaluate for the specific build, not universal rankings.
Remember that you have only one bonus action on your turn. If you spend it on the extra weapon attack, you cannot also use a bonus-action spell or feature that turn. You also do not make an attack with both weapons when you take an opportunity attack; that reaction is a single melee attack under the opportunity-attack rule.
What changes under the 2024 rules?
The 2024 rules reorganize weapon properties and introduce weapon mastery. Light still supports an extra attack with another eligible weapon, while the Nick mastery can change when that extra attack is made. The 2024 Dual Wielder feat also has different benefits from the legacy feat. Do not carry the 2014 feat text or bonus-action assumptions into a 2024 build; check the current Player’s Handbook and your character’s mastery access.
Choosing a two-weapon build
Two-weapon fighting is a reasonable choice when you value another attack, have ways to benefit from multiple hits, and can spare your bonus action. It can be less attractive when you rely on bonus-action spells or features, need a shield, or would gain more from another fighting style or feat. Compare the weapons, attack bonus, damage modifier, class features, and bonus-action options you actually have at your current level. The best choice depends on those rules and your campaign, not on a claim that dual wielding always wins or always falls behind.
