This is in regards to the AA for warriors; I'm not sure if it's different for other dual wield classes. The chance to dual wield and immune to damage shield/riposte is straightforward, but the damage bonus is not. When it says it allows your offhand weapon to utilize x% of its minimum damage bonus, what does this refer to exactly? My first thought was the damage bonus listed on the weapon, but that's a static number, not a range. Does the offhand inherently deal less damage than listed on the weapon, and this AA boosts that damage? Would appreciate a detailed explanation of how this works.
Off hand weapons are not effected by things the main hand is - in fact it's easier to assume nothing effects the off hand, so little effects it. Things like Combat Effects, Weapon Affinity and Flurry AA's are not triggered by your hand. The same holds true for damage bonus. It has it's own AA for a reason - you wouldn't have much of a damage bonus without that AA. Your damage output (ratio differing on weapons not withstanding) is going to be in the range of 60-65% of your melee damage it from your main hand. I might be a little generous on those numbers. Sometime, place something like a Fire beetle eye or darkened cone of the mystics in your main hand, turn on my misses and attack a test dummy. You'll miss 40% or so of your swings because none of your AA's and Heroic bonuses effects your offhand. The answer is yes, your offhand inherently deals less damage - by a lot.
