Pretty sure poison isn't specific to daggers. I use bow, blackened rapier and whip and think I get poison on all three.
I am a firm believer in using dual wield. As a Swashbuckler much of my damage comes from poison and doubling the weapons used doubles the chances for poison damage. I use very low delay weapons; one pierce and one slash to better keep my skills current. I think that the extra protection a shield offers is more than negated by the extra damage that second weapon provides.
seems to me all weapons at a set level do the same damage (on a vendor that sells weapons at 22 silver each) , ie 2 fast daggers will do the same damage as one slow sword, they are all equal damge wise if you work the stats out.
I looked for the dev post that I read on this a while back and couldn't find it, but they specifically stated that dual weild weapons were balanced so that they did the same damage per second as an equal level one handed or two handed weapon. The advantages with dual weilding come from the double stats you can add from holding two weapons that give stat boosts. With sheilds you get the added stats and blocking abilities. So, the theory stated by them was that a dual weilding scout does the same damage over time as a scout with a two handed weapon or a scout with a one handed weapon and a sheild. I've not tested this to see if they actually implemented it correctly, but I did read that this was their intent as far as weapon choice and dps is concerned. Personally, I weild two weapons for the additional stats. But it depends on what equipment I have access to, so who knows. Just use what you like, especially if weapons/dps is balanced as they intended.
See now that would be completely out of balance it things worked as stated above. For one, you'd get MORE armor class using a shield AND get stat bonuses(good quest shields), as well you'd do the same damage as someone dual wielding. I believe that dual wielding and two handed weapons do more damage over 1 handed and a shield.
Im working on a swashbuckler not a warrior I dont want nor need a shield. Right now Im using a rapier and a whip so that I can keep both my piercing and slashing skills up to par as I level. What I will use as I gain levels really depends on what I get as loot or in a good trade. I will most likely always have at least one rapier just becuase I cant imagine a Swashbuckler without one. The funny thing is Swashbuckler has the name of a shield in its name. Maybe I should rethink this and go buckler and epee. Who knows I will tell you when I get the equipment.
The word "buckler" in the name "swashbuckler" does not refer to the shield, in the same way the word "set" has about 100+ meanings in the enligh language. So keep using 2 weapons imo =)
