- The overall damage of 2H weapons are much higher than two 1H's added together. However, on the character sheet, melee attack is a combination of weapon damage + strength and is only representative of your "auto-attack" or white damage. The result, due to the 150% str bonus recieved from Str, is that duel-wielding will actually appear to do more damage than the 2H. This is slightly incorrect depending on your play style and endurance regen. Because special attacks for the most part don't use "melee damage" (ie, weapon + str + +damage) and instead rely on only weapon damage, 2H will often prove the superior DPS when used in conjuction with special attacks. This is especially true when endurance regen gear / buffs are used and special attacks can be spammed.
But just remember, a majority of the monk skills are based off of melee damage.
Mcslappy is right. Only 2 monks skills are "weapond dmg*x" skills. The rest use melee dmg.
HOWEVER weapon dmg or melee dmg is errelivant.
(Multiplier * weapon dmg) +1.2*str bonus ...........for 2 hander
(multiplier * weapon + 0.5multiplier * off hand ) + 1.5*str bonus .... for dual wielders.
EG 140 dmg dual weidler or 280 dmg 2 hander.
250% weapon dmg + 200 dmg (close to ashen hand 7 iirc)
2.5 * (280 + 200) + 1.2*str bonus
2.5* (140+200 + 70 + 100) + 1.5 str bonus