Well, what is it?

This is for the sole purpose of inspiring others to try Dual-Wielding and Power Stance in this game. It is what makes Dark Souls 2 unique, and is severely underrated and misunderstood as of 2017's fresh community. Please understand that I didn't put that much effort into this, as I am not after praise or notoriety.

I wanted to focus on the weapons at one's disposal, rather than a "how to" guide. The last Power Stance guide was made in 2014 and is just a video with no text, and does not focus on some of the key advantages it gives to the degree that I have below. Feel free to offer your own advice or tips, and I may add them to this guide.

The poorly made guide

Power Stance is done by holding the button you use to two-hand your current weapon, and replaces the left hand attacks with unique attacks using both weapons.

To power stance, you must have 150% of the required Strength and Dexterity of the weapons you want to use. This can be better understood in significant detail here[darksouls2.wiki.fextralife.com]. The gist of it, is your right hand weapon determines the moveset of the power stance, unless it's a lesser weighted weapon than the left, and not all weapons in a given class will be compatible with others.

If you're dual-wielding identical weapons, you're only gaining a couple things:

1. Roughly twice as much one-handed attack damage per swing
2. Alternative moveset in addition to regular movesets of the weapons
3. More total counter damage bonus
4. More poise damage

But you're losing other things:

1. Twice the weight of the weapon; with larger weapons, is a significant shortcoming
2. Ease of two-handing your right weapon
3. Roughly twice the stamina usage per swing
4. The ability to parry with an offhand shield(may be offset by parrying weapons)
5. The ability to block an attack, or equip a shield with a passive buff.


If you dual-wield different weapons, well, let's be more detailed with each case:

Daggers: There are a few daggers that should be used only for the sake of achieving backstabs or high riposte damage. Conversely, there are other daggers which should be used in direct combat, due to their high attack speed and DPS potential. These will never take priority in the powerstance moveset. Dual-Daggers are most efficient against human-sized enemies with light or no poise. Combining a Dagger with anything else can prove underwhelming in terms of damage.

Straight Swords: There are many in the game, all with swings and thrusts of common variety. The advantages of these are the same as the dagger class, with the addition of overall higher efficacy in combat; reach, speed, force are well balanced to lend you a reliable set of weapons to choose from. Mixing a Straight Sword with a Katana or Spear can prove very useful for opening up your options in combat, as well as maximizing your slash and/or thrust offense. They make for good backup weapons or off-hand tools while using a larger and slower weapon in the main hand.

Katanas: Basically, this weapon class works as well in powerstancing as straight swords do. They offer superior reach and high counter damage, making them an excellent partner for a spear. Dual-wielding two Katanas offers two different movesets, depending on the weapon in the right hand.

Thrusting Swords: Having a quick and proficient forward attack is what attracts people to this class of weapons. In powerstancing/dual-wielding, their low stamina consumption proves to be versatile. Thrusting Swords only take moveset priority over Daggers. Combining these with Curved Swords is a viable option indeed, as it adds slashes to the moveset. Having a Straight Sword in the off-hand allows one to poise-break more realiably, and follow-up with thrusts. Dual-wielding Thrusting Swords doesn't offer much added benefit, like with the Straight Swords, only the variety of moveset among this class of weapons is surprisingly non-existent.

Curved Swords: As with Thrusting Swords and Daggers, this class of weapons is proficient in speed, and stamina consumption is low. Their primary disadvantage is range and poise break. The moveset of the powerstace/dual-wield may prove more effective if a Katana or Straight Sword is in the off-hand. The moveset of the weapons in this class are not widely varied.

Spears, Lances: The advantage of having a Spear in your hands should be self-evident; long reach and high counter damage are good enough to carry you through the game with pretty much any spear. Imagine simply adding that to the advantages another weapon gives you. Dual-wielding Spears or Lances are not terrible ideas, as you can fully maximize thrusting counter damage this way. When mixing with another weapon, have the lighter and faster weapon of the two in the right hand and the slower in the left - which is pretty much commonplace for most combinations. This allows certain weapons with no or otherwise inconvient thrust attacks to be thrust right away.

Greatswords, Ultra Greatswords, Curved Greatswords: These deal the high numbers, showing excellent balance of power, reach, and speed for two-handed type weapons. Variance in moveset, strength, reach, and weapon weight will all factor into what you choose to use together. While powerstancing these weapons, a bit seems to be lost by including Greatswords with its larger counterparts. For one thing, when taking on two large weapons, you're going to become quite less agile, and will rely a lot more on simply counter-attacking your foes while standing your ground. For another thing, Greatswords are very efficient on their own rather than with an accompanying weapon, as their damage output and versatility is balanced in a way that is unmatched by other classes.

Obviously, powerstancing with the big movesets while using a tiny weapon is going to be underwhelming.

Great "Hammers", Halberds, Reapers: I cannot stress enough how each of these weapon classes are decent in their own ways. Trying to wield them with another weapon just seems to get in the way of things. Even with the Great Hammers and the Halberds - they do not make up for what is lost by choosing to one-hand them. In addition, the larger weapons require a very high stat investment to make powerstancing possible.

Greataxes and Twinblades: There is a time and a place for these kinds of weapons. Greataxes are a close-range alternative to Ultra-Greatswords, and as such it is much easier to miss your target and become vulnerable. Twinblade P-stance is crap, but there are three very proficient Twinblades: Dragonrider, Stone, and Red Iron. Using these individually is the most effective means of offense in this regard.

Axes, Hammers: These are specialized to achieve one thing: raw power at a quick pace. However, they lack in reach and burn through stamina rather dubiously. The powerstanced movesets of these weapon classes are very disappointing, for it does not allow one much range to attack. It is recommended to use these at their full potential by two-handing them.

Anything else I missed/Whips/Fists: Go ahead and do whatever you want with what you find, as long as it doesn't end in frustration. Powerstanced Fists or Whips is essentially JUST adding an additional "attack" to a button input, while increasing the time it takes to recover from attacking(leaving you open to serious counter attack).


And that's what I got on the subject. I hope this helps you understand your options better.