The High Road, Part Two

Part Two is about the weapons in your hands. Hold a weapon in each hand and fight with both, with a pair ability for every combination. Aim down the sights with bows, crossbows, staves and reliquaries. Every weapon kind now has its own Mastery tree that grows as you fight well with it, and the first grand enchantments, the Verses, can be woven into your gear.

This is a big step, and it isn't finished. Dual wielding, Mastery and the screens around them will keep changing over the next releases. The interface in particular needs more work, and we're looking at letting tomes and spears go in the off hand too. Please tell us what you think: what feels great, what feels clumsy and what's missing. Use Feedback / Report a bug (F8) in game, or come and talk to us on Discord. Your reports shape what comes next.

Two Hands

• Most one-handed weapons can now go in your off hand beside another weapon: swords, axes, maces, daggers, flails, wands, sceptres, runeblades, censers, bells, pistols and blunderbusses. Shields still go there too.
• With a weapon in each hand, left click attacks with your main hand and right click with your off hand. Hold both to strike with each hand in turn.
• Two weapons means no blocking. A shield in your off hand keeps right-click block as before.
• Your off-hand weapon hits a little softer than your main hand, and adds half of its stats.
• Every pairing of two weapons has its own pair ability, 116 in all. Each half counts for its own weapon.
• Put abilities anywhere on your bar. A bar holds up to 2 abilities from your off-hand weapon (3 from a shield) and one pair ability.
• Every combination of weapons keeps its own bar. A new combination starts with an empty bar: open the Spellbook and drag in what you want.
• Save two loadouts in Gear & stats and switch between them, or add one to your hotbar from its right-click menu. Out of combat, switching is free; in a fight, once every 30 seconds.
• Quivers and powder horns now go in your cape slot. Skill-cape perks still work.
• Run out of ammo with the wrong kind loaded and the right ammo from your satchel goes in for you, in either hand.

Aim and Weak Points

• Bows, crossbows, staves and reliquaries can aim down the sights (right click) for steadier, harder-hitting shots. Aiming has no block or parry: your dodge roll is your defence.
• Two-handed melee weapons gain Braced Guard: a stronger block, and a parry that staggers.
• Shots fly where you aim, not to the middle of your target.
• Most creatures out in the world have a weak spot, usually the head. Hit it for extra damage, more again while aiming, and a gold tick by your crosshair tells you it landed.

Mastery

• Every weapon kind has its own Mastery tree, 21 in all, on the Mastery tab of the Spellbook.
• Fight well with a weapon (parries, long shots, crits, kills and more) to complete feats. Each feat opens a Technique, and most trees start opening at level 5.
• Feats count for whatever weapon you're holding, at any level, all at once. Foes far below your level, other players and training dummies don't count.
• At 30, choose a Path for each weapon, with new ranks at 50, 60, 70 and 80, a capstone at 90 and a title and look of your own at 95. Your first change of Path is free.
• Healing weapons have real damage Paths too.

Verses

• Verses are the first grand enchantments: 22 of them, each with a little extra power and an effect, look and sound of its own. Wear up to three at once.
• Five crafters work together to make one, from formulas found in dungeons. Normal runs find formulas about three times as often as Lone.
• You can turn down other players' Verse effects in Settings.

Crafting and Gathering

• From level 40, crafters can assemble tier 5 gear and above from parts. Signature parts drop in dungeons, twice as often on Normal, and carry small effects of their own.
• All seven rough gems are now worth the same. Low gems are worth more and high gems less; gear you already own keeps its stats and value.
• A gem's grade follows its tier: rough for tiers 1 to 5, fine for 6 to 8 and flawless for tier 9. Tier 5 caster weapons take two gems, and runeblades take the rune of their tier.
• Every gem colour has its own rocks at each depth, from level-1 outcrops down to deep seams.
• Whisperstone can now be mined from Mining 1, with new rocks near the starter towns.
• Every Whisper's scroll of the same tier costs the same.

Also in this update

• If you already dual wield, your ability bars have been rearranged to fit the new limits. Check your Spellbook if something seems to be missing.
• Item effects now come from the weapon that acted, so a sword's effect fires on the sword's hits.
• Xbox controllers show Xbox buttons, and the crafting tabs fit smaller screens.