Dual wield Dual wield allows the character to hold a weapon in each hand ( main hand and off hand ) . The character can deal some damage with the weapon in the off - hand between strikes with the strong hand . This is a very important passive ability as it allows a character to deal significantly more damage as compared to a single one - handed weapon . Once it is acquired , the character will immediately begin to strike with each hand ( if there is a weapon in each ) while in battle . Rogue s , warrior s and hunter s were the only class es that could initially dual wield . However , with the release of patch 2 . 0 . 1 shaman s gained the ability to dual wield through a level 40 Enhancement talent , and with the release of patch 3 . 0 . 2 and the Wrath of the Lich King expansion pack , death knight s are able to dual wield as well . Rogues and death knights have the innate ability to dual wield from the beginning ; hunters and Fury - specced warriors learn to dual wield at level 20 . When the Mists of Pandaria expansion came out , monks had the ability to dual wield , making them the 6th class to dual wield . A weapon equipped in the main hand will deal full damage , while an off - hand weapon will deal 50 % of its damage . Rogues , warriors and shamans have the talent Dual Wield Specialization , which allows rogues and warriors to increase the damage done by the offhand weapon and shamans to increase the hit rate of the offhand weapon , and death knights have the talent Nerves of Cold Steel , which increases hit chance and offhand weapon damage . Most disarm debuffs do NOT affect off - hand weapons . While abilities that require a weapon in the main hand can ' t be used , the off - hand weapon will still deal its regular damage . Rogue disarm removes both main - hand and off - hand equipment . Miss chance . Dual wielding adds a 19 % miss penalty to both main and offhand weapons . The base miss rate for all characters is 5 % , so each weapon by itself has a 24 % chance to miss ( 19 % + 5 % ) . The talents Dual Wield Specialization for shaman , Precision for rogues and warriors , and Nerves of Cold Steel for death knights increase the chance to hit with both weapons while dual wielding . For each point the attacker ’ s weapon skill exceeds the target ’ s defense skill , the miss chance decreases by 0 . 04 % . For each point a target ’ s defense skill exceeds his opponent ’ s weapon skill , the miss chance increases by 0 . 04 % . " Important note " : Prior to version 1 . 8 , dual wield ' s miss chance had a hard cap of 19 % , meaning that all dual - wield auto - attacks had a " minimum " 19 % miss chance regardless of how much + hit % gear was equipped . In version 1 . 8 , this hard cap was removed . The exact wording of the 1 . 8 patch note was : Take a level 70 rogue for example vs . a level 73 raid boss : the rogue has 5 % + ( 0 . 04 % * 15 ) = 5 . 6 % base miss chance ( assuming he has 350 weapon skill and the boss has no Defense skill bonuses ) , plus 19 % dual wield miss chance , leaving us with a total miss chance of 24 . 6 % . Note that the + 19 % miss chance for dual - wielding only applies to ordinary auto - attack melee attacks . It does not apply to any special attack powers that cost rage , energy , or mana - - neither instant attacks such as Sinister Strike or Stormstrike , nor on next swing attacks such as Heroic Strike , incur the dual wield miss penalty . So , with 9 % + hit from gear / talents a dual - wielder will never miss with an instant attack ( although the attack can still be dodged , parried , or blocked - - see the Attack table article ) . However , a dual - wielder would need 25 % + hit if he wants to remove the miss chance for auto - attack / white damage totally . Chance on hit proc rate . Some weapons have special abilities that will go off ( or " proc " ) on some hits . These abilities are preceded in the weapon ' s description by the words " Chance on hit : " . The chance for one of these abilities to go off on a successful auto - attack strike are independent of whether the weapon is being wielded in the main hand or wielded in the off hand . However , these abilities also have the same per - strike chance to go off when making an instant attack ( such as Sinister Strike , Mongoose Bite , Overpower , etc . ) . Instant attacks are always assumed to be made with the weapon in the main hand only . This means that over the course of a normal fight in which several instant attacks are used , a given weapon ' s chance - on - hit ability will go off more often if the weapon is wielded in the main hand than if it is being wielded in the off hand . The exception to this is the shaman Stormstrike ability , the rogue Mutilate ability and the warrior Whirlwind ability , in which all three abilities give an extra instant attack with both wielded weapons . Proc rate for other weapon abilities . Some weapons have abilities that go off some of the time , but are not listed as " Chance on hit : " . For example , the Crusader enchant reads " . . . often when attacking in melee . . . " , and the Misplaced Servo Arm ' s ability reads " Equip : Chance to . . . " . The proc chances for these kinds of abilities are separate and distinct from the " Chance on hit : " abilities discussed above . The proc rate for these abilities is generally based on an average rate per minute , not a chance per strike . Whether the proc rate for such an ability on a one - hand weapon is affected by which hand the weapon is wielded in is something that needs to be experimentally verified . In Cataclysm . Fury Warriors and Enhancement Shamans gain the ability to Dual Wield at level 10 when they choose their talent tree . Warriors and Shamans that choose a different tree are no longer able to Dual Wield .