A bit of recent discussion reminded me of something I had read ... a while ago, which I can't find now, regarding the original devs' goals for balancing dual-wield, two-hander, and sword-and-board. They wanted them to play rock-paper-scissors to each other, with sword-and-board beating dual wield (the shield negating most of the small, quick attacks), dual-wield beating two-hander (striking vulnerable areas several times for each blow the two-hander gets in), and the two-hander beating sword-and-board (heavy blows able to cause damage through, or even break, the shield).
I don't know how well this works as it stands, as very few enemies utilize the many-small-attacks combat method. Additionally not many of them use sword-and-board, beyond guards and dark knights. Most truly dangerous enemies use big, hard-hitting, slow attacks (golems, frogs, Danny, etc) or bypass direct combat altogether (Enner, Izzy). The only dangerous dual-wielder is Sherry, and she's a pretty rare spawn.
Perhaps adding new enemies of these types could help even out the balance, and increase the frequency of great-weapon and sword/board runs?
I don't know how well this works as it stands, as very few enemies utilize the many-small-attacks combat method. Additionally not many of them use sword-and-board, beyond guards and dark knights. Most truly dangerous enemies use big, hard-hitting, slow attacks (golems, frogs, Danny, etc) or bypass direct combat altogether (Enner, Izzy). The only dangerous dual-wielder is Sherry, and she's a pretty rare spawn.
Perhaps adding new enemies of these types could help even out the balance, and increase the frequency of great-weapon and sword/board runs?