2x1 hand vs 2 hand weapon?

Question

I'm playing through Torchlight II as an outlander, and I'm faced with the choice of using 2 one hand pistols or a 2 handed shotgonne.

Aside from stats and benefits of the items themselves, is there any benefit of using a 2 handed weapon over dual wielding 2 one handed weapons or vice versa?

Answer 1

The passive skills available for Pistols counter to Shotgonne are different.

The Shotgonne is focussed on short range area of effect damage, and the pistols are more of a long range option.

The Pistol can benefit from the Long Range Mastery passive skill that increase damage by % and the range in meters. The Long Range Mastery passive also buff damage and range on Bows, Crossbows and Wands.

There is also a Akimbo passive skill that increase damage by a % and the chance of performing a Execute where both pistols are fired simultaneously.

For the Shotgonne you have the Shotgonne Mastery passive that gives a % chance to stun for 2 seconds increase the knockback and has a % chance of blinding.

You might also want to consider the skills you use since some does a % of your weapon damage and others does a flat damage.

Personally I stick with 2x1 pistols and Rune Vault for a kiting build.

You could also consider a Bow, if you like the long range passive along with a weapon damage based skill like the Rapid Fire.