Off-Hand Sword Specialisation

Ambush is a great opening move, doing a great deal of damage, but having a sword in the main hand prevents its use. I started using Cheap Shot as my opening move, which deals no damage but gives two combo points that I can then use immediately for Slice and Dice. This lets various talents kick in, for chances at gaining energy or combo points back, and by the time the Cheap Shot wears off I have done a significant amount of damage anyway. However, stunning a target as an opening move is far from team-friendly, particularly in an instance against elite mobs where the tank wants to gain rage and control the mobs.

Having picked up an excellent new one-handed sword from the Sunken Temple, and then rewarded with an equally excellent one-handed dagger as a quest reward from the same dungeon, I performed a little experiment. I put the dagger in the main hand, allowing the use of Ambush as the opening move, and the sword in the off-hand. My main concern was what effect this would have on my Sword Specialisation talent, gaining me the chance of an extra attack after hitting with the sword. After all, if Ambush only works with a dagger in the main hand, not in the off-hand, is it the same for the specialisation? A few quick stabs of some random troll guinea pigs in Tanaris and I find that I still get the extra swing proccing. Excellent.

Now I just need to consider how having a slower weapon in the off-hand may affect poison applications and DPS.

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