D&D 5E Can you use dueling and TWF at the same time? I think you can RAW.

ECMO3

Hero
I think you can.

I am looking at a Bugbear build and the 2d6 damage boost that comes in the first turn.

I think with dueling you can start a turn with a light thrown melee weapon in one hand and a light melee weapon in the other. Use the attack action to throw the thrown weapon then close and use TWF to attack with the other weapon and get the dueling damage bonus on the second weapon (but not your dex/strength bonus).

I think this works RAW.

TWF: "When you take the Attack action and attack with a light melee weapon that you’re holding in one hand, you can use a bonus action to attack with a different light melee weapon that you’re holding in the other hand. You don’t add your ability modifier to the damage of the bonus attack, unless that modifier is negative. If either weapon has the thrown property, you can throw the weapon, instead of making a melee attack with it."

So you take the attack action with the thrown weapon then the other weapon qualifies for a TWF bonus action attack even though you are now only holding one weapon

Now Dueling: "When you are wielding a melee weapon in one hand and no other weapons, you gain a +2 bonus to damage rolls with that weapon."

Since you threw the thrown weapon already you are now holding a melee weapon in one hand and no other weapons, so I think the bonus action attack gets the dueling damage bonus.

Once you have extra attack I think you could get 2 attacks with the melee weapon (one using Extra attack and one using TWF) and get the dueling bonus on both of those attacks. On a Bugbear you would also get +2d6 on each of these attacks if the opponent has not yet had a turn, which is an extra 6d6 damage once extra attack is online.
 
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For the first round, I don't see a problem throwing and then Dueling. But I would be really wary of any attempt to use both feats in any round after the first or with an extra attack. I'd have to really think about that and compare it to other combinations.

As others have said, I think you are trying to find a loophole in the rules and avoid the intent of the feats. Hence I would be very wary as a DM.
 




ECMO3

Hero
For the first round, I don't see a problem throwing and then Dueling. But I would be really wary of any attempt to use both feats in any round after the first or with an extra attack. I'd have to really think about that and compare it to other combinations.

As others have said, I think you are trying to find a loophole in the rules and avoid the intent of the feats. Hence I would be very wary as a DM.
TWF is not really a feat, anyone can do it and to be clear I am not using the TWF fighting style, the TWF attack I am making is without any dex/str bonus to the damage.

The Bugbear combination though gives it (and all the attacks the 1st turn) an extra 2d6 damage which is a big reason to use it and a reason to consider not even using a shield.
 
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ECMO3

Hero
Also the +2d6 only works once per combat. So yea, no +6d6 like you are hoping for.
That is not true any more. This was changed in Mordenkainen's Monsters of the Multiverse and under the current Bugbear it now works for all attacks against enemies who have not yet had a turn in combat. It also no longer requires surprise:

"Surprise Attack. If you hit a creature with an attack roll, the creature takes an extra 2d6 damage if it hasn’t taken a turn yet in the current combat."


You could actually get it for every attack for 2 turns if you both surprise an enemy and beat him in initiative, also you get the 2d6 on action surge, gloomstalker attack etc and on any reactions.

This change made Bugbears the best Alpha strike race available, there are videos online about builds using it. The key is though you need to win initiative or surprise an enemy to use it. That is tough to do reliably even if you have like a +10 initiative you are still not going to win all the time.
 
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