Second hand Swords

Before we begin the tutorial, it is important to recognize these two terms: main hand and off-hand. In default, your main hand is your right hand. Respectively, your off-hand is your left hand. Keep in mind that there is an option located in Skin Customization labeled "Main Hand" to swap your main hand and off-hand. This option may be helpful (or handy) for players that are left-handed.

Dual wielding is when you hold two weapons, one in each hand, during combat. Despite dual wielding not widely practiced in real life, it is used extensively in various action and role-playing games, and is generally designed to provide the player more effectiveness or convenience in battle. Dual wielding in Minecraft can be used in combat, but it also can be used in other everyday activities, such as building, mining, and eating. It does have a few major limits, but learning through them and applying dual wielding to practical use can give players a large boost in productivity and a greater advantage above other players in PvP combat in-game.

How to equip something to your off-hand[edit | edit source]

In the inventory, there is a slot on the bottom-right side of the player avatar that looks like an outline of a shield. This is called the off-hand slot. When you put something in it, you should see it being held on your off-hand (your left hand on default). Your other hand should also appear on the screen in first person view (you should see two hands on the screen). You should also see an extra slot with the off-hand item appear beside your HUD hotbar; this should be on the opposite side of your main hand.

For easy equipping to the off-hand slot, press F by default. This is configurable in the Controls settings. Using this, you can quickly equip something into your off-hand slot in your inventory and switch between the items in your hotbar and off-hand. Practice using this key until you are able to fluently swap between items in your hotbar and your off-hand.

The off-hand can use the item it holds when there are no items in the main hand, or the item held on the main hand is not usable, e.g. swords and pickaxes.