low level pets and dual wielding non-proc weapons

[Cafu]

My beastlord just gained the ability to duel wield, according to the pet charts here and elsewhere (eg. http://www.eqbeastlord.com/petchart.html)

The charts says : "no minimum damage for usefulness". WHat does that mean, will the pet only dual wield if given 2 weapons? I am puzzled because I have a lower level mage friend that can give me a pair of  "Sword of Runes" 7/27 weapons, or "Spears of Warding" 6/27 1 hand piercing

What benefit are these weapons in raising damage output? I don't get it. The runes sword has a proc against summoned mobs, but otherwise why are they in game? Were they always for pets, or originally intended as magical weapons for Players, or for equipping for corpse recoveries?

[Zorthaz]

I think you have to give the pet 2 weapons to have him dual wield.  You can give him any 2 weapons and he will start dual wielding using his regular damage table.  Lets say your pet hits for 14 max without any weapons.  If you want to increase his damage you would need to him him a weapon with a damage of 8 or higher to increase his max hit number.  The delay of the weapon doesn't matter as the pet will use his own default weapon delay.  If your pet hits for 14 and you gave hime a rusty dagger with 2 damage, he would still hit for 14 max.  If you gave him 2 rusty daggers you would cause him to start dual wielding.  The best bang for the buck is still to give low level pets a 2hs weapon.  One of my favorites is the Frost Femur that has 25 dmg and procs Yaulp.  The pet will then hit for 50 damage max which is huge in the lower end game.

-Z-

[Cafu]

I looked up the details for MAGE pets and I noticed that they get dual wield at 24 with weapons, and dual wielding ability at 39 without weapons. So I guess you are quite correct that a pet will need two weapons to dual wield, I mistakenly thought the pet would dual wield naturally with its paws. So I see the purpose now of some of these mage summoned single handed weapons despite their useless damage.