Set up DualWield on your Minecraft server

DualWield lets players attack and mine with an item in their off-hand. Put a weapon or tool in the off-hand and right-click to use it. It is a small plugin that leaves the rest of survival alone, and it is a fork of Ranull's original DualWield.

Checked against DualWield 3.1.6 on Paper 1.21.8, October 2026.

Check your Minecraft version first

DualWield 3.1.6, released in July 2025, is the newest build on its Modrinth page. That page lists Minecraft 1.9 up to 1.21.8. The Plugins tab filters by your server's version, so on a newer server the store will not list DualWield unless you choose Any version, and that installs a build made for an older Minecraft.

The page's description says "1.21.*", but the build metadata stops at 1.21.8, so a newer server may still run it unlisted. If your server runs Minecraft newer than 1.21.8, you can wait for the project to publish a newer build, try the older build with Any version, or run a version it lists. To run an older version, open JAR Manager, pick Paper and 1.21.8, and click Apply change and confirm (Change Minecraft server version or loader, which also explains why worlds should not go backwards). The panel switches Java to match.

What it needs

• A Plugins tab, so Paper or Purpur.
• Minecraft 1.9 to 1.21.8, as above.
• Nothing on the players' side. It is server-side only.
• No other plugin. The project lists no dependencies, and it should work alongside protection plugins and skill plugins such as McMMO.

Install it

1. Create a backup in the Backups tab.
2. Open Plugins, keep the Modrinth source chip selected and search for DualWield.
3. Click Install on the DualWield row.
4. Open the Console tab and click Restart, or Start if the server is stopped.
5. When the server has started, run dualwield in the console. It prints the plugin's version.

Use it

Both abilities are on for every player by default. In game, hold a weapon or tool in the off-hand and right-click:

• A weapon in the off-hand attacks the entity you are looking at.
• A tool in the off-hand mines the block you are looking at, such as an axe on a log.

Test in survival mode first.

Permissions and commands

To limit it to some players, remove the permission from everyone in a permissions plugin and give it back to a group (Set up LuckPerms).

Settings

On first start the plugin writes a config.yml in its folder under plugins. Open it in File Manager, edit it and click Save, then run dualwield reload in the console. These keys are in the config.yml that ships inside the 3.1.6 jar:

• attack.sneaking and mine.sneaking decide whether it works while sneaking.
• attack.gamemodes and mine.gamemodes list the game modes where it works.
• attack.items.list and mine.items.list hold the items it ignores, such as shields, eggs and spawn eggs. mode switches that list between BLACKLIST and WHITELIST.
• swing.air makes the arm swing even when nothing is hit.

Common problems

• Nothing happens on right-click. Check the version of Minecraft, then check you are in a game mode the config allows.
• The store shows no DualWield. The version filter is hiding it. See the first section.
• Right-click does something else. attack.events.cancel.original controls whether the original right-click is cancelled.