So far rolled 15 casters with RoDS and shamelessly killed them within 200 turns. For eternium glory!
(after 15 I stopped counting...)
Commit to a setup when you have end game gear or just know a certain race/class will use a certain type of fighting.
I would argue dual wielding can be very effective and powerful as a ranger, especially with supporting talents. But you still want to train up shield usage and have one in reserve for tough fights where the extra defence is a matter of life and death.
I think most melee talents are generally regarded as useless. They make little to no impact in the grand scheme of things. Consider that most PCs have the means to close the gate before they hit level 30. That's like ~15 talents give or take? I can't personally justify ever taking one.
If there's need for evidence, the char is on the ancardia.uk server and I can easily show in real time that dual wielding twin daggers takes less time to kill an ancient blue dragon than AotME.
At least when it comes to archmage.
"Hell is empty and all the devils are here."