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In this question we see that two-weapon fighting with darts is not possible because they are not melee weapons. Let's replace the darts in that scenario with daggers, which are valid light melee weapons for two-weapon fighting, and also have the thrown property.

Two-weapon fighting says:

Two-Weapon Fighting.

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.

Consider this scenario:

Bob the rogue has two daggers drawn and ready to go. He throws his first dagger as his attack action, satisfying the condition of "when you take the Attack action and attack with a light melee weapon that you’re holding in one hand."

At this point, he is no longer holding this weapon in hand because he has thrown it. He is now holding only one dagger, in his other hand. In this case, the condition above has been met, but does he get to use the bonus action to attack with a "different light melee weapon [held in his] other hand" even though he is now wielding only a single weapon?

In other words, is the bonus attack granted at the moment the first attack made, as long as you meet that first condition of "attack[ing] with a light melee weapon that you’re holding in one hand," regardless of how many weapons you end up holding after the first attack?

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Yup, this works.

He takes the Attack action, and meets all of the prerequisites of TWF. Check.

He throws a dagger, as TWF allows. Check.

Now, as you describe, he's holding a light, one-handed, melee weapon and can attack with it. He can either make a melee attack or throw it, per the last line of TWF.

If he could not attack because he's only holding one weapon, the last line of TWF would be nonsense. The conditions were met when he chose the Attack action, so he can carry out all of its steps.

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    \$\begingroup\$ Also, by reading of the rules text, it doesn't anywhere say that you need to be wielding two weapons at once - just that you need to first attack with one weapon, wielded in one hand, end then attack with a different weapon, wielded in the other hand. You could throw, draw, then throw, and still use two weapon fighting in spite of never having had more than one weapon in hand at a time. \$\endgroup\$
    – Ben Barden
    Commented Apr 5, 2019 at 13:29
  • \$\begingroup\$ @BenBarden: The interpretation in your comment is contradicted by the official ruling in the Sage Advice Compendium (updated in October 2020): "Can I make an attack with one weapon, then draw a second weapon with my other hand and qualify to use two-weapon fighting? To use the two-weapon fighting bonus action (PH, 195), you must have both weapons in hand when you make the first attack. [...]" \$\endgroup\$
    – V2Blast
    Commented Oct 5, 2020 at 8:46
  • \$\begingroup\$ Corresponding Q&A: Does Two-Weapon fighting work if you aren't holding both weapons when you take the Attack action? \$\endgroup\$
    – V2Blast
    Commented Oct 5, 2020 at 9:07

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