Staves or wands?

Hello everyone :-)

My question is "Staves or wands"?

This is a heated discussion in my mind so I decided to ask your opinions. It seems to me that ,(all other things being equal), staves deliver overall more than the combination of wand and offhand.

All other things being equal I mean that you compare similar characteristics. It seems to me that the best staff will beat the combination of a wand and an offhand. There could be maybe a couple of points in energy that a wand/offhand will be able to "beat" a staff but OVERALL it seems that a staff beats wand/offhand.

Where Wand/Offhand combination shines is in diversity. I believe that someone will choose a wand/offhand combination if he/she wants to have the ability of adapting more easily to the environment that he is facing, while staves are more rigid in their offered characteristics.

What I would like is your input as well. What is your opinion?
What do you usually carry with you? Staff or wand/offhand.

Thank you guys

Sword/axe/spear+offhand is better, unless you're on a dom mesmer.

Why? since most classes don't really worry about the hsr 20% that a wand can provide, you get options like health +30 or enchantments +20%, as well as a constant +5 energy.

The only reason dom mesmers care is for faster diversion recharges.

diversity is also well at home on a staff. U can have 20% halves recharge of all spells and 2*10% halves casting tomes of all spells on a staff. Wand and focus only allow a spell belonging to a specific attribute to be faster recharged or cast. a wand can be used with a shield if u want more defense, but then also a staff can be equiped with defensive mods, that apply all the time, not only when attacked from the front as i understood from shield mechanics.

Nowadays i prefer staves over wand+focus, unless i use a sword for targetting, in that case sword or focus is welcome.

Thank you guys

Well when I was talking about staff or wand, I meant professions that really use them. It's a rare (if not non existent) sight to see a warrior with a staff.

I was referring mainly to proffesions such as necromancers, monks, elementalists, mesmers...

What would you usually use...

Thanks again

I used mostly staves, but recently changed to weapon and offhand, because of the interchange-ablility.

I'm speaking here for my ele: I have an reduced poison + hp crafted shield that I modded (that stacks with the reduced poison on my armor), I have 4 collectors offhands with HSR and HCT for there attribute, I made myself an +5 energy + longer enchant sword and a -5 energy +hp sword will be made soon too when I get the gold for the crafter to combine with the offhands/shields. One special offhand is also a fire artifact with reduced dazed added on it. And for Wands I like HSR + ???.

And this was all very cheap to get = mostly all are collectors items, the rest was crafted at the weaponsmiths (I don't care about the skins its the functionality I want for my char). And you can customize your stuff too, without having to think if your going to customize a pricey gold or rare skin :P
My motto is customize, customize ...

I did this comparison on one of my eles' weapons:

SKYBRINGER.........Energy: 10.........Health: 30..........HSR: 20..........HSC: 40
AMADIS................Energy: 10.........Health: 60..........HSR: 20..........HSC: 20

WEAPONSMITH WAND............................................HS R: 20..........HSC: 20
LUSHIVAHR...........Energy: 12..........Health: 30.........HSR: 20

Thom wasnt referring to melee classes, but caster using single hand melee weapons. because you have ascess to mods on melee weapons (pommel, grip, ect...) as well as a permanent +5 engery, rather than the condition +5 on a wand, using a sword for example is a very good idea. all you miss out on is the HSR, which you can still have on your focus if you have to have it.

compare these three:

common staff:

* Energy +15
* [type] damage: 11-22 (req. 9 [Attribute])
* Halves skill recharge time of spells (Chance: 20%)
* Energy +5 (while health is above 50%)
* Health +30 or 20% longer enchantments

common wand/offhand:

* [Type] damage* 11-22 (Requires 9 [Attribute])
* Halves skill recharge of [Attribute] spells (Chance: 20%)
* Energy +5 (while Health is above 50%)

* Energy +12 (Requires 9 <Attribute>)
* Halves skill recharge of <Attribute> spells (Chance: 20%)
* Health +30

common sword/offhand:

* Cold Damage: 15-22 (req. 9 Swordsmanship)
* 20% longer enchantments or +30 Health
* Energy +5

* Energy +12 (Requires 9 <Attribute>)
* Halves skill recharge of <Attribute> spells (Chance: 20%)
* Health +30

i usually use a sword/off hand combo on my monk. more unconditional energy than a wand/offhand or a staff, gives 20% enchants, HSR, and + health.

I'm not sure if I've got this totally right.... but doesn't the average staff only give +10 energy by default.... I mean aside from extra energy functions?

well for emergency energy i use +15/-1 for wand and offhand. it can come in handy.

other than that im a staff man

yes, but the one i mentioned above has a +5e mod and a +5e ^50 inscription.

Numbers aside...Staves are infintely more elegant.

I guess Wands and Focus can come in useful when you want LOADS of extra energy...if you were mad enough to use a wand and a focus both with 15/-1 on them ("Sieze the Day" inscription).

From an Elementalist point of view, anyhow, what with 70-80 energy a staff is fine since that is more than enough energy...I mean, you CAN try and get 130 energy if you want but there's no point when with good energy management my 70-80 energy pool rarely falls below 50.

Staves just look far cooler than any wand/focus ever could

Platinum Staves for the win.

I need at least one of my monk heroes to have the Kaolin Protection Staff.... not least since I've already got the Kaolin Water Staff and Kaolin Domination Staff (the latter of which is quite the shiny Mesmer weapon)... ^_^ ... I kinda want the Kaolin Accursed Staff for myself, but until then I'll just stick with my Hale Evil-Eye Staff of Defence when I go A/N.

The benefit of wand/off-hand is the ability to use them in different combinations in your weapon sets. It is easier to get the exact combinations you like to use with the separate items than with staves,

And warrior runners on the Droks run quite often equip caster items for the larger +eng stats.

I have the Dominatiion Staff and the Accursed Staff...I'm also hoping to complete my Kaolin Staff collection this weekend with the Water and Protection staves. They are truly stunning. One day...when I'm leet enough I would really love a Tormented Staff. That skin is amazing.

Nothing beats a +5 energy fiery dragon sword.

I know something that does...

+5 Energy Crystaline Sword


haw, pwned!

Nah, 'cuz Crystallines are ugly

Personally, I like dual 20/20 wand and artifact for elementalist... we really don't need extra energy modifiers, and dual 20/20 allows you the chance to fire off more spells faster than other combos (of course, with some kind of enchanting weapon on switch if you're one of them dual attunes types ).

It's all a matter of personal preference. People who use melee weapons and offhand on casters are problaby PvP oriented where mod swapping matters more.

I like to be able to apply a little more damage pressure by wanding enemies...I wouldn't want my monk in a fight swinging a sword.

To Answer the OPs question: I'm more into PvE and I prefer staffs, in general because, they take up fewer slots in inventory, look more elegant (Banor's Sacred Branch and Zodiac Staff) and you can pretty much match any wand/offhand stats with a good Staff.

For me it depends on the profession (i only play PvE):

For monk and mesmer i prefer staves that give +20 energy (10 + 5 + 5^50)... that way i miss the HCT 10 or 20%, but i dont consider that as a problem as the 10 or 20% is a chance (nothing guaranteed). Many monks skills usually cast in 1 second or faster and for mesmer we have fast casting. This really works fine for me.

For elementalist and necro i prefer wand+focus... the wand (or rod) is usually 20/20 in speed and the focus is +12 energy, +1 death or fire (20%) and +30 health. IMO with these 2 professions i must have faster casting as casttimes are often long. And the missing 3 energy compared to 20/20 staves (10 + 5) is not a problem with decent energy storage or soul reaping settings. I tried +1 death or fire (20%) staves but i felt very vunerable because i was missing the 30 extra health (for these professions i prefer the 30 health over 3 extra energy).

All my chars have at least 1 superiour rune for their profession + superiour rune of vigor... giving me 485 health (no dp).

Just my 2 € cents...

I run 1 staff with proper mods ( enchanting or health, depends on build ), 1 wand/offhand with 1/15, another set with 2 1/15's, and a negative set.