Staves vs Wands vs Weapons

What exactly are the advantages and disadvantages of each? I am starting a Mesmer for the first time after being essentially a career melee player and I see that most people prefer a wand and focus combo, while Elementalists seem to use staves more often and Monks tend to vary between Staves and a Weapon + Shield or Weapon + Focus.

As far as I can tell a staff offers the most base unconditional energy, with +10 inherent and +5 from an insightful mod, with another possible +5^50 inscription and a wrapping that can provide bonus armor, health or enchanting (which as a mesmer will probably not see much use.

The Wand and Focus seems capable of providing the most energy overall with 12 base and the option to take two +15/-1 energy mods, although that would obviously be a backup set rather than primary. It also allows for a 40/40 recharge and cast set which seems to be quite popular, although it eliminates the option for bonus health or armor (and as a mesmer I am not sure how useful increased cast time is, though recharge is still good).

Finally the weapon and focus or weapon and shield combo. Honestly I see very little point in the shield combo since shield inscriptions provide nothing very useful for a caster besides a small chance at reducing physical damage which is inferior to an additional armor mod to begin with, and the shield handles being mostly conditional and lacking utility for a caster besides a health bonus. A weapon and focus seems to allow better unconditional energy than a wand / focus, with 12 from the focus and +5 from a weapon inscription while also allowing an enchanting or health bonus mod, but at the cost of only a 20/20 cast/recharge set and a secondary useless weapon mod.

In the end, which set would work best for me? I plan on doing a variety of PvP and will surely end up with several sets of everything, but if I could only take one combination to start with and develop from, which suits a mesmer better? If it matters I will likely be running either some form of interrupt and e-denial or a fast cast nuke or curse build depending on how my guild decides to run GvG at the moment.

1. Mesmers really have no need for staffs (staves? fck idk). This is because the mods that are important to your class (such as hc/hr are easier to achieve on wands/offhands)

2. That said, 40/40 sets of pretty much every line is what you need. If you're going into PvP you'll definetly want 40/40 sets of Inspiration, Domination, Illusion, Restoration (for FoMF), Curses, Water. You'll also want high sets of each (wand/offhand, each with a +15/-1e mod).

3. As far as other weapons you'll want a shield set. This consists of a shield (and you'll usually have multiple shields [+10 vs. X's and Cripple shield, etc.]), and a martial weapon. Their aren't many advantages of what kind of martial weapon to use for your shield set. A lot of people prefer to use spears over axes/swords because you can c-space around without worrying about your character every running forward and displacing you from your correct positioning. Mods for your shield set(s) are usually +5e/+30health on the martial weapon and then the variable/+30 health shield (variable being +10vs.X or whatever reduction mod you currently need). You'll also want to have a -5e/+30health set that you can switch to if you're about to die or if you're dealing with e-denial.

It's a lot of sets but if you want to be PvP ready it's best to have most, if not all, of them.

On my mesmer I have a 40/40 set which does wonders with Diversion, a +30e set, a set with a shield and a spear/shield req 8 set. The problem with shields on a PvE character is that you're missing out on +10 armor against fire/ice/etc unless you're going to pick up every good shield you find. This can be done especially if you settle for 14/15 armor shields with slightly lower requirements.

The most vital sets would be the Spear/Shield set and the 40/40 set. 40/40 is important because otherwise your Shame/Diversion is interrupt bait. The +8/16(26) armor +60 health keeps you alive and soaks up a little more damage. I feel naked in AB if I forget my shieldset even on my ranger.

wand and focus r used mainly for 40/40 sets and high sets. casting faster and skills recharging faster makes u more effective.

staves r good if u need enchant mod or health mod as they allow u to cast just as fast as 40/40 sets (with adept head and aptitude inscrip) but extend ur enchants 20% longer. pretty much useless on a mesmer but if u run flesh of my flesh a staff is the way to go as it takes from ur current health so having a 40% chance to halves cast wit moar health is the optimal weapon for that.

martial weapons and shield r used for armor. necessary in pvp idk soo much about pve. shields always give half the armor if u dont meet the req. and martial weapons can be given armor +5 +7vs ele or +7 vs physical mods which essentially take ur 60 armor mesmer to a possible 85 vs a specific type of dmg.

there u go hope that helped

Shield+martial weapon= energy hiding set +high hp set
staff=enchant with 20/20
focus+wand= high energy sets +40/40 sets

Staffs actualy can give 40/20 with and enchant bonus, Mesmers dont really need enchant bonuses, thats more for monks. Staffs dont really have much of a use, you can the same HP and extra armour with a defensive set and you get better HCR/HSR with wand/focus.

the only class that actually uses staves are monks and on top of that, only prot monks use it(unless for channeling), and on top of that prot monks only pull out their 40/20/20 staff for certain prots (guardian, SoA, AoS, channeling, aegis)

all other caster classes should be using 40/40 sets
they also should be using spear shield sets with +60 health and +10 armour vs random shiet
they also use other sets but these are the basic ones.

eles should use staves for attunes and aura. so should necros for orders or any random enchant they can have (awaken the blood, cultist fervor, vamp spirit ((i know super random))...

not trying to counter u just trying to prove a point which is:

If you have an enchant on ur bar, bring a staff of that skills attribute .

Specialized builds could use enchant staves, although the builds are probably terrible.

Always a good idea to keep a +60 staff in your inventory if your face shitter things like bspam or laceratespam.

I think of Staffs as "all around" weapons... not the best, but kind of basic or plain. The enchant mod, health, some more energy, nothing too fancy. Wand/Focus Item/Sheild for specializing in something... 40/40... or just 40% (you have fast casting after all). 40/40% I don't really like... it forces you to use one line mostly if you want that bonus. Weapons are one thing I don't really pay much attention to, I feel like it adds another dimension to the game to monitor which would probably slow me down more than anything. And having a billion sets of weapons seems extremely annoying, even if it may be annoying... *weapon switch* *weapon switch* *weapon switch* *weapon switch* *weapon switch* *quits game*

You already seem to know the advantages and disadvantages to each, and since you seem to be interested in PvP, I can't really add much, since I'm not a PvP'er.
However, I will throw my 2 cents in anyway, about the 40/40 set.....

- a Mesmer's primary attribute is Fast Casting. If you are running a build that uses only (or mostly) one Mesmer attribute line, you will usually have enough points around to put at least 9 in FC, which will speed up casting of all Mesmer spells every time. (maybe even all spells, not sure atm)

- a 40/40 set only does the "40/40" for spells of one attribute. If you have a build that uses 2 attribute lines you will either split the 40/40 into two 20/20's, or only get the 40/40 benefit in one set of skills. In PvE, of course, the 40/40 set will have no benefit for PvE-only skills.

- so, bottom line is you need to weigh the advantages of having, for example, and extra 20% chance HCT of the spells you are using of the appropriate attribute, versus the benefit of extra energy, or health, or armor, etc. (especially in PvE)