staff vs. wand and focus

X-DARKFIRE

Ascalonian Squire

Join Date: May 2006

im kinda new to caster class so im not entirely sure of which is better between staffs and wands with foci.

staffs can give you +15 energy always+ hct and hrt of skills

wand with focus can give you +17 energy^50%hp and +12< 50%
+ hct and hrt of skills

so im wondering is it worth it for a necro MM or SS to go with the +5 energy^ 50 and go with wand and focus, or just stick with staff?

outkast7053

Lion's Arch Merchant

Join Date: Feb 2006

Cookies They Smunch [YUMM]

N/Mo

my personal preference is a

20/20 wand and a 15,-1,+30 offhand

i find the -1 not to be a problem with my soul reaping being where its at

Syklone Xaos

Syklone Xaos

Ascalonian Squire

Join Date: Apr 2006

You Are the Man Now [Dakk]

I keep a 20/20 wand & a 20/20 focus as Set #1, and the same 20/20 wand & a 15/-1/+30 focus as Set #1. After a large group has been killed I just switch to Set #1 for regen, then back to Set #2 for the next enemy group.

I have matching sets for Blood, Death, & Curses. Obviously there are only 4 weapon sets, so I swap them when needed. But I mostly use Curses & Death, so it's not a bad setup. Much better than pay out the *ss for greens.

X-DARKFIRE

Ascalonian Squire

Join Date: May 2006

so what about doing a +5^50 and a 20/20 as set 1. and a +5<50 and a 20/20 as set 2.

would that work.

SparhawkJC

SparhawkJC

Krytan Explorer

Join Date: Mar 2006

The Amazon Basin

R/Me

The main bonus of using wand+focus is that they allow you to combine two +20% HCS or HSR items for a total of either 32% or 36% chance (forget which) of either stat with a 4% chance of quadruple CS or SR. If you are going to go with that setup you might as well craft a death staff from kaineng and slap an insightful mod on it. You only lose 2 energy and that +5 energy is unconditional. This also leaves room for you add a +30 health or +1 to Death Magic (20%) mod.

For Minion Master I go with 20/20 wand and focus so that I can steal bodies from necromancer class monsters, never really notice the recharge since my fiends recharge in 3 seconds anyways. For SS I have 2 sets, one is 20/20 wand and focus and the other is a Wayward Wand (+5 energy >50% 20%HSR) with Villnar's GLove (+1 to Curses (20%) HSR 20%). I normally just use the other set since the 2 second cast doesn't bother me that much and it allows to me to slap on 4-6 SS's (with arcane echo) with a chance of a couple of them dealing 39 damage. Not game changing but it sure is pretty to see those 39's light across the screen.