Are staffs are inferior to wands?

It is possible to get 2 mods on staves, and no mods on wands (I think )

Ah I meant the inherent mods. One inherent mod on the wands and two on the staves with two upgradable parts (head/wrapping).

Got this with the first 2 mods, I added the last. For a N/M its nice to have the extra life.

Just my opion...I have +5 Energy >50%hp and 10% Improve cast in all school wand + a Collector 27/-1/30hp Divine Focus..Which makes my Healing Monk 62 Energy with Fissure armor...I dont think with Staff you can get to that amount...since i only heal i dont really attack much..so i use peace and harmony to make up for the -1..even if you upgrade the staff..you still cant seem to get to the same stats as a wand/focus..

staff: can be upgraded, most have energy bonuses

wands: let you use focuses.

it all depends on what you are looking for.

As a monk I play with a wand and focus with +20 something energy and +25 HP and I found that when I used the staff I just ran out of energy to quick and couldn't spam Orison and Word long enough, but the extra energy tends to last me through the battle and if not then the -1 pip means that I have 5 energy to cast Word when it recharges. And I can see the need for the increased recharge and casting speed on healing spells because they never recharge/hit fast enough when important. Also the extra energy means I do not use half of my energy to cast a bit of protection at the beginning of a battle.

for the first 90% of the game I always used wand and focus since no staff could equal it. Now in Ring of Fire, there are no wands or focus and the staves that drop are awesome.

In my oppinion Staves > Wands.


A max damage staff has the same damage as a max damage wand, and only 2 less energy than a max energy focus. The main difference that makes them better is that you can upgrade them. Using an insightful mod, I can easily match your energy and still have room to spare for a defensive staff head/wrap.

I use a staff at the moment myself. I currently have a staff with 20% faster cast and 20% faster recharge as the inherent bonus, as well as a +9% faster cast time. I added in the +29hp Hale Staff head and the +19% enchantment duration. Can you believe it is still only blue?

There is no way any staff can compete with a simple collector wand/focus combo.

I play amongst other character classes a Necro/Monk who wields a Max Dmg Truncheon(collector) with +20% skill recharge and 2 alternate focii. Both focii are grim cestas one with energy+27!!! and health +30 energy regen-1, the other has 20/20 stats(cast/recharge). I switch between the two to suit my needs for energy vs. cast/recharge speed.

A perfect 20/20 staff is available from collectors and whaddaya know I happen to have one(which I seldom find use for). With an insightful head+5energy(max) and a wrap of fortitude +30health(max) it still falls 12 energy short of my one focus and 20%recharge short of the other. To top it off you will pay a lot of plats for max staff upgrades while not approaching the performance of simple collector wand/focii combos.

It would be nice if this imbalance were corrected by the ppl who code this game but I wouldnt hold my breath as there is still no storage agent at my guild hall and no 1v1 pvp. It seems they have their hands full nerfing farming O_o

Just my $.02

i <3 my staff

@LockerLoad: I agree completely. I have the same setup, collectors blood wand (20% recharge, max dmg) and a Grim Cesta with +27 Energy! *and* +30 Health!

No staff can touch that, and there is still room to get a new wand with one more mod!!!

Anyone ever seen a max dmg truncheon with +15 energy, 20% recharge? or maybe a 20/20 fast cast/recharge for Blood Magic?

Well...wands can have +energy mods also. My necro has a gold truncheon, and it gives +13 energy. Combined with a +12 Grim Cesta, thats +25 energy to work with. I don't know of any staff that can do that

Bash: Is that wand +energy but also -energy regen?

I have a Max Damage Hale Crule Staff of Fort. I get 6o health and 20/20 for blood magic so they are out there. I dont care to much for the +energy mods for one simple reason... Soul Reaping. I love that skill. Everytime something dies, I get energy. A little harder to use in PvP, but when u have +4 nrg regen it doesnt really matter. All I use is Blood and Curses, I have everything else in Soul Reaping.

I love the 20/20% too.You would be so suprised how often that comes in handy when using Well Of Blood and other spells that take a few seconds longer to recharge. For me to use 10 spells in one battle is nothing and if I can get 2 of them to cast fast and 2 of them to recharge fast then that is alot of time saved on waiting for skills. I currently have 40 nrg and 590hp so keeping myself alive with blood is no prob for me. I am usually the last person standing in the group.

O, and to answer the question which is better, I definatly have to go with staffs. With the upgrade posibilities and how cool they look, they are the only weapon that I will ever use with my necro. IMO.=)

Here's my equipment:

the staff is for smiting

the rod/icon is for protection

Unless there is a staff that gives +38 energy. I will stick with my +15 energy wand and +22 Energy flame artifact.

Since i don't use enchantments the 20% longer enchantments is worthless and 20% faster skill recharge is not worth the loss of energy.

Unless there is a rod/off-hand (non-shield) combo that gives +10 to defense (+5 each from head and wrap), I'm not apt to switch from my max collector's staff when smiting. That's one of the beauties of this game -- everyone has different strategies.

IMO, staves are the way to go. I'd much rather have the regen than the extra energy. looking at it from my monk's point of view, with 30 base energy and 4 regen, the wand/focus combo would give me 68 max, and the staff would give me 42 max. The 68 looks nicer, except that it takes almost twice as long for your energy to recharge with 3 pips as it does with 4 (~1.7 energy regained per second with 4 as opposed to 1:1 even with 3). Thus, while I can have all of my energy refilled in 30 seconds with the staff, 30 seconds with the wand/rod gets me only 30 energy. If you have the ability to do enough raw damage to end any combat on your first 62 energy, you're better off with the wand/rod. If you want to be able to continue fighting and manage your energy more easily, staff is nicer. This is assuming the high +energy focus items don't also have the -1 energy mod. I don't know one way or the other. So, despite my long winded post, I still say its a matter of opinion, but my opinion is staves. I actually was thinking that wand/rod was the way to go initially, but this topic made me curious enough to actually find out what the impact of a pip of energy regen was, and my mind was changed when I experimented. Keep in mind this is all based on my monk's use of energy, but I can't imagine why an ele wouldn't want the regen. They have tons of energy already. Only class I can see wanting more raw energy with is maybe mesmer or ranger, and with expertise your ranger's energy pool pretty much doubles.

My oppionion is Staffs, Staves, are better since I got a ownage Staff.
Insightful Fire Staff:
+10 Eng
Improves Spell Casting When Using Curses
10-20 Fire Dam
+2 Eng
+20% More Dam, Since Custimized cause its so good.
But the problem is I'm looking for a good staff wrapping for it. Anyone got any for sale?

I think Wands/Focus would be good too since I got this Fire Artifact that gives +12 Eng, But I can't find any good wands to go with it.

Looking for a nice smiting staff myself. I am happy to make it myself...so where in-game is a good place to hunt for staffs? What typically drops good staffs?

well, I don't like one better than the other. When I find a good wand/stave I use it, I don't specialize in only one or the other.

(Currently I like staves better because of the 20/20 awesomeness).

Anyone have suggestions for looting staves? Pretty please? With bacon on top?

griffs outside rankor

you'd be looking for a LONG time for a staff better than the collector's ones

I'm specifically looking for one with a +enchantment mod that I can strip. I don't think there is a smiting staff with such a mod.