I like the staff rework

GJ on the change!

Definitely a lot more fun to use, I'm waiting for smarter people than me to figure out how to best use it though

I really didn't expect it and I'm so happy with how it was done, pretty much perfect for how I wanted it to be! Well done on the rework!

Not much of a Guardian player but have been messing about with this and it feels really great, could be one of my favourite ranged weapons in the game.

Can someone post a video of it for those who are working?

Staff is definitely in an interesting place now.

• Auto attack is now a 3 chain attack, hits multiple targets on 2nd and 3rd chains(not sure about the 1st chain)
• Holy Strike is much better than the old clunky orb skill we had. It's like an orbital strike skill, pretty cool. It is also a blast finisher, which it doesn't say.
• Empower Buffs are nice, the healing is around 3000 from 3 pulses at 496 and the final heal at 1.5k (0 Healing power). The might duration change is nice but I don't think it'll be that useful since there are classes who are better at providing might (banner warriors for example).

It'll probably be used in WvW as usual, not sure about PvP. As for PvE, I don't think it replaces scepter/focus but I haven't done any math. This is just what I think of the staff changes so far.

Praise Dwayna, I never thought this day would come. You did good this time, Anet, you warmed my toxic heart.

As a range weapon with power stats is just awesome. Now i have to see how it is as healing.Great rework, a lot of fun.Is a really nice range weapon now.

I assume Scepter is still better at dmg, but staff will see its place as a healing weapon in pve and a long range pressure/aoe weapon in wvw/pvp.

I'm a fan of the changes and I look forward to using it with mace/shield on a support build. I really enjoy the new skill 2 blast finisher interaction with the skill 3 symbol. Additional condi cleanse with my heals? Yes please!

@Kain Francois.4328 said:I assume Scepter is still better at dmg, but staff will see its place as a healing weapon in pve and a long range pressure/aoe weapon in wvw/pvp.

Most likely. I don't see the staff changes being enough to beat Scepter/Focus right now.

I hate the changes. Getting rid of Light Aura sucks on the 2 skill. Might Duration wasn't an issue on Empower, it needed 1-2 more Might stacks added. The new auto attack is a slow particle bomb that is lame, and makes Staff a more confusing weapon. I was hoping for changes like I suggested in another thread on the Guardian forum.

The 2 skill changes will sound good to most, but it isn't that great. You lose Light Aura just for a bit more healing and damage. To make up for losing Light Aura, they added a Blast Finisher at least. I mean it's not amazing, but synergizes well with Line of Warding.

Also the new auto attack chain will look great to most, but it's the worst change. The first attack is fast, the second is slow and hits 3 targets, then the fifth is slower, and hits 5. The long range is cool, but this change just ups damage with Staff auto. They could have done so much more. Staff did not need more damage. Guardian already has Scepter dominating our ranged DPS slot. Buffing Staff damage is useless. You can make the small argument of it being slightly more helpful on WvW blobs, and PvP with the range and DPS buff, but I see little point, because Staff was never used for damage. It was used for tagging when farming, and quickly bursting heals with some offensive support through Might.

I was hoping for a better rework, but now I don't see that ever happening, because this was just done. Staff will still be used for Might, burst healing, and now a fast Condition cleanse. I just wanted more Might, and offensive support.

:/

Quick testing in PvE power build with retaliation, the damage is too low. I dunno if we could see return of WvW celestial dps staff guardians. I think that is the only place where these changes might matter. I do think the Empower changes are great for PvE support, but would not make FB support a think in raids.

I dunno what was the purpose of the rework. Beside making staff a glorified loot stick, I do not think the changes are of any impact.

I only think they should add a small healing on staff 1 (something like trident 1) and the staff would be in a great spot as support weapon. The damage is really low, but at least isn't bad as used to be.

The small healing could be on the 2nd chain (up to 3 targets) and 3rd chain (up to 5 targets). Same healing as trident 1 (both base and scaling).

@"Falseprophet.1502" said:Can someone post a video of it for those who are working?

Also the new auto chain can be cycled through even out of combat/without target

The new skills 2, Holy Strike is a blast finisher, despite no tooltip mention

I like the changes but maybe there are a few things you guys can answer for me.

1. Should the final staff auto apply a boon or condition? It seems odd that all it does is hit more targets. I think the projectiles later on the chain also travel slower.
2. Staff 2 is now a blast finisher even though its not stated on tool tip?
3. Staff 2 "pulses" but the number on the tool tip does not say anything like (4x) like a symbol or (7x) like whirling wrath so what exactly is pulsing? I only see 1 number when I dps something so its definitely not the damage so is the heal pulsing? If so is the number on the tooltip the max heal or the heal per pulse?

Additional QoL I would really love:

1. Make Empower castable while moving at a reduced speed (50% normal speed or something).
2. Courage signet is still god awful, please rework it again and/or significantly reduce cast time. The current cast time would only be ok if it full revived all downed allies in area and healed all non downed allies to full hp.

edit: also please let mantras prioritize party membersThanks.

Holy Strike claims 4 pulses but only seems to hit once.

@"Mikau.6920" said:I only think they should add a small healing on staff 1 (something like trident 1) and the staff would be in a great spot as support weapon. The damage is really low, but at least isn't bad as used to be.

The small healing could be on the 2nd chain (up to 3 targets) and 3rd chain (up to 5 targets). Same healing as trident 1 (both base and scaling).

I think this would really make it fun and would really open up the support builds. Currently, I take Pure of Heart automatically on my support build. Tweaking staff to be more of a supporty-healy weapon than it already is, though, would make me think seriously about taking Honourable Staff and would probably give us some extra flexibility with grandmaster traits.

Holy Strike only hits once as far as I tested.

The power scaling is awful for skill 1/2.

Full radiance DPS variant in PvE only crits for about 3-5k.

@otto.5684 said:Holy Strike only hits once as far as I tested.

Rapidly pulses the heal then does the damage.

@Etterwyn.5263 said:Holy Strike claims 4 pulses but only seems to hit once.

The number is displayed similar to how mesmer's GS auto works. You won't see a new green number with every pulse, but the same number getting increased rapidly.

Will staff be viable for core guard pvp...? I would definitely run staff + sword/focus if so

lol no, it hits for like 3k crits, the 2nd and 3rd auto attack chain also moves progressively slower.