I don't know.. Staff is so meh

I use staff on my reaper. But of course not as main weapon, just for its range, for taking some breath before re-engaging into melee. Many players still use staff for the range, but just because people use it, it does not mean it should not be improved. It is clearly a meh weapon, and the least improved weapon in all these years.

I mean: I switch to staff, unleash all marks, then switch back. Wish to have more reasons to stay a little longer. Maybe some life steal on auto? Or some more boon support? Or some finisher on a lower cooldown mark? Any ideas?

Uuuuh, staff auto does have healing. It's not exactly life steal, but it is healing.

People have been asking for Staff updates since launch. I don't think it'll happen, but you never know! If you are a Power Reaper, I would recommend switching to Axe/Foucs for ranged needs. It's more single-target and way less control. But it's way more single target damage.

Staff is really only used in PvP for it's utility and LF generation

@Drekor.5217 said:Staff is really only used in PvP for it's utility and LF generation

I think the marks work well with wells in PvE.

@pdboddy.4162 said:

@Drekor.5217 said:Staff is really only used in PvP for it's utility and LF generation

If you're looking to tag lots of foes in pve, then yes it is good. But that's it.

Atm Im tired of staff its not tht great, but the only reason i use it is for the much needed and required LF on Scourge :( Talk about being forced into underpowered weapons

We have worse weapons. Anet should first look at our daggers (mainhand and offhand) and our focus.

Staff marks with trait are very nice in WvW. I use them even in small team roaming.

@pdboddy.4162 said:Uuuuh, staff auto does have healing. It's not exactly life steal, but it is healing.

Staff autos don't have healing, they have Pierce and LF generation. Not even close to healing. Staff 2, which is an AoE Bleed, provides Regen but that's not Staff 'autos'.

Staff simply suffers from being boring. No weapon chain, the same mechanic on non-auto skills ... it's just not interesting to play. Personally, i think a good auto chain could be it's salvation.

@Okami.7049 said:

@pdboddy.4162 said:Uuuuh, staff auto does have healing. It's not exactly life steal, but it is healing.

Since you should be using shroud to take damage, that makes staff aa healing.

Staff is trapped by how it delivers attacks. The delivery is strong, the Condi chaining you can trait it for is strong. The play is magic-marker level of easy.

@Justine.6351 said:

@Okami.7049 said:

@pdboddy.4162 said:Uuuuh, staff auto does have healing. It's not exactly life steal, but it is healing.

Staff is actually harder to play than other weapons because you have to put marks on the ground, something which is hard to do while also moving and avoiding shit compared to just spamming buttons. Plus you have to place the marks accurately whereas with other weapons you just have to press the number keys.

@Muchacho.2390 said:We have worse weapons. Anet should first look at our daggers (mainhand and offhand) and our focus.

Well I find Focus to be quite nice, what's wrong with it? Warhorn is really bad imho. And MH Dagger.

Staff is just boring. It's not bad it's boring because those four Marks have like no interaction with anything and the CD of 3, 4 and 5 is just too long to make them fun. If there would be some traits tailored towards Staff or Marks I'd be fine with them but as it is now... very boring weapon to play.

Mark of blood is trash because damage and healing is lowChillblains was good as a reaper.Putrid mark is redundant with all the condi management we have.Reapers mark is usefull.... when you need a cc.

But marks in general are boring, soul marks is a boring talent, even the graphics of the marks are boring.

I dont know, maybe make them detonable at will...

@Nyel.1843 said:

@Muchacho.2390 said:We have worse weapons. Anet should first look at our daggers (mainhand and offhand) and our focus.

Warhorn is our best core offhand by far. Both skills are really good. I admit however that i dont like it (but that comes more from the fact that i dislike warhorns as a weapon type).

Offhand dagger is only good for its condi transfer skill (which to be fair i rate quite high). But it lacks lf generation (infact offhand dagger is the only necro weapon without a lf generating skill) and enfeebling blood is kinda meh (the skill i would change). I also dislike the the lack of good synergy to blood magic and mh dagger but that is my personal opinion and not really an argument (but i want to mention it).

For Mh dagger i am currently not sure in which direction it should go but i think it is clear that it is a bit lacking.

Focus i would rate as our worst weapon because i dont think the numbers a good enough. And reapers touch needs another boon then regeneration.

Going back to staff... yeah i agree is a bit boring. But as my most used weapon i find it quite useful.

Staff would be okay with a five second weapon swap. Swap in, throw all marks, swap out. It suffers greatly because once all marks are expended we are sitting there doing slow meaningless autos.

It would certainly help our LF generation if it weren't for the 10 second delay. But this is the same with GW2 since I first began playing it. Always I'd shy to weapon swap because I'd be tied to that weapon and not my 'main'.

@Kanto.1659 said:Staff would be okay with a five second weapon swap. Swap in, throw all marks, swap out. It suffers greatly because once all marks are expended we are sitting there doing slow meaningless autos.

It would certainly help our LF generation if it weren't for the 10 second delay. But this is the same with GW2 since I first began playing it. Always I'd shy to weapon swap because I'd be tied to that weapon and not my 'main'.

You know it is ok to enter shroud right?

You guys are undervaluing the fact that necro staff is genuinely the most interesting and unique weapon in the entire game. IMO the only change it needs is to make the 1 skill a 100% finisher instead of a 20% finisher. It's never going to be a raid dps weapon, but it does offer a lot of aoe in pve for tagging, as well as being mandatory for literally every pvp build due to the combination of lf gen, damage, cc, and condition transfer. Since scourge can hit 38k dps with just scepter/torch, you can actually run staff in pve since you have a spare weapon slot and I would do so for fractals.

@Tobias.8632 said:You guys are undervaluing the fact that necro staff is genuinely the most interesting and unique weapon in the entire game. IMO the only change it needs is to make the 1 skill a 100% finisher instead of a 20% finisher. It's never going to be a raid dps weapon, but it does offer a lot of aoe in pve for tagging, as well as being mandatory for literally every pvp build due to the combination of lf gen, damage, cc, and condition transfer. Since scourge can hit 38k dps with just scepter/torch, you can actually run staff in pve since you have a spare weapon slot and I would do so for fractals.

That would need to be in pve only , it already serves a purpose by healing so the 20% is justified in pvp/wvw context.

@Kanto.1659 said:Staff would be okay with a five second weapon swap. Swap in, throw all marks, swap out. It suffers greatly because once all marks are expended we are sitting there doing slow meaningless autos.

Agree with this. Due to weapon swap cooldown, every weapon should have an average/good auto, but staff's auto is so bad. I'm ok with the damage and speed being so low, since this is not a dps weapon in the end, but the auto should at least give more utility, such as life drain, cause explosion at the end, or apply a condition/boon.

And auto animation should be mich more visible... Some kind of dead beam.

Staff is so sluggish, that auto attack deserve 1500 range and a wider beam (120 to 180 width).

@Muchacho.2390 said:

@Nyel.1843 said:

@Muchacho.2390 said:We have worse weapons. Anet should first look at our daggers (mainhand and offhand) and our focus.

Well, I'm not getting used to Warhorn. What's the benefit (in PvE)? With Focus I can stack Vuln and remove Boons if I want to, with Axe it's quite strong imho. Warhorn is something I never touch because I feel it's really bad - if someone can convince me to use it I will, so what are the main benefits?

Staff Auto should be a chain imho - first part is the skill like it is now, second part is something like the first attack but a bit stronger and thirnd attack (=finisher) is casting a Mark at the targets place. Or scrap attack 2 and make it a 1+2 chain. Staff Auto is the biggest let down of Staff (+ the long CDs of Marks).

i always run staff as my second weapon. Range and lots of utility and aoe. condi transfer and with both reaper condi and scourge condi, the fear on staff 5 can put condi's on 5 targets and then an epi. It may not be the best weapon or a focused weapon, but its a great utility weapon. It suffers from what all necro things suffer from, it tries to do a lot and thus can't be super focused.