Anyone have success using Staff/Scepter in WvW for Mirage?

[Joshewwah.2956]

Title

[Dawdler.8521]

Staff, no. The staff is crap for WvW. Traits conflict and the skills on it has too high cd. Only 2 is any good for evasion but its nowhere near enough. Condis have some minor use for it I guess but even there its meh.

Scepter on the other hand, very usefull both in power and condi builds.

[bart.3687]

For solo roaming, I find both of them useful. Staff gives you Phase Retreat, Chaos Storm, and some protection spam if you trait Chaotic Dampening and use Jaunt (or any other leap/blast) on Chaos Storm. Scepter is okay for duelling, especially if you are hybrid. Confusing Images can hit hard. However, with Mirage, you can replace it with Axe, which has, imo, more condi pressure and deception/elusiveness to it, but is melee. It's up to your preferences, I guess.

To sum up, I haven't been wvw-ing too much lately, but I used to have success with both of these weapons.

[Joshewwah.2956]

What about Staff's ambush? And how is scepter used? (Also what offhand is used with it)

[Joshewwah.2956]

@bart.3687 said:For solo roaming, I find both of them useful. Staff gives you Phase Retreat, Chaos Storm, and some protection spam if you trait Chaotic Dampening and use Jaunt (or any other leap/blast) on Chaos Storm. Scepter is okay for duelling, especially if you are hybrid. Confusing Images can hit hard. However, with Mirage, you can replace it with Axe, which has, imo, more condi pressure and deception/elusiveness to it, but is melee. It's up to your preferences, I guess.

To sum up, I haven't been wvw-ing too much lately, but I used to have success with both of these weapons.

How about their performance in a zerg?

[Curunen.8729]

@Dawdler.8521 said:Staff, no. The staff is crap for WvW. Traits conflict and the skills on it has too high cd. Only 2 is any good for evasion but its nowhere near enough. Condis have some minor use for it I guess but even there its meh.

Scepter on the other hand, very usefull both in power and condi builds.

Phase retreat can save in a lot of situations where you'd get mauled using scepter. Getting out of aoes, repositioning if cced (can avoid follow up burst even if still stunned/cced), and general kiting together with jaunt and blink.

Sure warlock is awful as it's most likely to miss, and chaos armour is underwhelming, but 2 and 5 are just as solid as in pvp, and the auto together with clone generation (DE or SD and staff 2 with low cooldown) is decent when against more than one opponent. The ambush might miss unless used in close range but still gives you easy 3 might and fury which for me using hybrid makes stacking a bit of might (together with BountifulDisillusionment) have value.

Phase retreat is kind of similar to infiltrator's arrow on thief SB - it carries the entire weapon and makes it worth using. Even with the state of other skills on staff, I still use it because of how awesome phase retreat is.

[bart.3687]

@Joshewwah.2956 said:What about Staff's ambush? And how is scepter used? (Also what offhand is used with it)

Staff's ambush is decent now that they made its projectile faster. It is beautiful, applies 3 condis, stacks might easily, and can hit multiple foes. It still can miss the target very often, but not as many times as it used to before the patch.About scepter, it's the best on hybrid builds, but can be used on full condi or full power as well. I use it with Torch offhand. I'm not a pvp expert at all, but I usually keep close to my opponent, countering their attacks with skill 2 and pressuring them with Confusing Images + Mind Wrack.

@Joshewwah.2956 said:

@bart.3687 said:For solo roaming, I find both of them useful. Staff gives you Phase Retreat, Chaos Storm, and some protection spam if you trait Chaotic Dampening and use Jaunt (or any other leap/blast) on Chaos Storm. Scepter is okay for duelling, especially if you are hybrid. Confusing Images can hit hard. However, with Mirage, you can replace it with Axe, which has, imo, more condi pressure and deception/elusiveness to it, but is melee. It's up to your preferences, I guess.

To sum up, I haven't been wvw-ing too much lately, but I used to have success with both of these weapons.

How about their performance in a zerg?

I have very little experience with zergs, but basically the more people there are around, the more useless I feel. To me, mesmer isn't a good profession for zerg fights, especially with mostly one target weapons such as scepter and staff.

[Arlette.9684]

Scepter is legit, if you are willing to sacrifice sustain and go all in to finish your target if they’re trying to hoof it.

Personally I was never able to implement staff in wvw post vanilla, it’s a defensive weapon with a ton of big CDs. Staff used to be a great weapon in vanilla when we had the reactive PU spec.

[Dawdler.8521]

@bart.3687 said:I have very little experience with zergs, but basically the more people there are around, the more useless I feel. To me, mesmer isn't a good profession for zerg fights, especially with mostly one target weapons such as scepter and staff.Greatsword is the primary zerg weapon and obviously gonna apply to power. It really depends on how you want to zerg fight. If we're talking brainless stay exactly on the commander and spam your keys hoping to hit anything in front so you can pick up your obviously well deserved lootbags, then maybe not so good compared to others. Condi mesmer is worthless in the zerg (especially with a staff) but power is an excellent zerg flanker/disrupter, one of the best. Mirage makes it even better with the greatsword ambush, extra mobility, stun breaks and condi removal. When played well a single mesmer can plow through a backline and be out before they knew what hit them.