Staff rework

[Howluffu.7259]

Can we please have a Staff rework for ele? I like my "mages" to have a rod or a staff like gandalf would but in is current state is utterly garbo...

 

Better healing staff would be dope too.

I am planning of making a "white mage" with ele but not a fan of the current healer weapons. I know water staff does a lot of raw healing but maybe put some more utility instead.

[Riba.3271]

They should change following:

Fire 3: Changed into enemy centered AoE blast finisher with delay (power damage), similar to new scepter 2

Fire 5: 25% Shorter cast time, 2 second shorter duration

Reasoning: Power damage shifted from unreliable meteor shower to more flexible 3 skill. Increased fluidity by reducing cast time of meteor. Extra blast finisher offers more utility.

Water 1: 600 range AoE cone attack that also heals allies. (Utility!)

Water 4:  Ticks small amount of damage

Reasoning: Water 1 would feel much better at healing, Water 4 should generate catalyst resource, remove aegis and tag bags

Air 3:  Reworked into AoE knockback that hits surrounding enemies (300 radius)

Reasoning: RIght now this ability is too easily reflected and this will help you defend against being ganged up without having to target enemy

Earth 1: 50% faster travel time

Earth 5: 33% faster cast time

Reasoning: Earth 1 just travels too slow and earth 5 takes forever to cast + travel so targets often get out of range or someone spawns a reflect

 

 

[Guybrush.4762]

I wouldn't mind a few buffs and quality of life upgrade... I mean, staff feels generally kinda slow tand trash mob often dies before the projectile even hit, I would like more synergies between skill 3 and the rest of the kit (what they did with scepter skill 2 and 3 comes to mind), air lack a punch which hurt a potential power staff build, the whole concept of locking mob into your AoE with CC is pretty neat but it stop working the moment you meet a defiant foe... but I would not go as far as calling staff "utterly garbo".

It has some uses, condi Staff weaver in particular come to mind. It is pretty dope in instanced PvE, test it! 😊

Edited January 12, 2023 by Guybrush.4762

[Abjurer.9302]

On 1/11/2023 at 8:53 PM, Riba.3271 said:

Fire 3: Changed into enemy centered AoE blast finisher with delay (power damage), similar to new scepter 2

Flame Burst is one of the few condition skills on the staff so I do not think it should be changed into a power skill.  The burning is also is useful to gain 10% damage from Pyromancer's Training for power builds.

On 1/11/2023 at 8:53 PM, Riba.3271 said:

Air 3:  Reworked into AoE knockback that hits surrounding enemies (300 radius)

I like the long range knockback for pushing enemies off cliffs when defending keeps in WvW.  Would it be better to make the projectile wider or speed it up?

[zitounae.4803]

I was surprised they end up tweaked up staff finally, highly doubt they will get thru it again and make it actually all around effective. But hope keeps us alive.

[Loke.1429]

its the most undertuned it has ever been imo, comparatively, for wvw

[Jski.6180]

Anet needs to look at what they did for hammer on catalyest and try to some what translate it over to staff. Maybe make some of the skills not 1,200 ranged or some how make them work different. Most ppl seem to want water 1 and maybe water over all on staff to be more melee and or 600 ish over all more support ranged skill set. I would not mind seeing earth become a bit shoter ranged as well but much more aoe aimed such as making earth 1 into an "shot gun" like shot.

[the krytan assassin.9235]

Staff mostly just needs some projectiles converted into direct hits/aoe fields, faster projectile speed and decreased delay on impact. Atleast that would make it a viable pick for WvW imo. 

For PvE staff could probably get a small dps boost (like 2-3k dps tops) and some extra breakbar dmge. 

 

Sure, my wishlist is alot bigger for staff ele, but this would atleast make it a viable pick for WvW/PvE. 

 

[Yasai.3549]

I just want Staff 5 to summon a volcano under a target area and start spewing molten rocks. Can shotgun on medium-large bosses. No channel, just drop it and rock it. 

[KingEsoteric.2067]

PvE, Staff could use a lot of work to be more functional and fun. I prefer staff for the style and asthetic, but I mostly use Scepter/Focus or Scepter/WH because it's cumbersome in OW and underperforming elsewhere. Staff weaver in particular promises to be very fun conceptually, but the impacts aren't very strong and the cooldowns are long in PvE compared to everything else in the game. It doesn't seem to work well with either Tempest or Catalyst, either.

Outside of following zergs in OW, it needs to be a weapon that can stand on its own, especially since it's the game's representative of the classic elemental mage style. To a player who loves that style like myself, running around with a sword or a hammer in Melee doesn't hit the spot.

 

Changes I would want:

 

• Fire 1: increased projectile speed and 50%+ chance at projectile finisher.
• Fire 2: Increased power coefficient.
• Fire 4: CD reduced to 15 seconds
• Fire 5: Keep channel, but drop three large rocks with knockback from the center on last hit (defiance break). High Power coefficient, last hit is strongest, blast finisher, leaves smoke field on crit in PvE.
• Air 1:  Change to standard small AOE around target, bigger damage. This skill is awful.
• Air 2: Higher power coefficient, Projectile finisher
• Air 3: CD reduced to 15 seconds, also grants fury to allies.
• Earth 2:  Slightly faster cast time, 3/4s instead of 1 1/4s.
• Earth 3: CD reduced to 15 seconds in PvE and 20 in other game modes. Grants barrier or protection as well.
• Earth 5: Increase to 4 stacks of bleed, 2 in WvW/PvP.
•  
• Fire/Air 3: Increase Power Coefficient in PvE only.
• Fire/Earth 3: Burning on Impact should be 5 seconds in PvE.
• Air/Water 3: Needs something, I never notice when I hit this button

This would give Staff more reactive play, more damage out of the buttons people hit, a reason to hit buttons that don't feel like they do much, more finishers to play with Catalyst, and a touch more support. It's stuck in a hybrid of damage and support from 10 years ago because it can be obnoxious in WvW. If the weapon is supposed to be more supportive, then make it more supportive, but all the skills on it suggest a damaging weapon with modest support. It simply needs to be brought into 2023.

 

Edited January 31, 2023 by KingEsoteric.2067
Formatting

[Howluffu.7259]

How about some boons from staff abilities other than Regen and Swiftness. Maybe some Fury in Air/Fire, Protection/Aegis on Earth, Anything besides Regen on Water.

[Jski.6180]

15 hours ago, Howluffu.7259 said:

How about some boons from staff abilities other than Regen and Swiftness. Maybe some Fury in Air/Fire, Protection/Aegis on Earth, Anything besides Regen on Water.

Windborne Speed maybe should be an resistances not a clear for soft cc. Out side of that i am not sure if staff should get a boon effect. Core ele for sure should get more traits for applying one boon to get another effect that has less to do with staff though and more to do with the lack of viability for the core ele in content across the bored.

[WaifuJanna.9108]

You know why i love Catalyst? The fact that i can cast the Jade spheres when on ground, when resurrecting other players, even when equipped some Item. Its so fun having a Button that Instantly cast a big AOE. Specialy in Meta Events, just place jade sphere and free exp/monsters tagged.

 

They should push the Staff in a similar direction.  Low Damage, but Instant/Fast Big AOE Zones.

And while they should add Defiance Break... doing the Jade-Mech Defiance Training in Cantha ... oh boy.. had to use tornado lol

 

Staff Fire:

1: Change casting time to 0.5 sec - double projectile speed - if no target hit/miss every 3rd "miss" shoots instant cast projectile"

2: Make the field instant like a jade sphere, no delay

3. is fine i guess.

4. is fine.

5. Change cast time to 1 second, duration to 5 second, and double the frequency the meteors fall.

 

Staff Water:

1: Change casting time to 0.5 sec - double projectile speed - if no target hit/miss every 3rd "miss" shoots instant cast projectile"

2: Change casting time to 0.5 sec -  double skill  animation speed, add Defiance Break.

3. Instant casting like jade-spheres

4. Add pulsing damage to the field every second, re-chill every 2 second

5. Make regeneration and condition curing speed scale based on entities affected.. -> if only yourself hit 5 times the speed.

 

Staff Air:

1: Change casting time to 0.5 Second - make bounces scale based on range. 3-6 bounces (6 enemys very close together = 6 bounces)

2: Instant casting like jade-spheres, add Defiance Break

3. Increase range to 1500, increase projectile speed

4. Give also Quickness for 10 seconds

5. Increase AOE

 

Staff Earth:

1: Change casting time to 0.5 sec - double projectile speed - if no target hit/miss every 3rd "miss" shoots instant cast projectile"

2: Change casting time to 0.5 Second

3.  Give also Stabilisation when exploding the aura, add Defiance Break

4. Instant Cast, increase Line thiccness

5. Fine

 

[MarzAttakz.9608]

Air 5 is not fine - it's cast time needs to be instant or (correct me if I'm wrong) the field placed at the end of the channel not the beginning. Try catching anyone with 25% movement speed or more.

Earth 5 - also not fine, needs a projectile speed increase and be unblockable.

The rest you've mentioned are okay but you may want to revisit the changes coming to staff soon.

[noneHotBuildTest.7251]

On 2/9/2023 at 9:07 PM, MarzAttakz.9608 said:

Air 5 is not fine - it's cast time needs to be instant or (correct me if I'm wrong) the field placed at the end of the channel not the beginning. Try catching anyone with 25% movement speed or more.

Earth 5 - also not fine, needs a projectile speed increase and be unblockable.

The rest you've mentioned are okay but you may want to revisit the changes coming to staff soon.

I don't like random thing either.

Make it as a unblockable no number count well will be fine.

Edited January 8 by noneHotBuildTest.7251

[Dadnir.5038]

If something need a rework on staff... It's air attunment. This attunment on staff was already bad in 2012 only barely acceptable throught the years due to it's marginal usefulness in WvW zerg (and since then what was useful has been nerfed years ago).

From my point of view, here are the skills that deserve a rework:

- Chain lightning: It's just bad as it is. I think it could be acceptable if it wasn't a projectile attack.

- Lightning surge: It's a feel bad skill. It's damage is passable but the cast time is so slow that even if you're motivated you don't really want to use it. Honestly it's not a salvageable skill, just create something new.

- Gust: Here we come, a 0 damage skill. This skill usefulness is so situational that even if it didn't exist nobody would miss it. To make it worse it's ground targeted which add a lack of QoL to it's uselessness. It'll be harsh but, just fuse this CC into Windborn speed and create another totally new skill that actually do something to replace Gust.

- Static field: For the love of gods rework this skill please! Make it pulse damage and daze every second and give up on the crossing ring mechanism.

- Unsteady ground: This skill just feel underpowered for it's CD, and that's especially true outside of WvW zerg. Just add something, let it pulse bleed or poison or cripple, block projectile, grant boon/barrier to allies... etc. Come on, anything would do as long as it do something on top of body blocking!

[Liewec.2896]

i just find it depressing that even my glassiest staff ele, oneshot by PVE mobs can't put out anywhere near as much damage as my other characters.

even my warrior would can just sit there and take punishment forever with high health and passive heals can pump out more damage.

so yeah, i sign this 100%, we need a staff rework! glasscannon eles are the squishiest thing in the game, they should be rewarded with colossal damage.

[draxynnic.3719]

On 1/8/2024 at 11:49 PM, Dadnir.5038 said:

If something need a rework on staff... It's air attunment. This attunment on staff was already bad in 2012 only barely acceptable throught the years due to it's marginal usefulness in WvW zerg (and since then what was useful has been nerfed years ago).

From my point of view, here are the skills that deserve a rework:

- Chain lightning: It's just bad as it is. I think it could be acceptable if it wasn't a projectile attack.

- Lightning surge: It's a feel bad skill. It's damage is passable but the cast time is so slow that even if you're motivated you don't really want to use it. Honestly it's not a salvageable skill, just create something new.

- Gust: Here we come, a 0 damage skill. This skill usefulness is so situational that even if it didn't exist nobody would miss it. To make it worse it's ground targeted which add a lack of QoL to it's uselessness. It'll be harsh but, just fuse this CC into Windborn speed and create another totally new skill that actually do something to replace Gust.

- Static field: For the love of gods rework this skill please! Make it pulse damage and daze every second and give up on the crossing ring mechanism.

- Unsteady ground: This skill just feel underpowered for it's CD, and that's especially true outside of WvW zerg. Just add something, let it pulse bleed or poison or cripple, block projectile, grant boon/barrier to allies... etc. Come on, anything would do as long as it do something on top of body blocking!

I think Chain Lightning needs two things - damage (Fireball has powercrept Chain Lightning so much it's just not funny) and some mechanism by which it does additional damage to the first target if it can't bounce.

Lightning surge I think is salvageable, but the combination of long cast time and blind just doesn't work since you generally want to use blind reactively. Give it a stronger CC like a short daze, or make it faster.

Static field pulsing daze each second sounds pretty OP, but it does need to do damage. Having the ring while also doing damage inside the ring could be an interesting mechanic, I think - gives the target a choice between eating the damage or coping with the stun.

Gust could probably be okay if the other skills were improved. Maybe give it a projectile block/reflect. Won't come up often but it'd be nice when it did.

[Jski.6180]

I think at this point anet needs to add more effects to the skills on staff that do not have too many effects. Some staff skills are very overloaded with effects but its only an hand full of skills and its for utility effects not realty for dmg or dmg like effects. We need unblockable for slower skills we need added dmg effects for non hybrid dmg skills (more burning more bleeds).