Guild Wars 2

Hi. I read many topics on this forum and asked on /g, but neither gave me clear answer, so I decided to ask

How is staff?
I wanted to give ele a try. My main is ranger (LB/GS) and I like it, but, after 2k hours, I want some change. I’m interested in ele with staff.
What I do in game:
- WvW (raids, pug zergs and small groups)
- PvE (‘normal’ dungs and higher lvl fotm)
- casual s/tPvP for dailies

The only thing I’m sure about, is staff won’t work in s/tPvP and it will work very well in raids, GvGs and pug zergs. What about rest? Would I be forced to keep daggers in my bag in case I want to go flip camps with some friends? If I get attacked when running to zerg from spawn, can I survive to get to friendlies (or maybe even win 1v1 against weak/medicore players)?
And if I decide to swap to daggers for some ‘smaller’ action, will my gear (look down) work, or need another set (I’d prefer not…)?

What I plan to do, is 0/0/0/30/30. Still thinking about last 10 points. PTV armor and PTV or cleric jewelery. No idea about runes or sigil.

Also, I ran LB ranger in its worst times (before any buffs) and I did lvl 30+ fotm, dungeon master, ran in zergs and solo flipped camps and won many 1v1s, so I’m ready for “not the best weapon for such things”.
I just want to know what to expect

Thanks in advance for any opinions, advices etc!

Well your going to get a few different opinions on that. Some run staff full time in WvW and find and think its very do able. Others think its a death sentence because you have less escapes and no real single target damage. I like staff I however use it for Zerg play and defending keeps. If you stay in a group it’s fine and provides excellent support for a group. However you go out on your own its rather hard I found to live. Taking camps and solo roaming is not the same on an ele. Rangers are very good at solo roaming in WvW despite all the complaining its true. Ele requires a little more caution you cannot do huge damage and also have tons of survivability. Dagger/dagger is your best bet but you have to pull targets out, or prepare to dodge and kite a lot. It’s a different play style to be honest. But back to the staff question, staff is great it the Swiss Army knife of gw2. But in my opinion is used best in groups and defending not roaming. Stick with D/D or scepter/Dagger.

You don’t want staff in wvw if you roam or are in very small groups, say up to 3. Beyond that it shines. But regardless, yeah, keep daggers and all weapon sets in your inventory at all times. Also, I’d put the other 10 in earth and take armor of earth for staff and either that or elemental shielding for d/d.

My opinion:

Anywhere in WvW or sPvP if you have a competent ally staff is great. You don’t need a whole zerg to perform well with staff. You just want to avoid any and all 1v1s against other players.

With staff, you can solo champions in PvE using the correct build. Staff Ele is an all-star in PUGs. When left unattended and facing an opponent with predictable movements, staff Ele can bring out strong sustained DPS.

Staff is great for slinging fireballs at Claw of Jormag, SB and others alike. In sPvP you can tag kills on 5 or more players if your team wins the fight.

I use staff everywhere and can’t find a compelling reason to use anything else. Just avoid 1v1.

Full time staff ele here for last 2 months or so running 0/15/10/15/30. If I kill someone 1v1 with staff I know they were drinking too much cough syrup. I can stay alive a good while against all but thieves (for which you are just warm, buttery toast solo). In small group fights if the other side is smart enough to focus on me (and they always seem to be) and your team isn’t smart enough to focus one of them there isn’t enough defense with the staff to keep you alive. Once group sizes get to 5+ or if you are running with a sharp team then staff as area denial weapon is an asset. As above posters state it’s not a roaming or solo weapon.