Guild Wars 2

Can some one just explain the staffs mechanics and how to use it? I’ve noticed that many builds use staff. I also use staff but I don’t know why. I know(think) that its main source of damage is skill 2 stacking condition and skill 3 is based off of conditions. How many clones vs warlocks should I have? Atm, I try to get 2 clones and a warlock when its an easy mob and try to get 3 warlocks when its a champ and many people are stacking conditions.

Depends on your ratios.

With full malice no power it’s best to have only clones.

With a mix of malice and power it all becomes a lot of math…at some point phantasms will make sense.

With no malice and a lot of power you can use staff in a shatter build but dont expect a lot of damage from the clones autoattack.

Zid.4196:

Depends on your ratios.

With full malice no power it’s best to have only clones.

With a mix of malice and power it all becomes a lot of math…at some point phantasms will make sense.

With no malice and a lot of power you can use staff in a shatter build but dont expect a lot of damage from the clones autoattack.

lol math….

don’t listen to this guy, no disrespect…..

but the staff is just point and shoot, honestly. It’s the laziest weapon ever, and a mystery to me why ppl say mesmer is hard when all you need is a staff and a little patience. Look up Mr.Prometheus guides if you really want an in depth view at all the mesmer weapons. Aside from that, its just hit skills on cd, stick move, #2 out of chaos storm for bonus chaos armor.

MrMacAndCheese.3907:

Zid.4196:

Depends on your ratios.

With full malice no power it’s best to have only clones.

With a mix of malice and power it all becomes a lot of math…at some point phantasms will make sense.

With no malice and a lot of power you can use staff in a shatter build but dont expect a lot of damage from the clones autoattack.

lol math….

don’t listen to this guy, no disrespect…..

but the staff is just point and shoot, honestly. It’s the laziest weapon ever, and a mystery to me why ppl say mesmer is hard when all you need is a staff and a little patience. Look up Mr.Prometheus guides if you really want an in depth view at all the mesmer weapons. Aside from that, its just hit skills on cd, stick move, #2 out of chaos storm for bonus chaos armor.

He is talking about what Illusions to use when using the Staff as your primary weapon, and he’s absolutely correct.

If you have lots of +condition damage at some point a Staff Clone will be more powerful than any Phantasm (except for iDuelist), so to optimise your DPS you’d want to know whether having Staff Clones out is better or having a Phantasm out is better. The math involved is for build optimisation, you certainly don’t need any maths when you’re wailing down on the enemy.

The reason the Staff is so commonly used is because even in non-condition builds, the Staff has excellent defensive capability in Phase Retreat, Chaos Armour and Chaos Storm (which gives Aegis to allies and Dazes enemies). You wouldn’t use a Staff to DPS in a Power build, you use it to escape sticky situations.

Embolism.8106:

The reason the Staff is so commonly used is because even in non-condition builds, the Staff has excellent defensive capability in Phase Retreat, Chaos Armour and Chaos Storm (which gives Aegis to allies and Dazes enemies). You wouldn’t use a Staff to DPS in a Power build, you use it to escape sticky situations.

I’d say the reason the Staff is so commonly used is because it’s super easy and fun.

The staff is more a defensive/ supportive weapon in my eyes. The #2 skill is used to retreat from almost any pull or aoe attack, yet most ppl abuse it to spawn clones. The #5 skill can be used offensively and supportively. #3 phantasms damage is based on you and your teammates conditions. #4 is a defensive armor. For me it’s not meant to deal damage. For power builds, use the GS.

For condition builds, you need to trait the staff CD and the additional bounce. This already consumes 40 (or 70) trait points. If you want “clone on dodge”, 60 traits are reserved. And the more you rely on conditions, the worse you’ll be on environmental targets.

Personally, I own an exotic staff, but only equip it on heavy pulling targets to instantly retreat – even knocked or while casting mantras.

I can only reccomend to read my guide and see some movies. Staff is the core of a shatter build imoa even if I only use it 30% of the acctive time in a fight. Here is a video of staff in wvwvw form my perspective:

this is my guide:

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/mesmer/guide-WvWvW-Shatter-cat/page/2#post804597

Osicat is an awesome and amazing mesmer. I am still learning the profession of mesmer. I am going to point out my playstyle which I love but might not be as incredible as Osicat and I don’t mind him chiming in and contradicting my playstyle as it will possibly be true.

Staff / GS build. I put 20 in domination going with getting GS reduction. GS skills are already fairly quick skills so getting them further reduced gives more clones (and phantasms) and gives you more defense in pushing people/mobs away.

Power is important for Mind Wrack shattering. I use Signet of Fire on my sword so that I can get a bit more AOE and it helps when i need it (yes lightning is probably better in PvP). GS has power and precision on it the last stat is up for debate.

I put 20 points into dueling for clone on dodge. This is one of the best traits out there honestly it’s worth every point to get it. Although it’s sometimes sad to watch your clone attack a rabbit you just dodged next to and see it destroy itself after owning said rabbit. However the good far far outweighs the bad.

The last 30 I put into illusions so that you can get the extra bounce (great for sword and staff) and having you count as a shatter and then the added bonus of getting quicker shatter recoveries.

Staff is great in adding defense when it’s needed which gives you a jump back, 2 chaos armors, an aoe condition attack, and a phantasm that can give some good damage. I make sure I have power (again for shattering) and condition damage (as that is the other way Staff does it’s damage) and the third stat can be up for debate.

I think you will quickly sense the defensive capability of the staff.

Tommytoons.2481:

Can some one just explain the staffs mechanics and how to use it? I’ve noticed that many builds use staff. I also use staff but I don’t know why. I know(think) that its main source of damage is skill 2 stacking condition and skill 3 is based off of conditions. How many clones vs warlocks should I have? Atm, I try to get 2 clones and a warlock when its an easy mob and try to get 3 warlocks when its a champ and many people are stacking conditions.

You seem to have it about right, as far as rule of thumb goes. The iWarlock can be a powerful SOB in large groups with multiple conditions stacking on the regular.

However, the real beauty of the staff is explained very well by Oscariot. Not only is it bad for them, it’s good for you. Though a long range weapon, the staff really shines up close with an extra bounce. You’re not only damaging and stacking conditions on your opponent but giving yourself boons as well. Throw a #5 down, also, and you’re really in business.

Tommytoons.2481:

Can some one just explain the staffs mechanics and how to use it? I’ve noticed that many builds use staff. I also use staff but I don’t know why. I know(think) that its main source of damage is skill 2 stacking condition and skill 3 is based off of conditions. How many clones vs warlocks should I have? Atm, I try to get 2 clones and a warlock when its an easy mob and try to get 3 warlocks when its a champ and many people are stacking conditions.

I guess your use of staff depends on your build. For shatter builds, what I use, the staff is mostly defensive in nature. Most of your damage will come from your primary weapons, in my case sword pistol. When I switch to staff, it is because my main weapons are on cooldown and the enemy is closing in.

With staff I will throw down chaos storm on myself to gain aegis and other boons when enemies try to get in close. Then I will use staff 2 inside chaos storm to get a free chaos armor which gives me boons when they hit me and creates a clone. Then when the chaos armor runs out I will use staff 4 to continue chaos armor. Usually it doesn’t get to this point because I will be able to switch back to my main weapons and do more damage because cooldowns are up.