Guild Wars 2

I’m trying to decide which of these I should use as my primary weapon. So what are the pros and cons of each for PvE and WvW ?

For my other weapon set, Temporal Curtain seems too useful to leave behind. I’m leaning towards scepter as my main hand weapon there.

I’m not looking for specific builds yet, though if the builds favored by one weapon work better underwater than builds favored by the other weapon, then I would want to know that as I generally like underwater combat.

You got to give more info on what you want. DPS, Condition Damage, Bunker, Burst, etc

Ross Biddle.2367:

You got to give more info on what you want. DPS, Condition Damage, Bunker, Burst, etc

I’m not really sure what I want yet, except that going heavy condition damage gets annoying whenever my necromancer runs into something that’s immune to them. So pure condition damage is out, but I’ll consider a hybrid of condition damage and something else.

All I can be sure about is that the only time I’ll be doing anything solo is open world PvE.

Get both, works quite well – at least for PvE. Right now, shatter is the way to go imo. After the patch – who knows…

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/mesmer/Lazy-Kai-s-guide-to-PvE/first#post850116

Both work fine, different play styles and different gear recommendations.

@Op, Personaly I prefere staff, it leav alot more defensive and movment options. You can survive in middle of a big battle without build or spec tankich. Its alot fantastic for solo and smal team roaming.

Have amlook at my guides (4) al uses staff, here is latest guide video:

Text guide:

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/mesmer/Guide-WvWvW-Shatter-Cat-reworking/page/12#post1227013

/Osicat

I go bunker build with high power.
2.5K power, 1.9K tough/vit
Greatsword/Dual Swords

I’m not gonna lie check out osicat’s guides. Does a great job explaining and showing how it all works, and not to mention He wrecks kitten

Henrik.7560:

I go bunker build with high power.
2.5K power, 1.9K tough/vit
Greatsword/Dual Swords

2.5k power it high?
my bunker have 3.1k
and 2k+tough

Kaiyanwan.8521:

Get both, works quite well – at least for PvE. Right now, shatter is the way to go imo. After the patch – who knows…

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/mesmer/Lazy-Kai-s-guide-to-PvE/first#post850116

I see what looks like a build thread, not an answer to the question I asked.

kerona.3465:

Both work fine, different play styles and different gear recommendations.

Oh, I know they have different play styles. I just don’t know which play styles each of them has. Which is why I made this thread.

Osicat.4139:

@Op, Personaly I prefere staff, it leav alot more defensive and movment options. You can survive in middle of a big battle without build or spec tankich. Its alot fantastic for solo and smal team roaming.

This is the first post in this thread that actually answers the question I’m asking. So all I know is that the staff makes a mesmer tankier and more mobile than a greatsword.

In general, GS is driven by power/precision, range-dependent damage, and a few elements of control.

Staff’s damage is spread between power/precision (warlock) and condition damage (clones) and offers a bit more defensive capabilities.

Pros and Cons of each -

GS Pros:
- High damage at range
- Good control via crippling clone and knockback
- Solid AoE damage from the Clone
- Boon removal, vulnerability, and Might are all present and welcome.
- Focused like a laser on power/precision stats

GS Cons:
- Range-dependence for auto-attack
- Not the best defense
- Max range is beneficial for auto-attack but you’ll miss out on the Number 2 skill’s might bounces as well as be out of range for Illusionary Persona (30pt Illusions trait). That can feel clunky

Staff pros:
- Broad smorgasboard of effects. Damage, AoE, support, control, defense, mobility.
- Most damaging clones
- Chaos storm is visually impressive and a useful combo field (self combo ROCKS!)

Staff cons:
- Split between condition damage (generally inferior for mesmers) and power/prec stats (warlock) can be hard to gear for and min/max
- Unpredictability of effects can be frustrating
- Damage seems overall lower than GS and the current flavor-of-the-month for high-level fractals is pure damage.
- Suffers from general condition-damage flaws (debuff caps, lack of burst, unpredictable interaction with traits)

For me, it usually boils down to this. Staff is a great weapon when you’re fighting mid-range and want versatility. Cramped expert-level dungeons, small WvW dogfights, PvP duels. GS is preferred when those things don’t matter and your main, if not only, focus is damage. High level fractals, open world solo PvE, long-distance WvW encounters.

Both weapons can work with either and can probably be interchanged by a skilled player. The only exception area for me is high level fractals (40-50 or higher). GS pulls ahead there because, at that level, defense doesn’t matter and all-out damage is currently the most popular approach.

Greatsword is a great power weapon with great ranged damage and kiting ability. You get a cripple, boon remover, a projectile finisher, a whirl finisher, and our only launch/KB. It will almost always do more damage than the staff. Basically try this out first and if you have trouble surviving, or just want to be more tanky or use condition damage, switch to staff.

Staff is a condition damage weapon with excellent defense and utility. You get bleeding/burning, vulnerability, a teleport retreat, one of the best armor spells in the game, and a field that can be good offense and great defense. Even though staff is better in condition damage builds, it’s defense is so good it’s still great in power builds, but will never do as much damage as the GS.

I asked the same question awhile back (Greatsword or Staff). I had situations where people kept chuckling or mocking me because I was a Staff Mesmer. They all pretty much said Greatsword. So as a great slap to their faces, I stuck with Staff and I don’t regret it. I can easily handle multiple mobs and it’s a great way to annoy people. Go with what you like and don’t let others sway you otherwise.

ALSO! I Should note I use both Greatsword and Staff together. I switch between them frequently, but I much prefer the Staff. However, when I need to (which is often) I do switch to Greatsword and then back again to Staff. It’s about knowing your skills and how to efficiently use them.

Here is my original Post:

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/mesmer/Which-Mesmer-Weapons-I-m-confused

For pve i like more GS (more dmg), for pvp staff(more surv).

general rule.

Staff = condition dmg
GS = Crit + power

you can make a condition damage hybrid by taking the trait that makes illusions bleed on crits, works great with GS clones (3 attacks) when you have high enough crit chance, all the while allowing you to have the defensiveness of the staff.

One thing we have to consider too is that he is not willing to part with his offhand focus for his weapon alt. I used to run GS/Sword+focus and Staff/Sword+focus shatter builds and based on my experience, GS/Sword+Focus is the best combination as a shatter mes on wvw. (Osicat actually suggested that to me iirc).

As for Scepter+Focus as your alt, I think Staff/Scepter+Focus confusion/tank build is the way to go. Attached is a sample build that I think works well with Staff/Scepter+Focus

It is important to mention that the Greatsword Phantasm used to be broken and ignore LOS. Many people made recommendations based on this OP-ness in previous threads. However I think that what has been said above is on point and accurate for the current game situation.

Also, I think what was not mentioned is the staff has superior support capabilities, where damage is not a big issue. A staff’s boon bounce is nice when you’re in a squad of melee classes.

Your swap weapon will come into play in your choice as well. I use Greatsword/scepter/focus as a WuvWuv toon because of culling issues, clone insta smashing, and range issues. Sceptre enables me to have decent mid range damage and fast clone generation where a sword would fail. In PvE I would use a sword, ofc. Staff does not have that much of an issue with range concerns so either weapon would be feasible.

All of this is subject to change in upcoming patches as every update tends to bring a new nerf for Mesmers, so keep that in mind.

Staff is more defensive, GS is more offensive.

If you can’t decide, use both.

In WvW:
I think a staff is better if you want to go melee, like bombing a group or a zerg then quickly retreat.

For me, staff #2 > any GS skill. But from range, GS seems to be better. It’s probably a question of playstyle.

If you enjoy fighting from walls or behind a zerg and don’t have to react fast (well, as fast as our profession allows us to move), then use a GS.
If you use a OH sword/X and have to go melee to burst people, staff is the best choice when things become tricky. And you can generate clones pretty fast as well.

Nausicca.6038:

In WvW:

If you use a OH sword/X and have to go melee to burst people, staff is the best choice when things become tricky. And you can generate clones pretty fast as well.

agree, i use GS and sword/pistol or focus
I have too often to stay midrange where GS is suboptimal :|

but actually being fun, i don t care

Hehe guys he said he likes his focus and wants to use it as his alternate so I think we have to consider builds that can utilize the focus best.. Actually there is another option the OP can use if he opts not to take staff OR gs.. he can go ‘Shantasm’ with Scepter/Pistol and Sword/Focus (although I would prefer another sword here) although it is a bit more tricky to pull off

If I were you I’d go with staff+gs, but it all depends on your build.

If you go with a power+crit heavy build around phantasms and shatters, both weapons compliment eachother amazingly. GS however isnt something worth using with a condition spec. If you go for a more confusion based condition spec, use staff+scepter/focus.

Outside of condition builds focus is just trash besides skill #4, and that skill is good for covering ground or pulling people down from things.

For a power+crit build the staff and GS phantasms just hit like freight trains. Dont listen to the people that say staff is a condition weapon, it’s just as good as a direct damage weapon. You staff clones stack conditions so your warlock phantasm can hit harder. The rest of the skills are nice defensive skills with self executable combo fields and finishers, both from the staff itself and combined with the GS berserker.

Chaos Storm + Berserker = whirl finisher
Chaos Storm + Staff#2 = leap finisher chaos armor.

It’s also silly easy with staff+GS to stack up vulnerability to 25 stacks before you use your heavy hitting phanstams and mind wracks.

Kelthien.8593:

In general, GS is driven by power/precision, range-dependent damage, and a few elements of control.

Staff’s damage is spread between power/precision (warlock) and condition damage (clones) and offers a bit more defensive capabilities.

Pros and Cons of each -

snip

This post is pretty much spot on from my experiences.

When I was leveling up I was Staff because the superior mobility, survivability, utility and condition damage were there all in a tight little package. I had an event where I solo’d around 30ish guys at once (multiple Veterans) as a staff and the dead people who were watching all sent me tells they were in disbelief. Stat wise it usually depends if you’re going more Shatters with all those clones (Power/Prec) or you want to do more condition damage with said clones (Cond/Prec).

Once I hit 80 I swapped it back over to GS because I wanted raw power for WvW and PvE. Event farming really wasn’t plausible with short duration clones or condition damage but dropping a iZerker and watching 4k+ damage rack up instantly in a huge AOE did the trick. The whole LOS thing has hurt a bit in WvW, but it’s still monstrous. The stats are perfect being able to aim for power/precision (then Toughness or crit damage as you like).

SneakyErvin.3056:

If I were you I’d go with staff+gs, but it all depends on your build.

If you go with a power+crit heavy build around phantasms and shatters, both weapons compliment eachother amazingly. GS however isnt something worth using with a condition spec. If you go for a more confusion based condition spec, use staff+scepter/focus.

Outside of condition builds focus is just trash besides skill #4, and that skill is good for covering ground or pulling people down from things.

For a power+crit build the staff and GS phantasms just hit like freight trains. Dont listen to the people that say staff is a condition weapon, it’s just as good as a direct damage weapon. You staff clones stack conditions so your warlock phantasm can hit harder. The rest of the skills are nice defensive skills with self executable combo fields and finishers, both from the staff itself and combined with the GS berserker.

Chaos Storm + Berserker = whirl finisher
Chaos Storm + Staff#2 = leap finisher chaos armor.

It’s also silly easy with staff+GS to stack up vulnerability to 25 stacks before you use your heavy hitting phanstams and mind wracks.

Personally, if traited, focus becomes a lot more important for the phantasm hybrid/melee build such as the one I’m using. I find sword and pistol to be more limited in their uses (direct damage) than the traited focus especially in groups.

IMO sword+pistol is indeed crap. The staff serves a much better purpose than a S+P or Sc+P set, the warlock hits for as much as the duelist crits for, plus you dont need to waste a trait to get the staff skills to acceptable CDs/range, its already there. Sure if you go for a condition spec traiting staff is useful.

If I was condition specced I wouldnt mind the focus, but for me as a heavy crit build balanced around phantasms and shatters its just awfully painful to use it. Maybe S+F would be cool and all if it wasnt for the fact I need to get within 600 yards to use S#2 in order to root people on my warden. S#2, the skill that sometimes works and spawns a clone.

It depends on what you are doing. I was trying to level as a Staff Mesmer because I really like the fun staff abilities. On a whim, I switched to Greatsword and was SHOCKED at how much faster things went down… SHOCKED. It really is quite frustrating to realize you have basically been leveling half as fast simply because you chose the wrong weapon.
That being said, for regular roaming/dungeons/etc. Staff is better IMO. Things don’t go down as fast, but Staff is fantastic for it’s ability to quickly and easily turn the tide in your favor. There’s little I can’t handle with a staff. Even if i get ambushed, I have the skills avaliable to quickly get out of it and either get away or immediately take control of the battle.
So for leveling or events, I say greatsword because it just does so much more damage quickly, but for roaming, I’d say staff.

I pretty much consider the staff the best shatter build weapon in the game. #2 is BOTH the ability to get up to their face quicker (bouncing off a bunny or mob/player to your target aka Osicat’s “Cat Leap”), or get out of danger after a burst combo. Self Shatter is 25% of your burst damage, and that takes being in their face. The staff is your best tool to be in their face as a glass cannon as it has two survival skills. Add in a very powerful phantasm and a debuff/boon aoe, and you’ll find yourself using every skill on the staff before switching to your attack weapon.

Personally I run with Staff and S/S in PvE and PvP. My double burst combo is enough to kill most trash, and if not, a blurring blades finishes them off. Staff gets me out if something goes wrong. If I’m going against a champion or boss, what I use depends if I’m soloing it or with a party. With a party, it’s Staff and GS. Staff to drop storm and phantasms, and GS to dps with at range. Solo depends on the behavior of the boss – if it’s ranged, I want to stay in it’s face with staff and s/s. If it’s melee and I can kite it, GS with s/s if I’m feeling aggressive or staff as it’s safer and a better kiter.

Note that the off hand is very interchangeable. I use sword because it synergizes with my traits making for quicker summons and I just love the flavor of dual wielding swords. Scepter has a block and better clone generation than swords, though, which means you don’t have to load your utility bar as much to keep up shatters. Focus gives you your only real speed buff and pull. Pistol is much better CC than sword and has the second most powerful phantasm. One of my favorite things about mesmer is you can actually pick weapons to fit play styles rather than be locked to meta weapons.

This topic has been beaten up a lot in these forums. Searching for Greatsword or Staff would yield more results than you probably care to read. I recommend taking a look.

Greatsword has better sustained RDPS but Staff has better synergy with the shatter build(thus burst damage) and better survivability. I think they sit pretty well evenly and i have tried a lot of different builds some utilising staff others greatsword.

As people have stated it depends on what you want to do.

Thanks for the help. I think I’ll be sticking with GS till I get my final trait book, then going staff. Scepter/Focus for my other weapon set.

SneakyErvin.3056:

Outside of condition builds focus is just trash besides skill #4, and that skill is good for covering ground or pulling people down from things.

Covering ground is very important in WvW. You can’t help win a fight if you don’t get your zerg there before it’s over.

Once I got used to the speed at which I moved around WvW, not having it just felt far too slow.

Snoring Sleepwalker.9073:

Thanks for the help. I think I’ll be sticking with GS till I get my final trait book, then going staff. Scepter/Focus for my other weapon set.

SneakyErvin.3056:

Outside of condition builds focus is just trash besides skill #4, and that skill is good for covering ground or pulling people down from things.

Covering ground is very important in WvW. You can’t help win a fight if you don’t get your zerg there before it’s over.

Once I got used to the speed at which I moved around WvW, not having it just felt far too slow.

As a fellow focus enthusiast, I wish you good luck. It is a difficult weapon to master but yields better results when wielded properly.

I couldn’t decide between them either so I ended up building my entire build around maximizing both. I’m currently using both for pve and wvw.

The gs is good for offensive and the staff good for a little of both and also escaping, although not as good of damage as gs. Stat for power and focus on anything that maximizes your PHANTASMS—you know the pink guys. Don’t even use other illusions accept for trying to get away or create a fast shatter on your staff’s 2 skill.

Here are some common scenarios in fights.

If you are pveing a boss or mobs i just switch back and forth between the gswords berzerker and the staffs illusionary warlock—they both put out the most damage—never keep anything out but these guys and keep popping them as they can be killed easier. Between this keep using your staff aoe and your gs vulnerability while keeping as much distance as you can with your beam—your phantasms will pick up boons from static field so also keep this in mind.

With fighting ranged, always try to put the glamour shield utility on them reflecting their projectiles, then put static field aoe on them and start spamming your phantasms again while keeping distance. Once the glamour shield goes away, pop your shatter that causes reflection causing their ranged to hurt them.

For melee attacking you do all of the same thing except you use your retaliation shatter—you just have to time it right so that the melee is on you right when your illusions can shatter on him—but you also have shatter on yourself but need to have illusions out. This is hard to get down and situational but i’ve seen rogues kill themselves doing this in one shatter—or they are like wtf and stealth, giving you time to get some more illusions out. oh yeah and trait for dodge illusions too so you can get them back out fast.

Also, does anyone know if activating signet of inspiration transfers boons to phantasms??—i mean it says allies but have never really researched it. .

Kodiak.3281:

Kelthien.8593:

In general, GS is driven by power/precision, range-dependent damage, and a few elements of control.

Staff’s damage is spread between power/precision (warlock) and condition damage (clones) and offers a bit more defensive capabilities.

Pros and Cons of each -

snip

This post is pretty much spot on from my experiences.

When I was leveling up I was Staff because the superior mobility, survivability, utility and condition damage were there all in a tight little package. I had an event where I solo’d around 30ish guys at once (multiple Veterans) as a staff and the dead people who were watching all sent me tells they were in disbelief. Stat wise it usually depends if you’re going more Shatters with all those clones (Power/Prec) or you want to do more condition damage with said clones (Cond/Prec).

Once I hit 80 I swapped it back over to GS because I wanted raw power for WvW and PvE. Event farming really wasn’t plausible with short duration clones or condition damage but dropping a iZerker and watching 4k+ damage rack up instantly in a huge AOE did the trick. The whole LOS thing has hurt a bit in WvW, but it’s still monstrous. The stats are perfect being able to aim for power/precision (then Toughness or crit damage as you like).

iZerker is great. I really think that mesmer builds are able to be extremely diverse more so than some other classes. Yeah the shatter build is fun but I have even toyed with a mantra build o_O I know right? But seriously it was fun. I used to avoid the focus like the plague but dropping temp curtain then using into the void WHILE summoning iWarden. It then becomes the HIGHEST damaging phantasm we have easily hitting for 5k on multiple opponents and is great defensively if you trait for it. Back to the OP. GS=Open at range and use your izerker and mirror blade off the bat then some other clone summoning skill/trait. Swap drop your temp curtain use the diversion shatter. Summon iwarden while doing the second temp curtain skill. Not only will your opponent land flat on their face they should have max vuln on them and you can iLeap dodge roll and swap to keep your enemy in place then BF+MW… It requires more timing and work to pull off than combos in some OTHER classes (Looking at you BS thiefffff) but its CC is great and the more people you can pull into the void the more damage you do.

Imo, a mesmer should always adapt to the situation so I carry every weapon minus scepter. Staff 2 is one of the best moves we have as it is an instant skill. You can be knocked down and still use it plus generate a clone. Focus and GS on the other hand is what I learned to have handy if you ever decide to fight where terrain and falling is a factor (jump puzzle fights are prime example :0)

As for under water combat, mesmers are some of the t and your build doesn’t matter as much down there as we can utilize any build under water, although stealth builds are a bit weaker there. But we are pretty much the class with the most underwater stealth right now so that’s a plus.

Underwater do not shatter your clones. Their auto attack causes confusion.

Staff is legend. I avoided it, didn’t like is aesthetically but ended up trying it after seeing osicat dancing around with it on deso, and stomping some poor guy who got left behind by his zerg lol.

In short since swapping havent lost a fight 1v1 against those pesky (bad) spammer thieves in a long time. GS wasn’t as forgiving and even on my A game I could fail vs a lucky spammer but not anymore. It really was that good for me.

Bare in mind that if you swap to staff after being a long time GS user it will feel odd and at times you’ll be tempted to click back on your trusty GS! but avoid the urge. It is better I think. Just have to give it time and trait properly for your ability and style.

ErraticFaith.9142:

Staff is legend. I avoided it, didn’t like is aesthetically but ended up trying it after seeing osicat dancing around with it on deso, and stomping some poor guy who got left behind by his zerg lol.

In short since swapping havent lost a fight 1v1 against those pesky (bad) spammer thieves in a long time. GS wasn’t as forgiving and even on my A game I could fail vs a lucky spammer but not anymore. It really was that good for me.

Bare in mind that if you swap to staff after being a long time GS user it will feel odd and at times you’ll be tempted to click back on your trusty GS! but avoid the urge. It is better I think. Just have to give it time and trait properly for your ability and style.

My biggest thing I hate with going back to staff from GS is the lack of speed. I can easily rock Sword/Focus and then 6/6 Centaur for permanent swiftness but then going back to staff and sword/focus I don’t have the same runes and it’s so slow :/

Lack of damage, clones spawning at range, and lack of cc is why I can’t deal with staff. Imo try both and figure out which one you like… I still use staff for condition build though

I am trying to use Staff atm..But I have been using GS for SOOOO long..So when I do PvP using the Staff it just doesn’t feel right! I think I need more practice with it also. I Like being able to use GS#5 when a enemy is trying to close the gap on my ally or use it to save my ally from getting stomped..I think that’s the Number ONE reason its hard to give up..that and tha direct dmg.

The staff really comes into its own once you get your head around the play style. Its defensive orientated and best when people are pushing against chaos armor and not trying to flee. I like GS for its pubstomp power, blasting people attempting to flee and crippling them to boot is really nice.

Yet with staff the chaos field, defensive blinks that chain nicely into a fresh close shatter really helps me overwhelm aggressive opponents and punish them for that play style – which alot of players are.

In short GS is great for the aggressive chase the baddies style but staff really kicks kitten once you get your head round the idea of closing in with your enemy and losing him the chaos of the fields and shatters. Its really great. Just keep practicing, some play styles are quite ‘alien’ if they are polar opposite to what you are used to but you’ll get there

/ we arent the most mobile anyways no, but portal really helps when you set it up to cut off your enemies, picked that up from watching osicat mainly. I only really switch out focus for long distances in wvw but hug a swiftness team mate normally because I love pistol too much

I’ve never felt like Staff is a primary weapon for berserker builds. I use staff for my phantasm build now but I consider my sword/focus my main weapon set. However, whenever I use GS, I feel like it’s the primary weapon and that difference alone (melee vs ranged playstyle) should be a huge consideration when choosing.

drongas.4189:

Henrik.7560:

I go bunker build with high power.
2.5K power, 1.9K tough/vit
Greatsword/Dual Swords

2.5k power it high?
my bunker have 3.1k
and 2k+tough

I’m talking Power, not attack. My attack is 3500.

does anyone use greatsword and staff, and what is your build? your utilities?

I have been trying to maximize a build with both and would like some input.

I am currenty all the way on chaos, and have traited for staff for all the toughness you get. I also traited to get greatsword training to get the power. So I am kind of sacrificing power and precision for toughness from the staff but in wvw or fractals find i don’t have to heal as much or even dodge when i am on staff. I just want to maximize damage on greatsword while still being durable in fights on staff if I need to be. At the same time I want to maximize phantasms so i assume that is power/precision and not condition for the iwarlock?

I also am wondering about utilities for maximizing this type of playstyle. I have currently been playing with signets for utilities and have all three utilities as signets. I know i am sacrificing some utilities but it is awesome in wvw. Basically i get the random boons, along with a prolonged duration on those boons and the ability to boon my allies or especially phantasms. I took signet of midnight just to get some extra condition damage. anyone?

Greyalis.2309:

does anyone use greatsword and staff, and what is your build? your utilities?

I have been trying to maximize a build with both and would like some input.

I am currenty all the way on chaos, and have traited for staff for all the toughness you get. I also traited to get greatsword training to get the power. So I am kind of sacrificing power and precision for toughness from the staff but in wvw or fractals find i don’t have to heal as much or even dodge when i am on staff. I just want to maximize damage on greatsword while still being durable in fights on staff if I need to be. At the same time I want to maximize phantasms so i assume that is power/precision and not condition for the iwarlock?

I also am wondering about utilities for maximizing this type of playstyle. I have currently been playing with signets for utilities and have all three utilities as signets. I know i am sacrificing some utilities but it is awesome in wvw. Basically i get the random boons, along with a prolonged duration on those boons and the ability to boon my allies or especially phantasms. I took signet of midnight just to get some extra condition damage. anyone?

hi man, i use the Osicat shatter hybrid build
https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/mesmer/Guide-WvWvW-Pve-Shatter-Cat/first,
As the staff and gs, in PVE i use GS(imo is a must) and Staff or S-F (is situationally) , in WvWvW staff and s-s.

hope that will help you

I use Staff as my “Tanking” weapon. Phase retreat instantly teleports you out of harms way even if stunned or immobilized on a very short cooldown when traited. Staff does both moderate direct damage and condition damage so you can use it as a secondary defensive weapon in any build.