Guild Wars 2

Hey guys,

I’m getting back into GW2 and I really want to craft a legendary. I adore Bifrost, but from what I remember staff mesmers are just condi-machines, right? I recently made ascended ‘zerker gear and was wondering if there are any staff builds that could be used with ’zerker gear. (I’m trying to get back into Fractals, WvW, and PVE.) I’ve always thought staff was fun to play, but it was annoying that I had to resort to condition damage…

Can anyone help me out a little? I’ve browsed on Metabattle a bit but I figured it’s still worth asking the community.

Thank you!

If it’s open world and frac up to t4 you can really use whatever you want, just know that staff wont help your DPS vs another offhand when solo or in dungeon, and GS is easier to tag mobs in open world.

If your gonna raid it’s best for everyone to get as close to optimal for your group as you can, rarely would that involve staff.

WvW Someone can tell you better, but I doubt you’ll want it on many power builds. I’m sure there are some good spots you can abuse phase retreat with though, and that phant really stings.

As for PvP Staff has often been in and out of the meta regardless of damage type.

If you want that shiny giant tuti-fruti stick candy, no need to hold back. Run it with power till meta matters, or make it work for you and your guild/group.

Daishi.6027:

If it’s open world and frac up to t4 you can really use whatever you want, just know that staff wont help your DPS vs another offhand when solo or in dungeon, and GS is easier to tag mobs in open world.

If your gonna raid it’s best for everyone to get as close to optimal for your group as you can, rarely would that involve staff.

WvW Someone can tell you better, but I doubt you’ll want it on many power builds. I’m sure there are some good spots you can abuse phase retreat with though, and that phant really stings.

As for PvP Staff has often been in and out of the meta regardless of damage type.

If you want that shiny giant tuti-fruti stick candy, no need to hold back. Run it with power till meta matters, or make it work for you and your guild/group.

Thank you very much for replying! I do enjoy the shinies… So sad to hear that staff is a bit limited. ;-;

Zerker staff is quite good against world boss, who are loaded with conditions, making your iWarlocks hit like trucks. Just summon them and switch to your other weapon set for optimal dps.

Staff is far from being condi only. But it is true this weapon is tied to a very particular gameplay style, and even in a power build you’ll play more like a condi build than like the traditional burst power build.

It is also a weapon that requires quite a high skill level to take the most advantage of it, so expect to feel a bit disappointed at first. But when dominated, the weapon can be very powerful in sPvP, WvW and open world.
Only in group content, like fractals, raids or WvW zerguing, it cannot hold the competition. Although its phantasm hits like a truck, these game modes are more tided to group performance where all the RNG, lack of personal DPS and lack of key support become lacklusting.

Some tips:

• Chaos specialization works like a charm with staff. It boost boon generation and the staff trait makes it a more dynamic weapon with significant lower cooldowns. If you manage to add some extra boon duration and another ethereal field, perma protection is easy to achieve.
• With chaotic Dampening, chain Chaos Armor as much as you can to maximize CDs reduction. This is a bit hard as you will have to manage Chaos Armor creation uptime not to overlap its duration (uptime duration doesn’t stack, if you regain Chaos Armor while having it, uptime will reset to 5s instead of stacking).
• Learn Phase Retreat + shatters combo, specially with Mind Wrack. Unpredictable damage spike that can finish enemies in the edge of death.
• Learn back camera + Phase Retreat combo to get extra mobility. Hard to learn, but specially hard to automatize. Also with Chaotic Dampening, mobility through combos gets more optimized.

It actually does descent power damage on close range compared to greatsword on maximum range GS does roughly 10%, more DPS on 2600 power remember staff nb 2 hits 2 times single target (staff is not so good on multiple targets for damage but descent for single target) but you shood always have sword for damage)

No. Staff can be used for both power and condition builds.

However, it is not a widely used weapon in any PvE content. It works just fine in open world. But there are better options in dungeons, fractals and raids.

In WvW, it is a pretty good choice for certain builds. But zerker mesmer is not that useful in WvW either.

Daishi.6027:

WvW Someone can tell you better, but I doubt you’ll want it on many power builds. I’m sure there are some good spots you can abuse phase retreat with though, and that phant really stings.

As for PvP Staff has often been in and out of the meta regardless of damage type.

Much the same reason for both – on a power build, staff is mainly a mobility weapon with a bit of random CC attached. Won’t help you much against a thief but it can help keep other melee builds away.