Guild Wars 2

Just had a few questions about the Revenants staff, if yall wouldn’t mind taking the time out to educate me a bit…

• Can the staff be used effectively in an offensive build? Is it better for power or condition?

• Is it really pure melee? How does it feel to use compared to Greatsword or Hammer?

• Do you see staff being a popular weapon?

• What offset best compliments staff?

• What kind of build would you recommend for someone who wants to maximize the effectiveness of this weapon?

• Which legends best compliment the staff?

1) yes, power. Has no condi.
2) it’s a solid melee weapon.
3) yes, not as sword probably, but yes. It’s good for power, tanking and healing.
4) sword/shield for more dps/survivability or hammer for range and cc.
5 and 6) healer with cleric/nomad gear and ventari+salvation. Or a powerbuild with sword/shield to add some utility (condi cleanse, blast and staff#5)

Chaos Archangel.5071:

Just had a few questions about the Revenants staff, if yall wouldn’t mind taking the time out to educate me a bit…

• Can the staff be used effectively in an offensive build? Is it better for power or condition?

• Is it really pure melee? How does it feel to use compared to Greatsword or Hammer?

• Do you see staff being a popular weapon?

• What offset best compliments staff?

• What kind of build would you recommend for someone who wants to maximize the effectiveness of this weapon?

• Which legends best compliment the staff?

• Power builds. It’s garbage for condition unless you really want some evades/blocks/condi removal on swap. Does a lot of damage with well-used #5, okeish damage with AA leaving healing orbs.

• It’s pure melee, but you can always take Shiro Legend and have shadowstep on demand if it bothers you.

• Yeah, I’d say 2nd in popularity after Sword

• Depends on what you build is. I liked S/Sh

• Healing/Tanking build.

• Any Legend. Maybe Mallyx the least.

1. It can be used well in an offensive build, but I feel that it shines in a balanced build. It is a power centered weapon. For pure offense sword/X and hammer would be better, as it gives you ranged dps of hammer and melee dps of sword.

2. It is pure melee. It feels good to use once you get used to the auto attack. #3 block attack and #5 gap closer/knockback/big dps potential are very fun. #4 the heal/condi cleanse will be very important to rev as condi removal is lacking. Also #4 will be better since you can now move while using it. #2 skill is the weakest. It has high dps potential and stun, but is so slow and hard to use. This has been changed, so we will see how it performs now. If #2 & #4 skills are truly better with their proposed changes I don’t see anything from stopping staff from becoming strongest (not in pure dops, but in dps/utility) weapon.

3. I see it being popular in all game types because it is the most well rounded weapon. However it wont be the most popular at first because of “OMG bro check out this Unrelenting Assault skill on sword, it looks sick!”.

3. Honestly anything compliments staff. Condi builds won’t compliment as well, but it is sort of a wash since besides mace/axe there aren’t any other condi weapons. It depends on your build. For WvW I see it being used with hammer the most.

4. Again, I see staff working well with almost any build. Self sustain, or group support builds will take the top spots. But it will still be very strong in balanced and offensive builds.

5. Most legends will perform with staff . Ventari Legend with it’s accompanying trait line was built around the staff, so this offers the most synergy. The staff auto attack heal, plus vengeful hammers heal on Jalis legend offer great self sustain. On Shiro, impossible odds plus auto attack gives self sustain as well. If you line it up well you can use phase traversal + staff #5 to devastate your opponent with a surprise burst. Glint is a utility legend for the most part, and therefore will synergize with the utility of staff. Plus the condi removal on staff will help Glint users (Shiro too). Like I’ve said staff goes well with anything, but if you are Mallyx focused, then mace is recommended.

" Any Legend. Maybe Mallyx the least."

Perplexity rune proc using staff 5 an extra block that also blinds quick attacks with whirl finishers which produce conditions in most cases. So yes it will work with mallyx just fine as well

Not sure it’s been mentioned, but Staff 5 is also an absurdly strong burst skill on targets without stability. I am not sure if it’s intended, but it can multi hit the same target along it’s path as the knockback is so minimal, it’ll continually hit them.

In fact, I felt it was somewhat broken, as in Crusader trinket, I did around 9k damage to one person.

After the #4 change I will definitely use it more for condition removal.

Just wondering with staff #3 it’s block all attacks or just missile attacks (with the blind).

HungryBDinner.2694:

After the #4 change I will definitely use it more for condition removal.

Just wondering with staff #3 it’s block all attacks or just missile attacks (with the blind).

staff #3 blocks all attacks, just like warrior’s shield block, engineer gear shield, or guardian’s shelter.

Vergil.3970:

Not sure it’s been mentioned, but Staff 5 is also an absurdly strong burst skill on targets without stability. I am not sure if it’s intended, but it can multi hit the same target along it’s path as the knockback is so minimal, it’ll continually hit them.

In fact, I felt it was somewhat broken, as in Crusader trinket, I did around 9k damage to one person.

I used crusader in pvp as well and could do the same thing. However, that was only if I lined up the skill well. The opponent had to be in the perfect spot to get all hits on them. If they were off to the side just a bit they would get knocked out and only receive 2k-5k damage. Not to mention it is easy to completely miss this skill because your character happens to be facing off your attack line at the time.

To me this feels like a skill that will be powerful in skilled/patient players hands, and should reward that patience with a high burst.

Stinja.9612:

" Any Legend. Maybe Mallyx the least."

Perplexity rune proc using staff 5 an extra block that also blinds quick attacks with whirl finishers which produce conditions in most cases. So yes it will work with mallyx just fine as well

Sword #2 is also a whirl finisher. Remind me, how reliable whirl projectiles are outside of stacked PvE or WvW zergball? #3 Blind is mostly to protect allies, since you block anyway. There are no Perplexity runes in PvP, Sword #5 has interrupt, too, same as OH Axe.

It worked with old Mallyx if you focused on control and okay in hybrids, but in terms of condition-focused builds, there are simply better picks imo.

Unless you really want to kitten off mesmers blocking every single offensive shatter with #3 x)

Is there a way I can do damage and still provide meaningful healing?

staff can dish out a decent damage, even if running in cleric’s

Chaos Archangel.5071:

Is there a way I can do damage and still provide meaningful healing?

Chaos, are you going to join the dark side and abandon your Mesmer for a Revenant? :P

And to answer your question the healing really comes into play on your Legend. Ventari and Herald stances is where you would get heal/support. The staff in conjuction with these Legends you are in will provide solid DPS

At first I didn’t really love staff, I really like sword/shield more but… if the sword auto stays as a ranged attack I might jump on the staff bandwagon. I quite dislike getting my auto attack thrown back into my face.

Chaos Archangel.5071:

Just had a few questions about the Revenants staff, if yall wouldn’t mind taking the time out to educate me a bit…

• Can the staff be used effectively in an offensive build? Is it better for power or condition?

• Is it really pure melee? How does it feel to use compared to Greatsword or Hammer?

• Do you see staff being a popular weapon?

• What offset best compliments staff?

• What kind of build would you recommend for someone who wants to maximize the effectiveness of this weapon?

• Which legends best compliment the staff?

You asked about offensive builds so I’m gonna answer keeping that in mind.

1) It’s 100% power based. More on its use later.

2) It’s pure melee.
It feels more like an hammer than a gs. One block, one slam, a knockdown, slower than a gs but still faster than a normal melee hammer.

3) I totally love to use it, but it’s not the top dog in anything.
It can’t beat sw/a, so it’s gonna fight for the second weapon spot with hammer probably.

4) Ideally hammer for a ranged option, or sw/sh in a defensive build.
I tried it a lot with sw/a but it ends up being underused.

5 – 6) PvE or PvP? I haven’t played with it enough time in PvP, so I’ll talk about PvE.
Like the hammer, it’s great with Shiro thanks to Impossible Odds. The second legend it’s more of a personal preference (I found Glint to work the best with it).
The second weapon set could be easly filled with sw/a for a 100% melee build or hammer if you need range.
As for traits, I don’t think anyone it’s gonna do something different than Devastation/Invocation/Herald in any offensive PvE build.

In PvP I guess it can work in a less fragile build.
I’d use Shiro anyway. The staff can heal a little bit and remove some conditions (not so much). But more than anything it has a knockdown which could be useful with the Jade Winds’ stun to lock down someone.
In this case I’d think about an hammer and Jalis to complete the build.
But it’s pure speculation on my part, I haven’t tested it.

Chaos Archangel.5071:

Is there a way I can do damage and still provide meaningful healing?

The only way a rev can provide meaningful healing is with Ventari and that’s kinda indipendent from the weapon choice.

I am learning a lot from this thread. Much appreciated guys!

Linfang.1087:

Chaos Archangel.5071:

Is there a way I can do damage and still provide meaningful healing?

Chaos, are you going to join the dark side and abandon your Mesmer for a Revenant? :P

And to answer your question the healing really comes into play on your Legend. Ventari and Herald stances is where you would get heal/support. The staff in conjuction with these Legends you are in will provide solid DPS

Nah. Mesmer will always be my main, but Daredevil, Revenant, and Druid are all competing to kick Ele from 2nd.

Tempest gives no love to staff Ele. =[

Chaos Archangel.5071:

I am learning a lot from this thread. Much appreciated guys!

Linfang.1087:

Chaos Archangel.5071:

Is there a way I can do damage and still provide meaningful healing?

Chaos, are you going to join the dark side and abandon your Mesmer for a Revenant? :P

And to answer your question the healing really comes into play on your Legend. Ventari and Herald stances is where you would get heal/support. The staff in conjuction with these Legends you are in will provide solid DPS

Nah. Mesmer will always be my main, but Daredevil, Revenant, and Druid are all competing to kick Ele from 2nd.

Tempest gives no love to staff Ele. =[

One can argue there’s really no need when eles already got all the attention as children growing up.

Also the coefficient on staff auto is considerably lower than sword but sword has a projectile on its auto, just something to think about. I’d say it fits a similar role to how staff does for mesmers obviously without the blinks etc.

I’m going to be running sword/sword, staff. It’s got amazing mobility and it very good in a powerbuild. I don’t see it working for condition.