Guild Wars 2

Phaedrus.7159:

GS and Staff are both good standalone weapons, however I feel that Staff + Sword/OH combines better.

The reason for this comes down to combo fields, Chaos Storm and the flexibility Sword/OH gives.
Basically, having Sword lets you melee effectively, gives you a leap combo finisher and good survivability with Blurred Frenzy and Chaos Armor (from leap combo into Chaos Storm, Feedback etc.). This means you don’t have to run around in circles and lets you bunch multiple mobs relatively safely. As well, Chaos Storm is best when both you and the mobs are both standing in it – but greatsword #1 is going to do marginal damage if you do that.

Being able to safely stack mobs makes your shatters much more effective. As well, you can use Blurred Frenzy to invun after stacking confusion, allowing them to take confusion damage while you are untouched. On the other hand if you are running around with a GS/Staff, the mobs aren’t going to proc confusion much.

Finally, I feel choosing the right offhand (if solo most likely focus or pistol) gives you comparable utility to the greatsword. Focus #4 alone gives straight up better control than Greatsword, with speed, aoe cripple and a push/pullback. I also rate Warden more highly than Beserker, but thats more personal preference (both are whirl finishers, which is ok – but Warden doesn’t run out of the combo area half the time). I’ve found it’s actually easier to kite with Sword/Focus/Staff than GS/Staff, because you aren’t dependent on your phantasms for cripple/movement, letting you safely stack staff clones/phants.