Priest: Staff vs Mace

[arwell22]

I've looked over the forums a bit, and other than the usual statement "Staff for DPing and Mace for soloing" I haven't seen a lot of discussion on the actual breakdown of why.

The reason I ask is I am a lvl 63 priest that has mostly duo'd up till now and just recently started getting into DPing. I will probably remain mostly a solo/duo player, but I do want to be as effective in a DP as I can.

With that said I tried equipping the R3 2hstaff I have for my RP to check the difference in healing with it over my R3 2H Mace, and I was surprised to see only a 20-30 point difference in HP gain. It makes me wonder if its worth the time and funds to lvl up a staff as a second weapon for such a small gain. I also like having my mace for those emergency moments when a mob breaks away and the calvary is a bit preoccupied.

Of course, the reason this all came to be an issue was I was debating whether to socket 2 +7 intl stones over +5 ones, or if I should override my +5 str stone with a +7intl stone on my mace so I have more MP for when I do DP. Thats when it occurred to me maybe it would be better to put them on a staff and keep it for DPs. I am currently sitting at a little over 6k with a lvl 7 intl buff, intl rings, and stones.

I can see the benefit of having a weapon geared for soloing (with extra str) and then one geared for DPing (to increase my MP level), but aside from that reason is there any other significant benefit to using a 2h staff in a DP that I am overlooking?

Thanks for theories and discussion concerning this. I realize its a lot of personal preference in strategies for stats, but I'd like to hear others thoughts ^_^

[hawkeyepierce]

Mostly its about being able to stone your weapon differently. In the long run the difference between mace healing and staff healing is small. However there are some of us that have been around long enough that during epic 2/3 there was an enormous difference between the two weapons. If you showed up to heal a dungeon with only a mace, you were laughed straight back to horizen.

[fa77]

You won't see much difference in healing BUT a bishop with a 2H staff does a LOT more damage with it's spells, than with a 1H mace / staff n shield or 2H mace.

Bishop's build like a DD mage with 2H staff are awesome imo !

[swiftybeans]

i had a mace and staff when r2/r3/r4 because i solo a lot since i dont have time to dp everyday
the difference between mine were the stones - my staff had the int stones in them. if i dp'd i'd use the staff just because of that (and a little better heal).

dont think 20hp is small, it can be a lifesaver

as for two equip sets (as in boots gloves etc) i considered doing it but got too lazy...youd have to find two whole sets of vit stones which would take a long time. because i didnt want to find so many stones, i just went all int/vit and on my mace i had str instead(in r3) and dex in r4

now r5, i just put int stones in my mace. dont want to go finding a staff to buy or wait for one to drop, but the difference between its heal and a r4 staff is maybe 70+ hp...dont remember really since i've only been equiping int/str ring in dp's these days to help with kill speed.

[reikoko]

i generally heal 100+ more hp with a staff than i do mace, which could be due to having strength stones on my mace instead of intelligence. i party more than solo/duo, but i still carry a mace around just in case i end up dding for whatever reason, and never heal without a staff in a full party. when i'm healing, i'd rather heal to the best of my ability, and a mace just isn't good enough in my eyes.

[chuggernaut]

I didn't decide between staff and mace, i decided between staff and staff. I had a 1H and 2H staff the same level and no stones and the healing was about 40 in difference. I use the 1H because i like seeing "Guard" when I'm being aggroed.

That's just me though.

[arwell22]

I ended up with my 2h mace and a 2h staff. It was entirely worth it for my style of play. I just carry around both now, despite the extra weight.

The mace is critical when I duo or even trio, mostly cause I can help DD and such. And I followed the advice to use 2 str stones and 2 vit stones on it since a higher MP amount isn't necessary for just 2-3 people (or myself alone). I've put most of my funds into making sure it's lvl'd.

The staff has been pretty important to DPs. And yes, that 20-30 extra HP points per heal adds up over time I realized, especially when you are trying to save as much MP as possible. I put 2 int stones and 2 vit stones on my staff, and I ended up lvling it as well mostly so that in those rare moments where I am not healing and going through a ton of blue pots and MP drinks, I can use energy beat to deal some extra damage.

If I were only allowed one weapon, personally I would have stayed with my 2h mace, only because I do play in small groups often as well as DP. Energy beat is great to spam, and with a lvl'd staff you can deal a decent amount of damage, but I find my mace does a little more and I crit more often with it which helps with DDing.

However, if I mostly DP'd and planned to use my healer as a total support character, I would very much suggest a staff. Use vit and int stones to help max out your HP as well as MP. The staff really is a more solid choice while DPing to maximize your abilities in the group. And even if you are a second cleric and can DD a little, you can use the spam spells effectively as well as keep back a bit to support the primary healer if needed.

Thanks again for the input.

[rayutasu]

By r4, you should seriously consider getting both anyways.
The difference between them is quite a bit.
Also, heal/rapid cards help a lot too.

And it's about 3 matk -> 1 hp heal if you wanted the numbers.

[rustynuttz]

its not just about the diff in healing amount, its speed
staffs are faster at casting heals than a mace , try it and see .

[bobbert]

its not just about the diff in healing amount, its speed
staffs are faster at casting heals than a mace , try it and see .

That makes absolutely no sense at all...

One of the reasons you have to chose between mace and staff on a priest (or keep both on hand) is because you get higher levels of mace mastery than a bishop, yet the priest character is 100% DP/Seige focused. If I can get an extra 30-50HP per heal, that adds up over time. My priest is on vacation since it hit r4 and when I get back to DPing I will most likely be using an r4 mace (in DPs too) I bought to double on my breeder aswell.

Im hoping we get a JP reset for either e5 or e5 pt2 so I can switch to bishop, if we do Ill grab a staff too. I get bored as hell DPing on my priest, and when I DD I debuff/crowd control spam, not just tab-f1. I like the spells I get as a priest so I think Id like being a bishop even more - with the damage/debuff/aoe spells they get. The only downside I see is slightly more difficult DPing due to no MP regen and a little harder time with boss parties (ToG is BADASS after a boss's AOE, otherwise I never use it).

[reikoko]

its not just about the diff in healing amount, its speed
staffs are faster at casting heals than a mace , try it and see .

that is untrue. the spells will have the same casting time, regardless of what weapon you use. the only things that would affect casting time for a priest/bishop are spell potions.

[slayeroflord]

its not just about the diff in healing amount, its speed
staffs are faster at casting heals than a mace , try it and see .

Attack speed is not casting speed.
I'm thinking that you misunderstand that theory. Either that, or u may think that theres a delay in using a staff and a mace. The delay is just an animation, with another click of a spell, it'll be cast immediately right after the one u just cast. Just like stand, and then using heal right after that.

As for whether to use 1h/2h mace/staff, or what stones...?
Solo (Field mobs)
- 2H mace, Vit + Str. If you're missing mobs higher level than you, just put on Dex rings. Don't change your stones just because u want to solo, unless you got too much $ to spare =p. Since you already have heals, and you're a cleric, you won't have problems with surviving.
- 2H staff, Int + Vit. Spams, Wis rings if mobs are resisting. However, you'll be forced to use lunas, unless you're using a redpixie. And spells get interrupted if u get hit while casting. OR

Solo (Dungeon mobs, Must have tank pet)
- 2H mace, Vit + Str. About the same as soloing in field mobs just that u need a strong pet to tank.
- 2H staff, Vit + Int.

Dungeon Party (One cleric)
- 2H staff, Vit/Int. Vit for Defense, Int for MP more than m.atk power. Being the only cleric in the party, you won't have time to dd, so staff > mace. As for people who might think wis may be a better choice than Vit or Int.. Int is MP, very essential especially when you're the only cleric. As you're the only cleric in the party, you're gonna have to survive more than disable adds that get you. Imagine 2-3 adds on you, as your party tries to get them off, you're gonna die fast with the wis stones and trying to disable them.
As for Rings, if you and your party is in a DE with the same type of mobs, use Int for more MP, if not, use Vit, as different mobs may agro you, if you die, your party dies.

Another option would be
- 1H staff + shield. But your matk will drop drastically. Also I've seen alot of people complain about the matk and healing formulas. But other than increasing your matk, you're gonna increase your pdef. Its really up to you whether you want more survivability or more healing power.

Dungeon Party (More than one cleric)
- Anything! Haha, you can even become a DD and help out in the kill speed. I've never seen any point in getting more than 1 cleric in a dp.

Too lazy to post for PVP and Siege, i think thats all new clerics need for now!

[andalousia]

At 11x and almost similar stats of 2h staff and 2h mace I add upto 100+ hp on same spell when using staff over mace. In restoration 10 hp per tick, 300 I guess over time when I use staff.

Try using staff at ur lvl and mace too and after couple of dps u will realize which style suits you well for mp consumption in whole duration of dp, 20-30 hp in your case per heal might not be a big deal(or you think) but hey you will heal like countless number of times.

gg fellas - cheers

edit : +3 resto lvl 1 differs 190 hp, +3 heal lvl 1 differs 95 hp

[najevi]

... And spells get interrupted if u get hit while casting.

Thank you for that important gem of advice. I'll have to experiment and see if that is why I thought certain spells appeared not to land successfully.

[rangedatkftw]

... And spells get interrupted if u get hit while casting.

Thank you for that important gem of advice. I'll have to experiment and see if that is why I thought certain spells appeared not to land successfully.

It would appear that the spear spells don't have casting delay. energy beat does.

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