Steel staff, any good?

[yetian 86]

Hi, 

 

I have read various threads and even have my own seeking weapon advice thread.

 

One weapon that intrigues me and I can't find much info on, is the steel staff. It seems to be fairly fast, OK damage and seems like it should parry well. 

 

I saw someone post a dps thread where it came out above most other 2h apart from the huge axe. 

 

I use a huge axe at the moment (pve) and am wondering if anyone has had much experience with the steel staff. 

 

Thanks in advance for any info. 

Edited January 29, 2017 by yetian

[Pingpong 1070]

I really enjoy going aggro mode with my steel staff, imo this is where it shines the most.

[Niki 2278]

I use one, works well enough. 

[Propheteer 7139]

great for hunting, same as pretty much any weapon.

 

gives some of the best str gains too.

 

pretty ###### for pvp, like not even ###### tier.

[joedobo 1201]

Why do folks think any weapon is great for PvE? I agree any weapon can work albeit it at a big disadvantages in some cases (short sword). I've found significant advantages using 2 handed weapons in aggressive. Defensive is garbage in PvE and generally speaking the lower the dps the weapon the worse it is for PvE. The whole idea of high defense configuration for PvE just doesn't seem to work.

 

I'm working on steel spear now and once I get 70 I'll switch to the steel staff. What most appeals to me is 1) the dps in aggressive, 2) the short optimal range. A short range means you can easier run through the mob, turn 180 and be behind it while still being in optimal range. 

[yetian 86]

Thanks for the info all, will try to pick up a nice one and work it as well as my huge axe. 

[Propheteer 7139]

9 hours ago, joedobo said:

Why do folks think any weapon is great for PvE? I agree any weapon can work albeit it at a big disadvantages in some cases (short sword). I've found significant advantages using 2 handed weapons in aggressive. Defensive is garbage in PvE and generally speaking the lower the dps the weapon the worse it is for PvE. The whole idea of high defense configuration for PvE just doesn't seem to work.

 

I'm working on steel spear now and once I get 70 I'll switch to the steel staff. What most appeals to me is 1) the dps in aggressive, 2) the short optimal range. A short range means you can easier run through the mob, turn 180 and be behind it while still being in optimal range. 

 

i mean nothing is bad

 

i can kill every mob you would fight on a pve server with a shield and a butchering knife and never go below 95%. The PvE aspect is unchallenging because the mobs are unbalanced and they don't do anything special, and when you complain about this, developers think cool and challenging is a 3x3 permastun that hits champions for 30-40% of their life, and twoshots everyone else.

[Matholameu 345]

Steel Spear > Steel Staff

[yetian 86]

Care to expand on why? 

[Simyaci 443]

Steel Staff is not bad if you feel more immersive using it. However, If you want it based on efficiency alone, it is not one of the best choices to say the least

[yetian 86]

Are we talking pve or pvp here?

 

Wiki stats make it look OK and dps stats I've seen show it to have good dps. 

 

Currently I have a nice rare huge axe. Not sure why, but fancy something different. 

Edited January 29, 2017 by yetian

[joedobo 1201]

11 hours ago, Propheteer said:

 

i mean nothing is bad

 

i can kill every mob you would fight on a pve server with a shield and a butchering knife and never go below 95%. The PvE aspect is unchallenging because the mobs are unbalanced and they don't do anything special, and when you complain about this, developers think cool and challenging is a 3x3 permastun that hits champions for 30-40% of their life, and twoshots everyone else.

 

I just wanted to point out there are certain weapons that are better then others for PvE. I have fought with the butcher knife before (I wanted to get my knife skill up) and it sucks big time compared to say the two handed sword (aggressive). I like easy so that must be why I value how certain weapons certainly feel like they make fights easier then over others in PvE. Your comment about developers does make sense, imo, they for the most part make wrong or bad decisions.

[Simyaci 443]

Steel Staff is actually worse in PvE than in PvP. It is a mauling weapon and most creatures you come across in PvE has either studded or leather armor. Glance funtime! Other than that, it has great dps, short range, great parry, nonexistant critical chance.

 

If you want a different weapon (than hugeaxe), if you look for efficiency and dont mind if it is not steel staff, I would suggest twohanded sword (unless you only hunt in caves and deserts of course, then by all means go for the steel staff).

Edited January 30, 2017 by Simyaci

[joedobo 1201]

I suspect the problem we will run into here is the people who only PvE don't pay attention to weapons. The PvP are obsessed with finding that will help them win. I don't think is possible to fairly compare PvP and PvE combat. Why; 1) mobs dont have stamina and they instantly recover from stun so all your special moves are not productive. 2) Mobs don't seem to have efficient range. And to put it another way, the seem to always be within perfect distance. 3) ...there are likely more.

[yetian 86]

All good points. Though many seem to use mauls in pve (not saying it's the best), I have a large maul on one character.

 

Can't decide if I just stick to axe or try another 2h.?

[joedobo 1201]

Here is a link to armor DR values: 

 

Although, I think chain and studded %values have since been swapped.

 

I went through WU and grabbed mob armor types. Given that my nemesis the troll has studded leather (and assuming chain and studded DR where swapped) it looks like the best weapon for me is a slasher (huge axe or two handed sword). Note that most of those "none" entries are actually cloth.

Spoiler

all dragons	scale_dragon
all drakes	scale_dragon
Anaconda	leather
bison	none
Black bear	studded
black wolf	studded
Blue whale	chain
brown bear	studded
brown cow	none
bull	none
calf	none
cave bug	plate
chicken	none
crab	plate
Crocodile	plate
Cyclops	studded
deer	none
Dog	cloth
dolphin	chain
foal	none
Fog spider	plate
Forest giant	studded
goblin	none
goblin leader	chain
hell horse	cloth
hell hound	leather
Hell scrop	studded
hen	none
horse	cloth
lamb	none
Lava fiend	plate
Lava spider	plate
lion	cloth
Octopus	chain
pheasant	none
Pig	cloth
ram	cloth
rat	cloth
rooster	none
Scrop	studded
Sea serpent	chain
Seal	chain
Seal cub	chain
Shark	chain
sheep	none
Spider	plate
Tortoise	plate
Tower guard	none
Troll	studded
Troll king	ring
Unicorn	cloth
wild cat	cloth

 

I wonder if there is a concise way to show glancing given armor type and damage type.

[yetian 86]

@joedobo Great info, thanks.

 

Probably best to work up axe and a maul type then?

[joedobo 1201]

http://www.wurmonline.com/2016/11/22/wurm-online-1-3-update-patch-notes-22nov16/

"Damage reduction modifiers have been swapped for Chain and studded armours."

 

I'm going to still go with steel staff. It does mauling damage. This is great against plate and average against studded leather. For mobs I care about they either have plate or studded type armor (well leather on HH but even then mauling is still average). That is unless a glance rate explanation demonstrates that is really bad.

[Jaz 2688]

I know a few using steel staff and it seems quite decent in PVE - of course as with any 2h I would go aggressive stance with it.

Take the WU armour types with caution in WO, the mobs behave very differently in WU compared to WO, considering the uniques for example (kyk and FG are way way more harder in WU than dragons - unlike in WO).

[yetian 86]

I'll get a staff then to have a maul type along with my axe. 

 

Oh, does anyone know if they can be mailed? 

 

Thanks again all. 

Edited January 30, 2017 by yetian

[Propheteer 7139]

Personally, i know you are looking for two handers, but, i think you will quite like the medium maul, especially if you can get your hands on a glimmer one.

 

It hits just about as hard as most two handers, and faster, plus you can use a shield with it.

[yetian 86]

Thanks for the info. Damage does seem good, though the staff looks faster and has the same strength according to the wiki. 

[Alexgopen 2376]

On 1/29/2017 at 1:52 AM, Propheteer said:

great for hunting, same as pretty much any weapon.

 

gives some of the best str gains too.

 

pretty ###### for pvp, like not even ###### tier.

 

>not using a 10k bloodthirst 100botd steel staff against mounted opponents

 

made it back before the most recent update made BT super easy too

Edited March 11, 2017 by Alexgopen

[zigozag 919]

How good is 10k BT? Or at least 3-5k+? Is it worth going for?

[Alexgopen 2376]

It adds to damage based on weapon ql and cast, regardless of the weapons usual damage.  Bt damage is also added before hate damage and polearm damage modifiers are applied, and so it scales well with those. Other enchants add damage based on a portion of the weapon's starting damage.  For every weapon but hugeaxes (it's slightly less for those) 10k bt is better than 90fb in terms of damage.  Because each weapon has a different starting damage, each weapon has a different threshhold where bt becomes better than fb for damage.  The downside to bt is that it's annoying to grind up and only makes one wound, so its easier for enemies to heal with like light of fo, as opposed to fb which makes two wounds.  Because bt is added damage not based on weapon damage, it gives the largest dps boost to low swingtimer weapons.  By augmenting their starting damage with the addition of (ql/100)*cast bt damage you increase their dps significantly.  For some low damage high swingtimer weapons like shortswords and small mauls, you get around double its normal damage with 10k bt, while 100fb would've resulted in around 1.3x it's normal damage.

 

In short, fb gives at most +30% more damage, while bloodthirst is not limited by your starting damage and can even far exceed it (you could make something silly like a 10k bt rake that hits like a shortsword)

 

Because of its short swingtimer, a steel staff with 10k bt and 100botd/woa has around the same dps as a 90fb 100botd/woa glimmer hugeaxe, but has much greater dps versus mounted opponents due to the polearm damage boost.  It has the added benefit of being cheap to make, not requiring any moon metal.  The highest dps (and low cost too) single handed weapon is a 10k bt sickle.  Because sickles have such low swingtimers already I'd suggest 90+ nn over woa/botd because the added accuracy will help your dps more, especially since sickles have a cr nerf.  

 

If you're willing to put in the effort to grind bt, and don't need to counter light of fo with fb's multiple wounds, then these two weapons are the way to go.  You can save your moon metal for armor. 

 

Edited March 11, 2017 by Alexgopen