Best weapons (especially for a caster)

[Arani]

So I'm running a caster and almost through on my first playthrough, but I have no idea what weapons to go for. Do you have any suggestions like which companions to max out to get a good long sword for a caster for example? I already have the Hong Jin(?) set since I assumed that was the definitive caster set, but the staff is just underwhelming. While the weapon scales well from my stats, its perks are basically pointless and its martial arts are nothing short of suicidal. 1:st one firing a fireball doing 1hp dmg and on high spirit flaming up which is still never enough to apply the status, and the second one is an ultra slow, and ultra weak hit up -> down combo that basically just asks to be hit in the face from the enemy.

I also got that glaive everyone was talking about, Azure Dragon Crescent Glaive, but I don't see the appeal in it. It's strong yes but also incredibly slow and full of openings.

Heaven's Reliance straight sword from maxing I think it was Cao Cao also has all the wrong stats for me, but its moveset is absolutely phenomenal. 1:st martial arts does that sky spiral jump thing, and you can land from there with a heavy attack. So it's both ultra fast, very powerful and drains a ton of ki, and being up in the air means you also dodge enemy attacks during it. Meanwhile the 2:nd martial arts is a great way to put distance at the end of a combo and get back to casting.

Do you guys have any recommendations? I don't really mind the weapon type as long as its not a slow one.

[Talon Rose]

Stuff that feels good and scales with either Metal or Water.
While there *are* damaging spells in other places, those two are largely seen as the Caster archetype elements - Metal makes it cheaper to cast spells and Water allows you to access water stuff for sneaking, faster movement and helps you gain Qi off deflects (AFAIK).
I don't know the weapons off hand yet but I think the twin swords scale hard with metal or water. Probs water. They also have a really healthy deflect rate, which is important for being able to cast and not being shat on!

[Dasginosis]

Any. You can get a skill gem <Bonus damage Metal attack A-> later.