Which Destruction staff is the best?

[Saphayla]

I'm not looking for one best staff. I'm asking which elemental (fire, ice or lightning) is the best. I've seen people say that it's really a matter of preference, but since, as a Sorcerer, I have perks that increase shock damage, wouldn't Lightning Staffs be best for me? What do you think?

[Wo1f]

lightning by far the best.

[Nain]

frost staff is made for tanking in a recent patch, so if you are in a group and have that one passive that enhances your heavy staff attacks, then better not use it or the tank will be pretty annoyed :)

[quarre]

Fire has 8% more single-target damage. Lightning has 8% more aoe damage.

Frost is good for control. But i dont recomend using it for tanking as mentioned above. Sure, defence is good, but there's few cute points: blocks eat mana instead of stamina AND mana regen drops to 0 while you're in block, same as with shield and stamina. So for mage its possible to tank with Ice staff, but its a guar tricks.

If put a guar on this, i'd say Lightning is better, because chanell attack with few ticks and this chanell is aoe as well.

[Nightingale]

Originally posted by Wo1f:

lightning by far the best.

Fire has more single target DPS than lightning, while lightning has it better AOE wise.

I personally prefer lightning staves, but Both fire and lightning are best.

[Drake]

Yeah currently it's fire for single target and lightning for aoe.
As a destuction mage, what you want is actually to have both staves in your bag and switch depending on the situation. Get a wardrobe addon to switch items and builds easily between fights. You'll see that endgame, eso is not about having THE build, but a char with enough unlocked skills to change builds on the fly depending on the mobs or bosses you encounter.

[Wo1f]

Originally posted by Nightingale:

Originally posted by Wo1f:

lightning by far the best.

Fire has more single target DPS than lightning, while lightning has it better AOE wise.

I personally prefer lightning staves, but Both fire and lightning are best.

yeah its supposed to function like you said, however ive recently been leveling up a mag dk,
and it is supposed to be this fire mage archetype right ?
I mean most of mag dk abilities are to do with some form of fire, and so you would assune fire staff would be the natural choice here BUT it isnt.

How come ? Well because mag dk's spammable ability is Flame Lash and its special proc called Power Lash (which is double the power of the base ability and costs 0 magica when it procs), but it can only proc if you set a target off balance, and in order to do that you either have to bash/disrupt the target as its casting an attack or by simply laying down the Wall of Elemants aoe
with a Lightning staff (tho this does not guarantee a proc or multiple procs of Power Lash every time).
So again we can see that even in "Firemage" builds, Lightning staff is better and offers more utility. This is just one of the many many inconsistancies in this game( in this example why make the fire mage's main spammable ability depend on setting targets off balance) that bugs the heck out of me when playing...

[Alex Shara]

You get 2 skill panel at 15 lvl.
So...
1 panel - Fire Staff - target skills
2 panel - Lightning Staff - aoe skills

[Nightingale]

Originally posted by Wo1f:

Originally posted by Nightingale:

Fire has more single target DPS than lightning, while lightning has it better AOE wise.

I personally prefer lightning staves, but Both fire and lightning are best.

yeah its supposed to function like you said, however ive recently been leveling up a mag dk,
and it is supposed to be this fire mage archetype right ?
I mean most of mag dk abilities are to do with some form of fire, and so you would assune fire staff would be the natural choice here BUT it isnt.

How come ? Well because mag dk's spammable ability is Flame Lash and its special proc called Power Lash (which is double the power of the base ability and costs 0 magica when it procs), but it can only proc if you set a target off balance, and in order to do that you either have to bash/disrupt the target as its casting an attack or by simply laying down the Wall of Elemants aoe
with a Lightning staff (tho this does not guarantee a proc or multiple procs of Power Lash every time).
So again we can see that even in "Firemage" builds, Lightning staff is better and offers more utility. This is just one of the many many inconsistancies in this game( in this example why make the fire mage's main spammable ability depend on setting targets off balance) that bugs the heck out of me when playing...

The natural choice of your weapon really depends on your build and preferable role. Since you are a magicka dragonknight, i assume you are a dps?

Also, this is meant to be better in general, not just solely for Dragonknights. Certain builds are going to fare better with certain staves or weapons. IE fire staff, lightning staff, DW, 1H and shield, etc.

Seeing as how OP is a sorcerer and not a dragonknight, Fire staves would be better for single target, preferably on front bar, and lightning staff for a back bar, which would do more damage AOE wise.

[Wo1f]

Originally posted by Nightingale:

Originally posted by Wo1f:

yeah its supposed to function like you said, however ive recently been leveling up a mag dk,
and it is supposed to be this fire mage archetype right ?
I mean most of mag dk abilities are to do with some form of fire, and so you would assune fire staff would be the natural choice here BUT it isnt.

How come ? Well because mag dk's spammable ability is Flame Lash and its special proc called Power Lash (which is double the power of the base ability and costs 0 magica when it procs), but it can only proc if you set a target off balance, and in order to do that you either have to bash/disrupt the target as its casting an attack or by simply laying down the Wall of Elemants aoe
with a Lightning staff (tho this does not guarantee a proc or multiple procs of Power Lash every time).
So again we can see that even in "Firemage" builds, Lightning staff is better and offers more utility. This is just one of the many many inconsistancies in this game( in this example why make the fire mage's main spammable ability depend on setting targets off balance) that bugs the heck out of me when playing...

The natural choice of your weapon really depends on your build and preferable role. Since you are a magicka dragonknight, i assume you are a dps?

Also, this is meant to be better in general, not just solely for Dragonknights. Certain builds are going to fare better with certain staves or weapons. IE fire staff, lightning staff, DW, 1H and shield, etc.

Seeing as how OP is a sorcerer and not a dragonknight, Fire staves would be better for single target, preferably on front bar, and lightning staff for a back bar, which would do more damage AOE wise.

im just saying that ive come to the conclusinon after many hours spent playing all the classes (except for warden) that lightning staff is simply a better choice all things said and done, even on my mag sorc i spend more time using my lighting staff for combat and rerely do i need to switch to my fire staff cause everything dies faster whith my lighting staff and lots of lighting aoe skills which are native to sorc anyway.
Further more, you run accross groups of mobs way more often than you run accross bosses (groups of enemies vs single enemy) so lighting staff is more usefull cause it gives more aoe damage to put down mobs quicker and easier.

[quarre]

Its not a big deal for sorc, since sorc has flat 5% lightning bonus, which kinda compensates 8% damage for direct attacks only.

[Nightingale]

Originally posted by Wo1f:

Originally posted by Nightingale:

The natural choice of your weapon really depends on your build and preferable role. Since you are a magicka dragonknight, i assume you are a dps?

Also, this is meant to be better in general, not just solely for Dragonknights. Certain builds are going to fare better with certain staves or weapons. IE fire staff, lightning staff, DW, 1H and shield, etc.

Seeing as how OP is a sorcerer and not a dragonknight, Fire staves would be better for single target, preferably on front bar, and lightning staff for a back bar, which would do more damage AOE wise.

im just saying that ive come to the conclusinon after many hours spent playing all the classes (except for warden) that lightning staff is simply a better choice all things said and done, even on my mag sorc i spend more time using my lighting staff for combat and rerely do i need to switch to my fire staff cause everything dies faster whith my lighting staff and lots of lighting aoe skills which are native to sorc anyway.
Further more, you run accross groups of mobs way more often than you run accross bosses (groups of enemies vs single enemy) so lighting staff is more usefull cause it gives more aoe damage to put down mobs quicker and easier.

My point still stands. While there are certainly more groups than there are single target enemies, this changes when you encounter bosses. Especially in public or group dungeons and even trials.

The DPS that fire procs on single target enemies will far outweigh the lightning proc against bosses under these circumstances.

[Nightingale]

Originally posted by lonenaco:

Its not a big deal for sorc, since sorc has flat 5% lightning bonus, which kinda compensates 8% damage for direct attacks only.

for overworld content or not as difficult bosses, sure. When it comes to trial and group dungeons, it wont compensate as much.

[Nightingale]

By the way OP, this also depends on what sets you are using, if any. If you are fully dedicated to shock damage, i recommend to use netch's touch which buffs lightning damage significantly.

[RattikusMaximus]

Originally posted by Wo1f:

Originally posted by Nightingale:

Fire has more single target DPS than lightning, while lightning has it better AOE wise.

I personally prefer lightning staves, but Both fire and lightning are best.

yeah its supposed to function like you said, however ive recently been leveling up a mag dk,
and it is supposed to be this fire mage archetype right ?
I mean most of mag dk abilities are to do with some form of fire, and so you would assune fire staff would be the natural choice here BUT it isnt.

How come ? Well because mag dk's spammable ability is Flame Lash and its special proc called Power Lash (which is double the power of the base ability and costs 0 magica when it procs), but it can only proc if you set a target off balance, and in order to do that you either have to bash/disrupt the target as its casting an attack or by simply laying down the Wall of Elemants aoe
with a Lightning staff (tho this does not guarantee a proc or multiple procs of Power Lash every time).
So again we can see that even in "Firemage" builds, Lightning staff is better and offers more utility. This is just one of the many many inconsistancies in this game( in this example why make the fire mage's main spammable ability depend on setting targets off balance) that bugs the heck out of me when playing...

So why don't you switch back to fire staff after casting wall of elements? You should be weaving a light attack before every powerlash anyway and the light fire attack would do more damage than lightning. Switch to recast WoE as lighting when needed. Things like this are why there's a quick switch mechanic...

[Wo1f]

Originally posted by Rawr™:

Originally posted by Wo1f:

yeah its supposed to function like you said, however ive recently been leveling up a mag dk,
and it is supposed to be this fire mage archetype right ?
I mean most of mag dk abilities are to do with some form of fire, and so you would assune fire staff would be the natural choice here BUT it isnt.

How come ? Well because mag dk's spammable ability is Flame Lash and its special proc called Power Lash (which is double the power of the base ability and costs 0 magica when it procs), but it can only proc if you set a target off balance, and in order to do that you either have to bash/disrupt the target as its casting an attack or by simply laying down the Wall of Elemants aoe
with a Lightning staff (tho this does not guarantee a proc or multiple procs of Power Lash every time).
So again we can see that even in "Firemage" builds, Lightning staff is better and offers more utility. This is just one of the many many inconsistancies in this game( in this example why make the fire mage's main spammable ability depend on setting targets off balance) that bugs the heck out of me when playing...

So why don't you switch back to fire staff after casting wall of elements? You should be weaving a light attack before every powerlash anyway and the light fire attack would do more damage than lightning. Switch to recast WoE as lighting when needed. Things like this are why there's a quick switch mechanic...

cause i prefer to stay on 1 bar if i can help it and cause i cba with all that adhd twitchy playstyle crap that demands rigorous rotations and bar switches every 15 seconds, f that noise, aint no body got time for that, i play the game for enjoyment and to relax not to be a sweaty tryhard.