Wands

[frdnwsm]

Wands seem to be short range versions of Staves. But while Staves have an icon for their use that you can put on your hot bar, Wands don't seem to have any such thing ... although if they have a secondary skill attached, this does have a hot bar icon. I'd like to put wand attack action on my hot bar; am I missing something here?

You can use the Staff use icon to check if a target is in range; I can't seem to do this for wands.

I'm still experimenting with them, but even dual wielded they seem to be a bit lacking in damage. How do others find their use in combat?

[TheActionAss]

You can hold CTRL to test the range or attack the floor with them. I found myself using wands mostly to counter enemies with a weakness to a certain element or to electrocute water/burn poison.

[ancientfire]

Wand is a ranged weapon with 16m range while staff is a melee weapon with 4m range. Staff can range attack only once per time (staff of magus), while wand can do as many times as your AP allows.

Actually in this game, staff is much weaker than wand. It has almost the same damage and attribute buff as a single wand, but you can equip double wands and they can be buffed by dual-wielding and the left-hand wand can be buffed by wand skill.

In early game, you only need to equip one wand and it costs only 3AP to attack, it's the most efficient way to ignite, eletrify and deal damages.

[frdnwsm]

Ok, fair enough. I do find the extra range from a staff to be of value, however, in many tactical situations. I do a lot of maneuvering, and often fall back from the enemy, leading them into choke point situations, while dealing damage with pre-sited archers. Wands are too short range for me to do this type of thing.

Also, I do not use staves as melee weapons; the AP cost is too high, the results aren't very exciting, and there are always better alternatives. (Grenades, scrolls, spells, special arrows, and what have you.)

I have been double wielding wands in those situations where I can't avoid close quarters combat, however. In fact, I train just about everyone in dual wielding, whether for wands or weapons. I was just annoyed that there was no hotbar icon for using them, the way there is for the Staff of Magus attack, and at not being able to see the range properly.

[RubADuck]

Wands are way better staffs....
1. they get skills...
2. have infinite number of attacks...
3. range attack...
4. can dual wield.

staffs are weaker... nearly usless compared to wands.

[ancientfire]

Originally posted by frdnwsm:

Ok, fair enough. I do find the extra range from a staff to be of value, however, in many tactical situations. I do a lot of maneuvering, and often fall back from the enemy, leading them into choke point situations, while dealing damage with pre-sited archers. Wands are too short range for me to do this type of thing.

Also, I do not use staves as melee weapons; the AP cost is too high, the results aren't very exciting, and there are always better alternatives. (Grenades, scrolls, spells, special arrows, and what have you.)

I have been double wielding wands in those situations where I can't avoid close quarters combat, however. In fact, I train just about everyone in dual wielding, whether for wands or weapons. I was just annoyed that there was no hotbar icon for using them, the way there is for the Staff of Magus attack, and at not being able to see the range properly.

I don't understand why you need a hotbar to use wand. It's a Ranged weapon which means you can directly attack from far away. Even if you are in melee combat, you can still attack with it without any penalty. The reason why there is a staff of magus for staves is the weapon itself is a melee weapon and ranged attack is an bonus but can be used only once per action which makes it much worse than wands.

In early game, you only need to equip one wand, and its attack only costs 3ap, with 9ap you can attack 3 times. It also serves for ignite(fire wand), electrify(air wand). It's better to dual-wield after you reach 4 or 5 points in that ability.

Even in terms of range, wand is 16.0m while staff of magus is 15.0m.

Actually wand is the best weapon in early game, even fighters and rogues can consider using it.

Or maybe you are not playing the EE version?

[Raze_Larian]

A staff allows the use of Melee Power Stance (with at least level 1 Man At Arms), which, despite the name and description, also gives a damage bonus to spells.

[frdnwsm]

What works for you is fine for you. People's taste differ. De gustibus non est disputandum

I just got through cleaning out the charred bone guys. As a test run, I gave Jahan my best water wand, and Scarlett my best water staff. Scarlett with her one shot did as much or more damage per hit (200-250) than Jahan did with his 3 (60-70 x3), leaving her with enough AP to toss off a shock bolt, or fall back to a better position. Also, Jahan only has 7 AP at this point, so he had to save up AP from the prior turn to get 3 attacks, and was unable to move after attacking. He took a lot of fire damage.

I'm big on hit and run tactics, as opposed to standing fast and slugging it out toe-to-toe. Fire off a hard hitting staff, then run for cover.

[nickz1x2c3v4]

You should use wands for its stats, don't use them for white attacks. Don't waste points in weapons skills. Instead put them into magic skills, or defense. You should have one point into every magic schools for the touch skills for cc. Mages pre lvl15 is basically CC/buff, after lvl 15, they have OP aoe skills that basically breaks the game...

[Grup]

If I'm dual wielding wands how do I control which wand I'm attacking with? How do I attack with one and then the other?

[TheActionAss]

Originally posted by Grup:

If I'm dual wielding wands how do I control which wand I'm attacking with? How do I attack with one and then the other?

You always attack with both in the same order

[annatheeverenlightened]

Thanks Raze, so for staffs you get potentially a 25% boost to staff of magus and all spell damage, vs. with wands you can attack more per turn plus you can use master level skills before you can learn them, assuming you have enough AP.

[Nevron]

For the special abilities of your wands click on the skills icon under the portrait of the character who has the wand equipped. Then click on the equipment tab at the bottom of the skills and spells table that comes up. Any skills attached to your items will be listed here and you just have to drag the skill icon to your hotbar. Usually when you equip a wand if it has a special skill it will automatically be assigned to the first open tab in your hotbar.

[Highrule -1]

Originally posted by annatheeverenlightened:

Thanks Raze, so for staffs you get potentially a 25% boost to staff of magus and all spell damage, vs. with wands you can attack more per turn plus you can use master level skills before you can learn them, assuming you have enough AP.

In terms of efficiency, not the comparison you want to make. Dualwielding air+fire wands early on gives you easy access to electrified water, burning oil and exploding poison. This is far, far more beneficial than any spells wands have or buffs staves give.

Past level ~12, both wands and staves are pretty useless. Dualwielding crafted daggers or swords/axes with decent stat stick mods is easily better.