Wands vs staffs

[Muntis]

Which one do you prefer and why?

[Chaoslink]

Wand generally, unless I’m building a battlemage with warfare skills. Staff attacks are melee, so unless I plan on using it in melee it doesn’t seem necessary given a wand can be used alongside a shield.

Wands also have a bit of utility given that wand attacks to ground create small surfaces that might be useful to some degree (like undead putting poison at their feet for healing and earth elemental affinity.

[Gosen]

Why would you have 2h weapon, while 1h with shield gives you better stats and defense?

[Chaoslink]

Originally posted by Gosen:

Why would you have 2h weapon, while 1h with shield gives you better stats and defense?

Depending on what stats you want, dual wand or a staff can have better than what you’d get with a shield. Not much reason for a shield when everything is CC’d first turn due to extra damage output from a 20%+ crit staff.

[slovakiaman]

Dual wield wands, because of ranged attacks and better stats. Stats are probably the most important reason. I don't switch wand untill I find one with better stat boosts, damage doesn't really matter that much IMO.

[Edstyles]

Wands for sure because u can go parry master.

My dual weild mage has survived so many times cause of its decent dodge rating

Ofc u dont put points in dw but the dodge from gear and parry master add up nicely.

None of my mages use shield in tactician
1 uses staff the other dual wield wands.

If going blood mage, shield would be good tho.

[belangf]

Right now I am running a fire spellcaster where I aim to maximize my % of critical hits. I use either staff or dual wands, depending on which give me the highest Crit, Int and pyrokinetic bonuses, in that order. I rarely use my weapon to actually attack, so I choose based on the bonus.

Warfare skills scale with Int for wands and staves, although they mostly require a melee weapon. Therefore, staff would be the way to go for a battle mage. Also good with attacks of opportunity.

Wand if you want to use a shield, although for a spellcaster the bonuses from a second wand may be more beneficial.

[myhv]

Dual wands, becuase you get 2 rune slots.

[Chaoslink]

Originally posted by myhv:

Dual wands, becuase you get 2 rune slots.

While it’s a good reason, it really only matters once you have frames for the runes. Plain damage runes don’t really matter much for mages.

[Forblaze]

Staves look cooler. Dual wielding wands always feels stronger but the cost in dorkiness is too much

[volx757]

Dual wands because by mid-early game you won't be using your basic attacks as a mage very often, so you'd rather get two stat-boosters than 1.

[Chaoslink]

Originally posted by volx757:

Dual wands because by mid-early game you won't be using your basic attacks as a mage very often, so you'd rather get two stat-boosters than 1.

Eh, this logic doesn't work quite as well as it might seem on paper. Two handed weapons get stat boosts that are generally equal to those of dual one handers. The only difference you get is variety. The actual magnitude of those stats would equal out if the same stats rolled on each item. A quick example might be high crit roll on a staff being 20% and the same high crit roll on a wand being 10%. So two high rolls on wands equal the same boost the staff offers. Usually this proves true when the items are the same level and rarity. The only thing this wouldn't affect is rune slots, but that would only come into play late game when rune frames are in play and by that time, the boost you'd get wouldn't really be all that significant to argue it the best option.

[Muntis]

Originally posted by volx757:

Dual wands because by mid-early game you won't be using your basic attacks as a mage very often, so you'd rather get two stat-boosters than 1.

Isnt it better to go wand + shield? It gives armor and an ability that regains it.

[slovakiaman]

Originally posted by Panzerkampfwagen:

Originally posted by volx757:

Dual wands because by mid-early game you won't be using your basic attacks as a mage very often, so you'd rather get two stat-boosters than 1.

Isnt it better to go wand + shield? It gives armor and an ability that regains it.

Well, ideally you want to stand on high ground to get the damage and range bonus and you don't want to get hit in the first place, so going full damage with high ground and teleport spells protection is mostly a better choice.
I've tried both and can tell you, that while shield is pretty handy early game (due to armor bonus and enemy not wanting to kill you that much), it falls behind dual wielding in mid to late game due to the constitution requirements and the stat boosts being not so viable for a damage dealer.
Also, the amount of jumps and repositioning spells is insane in this game, so if there is a high ground, you can certainly reach it within reasonable AP usage.

[Pyromus]

On the shield debate, if you go aero, there is a good chance you'll get some of your damage reflected back to you, especially with spells like superconductor. So I say more armor is always a plus. Pyro has a similar problem, but without the threat of elemental affinity cc'ing yourself.

[Chaoslink]

Eh, the shield isn’t really necessary if you know what you’re doing. Early game it’s handy, but as late game approaches I generally drop the shield. I don’t personally take anything in the off hand and instead take up the ambidextrous talent. I keep a lot of scrolls for my abilities on hand, superconductor scrolls being pretty easy to craft up to 20 or so once you reach Arx. Having no off hand and ambidextrous means that scrolls have the -1AP that elemental affinity offers before you set it up. This, and the fact that scrolls have no cooldown I find is much more valuable to you than whatever stats a second wand offers and with no cooldown you don’t need auto attacks. I’ve actually held onto the +3 memory sword from act three before, instead of wands.

Air mages late game can end fights in pretty much one turn, so having a shield isn’t that necessary. If reflection is a risk, I just pop a 75% air resistance potion (or the elusive 90%) and just eat it with my face. That reflect aura guy in act three is a fun target for chain lightning or superconductor when you do this. Great way to lag your game.