Make the Change from Wand to Staff! A Practical Guide

[kamikazees]

Three PL mages were sitting around a campfire, arguing over who had the best and biggest weapon. The first said, "My mega mage wand is best! I have over 40 m/s and never run out of mana!" The second said, "My enchanted wand is best! It has premium wood and I'm a mini tank!" The third mage said nothing, quietly roasting Cockroach over the coals with his staff...

So you want to learn to use a staff? Or are you interested? Then read on. I will show you how I do it.

First, who am I? My IGN is Sollertia. I am a full int mage; I use a staff. As I hope some of you who have run with me before will attest, it CAN be done:



This is my first character. As you can see, I have several kills, but not too many deaths. I had 200 deaths and about 20k kills when I got to Balefort Sewers at lvl 50. I died 400 more times just learning Balefort Sewers (hey, I'm a slow learner). Then I decided to try something new. I switched to a staff. I died 100 more times... yes, 100. Then it clicked.

Since that time, I have faced over 30k enemies, killed over 10k myself, and only died about 200 times. That's not too bad right?

So why use a staff? Sure there are practical reasons like "less armor means less aggro," but I prefer the "Sollertia's Top 10" reasons:

10. Highest damage possible for a mage. I'm not kidding:



9. Having high damage means enemies die faster.
8. A lot faster.
7. Like, so fast they often don't even hit you.
6. Seriously.
5. I mean, why would you want to stand around tanking when you can just kill the mob; isn't that a better idea?
4. All the PL honeys love a staff user. Baby, you know you do.
3. Two words: staff envy.
2. You have the biggest stick.
1. Who has the biggest stick? You do.

So how is it done? One of the greatest military strategists of all time, Sun-Tsu, once wrote, "Every battle is won before it is even fought." That is the principle we will follow here. I will also focus on Balefort Sewers, which is the area where I see most people getting caught up in deaths. Applying that, here are my tips and tricks on "how to not die using a staff and instead make other things dead."

1. Time your buffs. This is critical. With few exceptions, try to never use blessing of vitality and mana shield at the same time. Generally, blessing of vitality is your first choice. Buff with it right before you enter the fray, or when you know you are about to take damage, like this:



2. Know your position. You need to know where the damage will occur, and not be there. Cases in point: fire barrels, fire grates and aoe damage. Know where you need to be so you don't take damage. In fact, for fire barrels and grates, you can actually explode them a safe distance off and not take damage. Here are some examples:

Fireblast blows up barrels (and enemies!) in Hideout, no damage to Sollertia:



Fireblast blows up grate (and enemies) in Stronghold, no damage to Sollertia or teammates (Lushi is being attacked by Bandit Boy lol!):



Sollertia is safe between two grates, enemies are all dead:



For general fighting, remember that most of your spells are aoe. No need to be in the middle of the fray taking huge amounts of damage:

Enemies dying while Solllertia is sitting pretty in the corner killing them. Note only 1 buff active, and positions like these are great for pulls or roundups:



3. Target specific enemies. You have to know which ones are dangerous, and manually target them. Besides bosses, there are 3 that I watch out for. When you see these guys, target them and kill them quickly.

First, Bandit Boy Archers. These guys spike with Blast Shot. And worse, Blast Shot REMOVES your mana shield! Two of them can kill you unprotected, wand or staff. They are in Hideout and Stronghold. Be on the lookout:



Target archers manually, even if other enemies are closer. Note here that autotarget would have selected the Bandit Boy warrior (Lushi taking damage again lol!):



Second, Sewer Slime Mages. These are the green guys, with glowing ORANGE HANDS. They are in Catacombs and Roach Motel. Manually target and kill them immediately. Like Bandit Boy Archers, these guys aoe spike.

Here is one. Note the one without orange hands is a melee slime. Not a problem. Kill the orange hand guy first:



Finally, melee goblins. They are in Swill Pitz. These guys are not as bad, but spike with moderate damage and can be a problem in numbers or with friends. They have shields. Target them first, not the staff ones:



Timing, positioning and targeting are keys to surviving as a staff mage. Win the battle before it is fought. The rest is attacking, which is straightforward enough. I generally like to cast nightmare, lightning, ice storm and firestorm as my main combo.

These rules apply to every area. They are also applicable to using wands, which do have their uses. Even so, you can use a staff now!

So equip that staff and beatdown some bad guys. I hope this guide was helpful!