Staff-Wand-Damage-Attack

[omerojs]

I have a lvl 46 enchantress and i am using a wand and shield... i have been considering a staff but there is a big trade off there... so i have a very important question to ask...
the damage provided by the staff or wand has anything to do with the damage done by the skills that you use? for example, if i have firestorm at lvl 5, will it do more damage if i have a staff or a wand? or is it independent?

in normal situations when lvling i find that the most useful thing to do is to cast skills and the power from the wand is not really useful since its for single target and the skills are for multiple targets.. what do you think about comment?

[Tsarra]

That was my first question here! Here's my thread (with the answer):

http://www.spacetimestudios.com/showthread.php?16073-Pure-Mage-Build-Question

[Royce]

Weapon damage contributes to skill damage, so generally the more damage a weapon has the more your skills will do. The major advantages of staffs (edit: in addition to higher damage) are AOE damage with some fire and ice staffs an a more powerful proc with dark staffs.

[PhreEkGarden]

Yeah when I realized around level 35 that weapon damage effects spells I was really trying to look for a good staff but couldn't find one worth not using a good wand and shield. The only exclusion in my opinion is using the keeper staff over a wand and shield at level 50. It's quite a difference in damage. Before level 50 though, it's not nearly as much of a difference it seems.

[Royce]

Yeah when I realized around level 35 that weapon damage effects spells I was really trying to look for a good staff but couldn't find one worth not using a good wand and shield. The only exclusion in my opinion is using the keeper staff over a wand and shield at level 50. It's quite a difference in damage. Before level 50 though, it's not nearly as much of a difference it seems.

Not true there is a huge difference. If you can afford both a good staff and wand, use an AOE staff to clear (much faster than wand), and switch to the wand for bosses or underpowered parties.

[omerojs]

I got yesterday the Apepe Sunkiller of Isis but i will definitely keep the wand and "shield" for Solo and underpowered parties as you mentioned...

[sechs]

does AOE staff means, the free default attack of the staff will explode on hit or something?

[Royce]

does AOE staff means, the free default attack of the staff will explode on hit or something?

Some staffs do AOE on target, so the regular attack hits your target and damages surrounding mobs as well.

[sechs]

Some staffs do AOE on target, so the regular attack hits your target and damages surrounding mobs as well.

cool! will this effect be stated in the weapon description?

[Royce]

cool! will this effect be stated in the weapon description?

No, but many fire and ice staffs are AOE. You just have to try them out ;)

[sechs]

will do, thanks! :D

[PhreEkGarden]

No, but many fire and ice staffs are AOE. You just have to try them out ;)

Yeah I didn't realize that about that staff at the time. I suppose that would really make it worth using over the wand for clearing. I love the proc on keepers staff...

[Mj0]

Weapon damage contributes to skill damage, so generally the more damage a weapon has the more your skills will do. The major advantages of staffs (edit: in addition to higher damage) are AOE damage with some fire and ice staffs an a more powerful proc with dark staffs.

Hi all, I was lurking this topic cause i found it very interesting...

Are we sure about the quoted statement?

I did some test and this is just what i obtained:

Elf guards platinum axe: dmg 57-73, 1.0 spd, 2 str, 1% hit 2 armor (DPS shown 77)
FIRESTORM -> 96-153
Croc's Iron sword: dmg 20-25, 0.8 spd, 1 str, 1 M/s (DPS shown 46)
FIRESTORM -> again 96-153
Witch forest fire staff: dmg 32-62, 1.1 spd, 2 int, 1% hit 1% crit 2 armor (DPS shown 54)
FIRESTORM -> 92-148

what do you think about it? :confused::confused:

regards ;)

[Klober]

Elf guards platinum axe: dmg 57-73, 1.0 spd, 2 str, 1% hit 2 armor (DPS shown 77)
FIRESTORM -> 96-153
Croc's Iron sword: dmg 20-25, 0.8 spd, 1 str, 1 M/s (DPS shown 46)
FIRESTORM -> again 96-153
Witch forest fire staff: dmg 32-62, 1.1 spd, 2 int, 1% hit 1% crit 2 armor (DPS shown 54)
FIRESTORM -> 92-148

From my understanding, and if I am wrong I'm sure someone with more experience and knowledge will correct me, only enchantress weapons increase the damage of our enchantress skills so the axe and sword will have no effect. The staff on the other hand should effect the damage of our skills, but I don't believe the skill description includes the additional damage, so to see it you need to do actual testing of the skills and look at the damage done.

Now, with that said, I don't understand why the Firestorm damage went down with the staff equipped considering it has a bonus to Int that the axe and sword do not. I defer to someone like Royce whose experience far exceeds my own on the subject.

[Royce]

Skill damage has several components:
- Skill rank
- Int for Mage skills (stat driven skills)
- Base damage
- Weapon damage (some of which is added to skill damage. The exact amount seems somewhat random, but in general higher damage weapons add more to skill damage)

That example above is not good because it has weapons affecting different base attributes (which alters base damage as well as stat driven skills), and beyond that is simply explained by the "in general" part of what I said ;)

[Mj0]

Skill damage has several components:
- Skill rank
- Int for Mage skills (stat driven skills)
- Base damage
- Weapon damage (some of which is added to skill damage. The exact amount seems somewhat random, but in general higher damage weapons add more to skill damage)

That example above is not good because it has weapons affecting different base attributes (which alters base damage as well as stat driven skills), and beyond that is simply explained by the "in general" part of what I said ;)

uhm ok, so we don't know exactly the incidence of every source... by the way the example above IS good :P

between weapon 1 (the axe) and weapon 2 (the sword) emerges the problem: they affect the same base attribute (strength) and weapon 1 is BETTER in every single way, damage, dps, strength bonus, so it's strange to see that firestorm does the SAME damage :O
one explanation could be the one klober suggested: only "enchantress" equip influences the damage...that would explain why there's no difference between them (zero impact from both)

that's where the 3rd weapon in the example kicks in confusing again the situation :P the fact that with the staff the damage is lower theoretically disproves the "zero impact" from non-enchantress items...

(I hope this discussion helps the understanding of the game mechanics ^_^)

[Royce]

Lower level gear is much harder to predict, and unfortunately there is no equation you can use to tell how much of a weapon's damage will go into skill damage. It is somewhat random but in general higher damage weapons add more than lower damage weapons, particularly if you are looking at gear for the same class from the same campaign. There are a number of notable exceptions though. The otherwise excellent shock lance for example only contributes a tiny bit to skill damage. Level 35 two hand swords seem to add more to skill damage than 2-handers from the next two higher campaigns, etc., etc. Like I said the higher damage -> higher skill damage thing is a general trend not a rule. You have to try stuff on yourself and compare. At higher levels though it does seem to be more predictable that higher damage leads to higher skill damage, but even then you just have to try stuff out ;)

[Mj0]

Yup ^_^ i got it it was somewhat random :P I tried to be helpful :P
anyway thanks for answers! now i'll be back to the fun part.... playing the game XD

[omerojs]

I would hope the developers had a word on this topic... its kind of nice how things work in your character.... after all we spent hours playing with it and it seems right that we know how they respond to certain weapons and things like that!!!

[Royce]

I would hope the developers had a word on this topic... its kind of nice how things work in your character.... after all we spent hours playing with it and it seems right that we know how they respond to certain weapons and things like that!!!

The devs have always left things like this in mystery, and I don't expect that will change. It's more fun that way anyway I think. More to try and explore ;)