I do agree with Mitsooos that it's probably best not to drop your first 50m on the staff. It's a huge difference, but if you're surrounded by good players it can almost be overkill to be that powerful because you'll make gold anyways.

That being said I've enjoyed having both because I like to run randoms and it's nice being able to clear maps and bosses quite fast even when your teammates don't have arcane gear.

I'd say a good purchase order would be Skratch Gun, followed by Interred Set / Ebon (or abyssal) armor, THEN skratch staff. (But the most important thing is a speed set, because if you find a good party you don't need to do much except keep up).