TA epic quarterstaff planning

[0ldschool]

As I plan for my ER to pure rogue TA, I finally had time to plug in some numbers for the staves to see what I should farm that I don't already own. This is probably very 2013 to most of you, but I was stunned to find that, if my numbers are right, the best staff at ML20, and arguably up to ML26, is available for commendations in Eveningstar! The Stout Oak Walking Stick, with x3 crits and very strong 2d6 base die. I have it as about equal with the Drow Weapon Master, with no +W attacks, and pulling away with extra +W. Granted these numbers can be quite build dependent. The knockdown effect pushes it even more into the lead. Even Epic Elemental Bloom is not too much better that the Walking Stick, to the point where it is not better with a +4W or greater attack (again, if my numbers are right).

Since the other stuff available with commendations is very behind current power creep (though the healing amp gloves are still nice), I feel like I must be missing something. Epic Bludgeoning Bankroll, which is a WPM item and so fairly recent, is ML21 and still very far behind the Walking Stick in DPS.

The Broken Oars have their place too, and I'll def be using them since I took the time to farm them all during last CC. Sireth is spectacular, but no raid box this time :(

Any advice you may have on staves and TA in general would be very welcome. I plan to post my TA build very soon, would love feedback on that too.

Thanks

[Fedora1]

Well the L18 Bone Crusher has an expanded crit range (15%), base damage is 2d10, and will accept sentient jewels - and Cordovan stated that while they fixed the bugged epic version (which originally did not accept sentient jewels) they were going to leave the heroic version as-is because too many people had already added sentience to them. In addition Boner Crusher has Shockwave on vorpal, a purple augment slot, and rockslide as well.

As far as the stuff you can get with commendations, the longsword Oathblade from PDK comms has long been a fantastic weapon from L20-mid epics.

[0ldschool]

Well the L18 Bone Crusher has an expanded crit range (15%), base damage is 2d10, and will accept sentient jewels - and Cordovan stated that while they fixed the bugged epic version (which originally did not accept sentient jewels) they were going to leave the heroic version as-is because too many people had already added sentience to them. In addition Boner Crusher has Shockwave on vorpal, a purple augment slot, and rockslide as well.

As far as the stuff you can get with commendations, the longsword Oathblade from PDK comms has long been a fantastic weapon from L20-mid epics.

Thanks! Yes, Bonecrusher is interesting, and I have it as the best staff for levels 18-19. But the base damage is 2[1d10], which means that +W gives you an extra 5.5 base damage on average. Walking stick at 2[2d6] gives +7 base damage for each +W, so it is ahead. But I do plan to use it (I happen to have one) because the extras that you mentioned like Rockslide and Shockwave. I forgot to consider that Walking Stick has no augment slot. That is a big ding against it.

Epic Bonecrusher is listed as 5[1d10] in the wiki, but I'm pretty certain that is not the base damage, I think it was posted with some +W enhancements in place. An LGS staff looks like it will definitely be handy at Level 26, and I am quite intrigued by the Shield +17 given by the Leg. Stonework beam. That is pretty awesome, esp. for a squishy rogue. I have low confidence in my crit ranges, due to the mixed nature of what is posted on the wiki, some with IC: Bludgeon, some with Staff Spec perhaps. I'll find out when I get there.

Do you have any suggestions RE damage to staves and the best way to keep them healthy. I've heard that it can be a nightmare to keep them going. This is another reason why I'm guessing that an LGS staff, obviously made of steel, would be really handy to have around. And any obvious ooze beaters?

thanks again

EDIT: I was wrong. I just farmed out Epic Bonecrusher. 5[1d10] it is! I am fixing the Palace of Stone wiki page, the item page was correct. Nice! Oddly, the page for Mythic Bonecrusher shows 2.5[1d10] with a photo to back that up. Did this staff get an upgrade at some point from the devs?

[Fedora1]

Do you have any suggestions RE damage to staves and the best way to keep them healthy. I've heard that it can be a nightmare to keep them going. This is another reason why I'm guessing that an LGS staff, obviously made of steel, would be really handy to have around. And any obvious ooze beaters?

Yes, staves are notorious for getting banged up and worn down. I know you are concentrating more on epics, but in heroics, I pretty much used a pair of Elemental Blooms, so I'd just switch when one got badly damaged. The Theurgic Stave from Threnal chain end reward is adamantine and pretty durable and is also a nice heroic leveler with it's expanded crit range and two augment slots (red+purple). You can also craft a staff and perform the Force Rital on it at the stone of change, or just do the Force Rital on your named staff.

Unfortunately I don't know of any everbright named staves for oozes. I think crafting one requires a pretty high level crafting skill. Depending on your character you might be able to swap to something else like a thrower or broccoli bashers.

[cru121]

And any obvious ooze beaters?

Bone Crusher is from Stone iirc

[0ldschool]

Bone Crusher is from Stone iirc

Can you confirm that stone is immune to ooze damage? That would be great! I can cannith craft an everbright staff if needed. Spectral daggers turned out to be so great on my VKF for oozes and rusties that I was hoping to find some kind of staff equivalent.

thanks

[MalarKan]

. In addition Boner Crusher...

OMG T.T*.



But yes! Best heroic staves IMHO are:
•Elemental Bloom (lvl7 19-20 x3, Temple of Elemental Evil)
Pretty good crit range and x3, along with paralizing make it prety fun from level 7

•Bludgeoning Bankroll (lvl6 20x2, metalline; Another mans treasure from White Plume Mountain pack in the12)
Its metalline, bludgeoning2, and can trigger and “freeze” in solid platinum your enemies. Whats not to like? ???? good gollem beater

•Light unending (lvl13 20x2, metalline)
Could replace Bludgeoning BR as gollem beater and serve as outsider beater with its banishing property and along eith solar3, also a good vampire beater

•Breeze (lvl14 18-20 x2 dex for dmg, Ascencion chamber, necro4 heroic raid)
When paired with crit range and threats from acrobat tree u can crit from 15-20, and the greater telekinetic and sirroco makes beating up trash real fun.

•Dreamspitter (lvl14 20x2, glass, gianthold Reaver’s raid)
This one is my fave’ ooze and devil beater. It has greater Eviloutsider bane, and double upgraded (from GH and the end chain quest in dreaming dark) it gets a 2d6 holy dmg and good aligned weapon, and also a force burst. Look it up ????

•Rahls might (lvl18, 20x3) this one comes from inspired quarter and with Elemental bloom and the Oak, its the only other x3 crit staff iirc. Depending on your luck it can come with bleeding or force dmg along eith its base normalmdeception property and, duno what else.

•And of course, the already mentione Bonecrusher it awesome as well, specially with the sentience availability at level 18.


And for epics, you got it prety much covered already. Stout Oak from lvl 20, maybe a couple from borderlands at 21, Syreth from lvl23, and u r prety much set until lvl 28 to pick Epic Broken Oar ????

Also there is a stick from Old Baba raid that i havent been able to get my hands on, so gota look into that if u get the chance

????

[0ldschool]

OMG T.T*.



But yes! Best heroic staves IMHO are:
•Elemental Bloom (lvl7 19-20 x3, Temple of Elemental Evil)
Pretty good crit range and x3, along with paralizing make it prety fun from level 7

•Bludgeoning Bankroll (lvl6 20x2, metalline; Another mans treasure from White Plume Mountain pack in the12)
Its metalline, bludgeoning2, and can trigger and “freeze” in solid platinum your enemies. Whats not to like? ???? good gollem beater

•Light unending (lvl13 20x2, metalline)
Could replace Bludgeoning BR as gollem beater and serve as outsider beater with its banishing property and along eith solar3, also a good vampire beater

•Breeze (lvl14 18-20 x2 dex for dmg, Ascencion chamber, necro4 heroic raid)
When paired with crit range and threats from acrobat tree u can crit from 15-20, and the greater telekinetic and sirroco makes beating up trash real fun.

•Dreamspitter (lvl14 20x2, glass, gianthold Reaver’s raid)
This one is my fave’ ooze and devil beater. It has greater Eviloutsider bane, and double upgraded (from GH and the end chain quest in dreaming dark) it gets a 2d6 holy dmg and good aligned weapon, and also a force burst. Look it up ????

•Rahls might (lvl18, 20x3) this one comes from inspired quarter and with Elemental bloom and the Oak, its the only other x3 crit staff iirc. Depending on your luck it can come with bleeding or force dmg along eith its base normalmdeception property and, duno what else.

•And of course, the already mentione Bonecrusher it awesome as well, specially with the sentience availability at level 18.


And for epics, you got it prety much covered already. Stout Oak from lvl 20, maybe a couple from borderlands at 21, Syreth from lvl23, and u r prety much set until lvl 28 to pick Epic Broken Oar ????

Also there is a stick from Old Baba raid that i havent been able to get my hands on, so gota look into that if u get the chance

????

Thanks for the great feedback! Syreth would be a dream come true, but I'm definitely not counting on it. At level 29 non-raid, I have Leg. Moonbeam as so much better DPS-wise than all other non-raid options, including Broken Oar, that there is little doubt to me that it will be my main. Doublestrike +23% and Felling the Oak on the staff is just icing on the cake.

Now talking raid sticks, Baba's one that you speak of, Gulthias, is dead even with 3 other raid staffs for DPS. This is mostly due to their having spell type extras, which will not be so useful to me. And Leg Moonbeam beats them all by a little bit, so not a strong reason to go after them, at least from a pure DPS standpoint. However, Staff of Shadow from KT has a 3x crit multiplier. This makes it BY FAR the best staff in the game, if my numbers are right, at least 5% better DPS than the next nearest option (Syreth and Leg Moonbeam).

Thanks again, I'd love to hear what you think.

EDIT: looked again, Gulthias is better than the others with the extra evil damage, brings it right up alongside Moonbeam for me. My concerns are 1) lots of evil mobs will be immune 2) my character is good, so I think I will get a neg level with it??, and 3) I am actively farming Suffering out of Baba now, so I won't be running this character that is going to ER in Baba for a while. I like that I now have a very good reason to run KT though.

[0ldschool]

Can you confirm that stone is immune to ooze damage? That would be great! I can cannith craft an everbright staff if needed. Spectral daggers turned out to be so great on my VKF for oozes and rusties that I was hoping to find some kind of staff equivalent.

thanks

Just tested. Bonecrusher is damaged by oozes. less so than wood, but still you'd need to repair after each quest, and a very ooze heavy quest would break it. Is stone being damaged by oozes in sync with PnP? That seems wrong. It would be a nice plus for Bonecrusher to be immune to ooze damage.

EDIT: If I craft an Everbright qstaff, does it matter at all what material I start with (i.e. wood, steel, adamantine)? My understanding is that hardness and durability will be overwritten and not dependent on material. Will Everbright prefix overwrite the material?

[Fedora1]

Just to add to the list, another one I like and used a lot as a TA was an Epic Luminous Truth. I never considered it as a melee weapon until I actually got to looking at it. It has an expanded crit range, flaming burst, brilliance, and incineration as well as a red slot. Obviously as a L20 weapon it accepts sentience as well.

In mine, it seemed fitting to put a Ruby Eye if the Inferno in the red slot.

Anyway, staves being what they are, it's nice to have a few in your inventory. :)

[0ldschool]

Just to add to the list, another one I like and used a lot as a TA was an Epic Luminous Truth. I never considered it as a melee weapon until I actually got to looking at it. It has an expanded crit range, flaming burst, brilliance, and incineration as well as a red slot. Obviously as a L20 weapon it accepts sentience as well.

Thank you! These things are so hard to decipher from the wiki, due to IC and other crit range bonuses being mixed in. It's good to know that the expanded crit range on this one is real. It certainly puts the staff in play, even without considering Incinerations effects. Does it proc often? I tend to ignore S/S/S items and have only crafted when I happened to have all the pieces, I'll see what I have on hand for this one.

thanks again

EDIT: sadly no S/S/S at all. Can anyone comment on whether or not the starting material matters when crafting an Everbright staff?

[SpartanKiller13]

Just tested. Bonecrusher is damaged by oozes. less so than wood, but still you'd need to repair after each quest, and a very ooze heavy quest would break it. Is stone being damaged by oozes in sync with PnP? That seems wrong. It would be a nice plus for Bonecrusher to be immune to ooze damage.

EDIT: If I craft an Everbright qstaff, does it matter at all what material I start with (i.e. wood, steel, adamantine)? My understanding is that hardness and durability will be overwritten and not dependent on material. Will Everbright prefix overwrite the material?

Acid (Ex)
The creature secretes a digestive acid that dissolves organic material and metal quickly, but does not affect stone. (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/monsters/ooze.htm)

Everbright means it doesn't take durability damage from rust/acid (which oozes are part of). AFAIK it doesn't make it any more or less durable, just means you can hit oozes/rust monsters etc without excess damage to your weapon :) A better base material is always ideal when crafting, but there's a bit of balance between that and what blanks you can find with red slots etc.