Staff Or Club?

[Susurrus]

I was thinking of which weapon skill to cap out for White Mage. I see most White Mages use club (and I understand why), but would it be a bad idea to focus on Staff instead? Reason being, I have a Carbuncle's Pole and usually have a SMN subjob which would help me take advantage of the latent.
Any thoughts?

[Jei]

The only weapon you'll use for melee as Whm is probably club. Hexa > all ' ')b
Don't see much reason for Whm to keep carby out except for fun.

[Lecan]

As the above poster implied, the only time a weapon's skill level would matter is if you are meleeing. Hexa Strike is the best WS available to WHMs (possibly outside of Club Relic, I don't know anything about it). For meleeing, would the added benefit of Carbuncle's Pole and Spirit Taker be enough to outweigh the damage of HS?

IIRC, CP gives +Auto Regen when Shining Ruby is active (or maybe another of Carby's buffs, I really can't remember). While +2 HP/tick would be nice, there would be the added cost of keeping the buff up. You would probably be better off just casting Regen1 on yourself at all times and meleeing with the highest damage weapon/WS you can.

[Raydeus]

That looks nice, specially since with Spirit Taker you'd get more than enough MP if you are fighting mobs EP or lower (does the added effect really do +70 dmg per hit on EP? It would be really nice if it did).

I say level them both if you can, for situations when you can have Carby out that pole would be great, and you can use a club for the rest.

[Taskmage]

Don't see much reason for Whm to keep carby out except for fun.

^^ For this:

Latent Effect: Light Damage
...
Latent Trigger: A party member (or yourself) must have Carbuncle out. Additional damage does about +70 on "Easy Prey" mobs.

They both seem pretty strong for soloing. Hexa is great but Spirit Taker is very good as well and 70 is a lot of damage for a whm to do to an EP mob, especially if it goes off every swing. Additional effects are hate-free, too, which could be useful if you're duoing or something.

I don't see why you say "should I focus on staff instead." There's no reason you can't cap both.

[Taskmage]

IIRC, CP gives +Auto Regen when Shining Ruby is active (or maybe another of Carby's buffs, I really can't remember). While +2 HP/tick would be nice, there would be the added cost of keeping the buff up. You would probably be better off just casting Regen1 on yourself at all times and meleeing with the highest damage weapon/WS you can.

You're thinking of Carbuncle's Cuffs, which give a 5 hp/tick regen when Shining Ruby is active.

Btw, congrats to the OP on completing Waking the Beast. That's quite an accomplishment.

[Icemage]

I've never seen that staff before, but if it does indeed have an add effect 100% +70~ damage on EP- enemies, it's a very viable weapon for solo farming. Not that Hexa-Strike is bad, but if you're interested in killing things fast that thing is much better.

Also note that Staff gives you access to Spirit Taker, which helps recover MP (and thus decreases down time even further).

Is the add damage 100% with Carbuncle summoned? If so, then I'd say it definitely beats everything Club can offer for farming (well, unless you own a completed relic maul, or sub /RDM with a Kraken Club...).

If you're fighting anything above low EPs, though, the lack of defensive power will hurt you, and you're better off at that point with club/shield and either /RDM or /NIN.


Icemage

[Kitalrez]

It's a nice little weapon, and the only real guaranteed reward for finishing Waking the Beast. Although I notice that many SMN on Diabolos have stopped doing this one when they either got their staff or decided the other weapons were simply not worth the effort of obtaining. It's my understanding that this proc isn't 100%, but it is ungodly common compared with say Apollo's Staff's proc rate. I'd have to level twice and pull mine out of storage to test, though, so I'm just going with hearsay for now.

[Susurrus]

From what I've tested, it is NOT 100%, but it is still very high. I'd say around 75% (didn't parse it, so just from seeing it).

And the light effect does do 70+ dmg on EP.

[Valerathon]

It's about 50-70% of the time, roughly, I didn't do a strict test with mine. I still prefer club, though, but maybe I'll give the Carb Pole another serious look.

[Loial]

Pick up a Templar Mace. Get the cure potency of a healing staff with the added protection of being able to use a shield (Genbu Shield). Just another option.

[UnnamedGalka]

I say club, just because Hexa Strike is so powerful.

Spirit Taker is great and all that...but it still takes forever to solo things with a staff.