staff or hammer/shield

[kirbys_dead]

Im a lvl 6 mithra whm. ive been lvling up in S Gust. and ive noticed that most whm out there have a staff eqp. i personaly have a hammer and shield. Just want to know what people think is better staff or hammer/shield

[Icemage]

You've got the right idea. Hammer/Shield is significantly better than Staff for WHM. Don't bow to peer pressure.


Icemage

[Crow]

A hammer's kind of useless for me... I'm always in the back healing and enfeebling, so I need a weapon that ups my stats. Right now I'm using the Willow Wand(+2 INT and MND) and a shield for defense, but the two-handed staves are good for the HP/MP bonus. The only thing "significantly better" about a hammer is the damage, so I've only used one in the lower levels.

[Icemage]

It really depends on what level you're at and what you're doing. I don't think it's ever really a good idea for WHM to use a staff though - shields are just too important, considering how often you'll get attacked after casting a healing spell.

Overall, I prefer wands over hammers or rods because as you point out, they do give better bonuses. Still, there are a few that stand out, and at early levels in particular, the higher damage from hammers outweighs the stat bonuses of the equivalent wands or rods.

Once you get past level 20 or so, the damage stops mattering, and that's when the stat bonuses from wands/rods becomes more important. I was fond of using my Artemis Wand (+1% HP, +1% MP) in beta, despite its relatively low damage, because I never ended up hitting very often to begin with after level 20.


Icemage

[Navia]

Keep 1h and 2h skill maxxed. 2h staff is actually best from levels 5-12.
At 13 I went with the brass hammer and shield because its better damage.
At level 20 theres a pretty hard hitting 2h staff thats 20 base damage that i'll swap back to. Like someone else said its all about what weapon type does the best damage for your level.

If you ever go with Summoner, they use 2h staff, so something to keep in mind.
Melee damage still comes in handy when you go farm tradeskill items/crystals. Stuff that kicked my butt a few levels back that no longer gives xp dies in 2-3 hits

[kirbys_dead]

I also find that when i pt, i ususally dont go into battle, i just sit there healing and casting cure. So in the long run would it be better just to have a staff eqp for the hp/mp bonus

THX FOR THE REPLIES

[kumaeru]

Actually, I went pole in the early lvls, because well I was always more offensive, but around lvl 20 I went hammer/shield and stayed with it all the way.

Shields are always nicer to have especially for whm. Once at lvl 31 I got the Maul and stayed with it until the AF1 hammer. Which btw I was not able to wear because I stopped lvling at lvl 40, and the AF1 was lvl 41 >_<..

Anyways Blessed Hammer was cool.

[Pesh]

I keep a Wand/Shield handy in my inventory for party'ing and a Hammer/Shield for Solo-ing

So basicly in PT i use the wand/shield combo and when I solo I use a hammer/shield for damage while melee.

[Valerathon]

I chose to use a staff as an Elvaan, because a direct MP boost has always been more important to me than a stat boost, and if I'm fighting alone, I use magic to bring down a monsters HP at least as much as I use my weapon. As for using a sheild to "defend" myself from monsters who attack after I cast Cure or something: 1) if I'm doing my job right, I shouldn't get hit enough to worry seriously about dying; 2) I'm an Elvaan, so my high HP actually makes it good to take a hit every now and then, to take the pressure off of healing the main tank. I'm looking forward to getting the Healing Staff (+50 MP, and Cure more potent). I don't think rod and sheild users can claim to have anything that compares (except the Serket sheild, but that takes away 50 HP to give 50 MP, and I've only ever seen one - which would explain why its priced in the millions of gil on the AH) I'm an Elvaan mage, and I have my priorities (MP boost), and using a staff helps me most to that end. So, to say that rod and shield is a better combo across the board is flawed. For Elvaan and Galka mages, an MP boost is going to be most helpful (some would argue with Galka - an absolute must), and the staff class is strongest in that area.

[Iyo]

Staff / Shield

Granted, I'm low level... (Nearly 11 now)... But I have a staff and a shield equiped. I think it's the Oak Wand... I'm planning to get the Yew Wand when I'm lvl 18... And that STILL lets me keep the shield.

My shield blocking skill is nearly equal to my clubbing! And I evade and block with great frequency!!! Which is good to have for a WM!

Maybe I'll have to give up the shield at higher levels (that's what it seems like people are implying--with double handed wands).

[PetriW]

Defenitelly wand+shield, there's simply no competing with the blockrate of a shield, it's insane even against IT mobs.

The 5mp (or like 8mp at 30!) extra that staff gives you ain't worth it to give shield block up.

[Calianeri]

I have always carried two weapons, a wand with +MND bonus (mainly Hermit's Wand, then Eremite's Wand, which has +MP as well) and a hammer that can actually do some damage. The wand's for parties, the hammer's for fighting solo. It's not necessarily expensive at all to do this. Of course, at level 41 Blessed Hammer is a no-brainer. I always have a shield equipped. I've shield-blocked hits in leveling parties that would surely have done 80-100 damage. (I do the same two-weapon thing with BLM, switching between wand for +INT in parties and staff for damage when solo.)

I sometimes use my Elm Staff when farming, or NM or key hunting, to skill it up too. It's nice, but really not useful to me in leveling parties. Other races might get more use out of the +MP though. But even then, consider one of the moon wands (Artemis, Selene's, Moonwatch...) or the Eremite's Wand when you can equip them.

I strongly dislike poles (as opposed to staff). The extra damage isn't worth the huge delay and the loss of stat and MP/HP bonuses.

EDIT: If you're really looking to increase your melee effectiveness, for soloing or skilling up, consider two nice pieces of equipment: Battle Gloves (lvl 14, +3 Accuracy and + Evasion), which are fairly cheap for their usefulness, and Pixie Mace (lvl 24, +5 Accuracy, +Light dmg), which is expensive and not huge damage but helps a lot hitting tougher mobs.

[Typhus]

I've been using hammers since level five and I'm not going to use anything else as a whm. Hammer is a whm only weapon, it just makes sense. If you can keep your club skill up to date you'll find that the hammer does pretty good damage.

[Brayden]

Ive used a staff since lv 1 (well soon after i could afford one), mainly for the HP and MP bonus, however a few levels from now I know there's a wand i want (forget its name) so I'll likely ditch the staff. Since my main job is to support people, Ive never cared for damage, thus never bothered with hammers or poles. A staff has worked great for me thus far.

[Xalrin]

Just curious, is there any reason at all to solo after level 10? At level 10 I got myself a Willow Wand +1 and then got the cheaper Yew Wand at level 18 so I could free up some cash. I am just wondering about soloing since my weapon level is at like 16 and I haven't attacked a mob since level 10.