What goes well with Staff?

[JnEricsonx]

I'm looking at EA, SR, INV, or WP to be honest.  Maybe Rad.

[Without_Pause]

Tanks don't get EA. Inv has the likely highest ceiling of those listed in terms of being sturdy. I like Rad, but it is on the clicky side of things. Not listed, but Dark works well with it since Staff offers an end discount. 

[ZemX]

I assumed they meant Elec Armor.

 

Rad is less clicky than it looks in practice, I've found.  At least if by "clicky" we mean "clicking powers to stay alive".   Particle Shielding is really the only thing you'll need to click whenever it's up to stay alive.  Once you're built, you'll rarely use the heal unless you turn it into a proc bomb attack.  Ground Zero is another attack, so again not something you're clicking to stay alive at least.  Pairs well with Staff's Form of Body for the resist bonus in Sky Splitter.

 

I've been eyeing Invuln or SR for another Staff tanker myself though.  Really want to try a defense-tanker next.  Invuln is tempting but SR seems like it might exemplar better and I do a lot of that.

[Carnifax]

Staff lacks a no-redraw option so constantly drawing it can be annoying. So for my 2nd staff char (a stalker) I went Inv since it has only one clickie.

 

Inv is also very capable of being built into a real beast (and has some DDR built in). Psi hole is reasonably easy to shore up.

 

Rad is great but on mine the proc bombed Ground Zero and Rad Therapy are things I use a lot. 

[ZemX]

Redraw is visually annoying but doesn't impact performance.  Just be sure to queue attacks during the animations and they will interrupt if there's been a redraw preceding them.

[Carnifax]

3 minutes ago, ZemX said:

Redraw is visually annoying but doesn't impact performance.  Just be sure to queue attacks during the animations and they will interrupt if there's been a redraw preceding them.

Totally this, it's mostly a mental block I have. But by the gods it's annoying. 

[Without_Pause]

I think for me it is less about redraw issues and less time attacking. Bio is great for it's offensive benefits, but it also has a number of clicks to help keep it vertical.

[ZemX]

Haven't played one yet but Bio looks pretty similar to Rad to me.  Clickies are Absorb, Heal, and T9.  So I expect a well built Bio to play similarly and not need the heal except in rare situations.   It does look like the absorb shield has a longish animation though.  2 seconds vs. Rad's 0.9 seconds.  It's also faster recharging (90s vs 120s base) and lasts half as long (30s vs 60s).    So maybe it's used more often?  I can see that being a little more of an interruption than I'm used to with Rad.

[Carnifax]

2 minutes ago, ZemX said:

Haven't played one yet but Bio looks pretty similar to Rad to me.  Clickies are Absorb, Heal, and T9.  So I expect a well built Bio to play similarly and not need the heal except in rare situations.   It does look like the absorb shield has a longish animation though.  2 seconds vs. Rad's 0.9 seconds.  It's also faster recharging (90s vs 120s base) and lasts half as long (30s vs 60s).    So maybe it's used more often?  I can see that being a little more of an interruption than I'm used to with Rad.

Bios issue is that it's more "eggshell-y" in that Defense debuffs can decimate your main Elemental defenses (NRG, Neg, Fire & Cold shields are all Def based and you don't get any DDR to protect them) and it has poor Resists in those categories. It's a bit weird, the main other hybrid-ish sets have good-to-superb DDR which Bio lacks (Inv has 50% and Shield has 75%+). I think Bios thing was that the Regen was supposed to counter that, but sometimes the incoming damage spikes will be too much. 

 

Rad is strong resists (other than Cold) backed with Absorb Shields so even if something does a tonne of DDR and strips out your IOed up Defense you still have strong NRG, Fire & Neg resists so the total incoming damage won't be as bad / spiky. 

 

 

[Uun]

I've got an SR/Staff and it's pretty much unkillable. Defense debuff resistance is through the roof. About the only things you have to be careful with foes with giant tohit buffs (DE Quartz, stacked Nemesis  Vengeance, Rularuu eyeballs). You'll have to deal with the redraw every 3 minutes or so when Practiced Brawler refreshes, but no other clicks in SR. Form of the Soul is handy for the endurance discount while leveling or when fighting things with autohit end drain. 

[StriderIV]

My Dark Armor/Staff Tanker is one of my most played heroes and a ton of fun. I did it mostly for concept, but they fact that he is pretty much unkillable is a nice plus.

[Psyonico]

2 hours ago, Carnifax said:

It's a bit weird, the main other hybrid-ish sets have good-to-superb DDR which Bio lacks (Inv has 50% and Shield has 75%+). I think Bios thing was that the Regen was supposed to counter that, but sometimes the incoming damage spikes will be too much. 

 

Willpower has the same thing.

[Xandyr]

I have a WP/Staff and a Rad/Staff. Both are fun, and both are nigh unkillable. The Rad does more damage due to Rad Therapy and Ground Zero, and the -resistance from Beta Decay. They're both  fun, but I like my WP more. It might be, however, due to the fact that I wanted more of a "natural" toon, and kinda like not having any hit any buttons to stay alive. 

[Psylenz0511]

On 10/12/2021 at 8:43 AM, Without_Pause said:

Tanks don't get EA. Inv has the likely highest ceiling of those listed in terms of being sturdy. I like Rad, but it is on the clicky side of things. Not listed, but Dark works well with it since Staff offers an end discount. 

 

I rolled a Dark Armor/staff tank. I usually stick to buff/debuff archetypes but something about a fuzzball with a stick appealed to me. I really like the psi resists, although the goofy knockdown hole was surprising and annoying. 

 

At the risk of hijacking this thread.  I am having a hard time keeping the spawns on me. I didn't take cloak of fear, but when I taunt a foe, so many times they turn away and RUN? Do tanks slot up taunt in 25% 50% 100%  of their attacks? Is there something in Dark Armor that makes them run? Do they run from Death Shroud's light damage DoT?

 

Dark/staff seems pretty fun. I am comparing it to the TW/Willpower scrapper melee experience I recall foggily from Live days. I have a Brute on Excelsior that is Electric Melee/Shield Charge that doesn't worry a lot about taunt since I knock the foes on their butt before they get to ask questions.

[SomeGuy]

Bio Armor's defensive stance pairs really well for Staff on tankers.

 

I can absolutely vouch for staff/ena being a really fun combo on a stalker.

[Uun]

12 hours ago, Psylenz0511 said:

At the risk of hijacking this thread.  I am having a hard time keeping the spawns on me. I didn't take cloak of fear, but when I taunt a foe, so many times they turn away and RUN? Do tanks slot up taunt in 25% 50% 100%  of their attacks? Is there something in Dark Armor that makes them run? Do they run from Death Shroud's light damage DoT?

Haven't had this issue with my Dark/Dark tank, and I don't slot taunt in any attacks. Holds aggro like glue. Death Shroud is your taunt aura (15 sec mag 4), so they shouldn't be running from that.

[ZemX]

15 hours ago, Psylenz0511 said:

At the risk of hijacking this thread.  I am having a hard time keeping the spawns on me. I didn't take cloak of fear, but when I taunt a foe, so many times they turn away and RUN? Do tanks slot up taunt in 25% 50% 100%  of their attacks? Is there something in Dark Armor that makes them run? Do they run from Death Shroud's light damage DoT?

 

Only three reasons I know of for a mob running away from you while taunted:

1. "Avoid" effect.  This is usually something like a Rain of Fire or Caltrops/Ignite patch. So this would have to be from a teammate... unless you took Ice Storm in the Epics.
2. Someone else stole the aggro by creating more threat.  This is possible because Taunt is not an absolute.  It just puts you high on the threat list and makes all your attacks during the taunt effect do a LOT more threat.  A scrapper taunting one target while hitting it CAN steal aggro from a tanker, for example.
3. It's part of the enemy AI.  Some enemies, like Longbow Eagles for example, have a power called "Positioning" that, if it hits anything in an 8ft radius causes the Longbow (not you) to run away for 3 seconds.  It's a hack done with ranged attack enemies to make them appear to prefer fighting from range.  So they run away a bit, then turn back around and shoot you from range.  Cabal witches have this too.  Probably a number of other ranged enemies do.

I've not had any issue other than these for not being able to keep aggro.  Some mobs don't want to bunch up because they fight from range.  Taunt (the power) has a -range debuff that can cause even ranged enemies to run towards you but there are limits to it.  Snipers, for instance, have such long range that they often don't budge and just keep shooting from wherever they are.   Your other taunts from auras and punch-voke don't have this -range debuff.  But most enemies have some melee attacks and once they've shot you, will usually bunch up around you if they are taunted in some way.

 

Staff is particularly easy to maintain aggro.  The Gauntlet inherent means Eye of the Storm taunts everything it hits in a 15 foot radius around you AND everything in a ten foot radius around each of those targets hit.  And that's before your taunt auras and any use of the Taunt power are factored in.  It's usually dead simple to keep aggro.  Some Tankers skip Taunt entirely, though I find it useful for when I want to taunt at range and be sure it works (because it's autohit).

[Yomo Kimyata]

Staff gets you 15+% melee defense from Guarded Spin, which should be up pretty much constantly.  You get a nice resistance bonus from using the finisher on Sky Splitter.  

 

My attitude has been to go offensively, and I really enjoyed my bio/staff tanker (and, well, my staff/bio everything else too).  It's a lot more difficult to be immortal, but for the most part, you are definitely immortal enough, IMO.

[Cyrickain13]

Staff Willpower is f'n fabulous.

[Nemu]

I recommend Elec/Staff with whirlwind slotted with the KD proc and FF proc. That combo will be able to handle the end drain and you will bathe in the glory of SPIN. Staff pairs well with non-defense sets so there is also synergy there. Whirlwind offers an additional layer of mitigation.