[mgoetter]

From what I've read so far it seems the decision is situational, based on what your trying to accomplish and its best to carry around both. I've also read that using a staff gives a lot of parray/stunning but does that outweigh the shield block/defense you will get from a shield/mace combo?




Please keep this based on what Clerics will be using, there are a lot of threads posted on Chanters and I'd like to see what everyone thinks about Clerics.

[Vivi]

a lot of parry/stunning is a bit of an overstatement. However, yes, with a staff your critical autoattacks can knockdown a target. However unless you are soloing 2dot mobs I wouldn't go staff. Even then a mace+shield is still ok.


In group PvE/PvP I'd definetely go mace+shield for survivability. Plus they give you an extra equipment to put manastones in, remember that

[Startrance]

Played with Mace & Shield, cool thing we can use staff but think i stick with my mace and shield instead for the extra armor and more manastone slots. :suave:

[NeuroToxic]

I would stick with the mace and shield. With a shield you can get shield block so you can still reduce the damage you take (it might get better than parry because the % reduction increases as you enchant your shield) and it allows you up to 6 more manastone slots to use. So it will give you more survivability. If you plan on PvPing, your gonna want that extra survivability. The only class that might be attacked before you seems to be a sorc because they dish out so much damage and are so squishy. Even then, you'll want to be able to take a hit so you can keep that sorc alive if someone is pounding on you.

Now about the staff giving knockdowns, clerics are a caster class. We get 1 melee skill that starts a magic chain, and at level 42 we get a magic attack that lets us start that same chain from a distance. Knockdown is not really going to matter for a cleric. The staff would give more magic boost than the mace and shield, but it would come at the cost of survivability. You could say that socketing parry stones would balance that, but you could socket shield defense stones with a mace and shield to get the same (if not better) effect. Also magic boost will not increase our heals, so there is no need to focus on it end game.

[one_each]

If you are grinding on even or lower con mobs then a staff will give you a higher DPS then an even level mace will. However, the shield/mace will give you better survivability should you gain extra agro. If you plan on using staff then at least keep a shield/mace combo handy in case you need it.

[pulupulu]

If you care about physical damage mitigation, use staff for parry while saving money for that +10 shield then switch to block in late level. You need to devote alot of mana stones for it to matter. You will likely need around 8~12 mana stones on either parry or block at least (depending whether your armor got bonus parry or block).

If you don't care, just stick with mace+shield for more slots (both staff parry and shield block will be useless without alot of mana stone dedication) or staff for crit knockdown.

This post has been edited by pulupulu: 17 September 2009 - 08:54 PM

[Sionide]

Above post is basically true...sadly vs anything difficult the only role a shield plays for a cleric seems to be for extra manastones vs staff.

[Rockefeller]

Why cant i use a shield yet. Im a lvl 7 priest, I could have sworn in CB I was using a shield at this point?

[Dreamer]

Rockefeller said:

Why cant i use a shield yet. Im a lvl 7 priest, I could have sworn in CB I was using a shield at this point?

You probably saw a fighter, they can use shields from level 1.

Priests don't get that skill until they ascend at 10.

[zomgkitteh]

1h and shield :] IMO unless you happen to find some amazing cleric staff >>;; or something lol.

[Voramar]

1h + shield for ANY cleric....clerics using staves = fail....Maces give more Matk and Macc plus you can slot more manastones with the shield combo. Staffs are only good for melee combat but clerics will be casting a majority of the time. Mitigation doesnt really matter to much....you forget you can heal for ALOT. Chanters are the ones that need to worry about mitigation since our heals dont heal for the same amount as clerics.

[Slap]

playing solo is about speed, obv staff wins. You are bad if you die to a npc solo grinding, health doesn't create cooldowns for a cleric as you press flash and you are all set, avoid healing yourself when killing something at all cost unless its instant cast. Last but not least killing **** is a proper way of mitigating damage (Dead **** doesn't hurt).

just don't be fail and swap to shield whenever needed.

guy above, clerics melee a majority of their time in pve.

[Crenshinabon]

shield all the way baby

[gisborne]

Voramar said:

1h + shield for ANY cleric....clerics using staves = fail....Maces give more Matk and Macc plus you can slot more manastones with the shield combo. Staffs are only good for melee combat but clerics will be casting a majority of the time. Mitigation doesnt really matter to much....you forget you can heal for ALOT. Chanters are the ones that need to worry about mitigation since our heals dont heal for the same amount as clerics.

No, it's staves that give more mattk and macc, and they do more damage with autoattacks. For pretty much anything solo you should be using a staff as a cleric.

[Kallah]

gisborne said:

No, it's staves that give more mattk and macc, and they do more damage with autoattacks. For pretty much anything solo you should be using a staff as a cleric.

This is certainly true, but at 30 I find myself only using mace/shield. Most of my grinding is in the Abyss, at which point using a staff wouldn't be prudent. Even against 2 dots, I find that using a staff doesn't save me any attacks over a mace/shield, plus you can spend the cash you would've spent on keeping a staff current to your level on enchanting up that sexy mace :P

I was a die hard staffer previous to the Abyss, though. Even in a group, the extra m.acc for landing root is more helpful than the tiny chance at blocking an attack.

[Jephery]

For Solo'ing PvE, Mace + Shield, everything socketed with Magic Boost. Clerics don't melee much for DPS past ~16

Everything else, Mace+Shield with +HP, +Block, +Shield Defense. Max out your defense stats.

[MikeR]

Both.

Soft targets you want to kill fast > Staff
harder targets you don't want to take too much damage from > Mace + shield

It really depends on your weapons though. If you have let's say a blue 30 mace, and only a 28 green staff, the staff won't help you much. And it does get expensive to keep both at a decent level.

I happened to find a 34 blue staff, and my mace is only a level 28 green one. So I mostly use a staff now, but in groups mostly my mace + shield.

It all depends... there's no clear answer on this topic.

And of course my cleric looks way better with a staff, somehow :p
( http://img5.imageban...brwgwe/pain.jpg )

[dyonaisys]

looks like it's time for me to dust off my Water Sprinkler of Nem Ankh and Aegis of Superior Divinity...

[Asmedia]

I would say, till lvl 43 use staff as often as u can in solo. It hit harder, can knockback and have more MB. In group use mace+shield for more defensive power and the same heal.

After lvl 43, get your betoni's weapon and go for mace+shield till 50 ^^

[Amadaeo]

Jephery said:

For Solo'ing PvE, Mace + Shield, everything socketed with Magic Boost. Clerics don't melee much for DPS past ~16

Everything else, Mace+Shield with +HP, +Block, +Shield Defense. Max out your defense stats.

PVE-- Stop socketing MBoost after level 25 if you plan on soloing high-end stuff. You may do a lot of damage, but you're going to run into elites, 5- and 6-dot mobs, and so on, that can hit extremely hard, and without the extra +HP, you become extremely vulnerable to wiping. One bad pull can cost you dearly.

Kyola Temple, off the top of my head. The Lepharists, too. And so on. The XP is extremely good when you can go after high-end mobs, especially if they're two-four levels above you. Elites give amazing xps.

I also melee. I autoattack and tend to close in on my targets instead of kiting-- I noticed that if I kite at all, folks try to killsteal a lot more. With HP stacked, one can take the hits.

I have used a staff in Kyola Temple, once I figured out roughly how much damage they'd do. Small boost in killing speed. I would absolutely not want to sacrifice HP in there at all, though. It's a really good leveling spot from 31-ish on.