Flaring Runestaff Swapping for Spells

[Maerit]

Would it be practical, macro'd or scripted, to cast your offensive spells (mainly 1614) while swapping to hold a runestaff that flares?


I've been thinking about using a sanctified runestaff + 1604 and then making a macro that stows my main hand weapon, grabs my runestaff, incants 1614, stows my runestaff and gets my main hand weapon back out. Would this be an overly unnecessary use of a runestaff, and how significant of a risk would it be?

If you're a two-handed paladin, you're just swapping two-handers, so you shouldn't lose any DS in that case. For sword/board paladins, I imagine it would drop some DS, but I am not sure if it would be super noticeable.

[Shaps]

Why not just use a normal weapon that flares?

[Androidpk]

Why not just use a normal weapon that flares?

Because they don't flare on spell casts.

[Shaps]

You know.. very good point. LOL.

Seems like a waste to me personally, but to each their own I suppose.

[mgoddess]

... you could always just use a runestaff as your main weapon, and bop things over the head with it!!! ...

(/sarcasm)

[Luftstreitkräfte]

This is cool for RP reasons as well as mechanical. I think you'd benefit most with a runestaff that's flaring AND ensorcelled. Depends what you want from the flare. Knockdowns? Damage? Higher CS on your cast?

[Riltus]

If you're a two-handed paladin, you're just swapping two-handers, so you shouldn't lose any DS in that case. For sword/board paladins, I imagine it would drop some DS, but I am not sure if it would be super noticeable.

Runestaves use a modified THW parry DS formula (magical ranks are converted to weapon ranks). You would need to check your DS, for each stance, with both weapons and compare the results. Notable differences include:

1. Weapon enchant bonus

The full runestaff weapon enchant is added to each stance.
THW weapon enchant is modified by a stance factor.

Example with a +20 weapon enchant bonus:

Offensive: Runestaff +20 DS, THW +6 DS
Defensive: Runestaff +20 DS, THW +21 DS

2. Ranged DS (bolt spells, arrows/bolts, thrown weapons)

Runestaff: Ranged parry DS equal to 1/2 melee parry DS
THW ranged DS: None

3. Weapon ranks used in the parry DS formula

Runestaves receive a bonus equal to 10 weapon ranks plus an additional bonus from the conversion of magic skill ranks per level to weapon ranks.

Example at level 50 (2x THW training vs 4 magic ranks per level)

THW: 100 ranks
Runestaff: 40 ranks

As a generality, low level paladins would see very little difference and may actually have a higher DS with the runestaff. High level paladins would likely see less DS with the runestaff.

Mark

[Maerit]

Good points as usual Mark. I suppose it's also worth pointing out that runestaves can still provide solid DS when used one-handed, so a shield user with a runestaff wouldn't be penalized so significantly considering paladins usually train in .5x-1x spells (to a certain point) and a combination of HP, Lore, and potentially Spiritual Mana Sharing. I'm sure many paladins also have a smattering of MIU and Arcane Symbols for various reasons which would help contribute to runestaff DS.

The main reason I was thinking about this is because I've been seeing a few sanctified runestaves in auctions, and was trying to find various uses for them. I have a young cleric that I was raising up recently, and have been using 1604 on their sanctified runestaff. Double plasma flares on spell casts from guarded are pretty great, but also much more practical for a pure Cleric who is converted to Bane (since holy water flares would be better with Smite and undead targets). When a paladin is considered, I was just curious if there'd be any value to swapping for the sake of disabling spells as very few paladins use direct damage spells.

Another question is whether Area-Effect spells can proc runestaff flares? Do they proc only if you cast the Area-Effect spell at a target (versus incant)?

[Winter]

... you could always just use a runestaff as your main weapon, and bop things over the head with it!!! ...

(/sarcasm)


Well that's how I played my ranger until she was high enough to go full pure.