VDSA Master Staff build

michmbk

Casual gamer, just got my inferno staff from VDSA and trying to come up with a good set build to go with it. Thinking of Moondancer or Willpower, which both have good three item bonuses, but curious what others do. I have two different sorcs I’m thinking it may be useful on, either my pet sorc or my BSW flameplar.

Thoughts from the experts?

UndeniablyAVG

I personally think this staff doesn't have much use outside of PVP, as most people don't run reach in PVE.

I'd run it with lich on the back bar, and a damage or defense set on the body.

CompM4s

Most use it for pvp. Maelstrom is the best in slot fir pve

Taleof2Cities

Yep, it’s great for PvP ... can confirm.

For PvE you’ll want to get your vMA Inferno Staff first priority, vMA Lightning Staff second priority.

Oreyn_Bearclaw

It's pretty useless in PVE, sorry to say.

In PVP, the only real thing to consider when building with it is that you cant run 2 5 piece sets with a monster set on that bar. Therefore, one of your 5 piece sets should be something that can be back barred like Lich. Another trick, on say a mag sorc, is to actually backbar it, and use reach as your CC. It nice because it will virtually guarantee that your back bar glyph fires for your burst combo. This obviously works better in small group because double destro can make you rather squishy.

WrathOfInnos

It’s definitely more of a PVP item. That being said, I used to run a Master lightning staff build in PVE that was a lot of fun. The difference between the shock and flame versions of clench is that flame knocks things out of your AoE’s (lightning flood and blockade), while shock stuns then and holds them in place. Shock Clench also synergizes better with the Master staff bonus damage, since it applies to all the enemies hit by the initial splash damage and makes it into a very effective area spammable (not quite as good as shock ring, but close and with CC).

The nicest thing about the Master Staff is that it reduces the cost of Clench enough that it can be used as a spammable. This means that if you use the shock version it becomes the only shock damage spammable available, and combines nicely with the Netch’s touch set. Alternatively you could just use 5 Mother’s Sorrow (especially if using pets) or 5 Julianos (it mixing in some fire damage) as your main set. 3 Infallible Aether or 3 False Gods are your best options for jewelry (gives Spell Crit and Minor Slayer), and that leaves the ability to run a Monster set like Slimecraw. If you don’t want to use a Monster set you can combine 2 5-pc sets, in this case make one of them Julianos so you can mix armor weights for 5-1-1 Undaunted passives.

Keep in mind, this build won’t compete with the end game builds using Force Pulse or Elemental Weapon, but it does offer excellent utility with stuns in solo content and a ton of splash damage.

MentalxHammer

A common PvP sorcerer build using master staff uses 5 necro body, master inferno on the main bar, 5 piece lich with back barred weapon, and blood spawn as monster helm but there is flexibility in the monster helm slot.

michmbk

Thanks all - I do have a PvP sorc I don’t like the gear for, and can easily farm Lich, so maybe I’ll try that. Wish it was better for PvE though - doesn’t seem like it’d outperform my current PvE Sorc based on the research. Oh well...