This guide is still a work-in-progress ~ updates and changes will happen~ but here's just a general idea of what it's like.

One's mind reflects on one's knowledge and patience on the battlefield.
We are medics yet soldiers that can become the most versatile in PVE.

The way of the staff is to clear one's mind of all impurity and find the light within the darkness. We are the 'monks and shamans' of onigiri.

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Table of Contents
Staff: the Pros and Cons [Staff01]
Starting Out [Staff02]
Gearing Up [Staff03]
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Staff: the Pros and Cons [Staff01]
Sadly for staff, the cons outweigh the pros in terms of overall playability if you were to choose this as your main weapon... but on the plus side though: if you actually want to be distinct and not care much about shooting for high numbers in damage - you are definitely in the right.

Overall Difficulty: 3/5
To be honest, it is really in the middle - I would highly recommend the following when you actually play as a staff:
- Get used to your 'comfort zone' when figuring out the actual radius for the AOE measure
- Kiting/Hit&Run lessons
- Your defensive options [Rolling or have your spare weapon slot be filled with a spear-block]

Damage Rating: 2/5
The damage for staff requires a bit of work - from Mind to affinity and skill force + element, as the time goes by - the possibilities open up to you... but thing is - you will always fall behind.
Why?
- you don't have the speed of a bow and twin sword
- you don't have the raw power of an axe
- you don't have the tankability of a spear
- your AOE range is limited dependent on which skills you roll with.

Starting out, you will definitely need to find a good staff that offers a great combo set [at least 2/3].
How I format my weapons:
- 1 for Solo Combo
- 1 for AOE Combo
- 1 for Healing
- SPARE slot for toggling between Wand/Spear [wand for ranged and spear for mini-aoe spectrum + block] --- you can fill this in with a secondary hybrid staff which offers 1 Energy Ball/Holy Light/Rolling Thunder as a gap in between cooldown.

Equipment Rating [1.5/5]
Although in this game, you can pretty much farm/smith everything alongside extraction of skills and whatnot - it takes a lot of time and patience to do so.
If you are NOT a cash buyer, sadly your options are limited. But just remember this: bazaar tickets and point exchange in shopping plaza are your best friends. If you are lucky and able to get skill that makes mobs drop "Friendship Amore" - you can trade off your beckoning cats and whatnot for points which equal to bazaar tickets - meaning: skill cards + ougis + clothing galore.

Reason why I gave it a 1.5 though, is generally not beginner friendly. If looking for a staff with a nice skill set isn't hard enough already... when you're starting out, the magatamas aren't staff biased at all...

What to do?
Your options are as follow:
- stick with Holy and Lightning Element
- Attack [To be honest, not really recommended but if you got no choice...]
- Damage Reduce Modifiers [not defence --- reduce %]

You would probably stick with those until you are lucky enough to find staff skill force and whatnot. [Majority of which opens up when you are at Izumo]
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Starting Out[Staff02]

Pretty much you will be doing, Kind or Defensive since both of which start you off with MIND right away.
But let's not waste time and just go with Kind.
Why?

Defensive offers vitality which is equivalent to Defence and HP spec alongside Rec but... you will be running around + dodging hits. Get my point?

Kind offers wisdom which is equivalent to SP spec alongside Rec with reduction to boot - although you wouldn't do your 2nd stat till later, this boost will help you immensely when you begin doing so.
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Gearing Up[Staff03]

NOTE: I will NOT mention magatamas because it's as easy as googling the information and plus if you haven't figured out by now... the stats are pretty easy to dictate.

Now first things first: you will need to find a machine gun staff... yes you heard me machine gun stuff.
This will take you all the way to level 30 at least until you are able to find something better.

A machine gun staff consists of 2 skills.
Holy light and Chase blister.

They are both of on the slow side but Holy light is just more favourable in terms of getting the job done nice and quick.
Chase blister shoots homing projectiles in the form of bubble since it's of rain element and SLOWLY, I REPEAT 'SLOWLY!' creeps its way to the target. How I avoid this though, is to lure the mob into chasing you without getting TOO close and fire it off... so the silly monster just runs into it. Good thing is: it does hit other enemies along the way + around your target.

The 3rd skill slot is just a filler -
most of the time... it will land on breath of light which is an 'okay' skill for it's multi-hit charge and frontal wedge AOE.
Soul strike is in the darkness attribute and shares the same effect as wand - lowers Magic defence. The skill itself deals fair damage but the range requires you to go up close to launch it... and just like breath of light... it's a frontal wedge AOE with a single hit.

Now moving on would be your 'Grenade Launcher'
This comes in second on your priorities list because... if you can't fend off enemies 1 by 1 in the first place... don't even think about mobbing.

You will need to be patient with this one.
Rolling Thunder and Holy Pillar.

Holy Pillar would always be used first in your combo - but keep in mind, it's shot at a distance and can't be placed without a proper landing zone. [since it's ranged].
Rolling Thunder is more user-friendly and just good for any situation to be honest since it creates a field of lightning around you and does multiple hits.

Your last will be subbed in with:
Holy Breath to finish off the pesky ones that didn't die.

Last but not least, your first aid kit

Energy Ball and Sanctuary Hands down.
Heal and Cure for party run.

Why not healing?
By the time you use your Heal/Cures on your teammate - you could have already set up multiple Energy Balls around the boss room and placed a sanctuary field.
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The final product?

Your machine gun: Holy Light x3
Your grenade launcher: Rolling Thunder x3
Your first aid kit: Energy Ball/Sanctuary/Cure

Ougi: Meditation [MP regen AOE] + Rapid Storm [Movement Speed Buff] - If you have access to ougis, you won't need staff 1 down below.

Spare:
Staff 1: The steroids - Invigorate - Itaden's Grace - Strike Boost
Staff 2: The ecstasy - Energy Ball x2/1 Cure [If you are getting this - your first aid kit should consist of 3 sanctuary fields instead]
Staff 3: The angel - Resurrection - Sanctuary x2

Spear: Water Dragon Spear + any combo
Wand: Soul Strike + any combo [evade warp preferable but kinda iffy if you don't know how to control it]
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All you need to be a good support is cure IV x2 and cure VII x2 with invig V x2 as well as an Idatens/Godspeed (sub it out with rapid storm if you have it). Those skills can be spread out on 4 staffs since that's what you're going to use while supporting and not soloing. For offensive staves go for as many holy lights as you can get and as many chase blisters as you can get (idk about rolling thunder since out of all the staves I've ID'd, I've only found 2 staves with rolling thunder on them so it's extremely rare or my luck just sucks). Go around and lure mobs 1 by 1 and kill them that way. You'll be able to clear things but don't expect to do it fast because you lack the easily accessible mobbing skills other weapons have.

Question1: What is the best secondary stat for staff user?
Question2: Do you go full int first, until it's full? if not, how much mind do you need?
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great guide btw.

OK. I'll help by adding titbits information about staffs.

My Staffs Rotation Roster (total around 70 MND, rest go to WIS to cut SP cost and maximise SP recovery):

Self-Support :
1.First Aid IV/V
2.Healing IV/V
3.Energy Ball IV/V
Ougis :
1.Meditation
2.Rapid Storm

Support-Others :
1.Cure IV/V x2
2.Invigorate IV/V x2
3.Healing IV/V
Ougis :
1.Healing Wave

Attack (Backup Plan) :
1.Holy Pillar IV/V x2
2.Holy Light IV/V
3.Breath of Light IV/V (for small AOE)

Attack Wand (Backup Plan) :
1.Evade Warp IV/V ( for escaping )
2.Ice Bolt IV/V ( for freezing enemies )
3.Lightning Strike IV/V ( for stunning enemies )
Ougis :
1.Crimson Ray
2.Fuujin/Raijin

Attack Axe (Strengthening Attack) :
1.Fierce God of Focus IV/V ( ensuring your first hit Critical )
2.Way of the Axe IV/V ( add your affinity to your weapon of choice ) - miniscule addition to damage
3. [ Escape Attack of your choice ]

Not so useful in Dungeon :
1.Sanctuary (fixed heal area AOE, need some time to regenerate HP, in a fast pace dungeon, it's useless)
2.Soul Strike (need to be point blank range)
3.Rolling Thunder (small AOE and you're vulnerable when casting it)

Options Recommended : Staff Skill Force +x%; M.Cast Speed +x%, Cooldown cut +x%, Movement Speed +x%, Money Gain Boost +x%, EXP gain boost +x%, Mind +x, Wis +x, Staff Affinity +x%.
[ wrong information, sorry about that ._. ]
Holy Element +x (recommended for holy attack such as holy light, breath of light and holy pillar/soloing)
Make your stats 10 multiplied rounded.
Useless Options : Power +x, Vit +x, Dex +x, Attack+x.
Find the Best Options for these staffs. (Max 4 Options).
Smelting gives fixed bonus. So use it maximally. [ if possible, get +100 = Attack+10% ].

Magatamas Recommended :
Staff Skill Force +x%
Mind+x, Wis+x
Holy Element +x
Heal Recovery +100
Staff Affinity +x% (if you have maxed affinity, this is useless)

Question : Why all different skills in one staff ? Why not the same skill ?
Answer : To maximize skill usages, the same type of attack got the same cooldown ._. . You need to differentiate IV/V skills or use different skills type.

amporu wrote:Question1: What is the best secondary stat for staff user?
Question2: Do you go full int first, until it's full? if not, how much mind do you need?
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great guide btw.

1.WIS, best secondary stat. it adds your SP pool, cut your SP cost, and adds to SP recovery rate. And if you can get it to 24 totals, it adds critical+1
2.Go full MIND first. At least 70 MIND, or if you're truly want to full support go 100 MIND (total)

Rain Vangard wrote:Staff 3: The angel - Resurrection - Sanctuary x2

Spear: Water Dragon Spear + any combo
Wand: Soul Strike + any combo [evade warp preferable but kinda iffy if you don't know how to control it]
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I want to inform one of my best disappointment playing support in this C$ NA, they remove RESURRECTION spells from Staff !

So you have to prepare many Soul Gems to continue, or 10 0C each resurrection...

I guess Staffs are truly forgotten..
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Lynneth wrote:Heal Recovery +100 (recommended for healing others)

If I'm not mistaken health recovery is just how much HP you heal passively over time (unless you don't mean that health recovery stat that you find on the snail's pace magatama)

Heimarmene wrote:

Lynneth wrote:Heal Recovery +100 (recommended for healing others)

If I'm not mistaken health recovery is just how much HP you heal passively over time (unless you don't mean that health recovery stat that you find on the snail's pace magatama)

I see. So the Heal Recovery+100 is not the amount of healing of HP by the caster? So then, it's a correction for me. Thanks for informing. I don't find any explanation for this 'Health Recovery' and just conclude it myself..

It seems that most people who use staff don't utilize the weapon smithing feature even after clearing Izumo (often at level 21 and above)

Sure, Caduceus and Nyoibou have nice HP recovery and max HP bonuses, respectively, as well as potential to have other small and useful bonuses, but are Iwaotoshi's +5 MND, +5 WIS bonus and Gennou's +20 holy element bonus of no use to people? Maybe it is because the other staffs are easier to obtain.

Celie wrote:It seems that most people who use staff don't utilize the weapon smithing feature even after clearing Izumo (often at level 21 and above)

Sure, Caduceus and Nyoibou have nice HP recovery and max HP bonuses, respectively, as well as potential to have other small and useful bonuses, but are Iwaotoshi's +5 MND, +5 WIS bonus and Gennou's +20 holy element bonus of no use to people? Maybe it is because the other staffs are easier to obtain.

Because you will need all the money and the ingredients to collect, and to smith a "correct/good" Iwaotoshi in low level is not that easy. I remembered that it's just much easier to collect Caduceus and finding the good option of it/skills combination, rather than smith and hope a "correct/good" Iwaotoshi or Gennou's (with random skills) appear.

Except, of course, you use C$ OC to attach superior skills in Iwaotoshi's or super lucky to get a good skills on those Iwaotoshi/Gennou's or you collect enough lucky boxes to get (luckily) all the necessary skills (such as Holy Light IV/Holy Pillar IV/Invigorate IV/First Aid IV).
My experience was I got only Invigorate, Healing and Sanctuary, the rest are Axe/Swords/Bows or Spear Skills from lucky boxes.

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And Staffs isn't for killing, so why bother smith a good one, except you're solo or want to go full support selflessly?