THA:CSMNG-Weapons

Staves

Sure SMN has the ability to equip clubs as their main weapon... But with a dearth of worthwhile shields to choose from... compounded with no native Shield Skill... no native Dual Wield... And the relative lack of relevant stats for the job... Clubs are just the strictly inferior option in all regards, as I've previously mentioned above.

Ultimate Weapons
Linked Weapon Skill: Gate of Tartarus Oh, Claustrum. How I love you. And yet, you are so terrible. Though recently, you kinda-sorta-slightly aren't as terrible as you used to be. All three of the "Relic-like" Ultimate Weapons tend to be bad for magery... and this is especially so for Summoner. Claustrum is the first Staff Ultimate Weapon implemented in the game, first introduced sometime in 2004. And as the "Ultimate Weapon" for Black Mage and Summoner... the completed Lv.75 was by in large much of a failure. Sure the +8MP/tic refresh effect sounds all fine and good... but for BLM it offers no nuking power, and for SMN nothing for the Avatar, our primary damage source. Not to mention it was hidden behind an Aftermath... so it couldn't even be activated and then swap to a more relevant staff, as that would lose the Aftermath. And this would continue all the way through its iLv.119, though at least it gained a paltry boost to nuking at that level... Even if most any other iLv staff outperformed it for that still... Claustrum being terrible and just the worst weapon to have was such a widespread belief that it grew to memetic levels! And now? Well it still is pretty bad... but "Afterglow a Claustrum" isn't the 100% joke that it used to be. In fact, it's almost useable... sorta. Accuracy+60 is nothing to shake a stick at, and it's now applied to avatars too! So... that's something. But quite frankly... it's now a novelty rather than completely worthless. It's not the worst staff available... but by no means is it good either. And there certainly are better options.	Linked Weapon Skill: Myrkr This is the worst staff available. In the 99era, Empyreans (aka Relics V2) were generally the more easier to make into a functional level (Lv.85+, as that's the version that gains the Weapon Skill). And as they didn't need to be 99'd in order to be useable as a top tier weapon... most people made them to Lv.90 and stopped, as the Lv.90↠Lv.95 trial is rather a steep hill to climb... Even at the height of Voidwatch participation. And while this staff does offer the most MP available of most any staff in the game... the lack of any magic relevant stats pre-iLv.119 really pushed the staff into the garbage category... Which would be cemented completely with the ability to unlock Empyrean Weapon Skills in the November 2013 update[1]. Myrkr is probably the best Weapon Skill you can get a hold of, offering you absolutely unparalleled MP restoration. Which is what makes this such a bad weapon to use, as Myrkr is all it will give you that other staffs won't... Except now... all staves can use Myrkr. Even worse, you don't even need Hvergelmir to unlock it! But what about the current iLv."121" version? It has "Fast Cast"+50%! Indeed it does... not that it has the INT or additional Magic Accuracy to make that worthwhile for stunning... not that SMN does that... And not that "Fast Cast" isn't a ubiquitous stat now-a-days... And given that Empyrean weapons are the hardest/most expensive/most time consuming Ultimate Weapons to make... Do you really want to sink all those resources into a staff whose only worthwhile attribute is "Fast Cast"? Something you'd only wear for the second it takes to cast something? Certainly not me, but if you want to spend your time that way... More power to you.	Linked Weapon Skill: Shattersoul And here is the third, and newest, "Relic" Weapon. Weirdly though, unlike the other two, it actually is weirdly useful. Not particularly the best thing ever... but for Scholar (and to a slight lesser extent Black Mage), this staff offers a unique use as a near perfect infinite MP machine! That being said, for Summoner, it's worthless outside of a Lockstyle. Offering nothing worthwhile. Though... I suppose, in all honesty, it does offer you the ability to unmerit Shattersoul.... but... at the cost of any and all Summoner relevant stats. It may also be completely out of your reach as Reisenjima's Geas Fete offers fights against some of the most powerful Notorious Monsters the game has ever seen. Aeonics are really a "crapshoot" like that: either they are 100% easily obtainable as your group of friends is good enough to do so, or they are 100% unobtainable as you either don't know anyone or all the people you know can't do the content.
Linked Weapon Skill: Garland of Bliss The Ultimate Weapon. In the 75era, sadly, this wasn't the top of the mountain that it is today... Introduced in the September 2008 update[2], it offered only "Magic Attack Bonus"+20 to increase in damage, only boosting magical and hybrid Blood Pacts... All for what was once the most monumental weapon building process in the game. Furthermore, for barely any effort, the Ice aligned, pet MAB Magian Staff offered a half-Nirvana-strength MAB bonus... All for not even 1% of the effort. Even worse, as the level caps would rise, by the 99era... That same Magian Staff was still at ~1/2 the power of Nirvana, and to add insult to injury, the formerly superior idle potential of Nirvana's Perpetuation cost reduction was eclipsed by the trivially made Magian Staves that not only reduced Perpetuation to 1 more MP/tic than Nirvana, but also reduced Blood Pact Delay by almost the entire cap! But that all changed when they introduced the iLv.119 version in the November 2013 update[3]! For a time anyways. Ironically, as more and more 119 staves for SMN were added, it would be the magical blood pacts that would see less and less use for Nirvana. A complete reversal from the 75 and 99era Nirvana! And, alas, as the iLv."121" added no "Magic Attack Bonus" from the iLv.119, this trend of favoring other staves for magical Blood Pacts would be cemented. Even with all of that, the Base Stat increase and the Magic Accuracy added from the additional two levels Nirvana provides[4], as well as the +40% Blood Pact Damage, makes Nirvana simply the best enfeebling and physical Blood Pact staff... as well as the best idle staff! And with the November 2016 update[5] making certain BPs have their ƒTP replicating across all hits, Nirvana's AM3 has become the equal in absurd power boost as Epeolatry's AM3 is for Resolution or Tizona's AM3 is for Chant du Cygne, but for some of the best BPs available for your Avatars instead of a Weapon Skill.

Non-Ultimate Weapons I'm keeping the list here to just iLv.119 options available. Why? Because non119 weapons generally pale in comparison to any 119 option available.
Idle Staves I am only including Contemplator here as it is the only staff available with a Refresh effect. As it comes from one of the most powerful Notorious Monsters in the game... it's not really realistic to try and farm one for most people. So don't get your hopes up for getting one. At least that would be true if not for the periodic "Wanted Dial Campaign"! During the times when the campaign is held, you have a fair chance to get a Tumult's Coffer from the special Gobbie Mystery Box Dial. Though to be perfectly honest, you're not very likely to actually get one from the Coffer, as equipment drops from UCNMs are rather uncommon. Furthermore, as SMN has such a large natural Auto Refresh rate, and as detailed below, needing a pure refresh or /heal set is rather superfluous. Made even more redundant as most current endgame content restores your HP/MP to full as soon as you start. So if you really want a refresh option to have a full refresh set... there's always Bolelabunga or Owleyes... though those are only 1MP/tic... which is 1MP/tic less than if you're lucky enough to get a Contemplator during a Campaign. And they're also clubs and not staves. : Pet: Accuracy+70 Attack+70 "Double Attack"+15% The first of what I like to call the "Ghetto-Mythic" weapons. +95 Accuracy, and the "Double Attack" Rate of a Lv.75 Warrior? AND ~1/3 of your required cap of -14 Avatar Perpetuation Cost? AND a bit of Haste to boot?? Ever since they added augments, Gridarvor rivals Nirvana itself in terms of idle potency. If only the Monster Signa texture wasn't so horribly ugly..... But that's what /lockstyle is for! If you don't have one now, you should get one immediately. In terms of idling, there is no other staff that compares. So go out and make one as fast as you can! You won't regret it. :Affinity: Avatar Perpetuation Cost -7 Affinity: Blood Pact Ability Delay -12 While these used to be a viable option all the way until February 2016, I just can no longer recommend using one and only include them here out of nostalgia. What made these so good was the fact that in a single slot, you had half of your perp cost done, and almost all of your Blood Pact Ability Delay taken care of. Only needing 7 more in perp and 3 more in delay! Even now that's still amazingly good... it's just that they can't compete with Gridarvor at all. (And of course, Nirvana reigns supreme.) But don't feel like you can't work with them if they are all you have when you first come back, if you are returning from the 99era. They still are supremely good. But you should work on replacing them (if only for the +7 inventory) with a fully augmented Gridarvor ASAP. It's just too good.
"Physical" Blood Pact Staves A:MP+60 Avatar: Accuracy+15 Attack+15 B:MP+60 Avatar: Magic Accuracy+15 "Magic Attack Bonus"+15 What really made Tumafyrig good when it was first released was that native +7 to Summoning Magic. Sure a Kirin's Pole, can potentially get you up to +12... but Tumafyrig was a good alternative. Furthermore, as skill converts to accuracies for Blood Pacts... the native +7 skill boosts the +15 Magic/Accuracy to roughly +21. Nowadays, there are much better options, for not only both physical (path A) or magical (path B) Blood Pacts; but also for skill. As for why I didn't list Path C... because it sucks. Sure +15 Attack/Magic Attack Bonus sounds nice and all... but you can have capped pDIF all you like, it won't matter if you can't hit something. This is what I would call a "starter staff"... or at least I would... if not for the requirement to have at least 50 Job Points spent in order to just equip it. That being said, if you lack for other alternatives... this staff isn't terrible. Purchasable off the Auction House too. The only thing is that it lacks any Accuracy or Attack to further boost physical Blood Pacts, as this is only really good for those. Furthermore, there is some minor debate on the topic, but the overall consensus seems to be that while the +5% Magic Burst Bonus is theoretically really good (as it is II and thus not subject to the 40% cap that regular MBB is)... the lack of the Magic Accuracy that other options have makes the trade off not worthwhile for nuking. (Though not really relevant for SMN, you may have BLM/SCH/RDM leveled and may be considering conserving inventory with this option.) Speaking of multi-job staves for conserving space... this staff is probably the best option for the inventory challenged. BPdmg+8 is almost the maximum you can get on more focused staffs, and +15 skill not only matches the highest available skill in the staff slot, but it also translates into a bit of Accuracy when this is used for physical Blood Pacts. (About +14ish, and as this lacks any Magic Attack Bonus this staff is rather worthless for magical Blood Pacts.) Not only that, but the Enhancing Magic Skill+15 makes this a staff Scholars and Red Mages are likely to already want. Furthermore, in regards to nuking, this staff has more than ample Magic Accuracy with both hard Magic Accuracy and Elemental Magic Skill. And with nearly 30 INT and MND, this staff is just all around decent for so many things. :Pet: Accuracy&Ranged Accuracy+1~25 "Magic Attack Bonus"+1~25 :Pet: Critical Hit Rate+1~4% "Double Attack"&Critical Hit Rate+1~6% :Blood Pact Damage+1~10 If you have no intention of ever making a Nirvana, then Keraunos will be the best physical and hybrid Blood Pact staff available to you. Why I recommend you make this a physical and hybrid BP staff is because while the extra "Magic Attack Bonus" may be tempting, especially in regards to hybrid BPs... Espiritus and Grioavolr are generally strictly superior options for magical Blood Pacts, as they have larger MAB and Macc possibilities. +10 Blood Pact Damage is the best nonNirvana statistic you can get in the weapon slot, and hybrid BPs' magical damage is determined by their physical damage hit(s). Plus all the Leafstone augments don't contribute to magical Blood Pacts in any way... so there is little reason to make this a purely magical one. Just "go all in" on the physical augments: Acc⨤25 DA&CritRate⨤6%. And ever since the November 10, 2016 update[6], that "Double Attack" and Critical Hit Rate augment really boosts your best Blood Pacts further than any other NonNirvana staff currently available. (Even more so than Grioavolr's best possible augments, as Grioavolr can't get BPdmg and "Double Attack". Since the change to Eclipse Bite, Double Punch, Predator Claws, Rush, Chaotic Strike, and Volt Strike into being ƒTP transferring BPs, Keraunos will be the best physical staff you can make.) While you can get Attack on Keraunos, you can't get both Accuracy and Attack. And like previously mentioned, you can cap pDIF all you like...	"Magical" Blood Pact Staves : DMG+1~19 INT+1~7 MND+1~7 Pet: Accuracy&Ranged Accuracy+1~24 Attack&Ranged Attack+1~24 Magic Accuracy+3~24 "Magic Attack Bonus"+2~24 Avatar Perpetuation Cost-1~5 Uffrat was the beginning of the love that Summoner would get in the 119era. And as the Skirmish content was completed Uffrat would grow in power to be a potent magical Blood Pact staff. Or a solid hybrid Blood Pact staff if you were lucky enough to get physical augments... though either way, given how the augment system works, all of the desired stats share the same slot... so having both Magic Accuracy and Magic Attack Bonus or Accuracy and Attack for augments is impossible. As Skirmish weapons and armor used the "classic" random augment system.... you can expect to spend anywhere between 1 and 1,000,000,000 augment stones used before you get a worthwhile augment. And as the random augment system is terribad... and this staff is heavily outclassed by a myriad of random drops (detailed below), don't bother with it if you don't already have it... and if you, for some reason, do have it... quickly ditch it for one of the many easy to get, and better staves below. There isn't much to say about this one. It comes from the Shiva MBCNM, and to get it to have any reasonable drop rate, you'll need to complete the BCNM on at the very least Normal difficulty. It's just a solid and quick to get magic damage Blood Pact, and a decent start for an enfeebling Blood Pact staff. Though the other staves below are likely easier for you to get a hold of... at the very least they have a better drop rate. C: MP+80 Pet: Magic Accuracy+20 "Magic Attack Bonus"+25 D: Pet: Accuracy+20 Attack+20 "Double Attack"+3% This is, in essence, a "Tumafyrig+1". Paths A and B are for BLM and SCH, with C and D being the SMN relevant paths. Seeing as how easy this staff is to get, and how its drop rate is very good at that, this is the staff I would recommend you get as your "starter" staff. Get two even, a path C for magic and enfeebling; and a path D for physical and hybrid. Not only that, but once you get more worthwhile staves, you can keep one for the Fast Cast. If Nibiru is a "Tumafyrig+1", then this is a "Frazil Staff+1". Just like Frazil, it comes from the Carbuncle MBCNM, so its drop rate is just as poor compared to other options. The real boon here is the Blood Pact Damage in addition to the Magic Attack Bonus. While it changes depending on the monster you fight, on things that matter: 10MAB≈1BPdmg. So in essence, this has 20 "Magic Attack Bonus" and 15 Magic Accuracy over Frazil. All with +5 to Blood Boon to boot. That being said, all of the last two on this list have the potential to be the best Magical Blood Pact staves available, and are generally easier to get a hold of than Marquetry Staff is. A:Enmity-6 Avatar: "Magic Attack Bonus"+30 Damage Taken-4% B:Summoning Magic Skill+15 Avatar: Magic Accuracy+30 Damage Taken-4% C:MP+50 Avatar: "Magic Attack Bonus"+20 Magic Accuracy+20 The "Other Ghetto-Mythic" weapon for Summoner. This is one of the staves that is why I recommend you take Keraunos down the physical side of things. All things considered, this is one of the best magical staves, and can be by far the best nonNirvana enfeebling staff. Path A offers you the most "Magic Attack Bonus"; Path B is by far one of the best Magic Accuracy options available for Summoners; Path C splits the difference. Augment paths can be changed at any time with no loss of rank for a mere 3k Bayld by trading the weapon to Nolan. So if you want to test out which will be better for your magical Blood Pacts, you have the ability to swap between paths. (Personally, I'm a cautious person, so I use path C... And I recommend you do the same. 10 less MAB for 20 Macc is more than a bargain.) Path D pales in comparison to a well augmented Keraunos, as it lacks Accuracy or Summoning Magic Skill... and Keraunos has a larger BPdmg value, which is the more relevant stat for physical and hybrid BPs. So don't try and force this to be a physical staff, it's just not worthwhile when you can get a superb and better option in Keraunos. :Pet: Accuracy&Ranged Accuracy+1~40 Attack&Ranged Attack+1~40 Magic Accuracy+1~40 "Magic Attack Bonus"+1~40 Blood Pact Damage+1~10 This has the potential to be the best Magical staff available. That being said, dear Lord in Heaven.... Reisenjima augments suck. While they tell you and give the appearance of being less random and "weighted" depending on the stone used.... It's arguably worse than the classic Skirmish augment system. Where you once had the option to "force" higher value augments (though lacked any control over the augment content) by using a +2 stone; there is only the NQ stones to use for Reisenjima augments. Furthermore, while yes... certain augments are technically forced based on the stone used... It's just that you are guaranteed that the augment will exist. So be ready to see a million "Attack+1" augments without regard to any other augment stat, be it worthwhile or garbage. This is the only staff aside from Nirvana that gives both Accuracy and Attack in addition to Blood Pact Damage. But the likelihood of you getting anywhere near "cap" for either is... exceedingly low. Not to mention that the lack of ability to get both "Double Attack" and BPdmg... With the November 10th, 2016 update[7] making many of the best of your physical BPs you have into being ƒTP transferring BPs, that "Double Attack" you'll find higher spikes in physical damage from a well augmented Keraunos than you would in a perfectly augmented Grioavolr So if you get one and want to take it down the SMN path of augmenting... This can serve as an "Espiritus+1". But given as how luck based it is, don't try and get this and only this. Get an Espiritus, augment it... (and you'll want one anyways for Path B's skill boost) and then you can spend the hell it is in Reisenjima augments to make a better staff with your Grioavolr. So with that all being said... It is fairly easy to make one of these with better magic stats than Espiritus. All you need is at least +25 MAB and +3 BPdmg to just match a Path C Espiritus. While you're more likely to see closer to 20~22 MAB, the much higher cap on BPdmg allows for a slightly lower MAB total. Especially when it's under a 5 MAB difference. And give how common +5 and +8 BPdmg is for BPdmg augments... You likely won't take very many stones to replace a Path A/C Espiritus for BPs. But still. Get the safer option first. While it is possible to go 1/1x and have flawless augments... you could also spend hundreds... thousands... or even millions of stones searching for that elusive perfect augment. It all depends on Luck, and I don't rely on such things without reliable alternatives... and neither should you!