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||10. Choosing Your Weapon                                                  ||
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So now that you've got your basic character down, you have to choose your 
weapons. There are two main types of weapons for pure spell-casters, wands and 
staves (no not staffs, but staves). There are also other ones for a kind of 
"hybrid" spell-caster, such as Cestas for Necromancers, but since Elementalists 
don't have those for primaries, I won't go in to that right now. Wands are the 
main choice of most Elementalists, as it is a long ranged attack, and most give 
you some sort of bonus for spell-casters, while leaving the
other hand for your nifty artifact. Staves are -very- unpopular, as they take
up both hands, and I have yet to seen a staff that gives you a better bonus
than having a wand and an artifact, other than it's high damage (compared to 
wands, but don't think it's high. You can't out-damage a Warrior with those 
alone =P). Most wands and staves have their own individual element attached to
them, such as a Fire Wand. It doesn't matter what type of wand or staff you
use, as long as you can use it. You'll find that most good wands and staves,
later in the game, have certain skill level requirements to be able to be used
as stated, and it may be a good idea to meet the requirements ;). If you have a 
secondary or primary job that uses different weapons, go ahead and use them.
It's not as if wands are that important to the Elementalist, as most of the
time is used casting spells. Having a different weapon, such as a bow, lets you 
rest a bit between spells and still keep a damage output. Remember to use the 
weapon that you meet the requirements for.

Now for the second hand. Most Elementalists use an artifact (such as a flame
artifact or scroll) that compliments their element. Just as wands and 
staves are, they have skill level requirements later in the game, and it would 
be a good idea to meet the requirements stated by it. If you have a primary or 
secondary job that uses a different second hand armor/weapon piece, you may 
choose to use it, or not. To me, spell-casting classes have greater boosts from 
their second hand than melee classes, as a shield usually doesn't have
many effects relating to melee classes (such as just plain old defense). If you 
want to, however, use them, there's nothing wrong with that, but in my mind, 
artifacts suit you better.