Question about MaleficusFollow

So I got this scythe the other day for my black mage and I was wondering when it would be useful.

The stats are:

INT+10
MAB+10
Magic Critical Hit Rate+10%
Increases Magic Critical Hit Damage

Now I'm wondering if this scythe would be better than any of either regular elemental staves, or even their HQ counterparts. If it was close, it could at least clear a bit of inventory space. Thanks in advance.

Edited, May 7th 2011 11:34pm by LegendarycloudCS

Without getting too in depth, I'll take a stab. Assuming 1 MAB does roughly the same for damage as 1.75 INT:
INT +10 ~= 5.7 MAB
MAB +10
Magic Critical Hit Rate +10% = +10 MAB * 0.1 = +1 MAB average over time

The big unknown is how potent "Increases Magic Critical Hit Damage" is. However much +MAB it adds to magic crits, multiply it by 0.1, and that's roughly how much on average it adds.

The break even point for elemental/Magian staff to Maleficus would be:
D = portion of damage formula excluding MAB and staff bonus
M = your MAB without staff slot
A = Magic Affinity bonus (0.1 for NQ lvl 51 elemental, 0.15 for HQ lvl elemental, etc)
X = average amount of MAB from the Increases Magic Critical Hit Damage trait on Maleficus
(1 + A) * D < ((MAB + X + 16.7)/MAB) * D
(1 + A) < (MAB + X + 16.7)/MAB
(1 + A) * MAB < MAB + X + 16.7
MAB + A * MAB < MAB + X + 16.7
A * MAB < X + 16.7
MAB < (X + 16.7)/A

If X was +1 (i.e. Maleficus doubles the base Magic Crit Damage) and you were using NQ lvl 51 elemental staff, the break even point would be:
MAB < (1 + 16.7)/0.1
MAB < 177

Doing the same calculation for other combinations of X and A:

 
 X  |   A  | MAB 
---------------- 
0.2 | 0.10 | 169 
0.2 | 0.15 | 112 
0.2 | 0.30 |  56 
0.5 | 0.10 | 172 
0.5 | 0.15 | 114 
0.5 | 0.30 |  57 
1.0 | 0.10 | 177 
1.0 | 0.15 | 118 
1.0 | 0.30 |  59 

If you have a Magian +2 staff, you probably also have enough MAB that you should stick with the Magian +2 staff. If you have a lvl 51 HQ elemental staff, you would still be better off with it than Maleficus if you have Beyond and Ultimate.

BLM doesn't even get Shadow of Death unless you sub WAR or DRK....