Magic staves bugged?

I'm playing as a mage and lately used the skill "Magic staves" against a Goblin Shaman who was firing fireballs.

For the record: The skill "Magic staves" allows you to deflect/block magical attacks with a mage's staff.

The staff gives the nice animation with the magical "shield" and mana is drained everytime I got hit, but I still get major damage too.
Has anybody encountered this too? Is it a bug? Or is the skill also depended on the amount of ancient knowledge you have (about 270) or staff fighting skill (only level 1)?

Thanks

Hm, it may actually block only part of the damage. I believe that shields work this way so staves may work the same way.

But shields block it all if your endurance is high enough.

And eh, dunno - I haven't tried it myself, but it sounds like a bug.

from what i remember i thought it drained your mana when you got hit. so if you were out of mana…

Originally Posted by curious
from what i remember i thought it drained your mana when you got hit. so if you were out of mana…

I thought so too. I wasn't out of mana. I started with full mana and took about 4-5 blows before my mana was completely drained and everytime I got normal damage too.

are you using it like a parry, activating it on impact, or are you holding it like a block?

Originally Posted by curious
are you using it like a parry, activating it on impact, or are you holding it like a block?

Holding it like a block, it seems possible because the magical "shield" stays intact while holding it.

Originally Posted by Sem
Holding it like a block, it seems possible because the magical "shield" stays intact while holding it.

But your endurence continually decreases while you're blocking. A low endurance might influence the efficiency of your block (like it is with shields, I think).

I agree with hiciacit, it seems to be pretty reasonable explanation.

Originally Posted by hiciacit
But your endurence continually decreases while you're blocking. A low endurance might influence the efficiency of your block (like it is with shields, I think).

Your endurance only decreases when you get hit. As long as you don't get hit you can hold it forever.
With the magical staff shield it's the same, but it drains your mana instead of your endurance when you block a hit. The problem is that I still get a lot of damage even my mana (and endurance) is completely full and not completely empty after a hit.

what level are you? maybe your level to ancient knowledge skill ratio is not good enough.

It seems the skill is indeed bugged. I searched around on the well-known German forums and there they said you should stay away from the skill, because it wasn't working correctly.

If you stay away from that skill you are missing a lot. On my second run through the game I went the mage way and staffs are working wonders against smaller beasts (because of the range) and undead (i don't know the reason, but the amount of damage on them is huge compared to ordinary weaponary).