Stave of shielding / knuckle duster vs IFS
 

What combo would be better ? IFS has that horrible delay that is really turning me off from getting it..

Depends on your level.

Can you explain why? I've played Eq forever but always casters. I just want to maximize my dps, but when I spend 4-5k I want it to be worth it.

And let's say 45-60.

Dual-wield has too low of a skill cap to be useful until later levels. 2H weapons are hindered early until the damage cap is removed.

Later on 1hb also has a higher skill cap than H2H does for a monk

IFS is solid dps. Ignoring the proc, it's within spitting distance of Tstaff. After the next patch I'd wager it'll beat SoS x2 and even epic/SoS combo. The high delay can be annoying in that damage can be streaky but for every bad chunk of time you will have an insanely good chunk to counterbalance it. It averages out.

If you ever find yourself tanking or soloing, that high delay translates to far fewer ripostes. Your own ripostes will be much more potent.

Great weapon and pretty light. It's a great value.

I have schw so the haste should speed it up. I think I'll probably go with IFS. Is that patch for sure at some point scheduled to come? I'm just grinding away at amassing cash so I'm wanting the biggest bang for my buck here

I tell every monk they should go for Peacebringer. I had this before I got my epic and it was my favorite weapon I had by a lot. it will last you all the way to 60 if you need it to.

PB weighs 10 pounds, looks awful, and is not better than IFS.

28/30 vs 38/40

More consistent dps at a cost of being (likely) overweight, eating more ripostes, doing less damage per riposte, eating more DMG shield damage, and not realistically doing better dmg.

Biggest bang for your buck is IFS at 5k. It's comparable both in weight and dps to AC and SoS which together run 9-10k. I won a Tstaff roll not to long ago but am holding onto my IFS for after the next patch. Once parses start rolling out I expect the price will jump - will sell the IFS after that.

I fully expect the ideal weapon progression without exception will be WQS - PB/IFS - Tstaff with the last two tiers of 2handers putting out more damage than epic/SoS (excluding high AC mobs where fast epic wins out). I could be wrong but TStaff already gets really really close to epic/SoS with IFS not all that far behind. The new 2hand dmg bonus should push them up enough to bump them past.